Ray (Film) Information

Ray is a 2004 biographical film focusing on 30 years^[2] of the life of rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles. The independently produced film was directed by Taylor Hackford and starred Jamie Foxx in the title role; Foxx received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

Charles was set to attend an opening of the completed film, but he died before its premiere.^[3]

Plot

Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles Robinson went blind at the age of seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mother who insisted he make his own way in the world, Charles found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered incorporating gospel, country, jazz and orchestral influences into his inimitable style.

As he revolutionized the way people appreciated music, he simultaneously fought segregation in the very clubs that launched him and championed artists’ rights within the corporate music business. The movie provides a portrait of Charles’ musical genius as he overcomes drug addiction while transforming into one of his country’s most beloved performers.

Cast

• Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles - As stated in the DVD commentary, the actor does not sing as Ray Charles with exception to covers Charles performs in his earlier years. Kanye West and Field Mob have since both made songs with Jamie Foxx singing as Ray Charles in their songs "Gold Digger" and "Georgia", respectively.
• Sharon Warren as his mother, Aretha Williams
• Kerry Washington as his wife, Della Bea Robinson
• Regina King as Margie Hendricks
• Renee Wilson as Pat Lyle
• Larenz Tate as Quincy Jones
• Harry Lennix as Joe Adams
• Clifton Powell as Jeff Brown
• Curtis Armstrong as Ahmet Ertegun
• Richard Schiff as Jerry Wexler
• Kurt Fuller as Sam Clark
• Patrick Bauchau as Dr. Hacker
• Terrence Howard as Gossie McKee
• Chris Thomas King as Lowell Fulson
• Wendell Pierce as Wilbur Brassfield
• Bokeem Woodbine as David "Fathead" Newman
• Aunjanue Ellis as Mary Ann Fisher
• C. J. Sanders as Young Ray Robinson
• Denise Dowse as Marlene Andres
• Warwick Davis as Oberon
• David Krumholtz as Milt Shaw

Production

The film's production was entirely financed by Philip Anschutz, through his Bristol Bay Productions company. Taylor Hackford stated in a DVD bonus feature that it took 15 years to make the film. He later clarified in the liner notes of the soundtrack album that it took that time to secure financing.

Charles was given a Braille copy of the film's original script; he objected only to a scene showing him taking up piano grudgingly, and a scene implying that Charles had shown mistress and lead "Raelette" Margie Hendricks how to shoot heroin.

Ray debuted at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.

Soundtrack

The following songs were used in the film:

• "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand"
• "Mess Around"
• "I Got a Woman"
• "Hallelujah, I Love Her So"
• "Drown in My Own Tears"
• "Mary Ann"
• "Leave My Woman Alone"
• "Night Time Is the Right Time"
• "I Believe To My Soul"
• "What'd I Say"
• "Georgia on My Mind"
• "Hit the Road Jack"
• "Unchain My Heart"
• "You Don't Know Me"
• "I Can't Stop Loving You"
• "Bye Bye Love"
• "Born to Lose"
• "Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)"
• "King of the Night Time World"
• "Everytime I Have the Blues"

Reception

Box office

On October 29, 2004 on a budget of $40 million. The film went on to become a box-office hit, earning $75 million in the U.S. with an additional $50 million internationally, bringing its world wide gross to $125 million.

Critical reaction

The film received mostly positive reviews. Most of the praise went to Jamie Foxx's tour-de-force performance for which he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film however did receive some bad reviews, with critics complaining that in fact a mediocre screenplay was buoyed by powerful performances.^[4] Currently Ray has a certified fresh rating of 82% based on 191 reviews at rottentomatoes.com.^[5]

Awards

Differences from noted events

As noted in the film's final credits, Ray is based on true events, but includes some characters, names, locations, and events which have been changed and others which have been "fictionalized for dramatization purposes." Examples of the fictionalized scenes include:

• In the film, when Ray's younger brother George drowns in their mother's wash tub, he stands there and does nothing as George drowns (because he thought George was joking). In his autobiography, Charles remembers trying to pull his brother out of the tub after realizing he was drowning but was unable to save him.
• In the studio scene where Charles is taught the "Mess Around," he is told it is in the "key of G." The "Mess Around" is actually in the key of E flat.

References

1. ^ Ray (2004)
2. ^ Director Hackford noted this focus on the years 1935-1965 in his DVD commentary for the film; the only exception to this focus is the film's final scene featuring Julian Bond and set in the Georgia State Capitol in 1979, a scene Hackford included at Charles' specific request.
3. ^ "Legendary US singer Ray Charles dead at 73". ABC News. 2004-06-11. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200406/s1129411.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
4. ^ Ray - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
5. ^ Ray - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes

External links

• Ray Official website
• Ray at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ray at the Internet Movie Database
• Ray at Allmovie
• Taylor Hackford's Unchained Art, an October 2004 article from the Washington Post
• Craig Armstrong (Score Composer for Ray)
• It's a shame about Ray a review at Slate Magazine that lists factual inaccuracies
• Background on the song Hit The Road Jack
• [1] box office figures
• [2] more box office figures

Categories: 2004 films | Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award winning performance | Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners | Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe winning performance | American biographical films | 2000s drama films | Drug-related films | Films shot in New Orleans, Louisiana | Films about music and musicians | Musical films based on actual events | Race-related films | Ray Charles | Independent films | American musical films | Films that won the Best Sound Mixing Academy Award | Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay Satellite Award | Films directed by Taylor Hackford | Films set in the 1930s | Films set in the 1940s | Films set in the 1950s | Films set in the 1960s | Films set in the 1970s | Films set in the 1980s | Universal Pictures films

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See Also:

• Weird Science (Film)