The Ninth Gate

The Ninth Gate is a 1999 French-Spanish-American mystery thriller film directed, produced, and co-written by Roman Polanski. The film is loosely based upon Arturo Pérez-Reverte's 1993 novel The Club Dumas. The plot involves the search for a rare, ancient book that purportedly contains the secret to magically summoning the Devil. The premiere showing was at San Sebastián, Spain, on 25 August 1999, a month before the 47th San Sebastian International Film Festival. It failed critically and commercially in North America; reviewers claimed it was a lesser effort than Rosemary's Baby (1968), Polanski's best-known supernatural film. Nonetheless, The Ninth Gate earned a worldwide gross of $58.4 million against a $38 million budget.

Plot

Dean Corso (Johnny Depp), a New York City rare book dealer, makes his living conning people into selling him valuable antique books for a low price, and then selling them for profit. He meets with wealthy book collector Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), who has recently acquired a copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows by 17th-century author Aristide Torchia, one of only three copies known to exist. According to legend, the book is Torchia's adaptation of an older book written by the Devil himself and purportedly contains the means to ritualistically summon the Devil and, through him, acquire invincibility and immortality. Balkan believes two of the copies are forgeries. He hires Corso to authenticate all three copies, and acquire the legitimate copy by any means necessary.

The Ninth (film)

The Ninth is a 2014 American Short film written and directed by Corey Hammett and J. Colby Doler. The Ninth follows the story of Edward Vitz, a fictional Jewish-American sculptor who is working on his ninth and final piece.

The Ninth was created for the 2014 Louisiana Film Prize after J. Colby Doler and Corey Hammett received a $3k grant at the 2013 festival for their short film Red River Ode. The remainder of the budget was out-of-pocket. It was announced as an Official Selection for the Louisiana Film Prize on August 12, 2014.

Plot

The Ninth is a fictional story following world-famous sculptor Edward Vitz as he contemplates his ninth and final piece after being diagnosed with cataracts.

Cast

Production & Development

Production on The Ninth began in November 2013 after a brief hiatus by the filmmakers following the 2013 Louisiana Film Prize. Originally titled "Solace", it was renamed due to another film of the same name, a feature starring Anthony Hopkins, being released the same year. Corey Hammett developed the idea for the film, an original story based on no other work.