Won't Back Down (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = Won't Back Down

| image = Wont_Back_Down_Poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical poster

| director = Daniel Barnz

| producer = Mark Johnson

| writer = {{Plainlist|

Brin Hill
Daniel Barnz

}}

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music = Marcelo Zarvos

| cinematography = Roman Osin

| editing = Kristina Boden

| studio = {{Plainlist|

Walden Media
Gran Via Productions

}}

| distributor = 20th Century Fox

| released = {{Film date|2012|9|28}}

| runtime = 121 minutes{{cite news|author=Kenneth Turan|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-wont-back-down-review-20120928,0,2053199.story|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928061420/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-wont-back-down-review-20120928,0,2053199.story|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 28, 2012|title=Movie review: 'Won't Back Down' doesn't let up on unions|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=September 27, 2012|accessdate=November 2, 2012}}

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $19 million{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-box-office-hotel-transylvania-wont-looper-20120927,0,1253379.story | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Amy | last=Kaufman | title=Animated 'Hotel Transylvania' to scare off 'Looper' | date=September 27, 2012}}

| gross = $5.8 million{{cite web|url= https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Wont-Back-Down|title=Won't Back Down (2012) - Financial Information|work=The Numbers|accessdate=27 April 2018}}

}}

Won't Back Down is a 2012 American drama film directed by Daniel Barnz and starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis and Holly Hunter.

Premise

Two determined mothers, a car dealer/bartender (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and a teacher (Viola Davis), look to transform their children's failing inner-city school in Pittsburgh. Facing a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy and corruption from the teachers' union president (Holly Hunter) and the school's principal (Bill Nunn), they risk everything to make a difference in the education and future of their children.{{cite web |url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/still-i-rise/production-details.html |title=Won't Back Down (2012) – Production Details |work=Yahoo! Movies |publisher=Yahoo! Inc. |date=17 May 2012 |accessdate=2012-05-21}}

Cast

{{castlist|

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jamie Fitzpatrick
Viola Davis as Nona Alberts
Holly Hunter as Evelyn Riske
Oscar Isaac as Michael Perry
Rosie Perez as Brenna Harper
Ving Rhames as Principal Thompson
Lance Reddick as Charles Alberts
Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Olivia Lopez
Bill Nunn as Principal Holland
Emily Alyn Lind as Malia Fitzpatrick
Dante Brown as Cody Alberts
Liza Colón-Zayas as Yvonne
Ned Eisenberg as Arthur Gould
Nancy Bach as Deborah
Keith Flippen as Ren
Robert Haley as Tim
Sarab Kamoo as Principal Chamudes
Joe Coyle as Clay Bathgate
Jennifer Massey as Valerie Bathgate
Jane Mowder as Jan
Reavis Graham as Hank Hart
Anthony Marino Jr. as Tyler
Richard Barlow as Mr. Brandt
Rebecca Harris as Ms. Southwick
Kevin Jiggetts as Mr. Mannis
Patricia Cray as Ms. Schwartz
Juan Veza as Mr. Parrish
Franklin Djeda Smith as Mr. King

}}

Production

= Background =

File:Won't Back Down Cast.jpg.]]

The film is loosely based on the events surrounding the use of the parent trigger law in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles, California in 2010, where several groups of parents attempted to take over several failing public schools. The Parent Trigger law, which was passed in California and other states in 2010, allowed parents to enforce administrative overhaul and overrule administrators in under-performing public schools if petitioned. If successful, petitions allow parents to direct changes such as dismissal of staff and potential conversion of a school to a charter school.{{cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/corrected-hostile-takeove_n_1365925.html |title=Desert Trails Elementary Parents Seek Control Of Failing Adelanto, California School In High-Stakes U.S. Education Reform |agency=Reuters |work=The Huffington Post |date=19 March 2012 |accessdate=2012-05-21}}{{cite magazine |url=https://ideas.time.com/2012/03/08/can-parents-take-over-schools/ |title=Can Parents Take Over Schools? |first=Andrew |last=Rotherham |magazine=TIME |publisher=Time Inc. |date=8 March 2012 |access-date=2012-05-21}}

= Release =

Walden Media, a film studio which released a 2010 documentary film Waiting for "Superman" with Paramount Pictures and Participant Media about the American educational system,{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sundance-gates-idUSTRE60M1T020100123 |title=Bill Gates goes to Sundance, offers an education |first=Bob |last=Tourtellotte |location=Park City, Utah |work=Reuters |publisher=Thomson Reuters |date=23 Jan 2010 |accessdate=2012-05-21}} produced the film, with 20th Century Fox releasing it on September 28, 2012.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/movies/viola-davis-and-maggie-gyllenhaal-in-parent-trigger-film.html?_r=1 |title=In Reality and Film, a Battle for Schools |first=Michael |last=Cieply |location=New York |work=The New York Times |date= 20 February 2012 |accessdate=2012-05-21}} American actresses Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis were among the first to be cast,{{cite news |url=https://deadline.com/2011/05/maggie-gyllenhaal-and-viola-davis-lead-waldens-still-i-rise-130119/ |title=Maggie Gyllenhaal And Viola Davis Lead Walden's 'Still I Rise' |first=Mike |last=Fleming |website=Deadline Hollywood |publisher=PMC |date=10 May 2011 |access-date=2012-05-21}} with Academy award-winning actress Holly Hunter being cast later on. The film marked Hunter's first film appearance in seven years since The Incredibles and The Big White. The film's trailer was released on May 17, 2012.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/viola-davis-and-maggie-gyllenhaal-team-up-in-wont-back-down-trailer/2012/05/17/gIQAsqqVWU_blog.html |title=Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal team up in 'Won't Back Down' trailer |first=Sarah Anne |last=Hughes |location=Washington D.C. |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=17 May 2012 |accessdate=2012-05-21}}

The film's budget was $25 million, not counting the undisclosed amount for marketing the film.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

=Promotional campaign=

Private foundations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce contributed more than $2 million for a publicity campaign for the film. Television ads, bookmarks, websites and private screenings a six-month cross-country tour promoted the film. Promoters scheduled private screenings in states from New York to Georgia and Utah, to promote the movie and its parent trigger message.{{cite news|author=Stephanie Simon|title='Parent power' film stirs hopes of education reform activists|journal=Chicago Tribune|date=September 28, 2012|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/09/28/parent-power-film-stirs-hopes-of-education-reform-activists/}} Michelle Rhee presented the film at separate events near both the Republican and Democratic Party 2012 national conventions several weeks before its theatrical release.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/02/dnc-education-reform_n_1850089.html|title=Dems Divided By Movie Slamming Key Supporters|last=Ward|first=Jon|date=2012-09-02|website=HuffPost|access-date=2019-08-16}}

Reception

=Box office=

The film grossed just $5.3 million at the box office domestically, and, according to Box Office Mojo, had the worst opening-weekend performance of any film to open in more than 2,500 theatres – collecting just $1,035 per screen, until the record was broken by Victor Frankenstein in 2015.[https://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/worstopenings.htm?page=WRSTOPN25&p=.htm WORST WIDE OPENINGS - Saturated 2,500+ theatres], Box Office Mojo

=Critical response=

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 34% based on 105 reviews with an average rating of 5.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Despite the best efforts of its talented leads, Won't Back Down fails to lend sufficient dramatic heft or sophistication to the hot-button issue of education reform."{{cite web |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wont_back_down_2012/ |title= Won't Back Down (2012) |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=May 5, 2025 }} On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 42% based on reviews from 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".{{cite web |title= Won't Back Down |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/wont-back-down |website= Metacritic |access-date=2020-10-10 }} Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= Cinemascore |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20 }}

Variety called the film a "heavy-handed inspirational drama" that "grossly oversimplifies the issue at hand." The site continued, "Barnz's disingenuous pot-stirrer plays to audiences' emotions rather than their intelligence, offering meaty roles for Maggie Gyllenhaal as a determined single mom, and Viola Davis as the good egg among a rotten batch of teachers, while reducing everyone else to cardboard characterizations. Absent high-profile champions, femme-centric pic could suffer from low attendance."{{Cite news |url= https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117948420 |title=Won't Back Down |work=Variety |first=Peter |last=Debruge |date=September 26, 2012 |access-date=September 26, 2012}}

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "Both the lottery scene and the anti-union material seem to be fictionalized versions of material in the powerful documentary Waiting for Superman which covered similar material with infinitely greater depth."{{cite web |date=2012 |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Won't Back Down movie review & film summary (2012) |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wont-back-down-2012 |website=Chicago Sun-Times }}{{Rating|2|4}}

Michael Medved liked the film, giving it three and a half stars (out of four) and calling it "... one of the better films of 2012."[http://www.michaelmedved.com/michaelmedved/player.aspx?g=aHR0cDovL21lZGlhLnRvd25oYWxsLmNvbS9Ub3duaGFsbC9NZWR2ZWQvbXAzL1dvbnRfQmFja19Eb3duX1Jldmlldy5tcDM^!^]{{Dead link|date=August 2019}}

=Controversy=

Some critics have contended that the film is an ideological vehicle of conservative activist Philip Anschutz and that the film is slanted to promote the parent trigger movement."What Parents Need to Know: FAQ "Won't Back Down" and Parent Trigger" Parents Across America, August 13, 2012{{Cite news|url=http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/parentsandthepublic/2012/07/hollywoo.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-FB|title='Parent Trigger' Gets Hollywood Treatment|last=Molnar|first=Michele|newspaper=Education Week|date=26 July 2012 |access-date=2019-08-16}} Some critics have contended that the movie shows a watered-down version of what parents are really up against when trying to implement the Parent Trigger law.{{Cite magazine|url=https://ideas.time.com/2012/09/28/wont-back-down-the-education-movie-that-matters/|title='Won't Back Down': Why This Education Movie Matters|last=Rotherham|first=Andrew J.|magazine=Time|access-date=2019-08-16|issn=0040-781X}}

Accolades

Viola Davis won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her role as Nona Alberts;{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/naacp-image-awards-winners-announced-417553/|title=NAACP Image Awards: Winners Announced|last=|first=|date=|website=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=15 October 2021}} and she was nominated for a Black Reel Award for Best Actress for her role.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}