Film Facts:

Cast:

Director: Brett Leonard

Writing credits (WGA)
Eric Bernt (I) (written by)

Cast (in credits order)
Denzel Washington - Lieutenant Parker Barnes
Kelly Lynch - Dr. Madison Carter
Russell Crowe - SID 6.7
Stephen Spinella - Dr. Darrel Lindenmeyer
William Forsythe - William Cochran
Louise Fletcher - Commissioner Elizabeth Deane
William Fichtner - Wallace
Costas Mandylor - John Donovan

Shooting Schedule: Jan 25, 1995 - May 9, 1995

Location: Los Angeles

Awards: None

Weight: 180 pounds

Plot Summary:

Jailed former cop Parker Barnes acts as a volunteer to test out a new Virtual Reality police training program. Inside the simulation, participants must pursue a serial killer, SID 6.7. But the game's neural stimulus has been set too high and when SID kills Barnes' co-volunteer inside the simulation, the shock kills him in real life.

The program is ordered shut down. But its creator, Daryl Lindenmeyer, is too attached to it and fools a lab tech into incarnating the SID chip inside a nanotech android body. In its nanotech body SID immediately breaks out of the laboratory and goes on a killing spree.

The police free Barnes in return for his help, seeing as he has had the most experience dealing with SID. But then Barnes discovers that SID has been created artificially intelligent with a personality that is a hybrid of 180 serial killer profiles.

And as he starts tracking it, the personality of Matthew Grimes, the killer who slaughtered Barnes' wife and daughter, rises to the surface and begins to relish the opportunity for revenge.

From http://www.moria.co.nz/sf/virtuosity.htm

Trivia:

About an hour or so into the movie, Sid 6.7 (Russell Crowe) pulls up in front of the home of Kelly Lynch's character in a service van. When he opens the door to get out of the van, the song "The Photograph Kills" is playing. This is a song by Russell Crowe's band, Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts.
2001 Feature Documentary Texas Co-Directed with Russell Crowe and Brett Leonard. Texas was acquired for theatrical distribution in America by Miramax Films, and screenings of Texas have raised eyebrows at Sundance 2002 as well as the Berlin Film Festival.

Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, the name of Crowe's band, came from the script for ADR (Analog Dialogue Replacement) for a fight scene in "Virtuosity".

Reportedly, Denzel Washington signed on to "Virtuosity" at the request of his son, who wanted his dad to make a movie that he wasn't "boring".

Favorite Scenes:

 

 

 

Sid's "birth" in the laboratory.
Sid strutting to "Staying Alive" attired in a snappy purple suit.
The shootout on the roof.
SID "eating" glass to regenerate his severed limbs.

Comments by Russell:

Leonard had to fight hard to get permission to keep the relatively unknown Crowe in such a prominent role. "It took him seven months to convince the studio that I should play the role," Crowe says. "He had two or three meetings a week where they would put a sheet in front of him with five blank spaces on it and say, 'just write your top five'. He would write my name five times and hand it back to them." - Russell Crowe - The Actor Author: Larry Schwartz (Date: 17 Dec 1995 THE SUNDAY AGE)

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Russell Crowe is scrolling through his Powerbook, giving me the low-down on what he calls "The 183 Prophets of Doom". As I watch, a grisly list pulses up the screen: David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, Geoffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Myra Hindley, Charles Manson, Richard Speck, Aileen Wuornos ... the chilling names go on and on, each with a brief description of their murderous modus operandi , victims and more memorable sayings. A litany of eviland horror. "These are all of Sid's ...people - the Sidlings," snickers Crowe.

"I tell you, mate, he's an evil b*****d," says Crowe, with evident relish. "He decides that humans want to kill themselves. That's fine with him. He'll help them out. He's interactive. He'll give you what you want." From Elle Magazine October, 1995 By: Peter Huck

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At the end of the day, Russell Crowe is passionate about his work. "You have to try and get the best out of every situation," he explains, before delivering his credo as an actor. "Every day is new. Every scene is new. Every line of dialogue has a million possibilities. So why not be open and see what comes out?" From Elle Magazine October, 1995 By: Peter Huck

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"It's pretty far out," he says of Virtuosity. "As is revealed in the movie, Sid is totally interactive so he's just playing with what he's got. He's come out of the machine, he's looked around, he's examined humanity in the one half of the millisecond it takes him to work it out, and he realizes that human beings couldn't possibly go around doing what they do if they didn't want to die. He's just trying to help them out. He's a very generous guy." Crowe chortles. He's rocking and rolling with the movie.

Life is a blast.

But don't write the movie off as just another violent thriller, he says. "It's not really violent. A lot of the blood is computer-driven effect and you can see that pretty obviously. I bleed blue. The film is about violence. "And I think there's a depth level that Denzel brings by virtue of who he is and how his mind operates and how he applies himself to his character. It takes this film to a different place." "The reality is I'd be scared of a Hando. I hate his ideology. I hate what he stands for. Basically, Sid is the same thing. The scary thing is that he is very close to the people we all laud and applaud and give a lot of money and power to." -Canoe - Bruce Kirkland

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Crowe was at an audition for the 1995 movie "Virtuosity," trying for the role of a virtual-reality serial killer, and the scene had him nose to nose with (Denzel) Washington, yelling in his face. Suddenly and accidentally, Crowe sent a string of spit right into Washington's mouth. "Now I'm horrified," Crowe says in his gravelly Australian brogue. "I'm thinking, 'Great, I just messed this up.'' But Denzel, he's such a professinal --such a stand-up guy, he just keeps going, like nothing happened." When the scene was over, Washington "turns to face me and says, 'I love the taste of saliva in the morning,' " Crowe says, laughing as he takes a swig of Amstel Light. Terry Armour, Chicago Tribune

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"I only got this gig because Denzel wanted me," Crowe admits. "He's right in there. You can have so much fun with that stuff when someone is so committed to what you do. "Denzel is. He creates a competition that becomes a search for perfection." - THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MIRROR 26 AUG 1995 - VIRTUAL STARDOM By MARCUS CASEY

Comments about Russell:

According to Leonard, "SID is totally synthetic and, because he's made up of so many different personality profiles, he"s totally out of touch with reality. And the way Russell plays him, he's such a fun villain-the perfect bad guy you love to hate. Russell has also been quite successful in bringing a sense of humor to SID."
From http://www.murphsplace.com/crowe/virtuosity.html

"I could tell he wanted to have fun with this role," laughs Leonard, as Crowe fiddles with his laptop. "He saw a way of liking this guy! That isn't easy, because Sid's a very bad man. This is a very dark film, yet the audience has to love Side for it to work. Otherwise it would be too oppressive," he explains. "Russell's ability to remain menacing, while at the same time being funny and charming, is a very rare amalgam. Very few screen actors have true menace. Russell has." From Elle Magazine October, 1995 By: Peter Huck

He says fondly of Russell Crowe that he is "firstly, a very good actor. He is a new breed James Cagney. He has that intensity and menace but you just love the guy. My best experience on Virtuosity was working with Russell." Brett Leonard (Urban Cinefile)

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"Russell is absolutely fantastic," said (Gary)Lucchesi (producer of "Virtuosity".) Lucchesi adds: "He's a rock n' roller! He's a movie star! So often you see stereotypical villains, and that was one thing we really did notwant Sid cast as.

"I've loved the idea of casting leading men to play villains as opposed to character actors, and I think Russell is a true leading man and is going to be a great star.

"Ultimately the movie became quite elevated by having an Academy Awardwinning actor like Denzel, and a really talented actor like Russell." - THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MIRROR 26 AUG 1995 - VIRTUAL STARDOM By MARCUS CASEY

Reviews:

Not many critics liked Virtuosity upon its release, most likely because it was released so closely next to the mess that was Johnny Mnemonic. But it really is an entertaining picture; it's nothing that will change the way you live, but for a well-executed plot, good special effects (loved SID's ability to recover from wounds by absorbing glass), and a villain you'll love to hate, Virtuosity is a solid selection. - Adam Hakari -- http://www.ajhakari.com/v/virtuosity.html

The acting performances are very good. Washington is continually proving that he is an actor of the highest calibre, and here he is extraordinarily watchable. However, top acting kudos again go to the baddie, Crowe - he literally pulls out all stops.
http://www.tourvic.com/videoviews/pages/indies2/Virtuosity.html

Full of wicked, cutting-edge special effects, Virtuosity makes a strong entry into a summer of lifeless films. It takes a while to get rolling, and the early character development is weak, but pretty soon, everyone's caught up in this innovative take on the cat and mouse game. I won't spoil the twists, but the dynamic between Sid and Barnes is quite interesting to watch. Crowe, as Sid, is the real star, playing the megalomaniacal killer with perfect poise and egocentrism, eerily reminiscent of Malcolm McDowell's Alex from A Clockwork Orange. The only complaint I have is that with 183 professional killers inside him, you'd think he'd be a better shot with a pistol. - Filmcritic.com

And last but not least, Russell Crowe's performance is the highlight of the movie, and we're not talking about the already established Russell Crowe the movie star today. We're talking about the old Russell Crowe, the aspiring, rising star from Australia, who back then was seen as one of the most promising actors in the business. Crowe adds a sly sense of humor which makes his character seem like your average bystander, but when the time comes, he just flips the switch and becomes an ultra-cool, ultra-sadistic, crazy-ass motherf___er, but its just the way he does it, and the way he enjoys his role that we just end up enjoying the shit out of this guy. Crowe steals the movie, and overshadows almost completely Washington's leading role, and is almost the main factor that saves this movie from being another formulaic, sci-fi dud.
http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=5973

There is one, and only one, compelling reason to view this film: to enjoy Russell Crowe hamming it up as the practically invincible bad guy, while the rest of the cast seems to be half-asleep. Just watching the effort Russell puts into simple facets of his role such as enjoying the screams of potential victims or eating glass will convince you that the man is big in Hollywood right now for a reason. If for no other reason, grab this film to find out what a difference it makes when an actor does not assume the paycheques will keep coming. It's worth five stars for his acting alone, making it such a pity that the rest of the production is so utterly without heart.
http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/Reviews.asp?ReviewID=365

Web Related Links:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0114857/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/virtuosity/
http://www.crowechicky.com/movies/virtuosity.htm