Willard (2003 film)

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Willard
Willard film poster
Directed by	Glen Morgan
Produced by	Glen Morgan
Written by	Gilbert Ralston Glen Morgan
Starring	Crispin Glover R. Lee Ermey Laura Harring
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	14 March 2003 (USA)
Running time	100 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	US$22,000,000
IMDb profile

Willard is a 2003 film loosely based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks by Gilbert Ralston and the 1971 film Willard. It was not billed as a sequel by the producers, but as a re-working of the themes from the original, with a stronger focus on suspense.^[1]

1 Plot
2 Themes
3 Awards
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Willard Stiles (played by Crispin Glover) is a social misfit taking care of his ill and fragile but verbally abusive mother Henrietta (Jackie Burroughs) in a musty old mansion that is also home to a colony of rats. Willard finds himself constantly humiliated in front of his co-workers and is eventually fired by his cruel and uncaring boss, Frank Martin (R. Lee Ermey), a vicious man whose professional interest in Willard extends to a personal financial one. A co-worker Cathryn (Laura Harring) has feelings for the quirky Willard. Meanwhile, Willard quickly becomes obsessed with his friendship with a rat he names Socrates. Socrates has competition with a much larger rat named Ben. Nonetheless when Socrates is killed, Ben is more than willing to guide the army of basement rats to help Willard avenge himself upon his slave-driving boss, who has even more devious intentions to inflict on Willard, after firing him.

[edit] Themes

Whether the filmmakers intended it to or not, Willard makes a statement about coping with negative emotions. The rats symbolize Willard's anger and discontent, and as Martin's abuse goes further, Willard becomes more angry and the rats increase in number. Eventually, the rats are in their thousands, and, like Willard's rage, become difficult to control.

[edit] Awards

Crispin Glover was nominated for Best Actor at the 2004 Saturn Awards for Willard.
Robert McLachlan won the CSC award at the Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards for Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature for Willard.
The DVD release of Willard was nominated for a Golden Satellite award in Best DVD Extras at the 2004 Satellite Awards.