Hancock is a 2008 American superhero film starring Will Smith in the titular role as John Hancock, an amnesiac, alcoholic, reckless superhuman trying to remember his past. The film was directed by Peter Berg and written by Vince Gilligan and Vy Vincent Ngo. The film also stars Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman and Eddie Marsan.
The story was originally written by Vy Vincent Ngo in 1996. It languished in development hell for years with various directors attached, including Tony Scott, Michael Mann (who would later co-produce the film), Jonathan Mostow, and Gabriele Muccino, before being filmed in mid-2007 in Los Angeles with a production budget of $150 million.
In the United States, the film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America after changes were made at their request in order to avoid an R rating, which it had received twice before. Columbia Pictures released the film in theaters in the United States on July 2, 2008. While Hancock received mixed reviews from critics, who found it promising, but let down by the mid-movie change in tone, it grossed $629.4 million worldwide, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of 2008.
Plot John Hancock is an alcoholic, reckless, superhuman imbued with flight, invulnerability, and super-strength. Acting as a haphazard and unrefined superhero in Los Angeles, he is shunned, ridiculed, and hated by the public due to his drunken and careless crime fighting acts and rude, unpleasant disposition.
Hancock rescues Ray Embrey, a community-minded but struggling public relations specialist, from an oncoming train, but also accidentally derails it in the process. In gratitude, Ray offers to help improve Hancock's public image and hopes that he will be the spokesperson for his charitable brand, "All Heart". Hancock meets Ray's family, his son Aaron, and his wife Mary, who is suspicious of him. Ray encourages Hancock to issue a public apology and surrender himself to local authorities, hoping that it will build public confidence in Hancock and create demand for him to return. Hancock reluctantly agrees and is placed in prison where he easily fends off attacks from other inmates but struggles to connect with his support groups for alcohol abuse and anger management. Ray visits frequently, encouraging Hancock to be patient, and later Ray's family visits as well, bringing him homemade spaghetti with meatballs.
The crime rate in Los Angeles rises and Hancock is eventually released to help. Sporting a new leather super suit, he successfully rescues a wounded police officer during a bank robbery shootout and hostage situation orchestrated by Red Parker, ending when Hancock prevents Parker from using a 'dead man's switch' by slicing off his hand and turning both over to the police. The public applauds Hancock as a hero and the officers praise him for ending the crisis without loss of life. Hancock has dinner with Ray and Mary and reveals that he is an amnesiac and immortal, having woken up in a hospital 80 years ago with no memory of his identity. Ray tells Hancock that Mary is Aaron's stepmother and that his biological mother had died in childbirth. Carrying a drunk Ray home, Hancock kisses Mary, who kisses him back but then throws him through the wall, revealing that she also has superpowers.
The next day, Hancock and Mary speak in private. She explains that ancient cultures called them gods or angels (and now superheroes) and that there were more like them in the past; however, their peers inevitably bonded in pairs as soulmates, lose their powers in the process, live human lives and eventually die. When Mary refuses to answer questions about their connection, the two begin a brawl that moves through L.A. During the fight, Mary reveals that they were together for three thousand years and are the last of their kind, but the two stop fighting when they reach Ray, who confronts them about the secrecy. Hancock leaves and stops a store robbery, but he is shot and finds that a bullet has hurt him. While receiving hospital treatment, Mary explains that the closer they are, the more mortal they become, and they will lose their powers unless they stay apart. The last time Hancock and Mary were together was eighty years ago when Hancock was attacked and she fled so that his powers would return.
Parker escapes prison with several inmates and attacks the hospital to get revenge. Mary is caught in the crossfire and injured. Hancock manages to use some of his fading strength to fight and kill the convicts but is injured when Parker shoots him. Ray saves him by cutting off Parker's other hand with a fire axe before killing him. Hancock throws himself out of the hospital, trying to increase his distance from Mary so they can both recover, before flying off.
A month later, Ray and his family receive a call from Hancock (who is now in New York City), revealing that he has imprinted the Moon's surface with Ray's "All Heart" marketing logo. In a mid-credits scene, Hancock confronts a criminal holding a woman at gunpoint and demanding that he help him escape from the police. Hancock shows restraint when dealing with the criminal but does smile when the gunman insults him indicating that the felon is about to have a bad day.
Cast Will Smith as John Hancock, an alcoholic superhero or occasionally a supervillain. Hancock is invulnerable, immortal, possesses superhuman strength, reflexes and stamina, highly developed regeneration, and can fly at supersonic speeds. He is also an amnesiac; his first memories are of waking up alone in a hospital in 1931. During his release, the duty nurse asked him for his "John Hancock", i.e..his signature, which he adopted as his current alias. Smith described the character, "Hancock is not your average superhero. Every day he wakes up mad at the world. He doesn't remember what happened to him and there's no one to help him find the answers." To give a realistic appearance of superhero flight, Smith was often suspended by wires above the ground and propelled at . Charlize Theron as Mary Embrey, Ray's wife and Hancock's ex-wife who also has powers and abilities like him, but they are both becoming weak as they are close to each other. Theron described Mary, "She makes this conscious decision to live in suburbia and be this soccer mom to her stepson and be the perfect wife—she lives in this bubble. But when people do that it usually means they are hiding some characteristic inside themselves that scares them. That is Mary's case. She knows who she is and what she is capable of." Jason Bateman as Ray Embrey, a corporate public relations consultant whose life Hancock saves. Bateman said, "My character sees life through rose-colored glasses so he doesn't understand how people can't see the positive side of Hancock. I like being the everyman. I like being the tour guide, the one who tethers whatever absurdity might be in a film and helps make that tangible to the audience." Jae Head as Aaron Embrey, Ray's son and Mary's stepson who idolizes Hancock. Eddie Marsan as Kenneth "Red" Parker Jr., a bank robber who later becomes Hancock's archnemesis. Having previously filmed the low-budget Happy-Go-Lucky, Marsan found the transition to the big-budget Hancock to be a shock. Marsan said, "I went from being in a car with Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky to blowing up a bank in downtown LA." Actors Johnny Galecki and Thomas Lennon also appear in the film as Mike and Jeremy. Mike Epps makes an uncredited cameo in the mid-credits scene. Film producers Akiva Goldsman and Michael Mann appear as executives listening to Ray's lecture. Television host Nancy Grace also has a cameo appearance. Daeg Faerch appears as Michel, the young French American neighborhood bully who is thrown by Hancock in the air for repeatedly insulting him. Atticus Shaffer, later known for his role in the sitcom The Middle, also makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the film.
Production Development
Vy Vincent Ngo wrote the spec script Tonight, He Comes in 1996. The draft, about a troubled 12-year-old, and a fallen superhero, was initially picked up by director Tony Scott as a potential project. Producer Akiva Goldsman came across the script, which he had considered a favorite, and encouraged Richard Saperstein, then president of development and production at Artisan Entertainment, to acquire it in 2002. Eventually, Artisan placed the project in turnaround, and it was acquired by Goldsman.
Vince Gilligan and John August rewrote Ngo's script. Michael Mann was initially chosen to direct, but he instead opted to write and direct Miami Vice, and Jonathan Mostow was attached as director. Under Mostow's supervision, a ten-page treatment was written to be pitched to Will Smith to portray the lead role in the film. Neither Mostow nor Smith was yet committed to make the project an active priority at the time, and Dave Chappelle was at one point considered for the lead role. The project initially had an R rating until Smith signed on and was toned down to fit the actor's image.
Several studios attempted to finance the film, and Columbia Pictures succeeded in acquiring the project in February 2005. A second draft was scripted by Gilligan, following the finalization of the deal with Columbia. The film was initially slated for a holiday 2006 release. In November 2005, Mostow and Smith committed to Tonight, He Comes, with production slated to begin in Los Angeles in summer 2006.
Smith's salary in his pay or play contract for the film was $20 million and 20 percent of the film's gross. The actor had also set up a pay or play contract to film I Am Legend at Warner Bros. after completion of Tonight, He Comes.
Mostow eventually departed from the project due to creative differences but remained as executive producer. Italian director Gabriele Muccino filled Mostow's vacancy in May 2006. Since Muccino was busy editing The Pursuit of Happyness starring Smith, which Muccino had directed, Smith switched projects to film I Am Legend first for its December 2007 release, and then film Tonight, He Comes afterward.
Filming
In October 2006, Peter Berg was attached to direct Tonight, He Comes with production slated to begin in May 2007 in Los Angeles, the story's setting. Berg had been midway through filming The Kingdom when he heard about the film and called Michael Mann, who had become one of its producers. The new director compared the original script's tone to Leaving Las Vegas (1995), calling it "a scathing character study of this suicidal alcoholic superhero". The director explained the rewrite: "We thought the idea was cool, but we did want to lighten it up. We all did." Before filming began, Tonight, He Comes was retitled John Hancock, and it was eventually shortened to Hancock.
Filming began on Hancock on July 3, 2007, in Los Angeles, having a production budget of $150 million. Locations such as Hollywood Boulevard were designed to look damaged, having rubble, overturned vehicles, and fires. Smith's character is also an alcoholic, so for scenes in liquor stores, the art department designed fake labels such as Pap Smear Vodka for the bottles because "brown-bag brands" like Thunderbird and Night Train refused to lend their names. Reshoots were filmed in Times Square in May 2008, the late date resulting in the cancellation of the film's original world premiere in Australia on June 10, 2008.
Visual effects