FAQ for
Crash (2004/I) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Crash can be found here.

No. Crash is based on a screenplay by Canadian screenwriter and director, Paul Haggis, and co-writer Robert Moresco. Crash was inspired by a real life incident in which Haggis' Porsche was carjacked outside a video store on Wilshire Boulevard in 1991.

The movie never gives a clearcut answer as to whether or not Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser) is having an affair with his assistant, but it's highly suggested.

...that plays toward the end of the film as the characters reflect on what has happened: In the Deep by Kathleen 'Bird' York. The song can be found on the Crash Original Soundtrack CD. A shorter version can also be found on Bird's CD's The Velvet Hour and Wicked Little High. Check here for more info. Lyrics to In the Deep can be found here.

...heard playing in the stolen Lincoln Navigator: Str8upndown by Move.meant.

...that plays during the rescue scene: Flames. However, Flames starts with Farsi (Persian) vocals, heard during the scene where Farhad is searching through the dumpster, and fades into the rescue scene music, which is sung in Welsh. The standalone Welsh song also plays later in the film, and is called Sense of Touch on the CD. Whether Flames should be considered an extended version of 'SOT' or 'SOT' should be considered an edit of Flames is debatable. If you're looking for just the rescue music, hunt down Sense of Touch!

...in the closing credits: Maybe Tomorrow by Stereophonics plays during the final scene in Chinatown and continues into the credits. The second song is Problems by Move.meant.

...that's used at the beginning of the Crash trailer (also heard at at the Oscars): Adagio For Strings by Samuel Barber. The opening strings from Kronos Quartet's rendition of Adagio leads into the choir-version of the same song performed by the Taliesin Orchestra. Taliesin's version is available on their CD Sacred.

Crash was first shown to a public audience (the standard date criteria used by the IMDb) at the Toronto Film Festival in September, 2004. However, Crash was not released in theatres until May, 2005. Academy Award rules state that in order to be eligible for the 78th Awards, a film must play for at least seven consecutive days in Los Angeles County, California between January 1, 2005 and midnight of December 31, 2005. Therefore, Crash qualified for the Awards held in March, 2006.

This is a 3-parter, all involving independent film financier Bob Yari:

- a) Bob Yari sued 'Crash' producer Cathy Schulman & her producing partner Tom Nunan on Jan 6/06 - stating that Schulman had siphoned off funds payable to his companies, that she'd falsely claimed that she was the one who made the decision to make 'Crash', and also that she leaked early copies of an upcoming movie that he'd financed called 'The Illusionist' - undermining its sale and promotion.

- b) Due to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America rules, only 2 producers may be listed for their 'Best Picture' award. When 'Crash' was released in May/05 - 6 producers were listed in the credits (Haggis, Schulman, Yari, Don Cheadle, Mark Harris, and Bobby Moresco), but the Academy & Guild determined (secretly & without giving any reason or rationale) that Haggis and Schulman would be the only names eligible for the 'Best Picture' Oscar. Yari sued the Academy & the Guild on Feb 28/06 in the hopes that the process will be more accountable in the future. Said his lawyer: "All we want to do is to get the rules changed. It's just fundamentally unfair, and we want it fixed". It should be noted that Yari believes that Cathy Schulman petitioned the Guild to deliberately have his name left off.

- c) Cathy Schulman & Tom Nunan filed a lawsuit on Feb 28/06 against Yari, his production company & his attorney Neil Sacker - seeking at least $2 million in damages for fraud, breach of contract & accounting claims. There's a dispute over who owns 'Bulls Eye Entertainment' (both parties claim they do; Schulman & Nunan claim they founded it and brought Yari in as a financier & partner); money owing for work done (Yari says he paid salaries but they weren't entitled to producing bonuses until the revenue from the (5) movies covered costs); a counter-suit against Yari's claim that Schulman swayed the Guild to get his name removed from the credits; and further 'reputation' damage by a wrongful accusation of leaking 'The Illusionist' and stealing money from Bulls Eye Entertainment.

Yari says that Shulman's bitter contention is "a shameful misrepresentation of the facts." The 'Hollywood Reporter' has a good article that explains it all here. On 26 December 2006, a judge dismissed the 4 lawsuits, though Yari plans to appeal.

From Wikipedia: Hyperlink cinema is a term coined by author Alissa Quart, who used the term in her review of the film Happy Endings (2005) for the film journal Film Comment in 2005. Noted film critic Roger Ebert popularized the term when reviewing the film Syriana (2005). These films are not hypermedia and do not have actual hyperlinks, but are multilinear in a more metaphorical sense. Quart suggests that director Robert Altman created the structure for the genre and demonstrated its usefulness for combining interlocking stories in his films Nashville (1975) and Short Cuts (1993). She also considers the television series "24" (2001) and Alan Rudolph's film Welcome to L.A. (1976) as early prototypes. Crash is an example of the genre, as are The Player (1992), Traffic (2000), Cidade de Deus (2002), Nine Lives (2005), The Opposite of Sex (1998), Magnolia (1999), Timecode (2000), Amores perros (2000), Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001), 21 Grams (2003), Cape of Good Hope (2004), Babel (2006), Rendition (2007), Auf der anderen Seite (2007), The Air I Breathe (2008), and the TV show "Lost" (2004).

Heath Ledger was originally slated to play the role that went to Ryan Phillippe (Officer Tom Hansen). He dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.