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Lucky Number Slevin
Directed by	Paul McGuigan
Written by	Jason Smilovic
Starring	Josh Hartnett Bruce Willis Lucy Liu Morgan Freeman Ben Kingsley Stanley Tucci
Music by	J. Ralph
Cinematography	Peter Slova
Editing by	Andrew Hulme
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer The Weinstein Company
Release date(s)	February 24, 2006 (UK) April 7, 2006 (USA)
Running time	109 minutes
Language	English
Budget	27-30,000,000USD
Gross revenue	56,308,881USD worldwide[1]
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Lucky Number Slevin (also known as Lucky # Slevin or The Wrong Man) is a 2006 crime thriller film written by Jason Smilovic, directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley,Stanley Tucci,Lucy Liu,and Bruce Willis set in New York plot focuses on the paths of Slevin Kelevra (Hartnett), Lindsey (Liu), two feuding crime bosses known as The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley), and a mysterious assassin known as Mr. Goodkat (Willis).

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Awards and nominations 4 Trivia 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

The plot summary in this article or section is too long compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

The film opens with the mysterious deaths of two men, the first shot in a parking garage, the second man killed behind his desk with a baseball. In both cases ledgers are stolen from their bodies and the face of the assassin(s) are not shown.

Later, in the waiting area of an airport, a young, bearded man is approached by Bruce Willis's character, sitting alongside him in a wheelchair and retelling the story of a low-income family man who made a large bet with an off-track bookie based on a sure-thing tip he heard regarding a fixed horse race. The gangsters financing the bookie were new in town and upon discovering the "fixed race," eliminated everyone involved, from horse to bookie to betters, as an object lesson to solidify their reputation. After concluding the story, Willis's character stands from his wheelchair and breaks the man's neck.

In the present day, a young Slevin Kelevra (Josh Hartnett) stares at his broken nose in the mirror (after being mugged in the street) in the apartment of his friend Nick Fisher, who has invited Slevin into town. He meets Lindsey (Lucy Liu), a neighbor across the corridor. Slevin arrived at Nick's apartment and noticed the door was open and was waiting for Nick to return his calls. Lindsey thinks Nick is in trouble and immediately embarks on a mission to find out what has happened to him, as she believes Nick has something to do with a hotel telephone number.

Slevin is kidnapped by two henchmen who drag him to the office of The Boss (Morgan Freeman), a powerful local crime lord, who has mistaken Slevin for Nick and is looking to collect Nick's sizeable debt. Perhaps realizing that Slevin is not Nick, the Boss offers to forgive the debt if Slevin agrees to murder the son (The Fairy) of his rival and former partner The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley), in retaliation for the Rabbi authorizing the murder of the Boss's son. The Boss gives Slevin until the next morning to consider his options.

Soon after Slevin returns to his apartment, he is taken by some Jewish henchmen to meet The Rabbi, who resides in a penthouse directly opposite The Boss's own penthouse. The Rabbi, too, mistakes Slevin for Nick, and also wants Slevin to come up with a large sum of money to pay off a debt.

Slevin returns to the apartment, and tells Lindsey of his situation. Lindsey observes that Slevin is inexplicably calm about the situation, to which Slevin replies that he has a condition known as ataraxia.

Lindsey has taken a cell phone photo of the mysterious hitman Smith (Willis) whilst checking out a hotel she believes Nick was staying in. As Slevin reluctantly plans to murder The Fairy, he is bundled into an unmarked police van, mistaken for a new professional hit man by a detective Brikowski. The police know Slevin is not Nick, as Nick has a criminal record and his photo is on file. The Rabbi also suspects that Slevin is not Nick, but has no evidence to prove this. Meanwhile, Slevin and Lindsey become lovers.

Ratings
Argentina:	16
Australia:	MA
Brazil:	16
Canada (Alberta):	18A
Canada (BC/SK):	18A
Canada (Ontario):	18A
Canada (Manitoba):	18A
Canada (Maritime):	18A
Canada (Quebec):	18A
Finland:	K-15
France:	U
Germany:	16
Hong Kong:	IIB
Iceland:	16
Ireland:	18
Italy:	T
Malaysia:	18PL
Mexico:	C
Netherlands:	12
New Zealand:	R18
Norway:	15
Portugal:	M/16
Romania:	15 (TV)
Singapore:	R21
Spain:	18
Sweden:	15
Thailand:	18
United Kingdom:	18
United States:	R

Slevin sets up a date with The Fairy and kills him. This is a turning point in the film, as up to this point Slevin seems friendly and naive and not at all inclined to kill someone. Goodkat arrives and it becomes clear the two men are working together and Slevin is not who he appears to be. Fisher's body, which Goodkat has supplied, is planted at the scene with Slevin's unique wristwatch placed on its wrist. A bomb is then detonated, burning the bodies. The Boss is unhappy because the killing was supposed to be done in a way that made it look like an accident rather than a mob hit.

The third act of the film reveals that the whole story is about avenging the 1979 horseracing incident and the murder of Slevin's family by killing all those involved: The Boss, The Rabbi, and police detective Brikowski.

Goodkat's connection to all of this is that he was the killer hired to execute Slevin as a small boy, but was unable to do it. Instead, he chooses to keep the boy alive and raises him himself.

Later in the film, it is revealed that The Boss hired a professional killer known as Smith to kill The Fairy, but agreed with Smith's proposal to have the killing done by Nick Fisher, after which Smith would kill Nick in such a way that it would look like a suicide pact of two gay lovers, avoiding the criminal war that would inevitably follow if The Rabbi believed The Boss was behind the death of his son.

Grown-up Slevin and Goodkat decide to get close to both The Rabbi and The Boss. They do this by first eliminating the bookies financed by the Rabbi and The Boss. At this point it is revealed that Smith was responsible for the death of the man in the parking garage at the beginning of the film, and Slevin is responsible for killing the second bookie with a baseball and his bodyguards with poison tipped darts. In both cases, Slevin retrieves their books and begins studying them extensively. Slevin then kills the son of The Boss (which provokes The Boss into bringing in Goodkat, the best assassin he knows, to kill The Fairy). For this purpose, Slevin takes the identity of Nick Fisher, who owes a debt to both bosses' bookies. (Fisher is selected as he is a significant loser in both bookies' records.) Nick (the stranger in the airport at the beginning) is murdered by Goodkat, and the son of The Boss is killed by Slevin so that The Boss will hire Goodkat for revenge. Slevin pretends he was mugged and his wallet was stolen so he cannot be properly identified.

Slevin and Goodkat then kill a number of bodyguards, kidnap The Boss and The Rabbi and tie them together. Finally, Slevin kills both of them in the same way they killed his father, by wrapping plastic bags over their heads and taping them closed, causing them to suffocate.

While in his car, Detective Brikowski gets a call from another officer who tells him what he has learned about the apparently related fixed horse race and the murders of those involved. The detective instinctively discovers during this time that Slevin is the boy who was supposed to have been murdered by Goodkat. The origin of Slevin's name is also revealed as the name of the race horse that died. The detective is then disclosed to viewers as having been the mob hitman who murdered Slevin's mother.The officer also informs Detective Brikowski of the meaning of Slevin's last name i.e Kelevra, which is a Hebrew word, and before he could tell Brikowski its meaning,Slevin rises up from the backseat of the detective's car and says the meaning of the word, which was "Bad Dog" (the opposite of GoodKat) and executes him.

Lindsey wants to help Slevin, but because of her photo of Goodkat, Goodkat tells Slevin she must die. Slevin warns her, however, and has her wear body armor with a bag of blood over her heart to make it look like she has been killed. Goodkat shoots her while she's at work at the Coroner's Office, performing an autopsy (Goodkat always shoots his victims in the heart).

In the final scene, Slevin and Lindsey meet at the airport when Goodkat arrives and tells Slevin that he understands Slevin's deception, because he had done essentially the exact same thing when he chose not to execute Slevin as a small boy. They part amiably.

In an alternate ending found on the DVD, Slevin shoots Lindsey.

• Josh Hartnett — Slevin Kelevra/Henry
• Morgan Freeman — The Boss
• Ben Kingsley — The Rabbi
• Bruce Willis — Goodkat/Smith
• Lucy Liu — Lindsey
• Stanley Tucci — Detective Brikowski
• Sam Jaeger — Nick Fisher
• Rick Bramucci — Soldier
• Kevin Chamberlin — Marty
• Oliver Davis — Henry
• Victoria Fodor — Helen
• John Ghaly — Police Officer
• Janet Lane — Blondie
• Shira Leigh — Hottie
• Mykelti Williamson — Sloe
• Dorian Missick — Elvis
• Sebastien Roberts — Man
• Michael Rubenfeld — The Fairy
• Robert Forster — Murphy
• Corey Stoll — Saul
• Matthew G. Taylor — Man
• Danny Aiello — Roth

Directors Guild of Canada: Nominated: Outstanding Sound Editing - Feature Film Milan International Film Festival: Won: Best Film (Paul McGuigan) Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA: Nominated: Best Sound Editing for Music in a Feature Film Nominated: Best Sound Editing for Sound Effects and Foley in a Foreign Film

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• On promotional material for the film, Ben Kingsley's credit included his honorary title. At first, the actor was singled out for some criticism as such things are usually omitted from professional credits. It transpired that this was a mistake by a studio executive, who was unfamiliar with the conventions for titled actors.^[2]
• Bruce Willis and Josh Hartnett were in another movie together, Sin City.
• The film's title in Australia is The Wrong Man. This is the title of a 1956 Hitchcock film in which the lead character has a case of mistaken identity, a theme which many Hitchcock films, and indeed this film, share.^[3] In fact, the main character's plight in North by Northwest is referenced by The Rabbi as being similar to Slevin's.
• The film shares many similarities with Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo where a samurai plays two rival criminals against each other. Yojimbo was remade as Walter Hill's Last Man Standing which also stars Bruce Willis as a hit man named "Mr. Smith" in prohibition-era America. ^[4]
• The name of the film comes from an episode of The New Shmoo. Shmoo is also referenced by Morgan Freeman in the movie.

1. ^ Lucky Number Slevin Box Office Statistics, Box Office Mojo
2. ^ BBC News: Kingsley downplays 'Sir' furore
3. ^ The Wrong Man (2006) - Yahoo!7 Movies
4. ^ New York Times Review

• Ataraxia
• Kansas City Shuffle

• Official site
• Lucky Number Slevin at the Internet Movie Database
• Lucky Number Slevin at Rotten Tomatoes
• Lucky Number Slevin at Box Office Mojo
• Watch: Red Carpet Premiere, NYC, on independentfilm.com