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71-506: The Butler (full title Lee Daniels' The Butler ) is a 2013 American historical drama film directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels with a screenplay by Danny Strong . It is inspired by Wil Haygood 's Washington Post article "A Butler Well Served by This Election". Loosely based on the real life of Eugene Allen , who worked in the White House for decades, the film stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, an African American who

142-550: A protest to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville , Tennessee . The sit-in campaign, coordinated by the Nashville Student Movement and the Nashville Christian Leadership Council, was notable for its early success and its emphasis on disciplined nonviolence . It was part of a broader sit-in movement that spread across the southern United States in the wake of

213-408: A 72% rating, based on 201 reviews, with an average score of 6.60/10. The site's consensus says: "Gut-wrenching and emotionally affecting, Lee Daniels' The Butler overcomes an uneven narrative thanks to strong performances from an all-star cast." On Metacritic , it has a weighted average score of 65 based on 47 reviews, indicating "generally positive" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave

284-594: A cliché film designed to attract Oscar nominations. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times was more negative: "An ambitious and overdue attempt to create a Hollywood-style epic around the experience of black Americans in general and the civil rights movement in particular, it undercuts itself by hitting its points squarely on the nose with a 9-pound hammer." Several critics compared the film's historical anecdotes and sentimentality to Forrest Gump . President Barack Obama said, "I teared up thinking about not just

355-461: A commercial success, grossing more than $ 177 million worldwide against a budget of $ 30 million. In 2009, an elderly Cecil Gaines recounts his life story while waiting at the White House to meet the newly inaugurated president. Born and raised on a cotton plantation in Macon , Georgia , to sharecroppers , in 1926, when he was seven, the owner rapes his mother Hattie; his father Earl confronts him and

426-541: A genre directed towards women. Historical dramas have also been described as a conservative genre, glorifying an imagined past that never existed. Historical drama may include mostly fictionalized narratives based on actual people or historical events, such as the history plays of Shakespeare , Apollo 13 , The Tudors , Braveheart , Chernobyl , Enemy at the Gates , Les Misérables , and Titanic . Works may include references to real-life people or events from

497-482: A goodwill gesture, Jackie Kennedy gives Cecil one of the former president's neckties . Louis participates in the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement , which inspires Johnson to demand that Congress enact the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 . Johnson also gives Cecil a tie bar . In the late 1960s, after civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. 's assassination , Louis tells his family that he has joined

568-405: A nearby dormitory. Rather than discouraging the protesters, this event served as a catalyst for the movement. Within hours, news of the bombing had spread throughout the community. Around noon, nearly 4000 people marched silently to City Hall to confront the mayor. Mayor West met the marchers at the courthouse steps. Reverend C. T. Vivian read a prepared statement accusing the mayor of ignoring

639-704: A now-lost 1916 silent short film with the same name. The case was subsequently resolved with the MPAA granting The Weinstein Company permission to add Lee Daniels in front of the title, under the condition that his name was "75% the size of The Butler " . On July 23, 2013, the distributor unveiled a revised poster, displaying the title as Lee Daniels' The Butler . Principal photography started in June 2012 in New Orleans . Interior White House scenes were shot at Second Line Stages. Production

710-630: A seat in Congress, although Cecil continues to resent him. Cecil repeatedly approaches his supervisor at the White House over the unequal pay and career advancement provided to the Black White House staff. With President Ronald Reagan 's support, Cecil prevails, his reputation growing to the point that he and his wife are invited by the Reagans to be guests at a state dinner. Cecil becomes uncomfortable with

781-683: A segregated system, ever thought about desegregating downtown." The Nashville Christian Leadership Council (or NCLC), was founded by the Reverend Kelly Miller Smith , pastor of First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill. This organization was an affiliate of Martin Luther King Jr. 's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and was established to promote civil rights for African Americans through nonviolent civil disobedience . Smith believed that White Americans would be more sympathetic to desegregation if African Americans obtained their rights through peaceful demonstration rather than through

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852-490: A strong sense of the inner complexities and contradictions of the civil-rights landscape". USA Today gave the film three stars out of four, and noted, "It's inspiring and filled with fine performances, but the insistently swelling musical score and melodramatic moments seem calculated and undercut a powerful story". Miles Davis of the New York Tribune gave the film a negative review, claiming it to be " Oscar bait ",

923-518: A surge of media coverage to the sit-in campaign, including national television news coverage, front-page stories in both of Nashville's daily newspapers, and an Associated Press story. The students generally viewed any media coverage as helpful to their cause, especially when it illustrated their commitment to nonviolence. Several other sit-ins took place over the following two months, resulting in more arrests and further attacks against sit-in participants. Over 150 students were arrested. Throughout

994-497: A year by the American Association of Theological Schools . On March 3, in an effort to defuse the racial tensions caused by the sit-ins, Mayor West announced the formation of a Biracial Committee to seek a solution to the city's racial strife. The committee included the presidents of two of the city's black universities , but did not include any representatives from the student movement. The committee met several times over

1065-564: Is a witness of notable political and social events of the 20th century during his 34-year tenure serving as a White House butler . In addition to Whitaker, the film's all-star cast features Oprah Winfrey , Mariah Carey , John Cusack , Nelsan Ellis , Jane Fonda , Cuba Gooding Jr. , Terrence Howard , Minka Kelly , Elijah Kelley , Lenny Kravitz , James Marsden , David Oyelowo , Alex Pettyfer , Vanessa Redgrave , Alan Rickman , Liev Schreiber , Robin Williams and Clarence Williams III . It

1136-452: Is elected as the nation's first Black president. Two months, two weeks and one day later, Cecil prepares to meet the newly inaugurated President, wearing the articles that he received from Kennedy and Johnson. White House Chief Usher Stephen W. Rochon approaches him, telling him that the president is ready and preparing to show him the way to the Oval Office . Cecil tells him that he knows

1207-479: Is killed. Cecil is taken in by the estate's elderly matron, who trains him to be a house servant. In 1937, at age 18, Cecil leaves the plantation. Desperately hungry, he breaks into a hotel pastry shop. The elderly master-servant Maynard takes pity on him and gives him a job. Cecil learns advanced serving and interpersonal skills from Maynard, who later recommends Cecil for a position in a Washington, D.C. , hotel. While working there, Cecil meets and marries Gloria, and

1278-463: The Nashville Banner denouncing Lawson as a "flannel-mouth agitator", brought Lawson's activities to the attention of Vanderbilt University where he was enrolled as a Divinity School student. The newspaper was owned by James G. Stahlman , a Vanderbilt trustee who was "strongly anti-integration"; it published misleading stories, including the suggestion that Lawson had incited others to "violate

1349-681: The Black Panthers . Cecil orders Louis and his girlfriend to leave his house. Louis is again arrested. Cecil becomes aware of President Richard Nixon 's plans to suppress the Black Panthers. Charlie confides to Louis that he plans to join the war in Vietnam . After enlisting, he is killed and buried at Arlington National Cemetery . When the Black Panthers resort to violence, Louis leaves the organization and returns to college, earning his master's degree in political science and eventually running for

1420-556: The Cain-Sloan store on December 5. Small groups of students purchased items at the stores and then sat at their lunch counters and attempted to order food. Their goal was to try to sense the mood and degree of resistance in each store. Although they were refused service at both lunch counters, the reactions varied significantly. At Harveys, they received surprisingly polite responses, while at Cain-Sloan they were treated with contempt. These reconnaissance actions were low-key and neither of

1491-588: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 , which prohibited segregation in public places throughout the United States. In that year, many of the key figures of the sit-ins, including James Lawson and Kelly Miller Smith , were interviewed by Robert Penn Warren for his book Who Speaks for the Negro? , in which they reflected on their experiences. Several events were held in 2010 in order to mark the fiftieth anniversary of

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1562-575: The Greensboro sit-ins in North Carolina. Over the course of the Nashville sit-in campaign, sit-ins were staged at numerous stores in the central business district. Over 150 students were eventually arrested for refusing to vacate store lunch counters when ordered to do so by police. At trial, the students were represented by a group of 13 lawyers, headed by Z. Alexander Looby . On April 19, Looby's home

1633-454: The Ku Klux Klan while on a freedom ride to Birmingham , Alabama . Louis participates in the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade , where dogs and water cannons are used to stop the marchers, an action that inspires Kennedy to deliver a national address proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . After Kennedy is assassinated , his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson , enacts the legislation. As

1704-624: The Roaring Twenties , or the recent past. In different eras different subgenres have risen to popularity, such as the westerns and sword and sandal films that dominated North American cinema in the 1950s. The costume drama is often separated as a genre of historical dramas. Early critics defined them as films focusing on romance and relationships in sumptuous surroundings, contrasting them with other historical dramas believed to have more serious themes. Other critics have defended costume dramas, and argued that they are disparaged because they are

1775-483: The southern United States . In Nashville, like most Southern cities, African Americans were severely disadvantaged under the system of Jim Crow segregation. Besides being relegated to underfunded schools and barred from numerous public accommodations, African Americans had few prospects for skilled employment and were subject to constant discrimination from the white majority. Although serious efforts were made to oppose Jim Crow laws in Nashville as early as 1905, it

1846-529: The Biracial Committee issued its report, the sit-ins resumed, and the boycott of downtown businesses was intensified. At 5:30 am on April 19, dynamite was thrown through a front window of Z. Alexander Looby's home in north Nashville, apparently in retaliation for his support of the demonstrators. Although the explosion almost destroyed the house, Looby and his wife, who were asleep in a back bedroom, were not injured. The blast broke more than 140 windows in

1917-470: The Civil Rights Movement, among them: Marion Barry , James Bevel , Bernard Lafayette , John Lewis , Diane Nash , and C. T. Vivian . During these workshops it was decided that the first target for the group's actions would be downtown lunch counters. At the time, African Americans were allowed to shop in downtown stores but were not allowed to eat in the stores' restaurants. The group felt that

1988-766: The Gaineses' elder son, becomes a university student at Fisk University in Nashville , Tennessee , although Cecil feels that the South is too volatile. Louis joins the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), activist James Lawson 's student program, which leads to a nonviolent sit-in at a segregated diner , where he is arrested. Gloria, who feels that Cecil puts his job ahead of her, descends into alcoholism . In 1961, after John F. Kennedy 's inauguration, Louis and others are attacked by members of

2059-527: The Nashville student activists held a fourth sit-in at the Woolworths, McLellan's, and Walgreens stores. Crowds of white youths again gathered in the stores to taunt and harass the demonstrators. This time, however, police were not present. Eventually, several of the sit-in demonstrators were attacked by hecklers in the McLellan's and Woolworths stores. Some were pulled from their seats and beaten, and one demonstrator

2130-494: The United States Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of " separate but equal ". This decision led to the proliferation of Jim Crow laws throughout the United States. These laws mandated or explicitly allowed segregation in virtually all spheres of public life and allowed racial discrimination to flourish across the country, especially in

2201-477: The aisles inside. Do show yourself courteous and friendly at all times. Do sit straight; always face the counter. Do report all serious incidents to your leader. Do refer information seekers to your leader in a polite manner. Remember the teachings of Jesus , Gandhi , Martin Luther King . Love and nonviolence is the way." The trials of the sit-in participants attracted widespread interest throughout Nashville and

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2272-628: The apartheid regime collapsed in South Africa that it wasn't replaced by a Marxist - totalitarian regime allied with Moscow and Cuba that would take the South African people down the same road as Ethiopia , Mozambique , and, yes, Cuba. In the immediate years before Reagan became president, 11 countries from the Third World, from Asia to Africa to Latin America, went Communist . It was devastating. If

2343-400: The bench, turning the trial over to Special City Judge John I. Harris. Despite strong support from the black community, all the students who had been arrested were convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $ 50. The students refused to pay the fines, however, and chose instead to serve thirty-three days in the county workhouse. Diane Nash issued a statement on behalf of the students explaining

2414-600: The butlers who worked here in the White House, but an entire generation of people who were talented and skilled. But because of Jim Crow and because of discrimination , there was only so far they could go." Regarding historical accuracy, Eliana Dockterman wrote in Time : "Allen was born on a Virginia plantation in 1919, not in Georgia.... In the movie, Cecil Gaines grows up on a cotton field in Macon, where his family comes into conflict with

2485-497: The city's newspapers was notified of them. Before the students in Nashville had a chance to formalize their plans, events elsewhere brought renewed urgency to the effort. During the first week of February 1960, a small sit-in demonstration in Greensboro, North Carolina , grew into a significant protest with over eighty students participating by the third day. Although similar demonstrations had occurred previously in other cities, this

2556-411: The class divisions in the White House. After witnessing Reagan's refusal to support economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa , he resigns. Gloria encourages Cecil to mend his relationship with Louis. Realizing that his son's actions are heroic, he joins him at a protest against South African apartheid; they are arrested and jailed together. In 2008, Gloria dies shortly before Barack Obama

2627-516: The couple have two sons, Louis and Charlie. In 1957, Cecil is hired by the White House during Dwight D. Eisenhower 's administration. White House maître d'hôtel Freddie Fallows introduces him to head butler Carter Wilson and co-worker James Holloway. Cecil witnesses Eisenhower's reluctance to use troops to enforce school desegregation , then his resolve to uphold the law by racially integrating Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas . Louis,

2698-416: The decision: "We feel that if we pay these fines we would be contributing to and supporting the injustice and immoral practices that have been performed in the arrest and conviction of the defendants." The same day the trials began, a group of black ministers, including James Lawson, met with Mayor Ben West to discuss the sit-ins. Coverage of the meeting by the local press, including a scathing editorial in

2769-408: The demonstrations, the student activists maintained a policy of disciplined nonviolence. Their written code of conduct became a model followed by demonstrators in other cities: "Do not strike back or curse if abused. Do not laugh out. Do not hold conversations with the floor walker. Do not leave your seat until your leader has given you permission to do so. Do not block entrances to stores outside nor

2840-427: The director and screenwriters of the film for depicting Reagan as indifferent to civil rights and his reluctance to associate with the White House's Black employees during his presidency. According to Michael Reagan , the former president's son and a conservative activist, "The real story of the White House butler doesn't imply racism at all. It's simply Hollywood liberals wanting to believe something about my father that

2911-515: The downtown Woolworths , S. H. Kress , and McLellan stores and asked to be served at the lunch counters. After the staff refused to serve them, they sat in the stores for two hours and then left without incident. On the Monday following the first sit-in, the Baptist Minister's Conference of Nashville, representing 79 congregations, unanimously voted to support the student movement, thus throwing

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2982-401: The end of the sit-in campaign brought a brief respite for civil rights activists in Nashville, institutionalized racism remained a problem throughout the city. Over the next few years, further sit-ins, pickets, and other actions would take place at restaurants, movie theaters, public swimming pools, and other segregated facilities across Nashville. These actions continued until Congress passed

3053-507: The event and instruct them to serve the customers without trouble. This arrangement would continue in a controlled manner for a couple of weeks, and then all controls would be taken off, at which point the merchants and protest leaders would reconvene to evaluate the results. Also, as part of the agreement, the media was to be informed of the settlement and requested to provide only accurate, non-sensational coverage. On May 10, six downtown stores opened their lunch counters to black customers for

3124-617: The film an "A" on a scale of A+ to F. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film, saying, "Even with all contrivances and obvious point-making and familiar historical signposting, Daniels' The Butler is always engaging, often entertaining and certainly never dull." Richard Roeper lauded the film's casting, remarking that "Forest Whitaker gives the performance of his career". Rolling Stone also spoke highly of Whitaker, writing that his "reflective, powerfully understated performance...fills this flawed film with potency and purpose". Variety wrote that "Daniels develops

3195-455: The film refuses to deal with this issue with the necessary balance, it shouldn't deal with it at all." Historical film Historical drama can be differentiated from historical fiction , which generally present fictional characters and events against a backdrop of historical events. A period piece may be set in a vague or general era such as the Middle Ages , or a specific period such as

3266-525: The film. In spring 2012, AI Film, a British financing and production company, added a $ 6 million guarantee against foreign pre-sales. Finally, the film raised its requisite $ 30 million budget through 41 producers and executive producers, including Earl W. Stafford, Harry I. Martin Jr., Brett Johnson, Michael Finley and Buddy Patrick. Thereafter, as film production started, Weinstein Co. picked up U.S. distribution rights for

3337-419: The film. After reading Danny Strong's screenplay, Johnson invested $ 2.7 million before bringing in several African American investors. However, Ziskin died from cancer in June 2011. This left director Daniels and producing partner Hilary Shor to look further for producers. They started with Cassian Elwes , with whom they were working on The Paperboy . Elwes joined the list of producers and began fundraising for

3408-417: The film. David Glasser, Weinstein Co. COO, called fundraising as an independent film "a story that's a movie within itself". The Weinstein Company acquired the distribution rights for the film after Columbia Pictures put the film in turnaround . The film's title was up for a possible renaming due to a Motion Picture Association claim from Warner Bros. , which had inherited from the defunct Lubin Company

3479-490: The first time. Although the initial campaign successfully desegregated downtown lunch counters, sit-ins, pickets, and protests against other segregated facilities continued in Nashville until passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , which ended overt, legally sanctioned segregation nationwide. Many of the organizers of the Nashville sit-ins went on to become important leaders in the Civil Rights Movement . In 1896,

3550-461: The first time. The customers arrived in groups of two or three during the afternoon and were served without incident. At the same time, African Americans ended their six-week-old boycott of the downtown stores. The plan continued successfully and the lunch counters were integrated without any further incidents of violence. Nashville thus became the first major city in the southern United States to begin desegregating its public facilities. Although

3621-411: The great movement that has taken place in this community." After weeks of secret negotiations between merchants and protest leaders, an agreement was finally reached during the first week of May. According to the agreement, small, selected groups of African Americans would order food at the downtown lunch counters on a day known in advance to the merchants. The merchants would prepare their employees for

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3692-523: The issue. Regardless, the mayor's response was later cited as an important turning point by both activists and Nashville business owners. The day after the bombing, Martin Luther King Jr. came to Nashville to speak at Fisk University . During the speech, he praised the Nashville sit-in movement as "the best organized and the most disciplined in the Southland." He further stated that he came to Nashville "not to bring inspiration but to gain inspiration from

3763-738: The judicial system or violent confrontation. From March 26 to 28, 1958, the NCLC held the first of many workshops on using nonviolent tactics to challenge segregation. These workshops were led by James Lawson , who had studied the principles of nonviolent resistance while working as a missionary in India. Later workshops were mainly attended by students from Fisk University , Tennessee A&I (later Tennessee State University ), American Baptist Theological Seminary (later American Baptist College ), and Meharry Medical College . Among those attending Lawson's sessions were students who would become significant leaders in

3834-406: The law." When Lawson was confronted by Vanderbilt's executive committee and told he would have to end his involvement with the sit-ins, Lawson refused. He was immediately expelled from the university by Chancellor Harvie Branscomb , and arrested the next day. Dean J. Robert Nelson resigned in protest and paid Lawson's bail with three of his colleagues, and the school was placed on probation for

3905-657: The lunch counters were a good objective because they were highly visible, easily accessible, and provided a stark example of the injustices black Southerners faced every day. In late 1959, James Lawson and other members of the NCLC's projects committee met with department store owners Fred Harvey and John Sloan, and asked them to voluntarily serve African Americans at their lunch counters. Both men declined, saying that they would lose more business than they would gain. The students then began doing reconnaissance for sit-in demonstrations. The first test took place at Harveys Department Store in downtown Nashville on November 28, followed by

3976-406: The moral issues involved in segregation and turning a blind eye to violence and injustice. Diane Nash then asked the mayor if he felt it was wrong to discriminate against a person based solely on their race or skin color. West answered that he agreed it was wrong. Nash then asked him if he believed that lunch counters in the city should be desegregated. West answered, "Yes", then added, "That's up to

4047-404: The next month and delivered its recommendations in a report on April 5. The committee recommended to partially integrating the city's lunch counters. Each store would have one section for whites only and another for whites and blacks. This solution was rejected by the student leaders, who considered the recommendations morally unacceptable and based upon a segregation policy. Less than a week after

4118-583: The previous four stores and the downtown Walgreens drugstore. As the students sat at the counters, crowds of white youths gathered in several of the stores. Police kept a watchful eye on all five locations, but no incidents of violence occurred. The students remained for nearly three hours until adjourning to a mass meeting at the First Baptist Church. Tensions mounted over the following week as sit-in demonstrations spread to other cities and race riots broke out in nearby Chattanooga . On February 27,

4189-738: The relevant time period or contain factually accurate representations of the time period. Works that focus on accurately portraying specific historical events or persons are instead known as docudrama , such as The Report . Where a person's life is central to the story, such a work is known as biographical drama , with notable examples being films such as Alexander , Frida , House of Saddam , Lincoln , Lust for Life , Raging Bull , Stalin , and Oppenheimer . Nashville sit-ins NCLC members Students Lawyers Businessmen City of Memphis City of Nashville Other localities The Nashville sit-ins , which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of

4260-424: The store managers, of course." Coverage of this event varied significantly between Nashville's two major newspapers. The Tennessean emphasized the mayor's agreement that lunch counters should be desegregated, while the Nashville Banner emphasized the mayor's statement that it was up to the city's merchants to decide whether to desegregate. This was largely indicative of the two papers' opposing stances on

4331-433: The surrounding region. On February 29, the first day of the trials, a crowd of more than 2000 people lined the streets surrounding the city courthouse to show their support for the defendants. A group of 13 lawyers, headed by Z. Alexander Looby , represented the students. Initially, the trial was presided over by City Judge Andrew J. Doyle. Doyle dismissed the loitering charges against the students and then stepped down from

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4402-608: The way and walks down the hall to the office. Presidents Gerald Ford , Jimmy Carter , Barack Obama and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson are depicted in archival footage . Melissa Leo and Orlando Eric Street were cast as First Lady Mamie Eisenhower and Barack Obama, respectively, but did not appear in the finished film. Danny Strong 's screenplay is inspired by Wil Haygood's Washington Post article "A Butler Well Served by This Election". The project received initial backing in early 2011 when producers Laura Ziskin and Pam Williams approached Sheila Johnson for help financing

4473-635: The weight of Nashville's black religious community behind the students. Local religious leaders called on people of good will to boycott downtown merchants who practiced segregation. Nashville's black community strongly supported the boycott, causing economic hardship for the merchants. The second sit-in occurred on Thursday, February 18, when more than 200 students entered Woolworths, S. H. Kress, McLellan's, and Grants . The lunch counters were immediately closed. The students remained for about half an hour and then left, again without incident. The third sit-in occurred on February 20 when about 350 students entered

4544-528: The white farmers for whom they work. What befalls his parents on the cotton field was added for dramatic effect .... Though tension between father and son over civil rights issues fuels most of the drama in the film, [Eugene Allen's son] Charles Allen was not the radical political activist that Gaines's son is in the movie." Particular criticism has been directed at the film's accuracy in portraying President Ronald Reagan . While Alan Rickman's performance generated positive reviews, conservative activists criticized

4615-497: Was bombed, although he escaped uninjured. Later that day, at least 3,000 people marched to City Hall to confront Mayor Ben West about the escalating violence. When asked if he believed the lunch counters in Nashville should be desegregated, West agreed that they should. After subsequent negotiations between the store owners and protest leaders, an agreement was reached during the first week of May. On May 10, six downtown stores began serving black customers at their lunch counters for

4686-446: Was never there." Paul Kengor , one of President Reagan's biographers, also attacked the film, saying, "I've talked to many White House staff, cooks, housekeepers, doctors, and Secret Service over the years. They are universal in their love of Ronald Reagan." Regarding the president's initial opposition to sanctions against apartheid in South Africa, Kengor said, "Ronald Reagan was appalled by apartheid, but also wanted to ensure that if

4757-400: Was not until 1958, with the formation of the Nashville Christian Leadership Council, that Nashville's African American community would lay the foundation for dismantling racial segregation. "We decided with great fear and anticipation we would desegregate downtown Nashville. No group of black people or other people anywhere in the United States in the 20th century, against the rapaciousness of

4828-622: Was originally scheduled to wrap in early August 2012 but was delayed by the impact of Hurricane Isaac . In its opening weekend, the film debuted in first place, with $ 24.6 million. The film topped the North American box office in its first three consecutive weeks. The film has grossed $ 116.6 million in Canada and the United States, and it earned $ 60.7 million elsewhere, for a total of $ 177.3 million. The Butler received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes , it has

4899-414: Was pushed down a flight of stairs. When police arrived, the white attackers fled and none were arrested. Police then ordered the demonstrators at all three locations to leave the stores. When the demonstrators refused to leave, they were arrested and loaded into police vehicles as onlookers applauded. Eighty-one students were arrested and charged with loitering and disorderly conduct. The arrests brought

4970-447: Was the first to attract substantial media attention and public notice. When Lawson's group met the subsequent Friday night, about 500 new volunteers showed up to join the cause. Although Lawson and other adult organizers argued for delay, the student leaders insisted that the time had come for action. The first large-scale organized sit-in was on Saturday, February 13, 1960. At about 12:30 pm, 124 students, most of them black, walked into

5041-461: Was the last film produced by Laura Ziskin , who died on June 12, 2011. It was also the final film appearance of Clarence Williams III, who retired from acting in 2018 and died on June 4, 2021. The film was theatrically released by the Weinstein Company on August 16, 2013, to mostly positive reviews from critics, with many praising the cast but criticizing the historical accuracy. The film was

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