Summer Guest Choice Movie: Philadelphia – VPRO Guide

Quotes from the creators
Demme, director of B-movies, music documentaries and Academy Award winner The Silence of the Lambs, enjoys making films about subjects that affect him. In 1998 he said about it in an interview with The Guardian: ‘I had quite strong feelings about different subjects, so having the chance to make films about things you care about so much is a huge thrill. It’s great to be able to do that. »

After seeing up close how a close friend was affected by the disease, and at the same time noticing the growing fear and discrimination towards HIV patients in America, Demme decided to make the film. “We didn’t want to make a movie for an audience of people who already care about people with AIDS,” Demme said in a 2013 interview. “We wanted to reach people who don’t care about people with AIDS, who look down on them. That was our target group.

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philadelphia cream was nominated for five Oscars, including two: Tom Hanks, who stars in the film, won Best Actor (his first Oscar) and rock icon Bruce Springsteen received the statuette for Best Song. His number The streets of Philadelphia, which can be heard in the film’s intro, also won Springsteen a Grammy and a Golden Globe. Along with his Oscar, Hanks has also won a Golden Globe, an MTV Award, and a Silver Bear.

Out of sight
Demme therefore deliberately did not target the LGBTQ community with her film. To reach an audience less concerned about AIDS patients, Demme hired two rock legends for the soundtrack. His thought was this: the music of Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young, “two artists who identify primarily with testosterone and machismo”, would reach the right audience more easily, so he had them write two songs.

It also didn’t seem like a good idea to Demme to let the main character kiss his friend. He said it would be “too shocking” for the general public, which drew widespread criticism from the gay community. Tom Hanks realizes that we now live in a different time, where kissing men in movies is much more common. In a recent interview with the New York Times does the actor say that philadelphia cream could not have been done the same way today. “One of the reasons people weren’t scared of the movie was that I was playing a gay man. Those days are now over, and I don’t think people would accept the inauthenticity of a man hetero playing a gay character.