Paycheck
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Paycheck

Year:
Duration:
119 min
Genres:
Action | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller
IMDB rate:
6.3
Director:
John Woo
Awards:
2 wins & 2 nominations
Details
Country: USA
Release Date: 2003-12-25
Filming Locations: Burrard SkyTrain Station, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Earnings
Budget: $60,000,000
Opening Weekend: $13,462,374 (USA) (28 December 2003)
Gross: $53,789,313 (USA) (28 March 2004)
Cast
Actor
Character
Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Paycheck
Ben Affleck
Jennings
Aaron Eckhart
Rethrick
Paul Giamatti
Shorty
Colm Feore
Wolfe
Joe Morton
Agent Dodge
Michael C. Hall
Agent Klein
Peter Friedman
Attorney General Brown
Kathryn Morris
Rita Dunne
Ivana Milicevic
Maya-Rachel
Christopher Kennedy
Stevens
Fulvio Cecere
Agent Fuman
John Cassini
Agent Mitchell
Callum Keith Rennie
Jude - Guard
Michelle Harrison
Jane
Claudette Mink
Sara Rethrick
Ryan Zwick
Street Kid
Dee Jay Jackson
Guard (as Deejay Jackson)
Serge Houde
Dekker
Calvin Finlayson
Balloon Boy
Kendall Cross
Scientist
Catherine Lough Haggquist
Scientist
Darryl Scheelar
Plain Clothes Federal Agent
Mark Brandon
Lottery Host
Roger Haskett
Lottery Official
Steve Wright
Allcom Helicopter Pilot
Craig Hosking
FBI Helicopter Pilot
Emily Holmes
Betsy - Salesgirl
Krista Allen
Holographic Woman
Barclay Hope
Suit
Peter Shinkoda
Suit
David Lewis
Suit
Robert Clark
String Quartet
Andrea Siradze
String Quartet
Isabelle Roland
String Quartet
Peter Caton
String Quartet
Ryan Robbins
Husband
Benita Ha
Wife
Chelah Horsdal
Young Mother
Craig March
Janitor
Jason Calder
Wolfe Goon
Mike Godenir
Wolfe Goon
Brad Kelly
Wolfe Goon
Brent Connolly
Wolfe Goon
Michelle Anderson
Nursery Customer
Lori Berlanga
Nursery Customer
Sean Akira
Scientist (uncredited)
Sandra-Jessica Couturier
Extra (uncredited)
Joe Coyle
School Teacher (uncredited)
Richard Cummins
Plant Scientist (uncredited)
Aaron Douglas
Scientist #3 (uncredited)
Peggy Flood
Computer (voice) (uncredited)
Levi Woods
Train Station Patron (uncredited)
Did you know?
Trivia
Michael Jennings monitor project was 19 October 2004 to 22 December 2004 (date of his check). His paycheck project finishes June 2007 (date of his signed paper).
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Just before Michael starts his second project he comments on the Red Sox making the World Series. Although this film was released in 2003 - it is set in 2004 and accurately predicts the Red Sox making the World Series, although it incorrectly predicts that they would lose.
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The year before, Ben Affleck appeared in The Sum of All Fears (2002), as Jack Ryan, a role previously played by Harrison Ford. This film is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, whose work also inspired the film Blade Runner (1982), also starring Ford.
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Goofs
Right before Michael is about to use the bus pass, he runs into someone and drops his envelope. You can see behind him that he clearly drops the hairspray but when they show what he dropped, the hairspray isn't there and he never picks it up.
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When Michael studies the items in the envelope and is looking through the glass prism, a spotlight is reflected.
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When Michael meets Shorty in the station restaurant, the guy who shoots at him through the kid's balloon has an unbuttoned jacket. In his next appearances, the jacket is buttoned up.
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Quotes
James Rethrick: Michael Jennings is not a super agent, he's an engineer. Yet, somehow he managed to escape from a double-locked room. How? Was it fate? No. Fate was on our side. That means someone who knew, changed something.
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Jimmy Rethrick: I am the future, Mike!
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Jimmy Rethrick: There was a time when we were in school, we wanted to change the world?
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Faq
Q
is this in the same universe as Blade Runner(1982)?
A
Possibly, because both novels were written by the same person.
Q
Is this film based on a novel?
A
It is based on a short story Paycheck, written by Phillip K. Dick in the 1950s. There are several differences in the film and the original story (including the items Jennings gets from the envelope), but the basic premise is similar to the original. Notable features of the story that are different from the book are:* Although the setting is 21-century America, it is a more dystopian future. A recent change in government has been referred to, the new government has a secret police force that supposedly never releases its detainees, the new government uses "credits" instead of "dollars", and individual citizens have significantly fewer rights than corporations do.* Rethrick is a much older man and has no prior connection with Jennings.* Although there is a potential love interest who works for the company named Kelly, she does not encounter Jennings until after the memory wipe and has a "surprise ending" secret that is not in the movie.* Technology is significantly different. Erasing memory is a secret that most people do not know about (including the goverment agents who arrest Jennings). Rethrick's company still has significant manual labor. Cameras still require mechanical film. Rockets that transport people between cities are commonplace. And, the device that Jennings develops for Rethrick not only sees things but can also retrieve things.* The plot features a lot more blackmail and threat of blackmail. Rethrick is generally unaware of Jennings' experiences after the memory wipe and it is Jennings who is looking for Rethrick, not the other way around.* The climax of the short story is completely different from that of the movie. In the story, Jennings sneaks into the company alone, rather than with a partner as in the film (in the story he enlists Kelly's help, but simply asks her to keep whatever he finds safe so that it doesn't fall into the hands of the authorities) using a piece of cloth among his belongings that identifies him as a worker. He also had no interest in destroying the machine (identified as a "time scoop"), he simply wanted to photograph it (the device itself was illegal and the company was part of a resistance against an oppressive government). The film also adds in a climatic shootout that destroys most of the building, while in the original short story Jennings merely snuck out through a back door he had left himself a key to.* The movie ends with Rethrick being killed while Jennings escapes and goes on to live with Rachel; the short story ends with Jennings successfully blackmailing Rethrick into making him a partner in the corporation, hinting at the possibility that he may eventually find a way to take over.
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Photos from cast
Uma Thurman
Mathematics Image Numbers Mathematical signs numbers cartoon Elderly person calculation illustration