Holes is a 2003 American prison adventure film directed by Andrew Davis and written by Louis Sachar, based on his 1998 novel. The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson, and Shia LaBeouf in his theatrical film debut. In the film, Stanley Yelnats IV (LaBeouf) is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp in Texas, after being wrongfully convicted of theft. The camp forces inmates to dig holes in a dried lake bed under the command of the cruel Warden Walker (Weaver), who is secretly searching for the buried treasure of outlaw Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow (Arquette).
Director Andrew Davis worked on Holes to showcase his versatility beyond action films, enlisting author Louis Sachar to adapt his novel into a screenplay. Filming took place over ten weeks in California during the summer of 2002 on a $20 million budget. Shia LaBeouf was cast as Stanley after Davis sought a "young Tom Hanks", though the character's weight loss arc from the book was omitted for practicality. Scenes of hole-digging were carefully staged with different depth levels, and bearded dragons portrayed the venomous yellow-spotted lizards. The film, dedicated to actor Scott Plank, who died after filming wrapped, was produced by Chicago Pacific Entertainment and Phoenix Pictures, with distribution by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista.
Holes was released in the United States on April 18, 2003 and grossed $71 million worldwide. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised it for its intelligence and depth. The film won and was nominated for several awards, most notably LaBeouf received a nomination for Breakthrough Performance at the MTV Movie Awards, while the film earned nominations for Best Family Film at the Critics' Choice Awards and Young Artist Awards.
Plot
The Yelnats family has been cursed with bad luck, which they blame on their ancestor Elya's failure to keep a promise to fortune teller Madame Zeroni over a century earlier in Latvia. One day, Stanley Yelnats IV is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers donated to charity by baseball player Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston, and is sentenced to 18 months of hard labor at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp in Texas, in lieu of jail time.
The camp is in a dry lake bed where rain never falls and venomous yellow-spotted lizards thrive. Stanley meets warden Louise Walker, her assistant Mr. Sir, and counselor Dr. Steve Pendanski. Inmates, nicknamed Zero, Zig-Zag, Armpit, Squid, X-Ray, and Magnet, dig holes daily, earning a day off for any finds that intrigue Louise. After Stanley discovers a golden lipstick tube marked K.B. and a fossil, he is accepted into the group and nicknamed Caveman. When Magnet steals Mr. Sir's sunflower seeds, Stanley assumes responsibility and is taken to Walker's cabin. He finds wanted posters there and learns "KB" stands for Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow, a schoolteacher-turned-outlaw who once robbed a money chest from his great-grandfather Stanley Yelnats Sr. After admonishing Mr. Sir for his report, Louise lets Stanley return to work.
Camp Green Lake's history is revealed in flashbacks as a flourishing lakeside community in the 19th century. Kate romantically bonds with Sam, an African-American onion merchant who helps repair her schoolhouse. When the wealthy Charles "Trout" Walker discovers the two kissing, he informs the other citizens out of jealousy, and they burn down the schoolhouse. Charles shoots and kills Sam while he is in his rowboat on the lake. After this murder, no rain falls on Green Lake for over a century. In retaliation, Kate becomes an outlaw, hunting down Trout's men and earning her nickname by kissing the men she murders. As her legend is established, Green Lake declines due to the lake's gradual evaporation. Years later, Kate is found by the now-destitute Walkers. Before allowing herself to be lethally bitten by a lizard, she boasts neither Trout nor his descendants will never find her buried fortune.
In the present, Dr. Pendanski mocks Zero, whose real name is Hector Zeroni, but Zero injures him and flees. After some deliberation, Stanley searches for Zero. The two have difficulty surviving in the desert without water. They go to a mountain that looks the shape of God’s thumb. Eventually, Stanley carries the ailing Zero up the mountain, and they regain their strength after finding a field of wild onions and a water source. By doing this, Stanley unknowingly fulfills Elya's promise to Madame Zeroni and breaks his family's curse. While on the mountain, Zero tells Stanley he took Sweet Feet's sneakers from an auction at a homeless shelter, mistakenly thinking they were a free donation. Zero then threw them over the bridge while evading the police, which led to the shoes inadvertently hitting Stanley's head.
Returning to the camp, Stanley and Zero investigate the hole where Stanley found the lipstick and uncover a chest before they are discovered by Louise, Mr. Sir, and Dr. Pendanski. They soon figure out that Louise, Trout's granddaughter, has been using the inmates to find Kate's treasure. The adults cannot steal the chest from the boys, as the hole is swarming with lizards, which do not bite Stanley and Hector due to the onions they ate earlier. The puzzled adults wait for the lizards to kill the boys. The next morning, the attorney general and Stanley's lawyer arrive, accompanied by Texas Rangers, and the chest Stanley found is discovered to have once belonged to his namesake great-grandfather. Louise, Mr. Sir, who is actually paroled criminal Marion Sevillo, and Mr. Pendanski, who was impersonating a doctor, are arrested. Stanley and Zero are released, and it rains in Green Lake for the first time in over a century.
The Yelnats family obtains the chest containing jewels, deeds, and promissory notes, worth millions today. They share this with Zero, who uses it to hire private investigators to find his missing mother. Both families live a life of financial ease as neighbors.
The boys camp is shut down and all boys are released for time served. The camp is later turned into a Girl Scouts camp.
Cast
Camp Green Lake Sigourney Weaver as Warden Louise Walker Haleigh Ann Trickett as Young Louise Jon Voight as Marion "Mr. Sir" Sevillo Tim Blake Nelson as Dr. Steve Pendanski Shia LaBeouf as Stanley "Caveman" Yelnats IV Khleo Thomas as Hector "Zero" Zeroni Brenden Jefferson as Rex "X-Ray" Washburn Jake M. Smith as Squid (Alan) Byron Cotton as Theodore Thomas "Armpit" Johnson Miguel Castro as Magnet (José) Max Kasch as Zig-Zag (Ricky) Noah Poletiek as Twitch (Brian) Roma Maffia as Attorney Carla Morengo Zane Holtz as Barf Bag (Lewis) Steve Koslowski as Lump
Yelnats' Home Henry Winkler as Stanley Yelnats III, Stanley's father. Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Tiffany Yelnats, Stanley's mother. Nathan Davis as Stanley Yelnats Jr., Stanley's grandfather. Rick Fox as Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston Nicole Pulliam as Mrs. Livingston, Sweet Feet's wife. Shelley Malil as the Yelnats family's landlord Michael Cavanaugh as Judge Austin Gorg Shirley Butler as Mrs. Zeroni, Zero's mother.
Latvia Eartha Kitt as Madame Zeroni, Zero's great-great-great-grandmother. Damien Luvara as Elya Yelnats, Stanley's great-great-grandfather. Sanya Mateyas as Myra Menke, Elya's love interest. Ravil Isyanov as Morris Menke, Myra's father. Ken Davitian as Igor Barkov, Elya's rival.
Old Green Lake Patricia Arquette as Miss Katherine / Kissin' Kate Barlow Dulé Hill as Sam the Onion Man, Katherine's love interest. Scott Plank as Charles "Trout" Walker, Louise's grandfather. Allan Kolman as Stanley Yelnats Sr., Stanley's great-grandfather. Louis Sachar as Mr. Collingwood Brooke Eby as School Kid
Production Director Andrew Davis chose to direct Holes to show he was capable of making more than action films such as The Fugitive and Collateral Damage. He encouraged author Louis Sachar to participate in the production and adapt the novel into a screenplay. To break down the novel's action into a film, Davis and Sachar storyboarded over 100 scenes on 3-by-5 note cards, each of which had specific time allotments. Sachar said Davis "went through and said, 'Now as you rewrite it, this card should take half a minute, this one should take three minutes, this one should take one minute, and so on.'" Before Sachar was hired, Richard Kelly was given the job to write the screenplay. His draft diverged from the source material, and had a darker, post-apocalyptic take with sci-fi elements. Kelly stated he was naive and was told by the production staff that he was "insane" before being removed from the film.
Holes was filmed in California over 10 weeks in the summer of 2002 on a $20 million budget. When looking for a child actor to play Stanley, Davis asked for an actor like "a young Tom Hanks". In the original book, Stanley is depicted as obese, shedding considerable weight as the book progresses. The filmmakers chose to drop this aspect from the movie, as they believed it would have been difficult to convincingly portray the weight loss in a live-action film. Initially, Frankie Muniz was cast as Stanley but ultimately dropped out to star in Agent Cody Banks.Bryan Cranston Roasts Shia LaBeouf and Tells Him to ‘Get Some Help’ After Learning Frankie Muniz Turned Down ‘Holes’
The film was shot in several locations, including Ridgecrest, California. LaBeouf was simultaneously doing work for the Disney Channel show Even Stevens, and worked on the film after taping Even Stevens. To show the seven kids' holes being dug gradually throughout the day, different "phases" were used, for each of which the seven holes were given different levels of depth. For the yellow spotted lizards, fourteen bearded dragons were used, four of which were used for the main parts, and the rest used as "background atmosphere lizards". LaBeouf revealed that filming was intense. Due to the constant heat, the cast was only allowed to remain in the holes for about five minutes at a time and would be pulled out, even while they were in the middle of a take. He, the cast, and LaBeouf's father were also uncomfortable with Jon Voight who would remain in character between takes. LaBeouf also shared a half trailer with co-star Jake M. Smith. During one intensely hot day, Smith's entire half of the trailer blew up due to his refrigerator overheating.
The film is dedicated to Scott Plank, who appears in the film and died six months before its release.
The film was produced by Chicago Pacific Entertainment in association with Phoenix Pictures, presented by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures, and distributed in many markets by Buena Vista Pictures. Summit Entertainment picked up foreign sales in February 2002 under an agreement with Walden Media. In October 2002, Walden entered into a two-year first look agreement with Disney which would allow them to acquire distribution rights to the film in territories where the film was not previously acquired by a third-party distributor through Walden or Summit.
Music The film's music includes a new recording of the Grammy-winning single "Just Like You" by Keb Mo', and the Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo-produced "Dig It" by The D Tent Boys (the actors portraying the D Tent group inmates), which included a video that was played regularly on the Disney Channel. The soundtrack also includes contributions by the Eels, Devin Thompson, Dr. John, Eagle Eye Cherry, Fiction Plane, Little Axe, Moby, North Mississippi Allstars, Pepe Deluxé, Shaggy, Stephanie Bentley, and Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps. The score was composed and conducted by Joel McNeely.
"Dig It" – D-Tent Boys "Keep'n It Real" – Shaggy "Mighty Fine Blues" – Eels "Honey" – Moby "I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday" – Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps "Just Like You" – Keb' Mo' "Everybody Pass Me By" – Pepe Deluxé "I Will Survive" – Stephanie Bentley