| The Lazarus Project | |
| Director: | John Patrick Glenn |
| Producer: | David Hoberman Todd Lieberman Travis Adam Wright |
| Starring: | Paul Walker Linda Cardellini Piper Perabo Malcolm Goodwin Tony Curran Bob Gunton Lambert Wilson |
| Music: | Brian Tyler |
| Cinematography: | Jerzy Zielinski |
| Editing: | Fred Raskin |
| Distributor: | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 100 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
The Lazarus Project (formerly known as The Heaven Project is a 2008 American drama/thriller film directed and written by John Patrick Glenn. It stars Paul Walker as Ben, a former criminal who gets a second chance at life and mysteriously wakes up working at a psychiatric hospital. Piper Perabo, Linda Cardellini, Malcolm Goodwin, Tony Curran, and Bob Gunton also star in the film, which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008.
Ben Garvey, a reformed criminal, loses his job because of his criminal background. His brother Ricky comes to visit after being released from jail and convinces him to commit a robbery of gold dust from a laboratory. The heist goes horribly wrong, and Ricky and two others are killed. Sentenced to death, Ben gets a visit from his wife and daughter; Ben tells his daughter that he's not coming back. He then goes and prepares himself for the lethal injection. Ben is presumably put to death, but is next shown hitching a ride from an unknown man who asks if he is the new groundskeeper of a nearby psychiatric hospital in a small Oregon town. Ben is told that he has been given a second chance from God and to begin work as a groundskeeper at the local mental hospital. Ben wants to go home but is denied and as time goes on, and with a wife and daughter he left behind, he wonders whether he has truly cheated death or if he has become part of a far more sinister scientific plan for both him and the other inmates at the hospital.[1]
The title refers to the New Testament character Lazarus. In chapter 11 of the Gospel of St. John, Lazarus is raised from the dead by Jesus after having been entombed for four days. Otherwise, nothing in the film's plot parallels the New Testament story; in fact, the film's protagonist rebels against those who "raised" him from the dead, something inconceivable for the character Lazarus.
Written and directed by John Patrick Glenn in his directorial debut, production was originally slated for September 2005 with Mandeville Films[3] but was ultimately delayed. Production finally began in March 2007 with filming beginning on April 27, 2007, in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.[4] Although the film script refers to several small Oregon towns — Mount Angel, Silverton, and Dundee — the filming was not done there.
The film marked the first company credit for Be Good Productions, a production company created by Paul Walker, Brandon Birtell and Tim Whitcome.[5]
Composer Brian Tyler recorded the score for the film. He stated that, "This one is going to be an ensemble type of score, very introspective, very heartfelt, it is a movie about purgatory and it's going to be different than anything I've done before, and I am really happy and very excited doing it."[6]
The soundtrack for The Lazarus Project was released by Varèse Sarabande on March 3, 2009. All of its compositions were produced by Brian Tyler.[7]
The Lazarus Project received mixed reactions from critics., the film holds a 60% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on five reviews with an average rating of 5.43/10.[8]
Manitoba District Council
. 2 September 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070512235612/http://www.dgcmanitoba.ca/productionProfile.asp?Prod=133 . 12 May 2007.