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Road to Perdition is a 2002 American crime drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by David Self, based on the first volume of the graphic novel series of the same name by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. It stars Tom Hanks, Paul Newman (in his final live-action theatrical film role), Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stanley Tucci, Daniel Craig and Tyler Hoechlin in his film debut. Set in 1931 during the Great Depression, the film follows a mob enforcer and his son as they seek vengeance against the mobster who murdered the rest of their family. The film explores themes such as father-son relationships and the consequences of violence. Road to Perdition was screened at the 59th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2002, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion. The film was theatrically released in the United States on July 12, 2002, and was a box office success, grossing over $181 million against its $80 million budget. It was well received by critics, who praised Mendes' direction, Conrad L. Hall's cinematography, and the performances of the cast. At the 75th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Newman, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Art Direction. Hall was posthumously awarded the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Plot The film is set in 1931 during the Great Depression. Michael Sullivan, Sr. was orphaned and then raised by Irish Mob boss John Rooney in Rock Island, Illinois; unbeknownst to his own children, he is now Rooney's most fearsome enforcer. Rooney has come to love Sullivan more than he loves his own biological son, the rash and unpredictable Connor. Speaking at his brother's wake, Rooney associate Finn McGovern insinuates that Rooney is responsible for his brother's death. Rooney sends Connor and Sullivan to talk with McGovern. Sullivan's older son, twelve-year-old Michael Jr., watches the interaction through a hole in the wall after having hidden in the back of the family car. McGovern denies that his brother stole anything from the mob and implies that Connor was responsible for the theft. Connor shoots McGovern, forcing Sullivan to shoot the other armed witnesses in self-defense. Sullivan learns that Michael saw the shootout and swears him to secrecy. Rooney sends Sullivan to collect a debt from Tony Calvino. Connor, jealous and afraid, sends a letter with Sullivan for Calvino. Calvino reads the letter and reaches for his revolver, but Sullivan kills both Calvino and his bodyguard. The letter reads, "Kill Sullivan and all debts are paid". Sullivan rushes home. When he arrives, he discovers that Connor has already murdered his wife, Annie, and their younger son, Peter. Michael was unharmed, as he had arrived home late from detention. Sullivan and Michael flee Rock Island and head to Chicago to meet mobster Frank Nitti. Sullivan offers to work for the Chicago Outfit in exchange for permission to kill Connor. Nitti rejects his offer and advises Sullivan against seeking revenge. Rooney, listening next door with Connor, reluctantly allows Nitti to dispatch freelance killer Harlen Maguire (who doubles as a crime scene photographer) to kill Sullivan. Maguire tracks the Sullivans to a roadside diner. Maguire and Sullivan have a seemingly casual conversation while Michael stays in the car. Sensing the danger, Sullivan escapes the diner through the bathroom window and slashes Maguire's tires before driving away. Sullivan begins robbing the banks that hold the Outfit's money; in so doing, he hopes to pressure the Outfit into withdrawing their protection from Connor. Sullivan teaches Michael to drive so that he can act as a getaway driver. The mob withdraws money from its banks, frustrating Sullivan's plan. He visits Rooney's accountant, Alexander Rance. Rance stalls Sullivan until Maguire enters with a shotgun. Rance is killed in the crossfire before Sullivan wounds Maguire and escapes with Rooney's ledgers. During the escape, Maguire shoots Sullivan in the shoulder. Michael drives them to a farm after Sullivan collapses from his wound, and an elderly childless husband and wife at the farm help him recover. The ledgers reveal that Connor has been embezzling from his father. Believing that Rooney will call off the hit on him if he knows the truth, Sullivan heads back to Chicago. Sullivan confronts Rooney at Mass and finds Rooney already knows that Connor has been robbing him. Rooney states that he expects that Connor will either be killed by Sullivan or be killed by Nitti's men after Rooney has died. Nevertheless, Rooney refuses to give up his son. He urges Sullivan to flee with Michael and raise him to be a better man than either of them are. Sullivan later ambushes and kills Rooney's bodyguards and then Rooney himself. Nitti reveals Connor's location after Sullivan promises that the feud will end with Connor's death. Sullivan goes to the hotel where Connor is hiding and kills him. Sullivan takes Michael to his aunt's beach house in Perdition. Once there, he is ambushed and shot by Maguire inside the house as Michael stands on the beach. Michael appears and points a gun at Maguire, and Sullivan fatally shoots Maguire in the back. Michael tells his father that he could not pull the trigger, and Sullivan nods and smiles as he dies in his son's arms. Michael drives the car back to the elderly couple's farm. In a voiceover, he says that he grew up there. He adds that he has not held a gun since his father's death. Michael states that when he is asked if his father was a good man, he simply answers, "He was my father". Cast Production Development When Max Allan Collins wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition, his book agent saw potential in the story as a film adaptation and showed it to a film agent. By 1999, the novel had reached Dean Zanuck, who was the vice president of development at the company owned by his father, producer Richard D. Zanuck. The novel was sent to the elder Zanuck in Morocco, who was there producing Rules of Engagement (2000). The Zanucks agreed on the story's prospect and sent it to director-producer Steven Spielberg. Shortly afterward, Spielberg set up the project at his studio DreamWorks, though he did not pursue direction of the film due to his full slate. Mendes sought a new project after completing American Beauty (1999) and explored prospects including A Beautiful Mind, K-PAX, The Shipping News, and The Lookout. DreamWorks sent Mendes Road to Perdition as a prospect, and Mendes was attracted to the story, considering it "narratively very simple, but thematically very complex". He specified one theme being the parents' world is inaccessible to their children. Mendes considered the story's theme to be about how children deal with violence, and whether exposure to violence would render children violent themselves. Mendes described the script as having "no moral absolutes", a factor that appealed to the director. Writing Spielberg fir.... Discover the Connor Sullivan popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Connor Sullivan books.