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Dallas Buyers Club
Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.
2013 · Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée · 117 min · Drama · History · Screenplay in the scene database · 36 frames
Tagline
Dare to live.
Plot
In 1985, promiscuous Dallas electrician and rodeo cowboy Ron Woodroof is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and told that he has about 30 days to live. At first, he refuses to accept the diagnosis until he remembers having unprotected sex with a prostitute who was an IV drug user. Woodroof's family and friends ostracize him, mistakenly assuming he contracted AIDS from gay sex. He is fired from his job and evicted from his home. His doctor, Eve Saks, tells him an antiretroviral drug called AZT—the only drug yet approved for testing in human clinical trials by the FDA—is thought to prolong the life of AIDS patients. Saks informs him that half of the trial patients receive the drug and the other half receive a placebo, since this is the only way to determine whether the drug works.
Woodroof bribes a hospital worker to get him AZT, which, exacerbated by his cocaine and alcohol abuse, causes his health to deteriorate. Recuperating in the hospital, he meets Rayon, a drug-addicted, HIV-positive trans woman, whom he is initially hostile toward. As his health worsens, he drives to a makeshift Mexican hospital to get more AZT. The facility is run by an American, Dr. Vass, whose medical license was revoked because his work with people with AIDS had violated US regulations. Vass warns Woodroof against AZT, calling it "poisonous." Instead, he prescribes a cocktail of drugs and nutritional supplements centered on ddC and the protein peptide T, which are not yet approved for use in the USA by the FDA. Three months later, Woodroof finds his health much improved and realizes he could make money by importing the drugs and selling them to other HIV-positive patients. He is able to get the drugs over the border by masquerading as a priest with cancer and claiming they are for personal use. Dr. Saks starts to notice the adverse effects of AZT, but her supervisor, Dr. Sevard, tells her the trials cannot be discontinued.
Woodroof starts selling the drugs in Dallas on the street, at gay nightclubs, and discotheque bars. He reluctantly partners with Rayon since she can bring in more customers. The pair establishes the Dallas Buyers Club, charging $400 per month for membership and giving away the drugs to members to circumvent the laws that made it illegal to sell the drugs. The club is extremely popular, and Woodroof gradually begins to respect Rayon as a friend. When Woodroof is hospitalized for a heart attack caused by an overdose of recently acquired interferon from Japan, Dr. Sevard learns of the club and its alternative drugs and is angry that the buyers' club is interfering with his trial. The FDA confiscates the interferon and threatens to have Woodroof arrested. Dr. Saks agrees that there are benefits to clubs for HIV drugs, but feels powerless to change anything. The process the FDA uses to research, test, and approve drugs is considered flawed and part of the problem for people suffering from AIDS. At that time, the USA and the FDA were particularly conservative by international standards in testing and approving anti-AIDS drugs. They were hostile to imported drugs to the point that they were made contraband. Dr. Saks and Woodroof begin a friendship.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Melisa Wallack, Craig Borten
- Cinematography: Yves Bélanger
- Edited by: Martin Pensa, Jean-Marc Vallée
- Production design: John Paino
- Produced by: Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter
Cast
- Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof
- Jennifer Garner as Eve
- Jared Leto as Rayon
- Denis O'Hare as Dr. Sevard
- Steve Zahn as Tucker
- Michael O'Neill as Richard Barkley
- Dallas Roberts as David Wayne
- Griffin Dunne as Dr. Vass
- Kevin Rankin as T.J.
- Donna DuPlantier as Nurse Frazin
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Japanese
- Studios: Truth Entertainment, Voltage Pictures, CE, Evolution Independent
- Budget: $5,000,000
- Box office: $55,736,588
- Themes: aids, homophobia, rodeo, texas, biography, dallas, texas, based on true story, hiv, drugs, lgbt
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