"I like the idea of a film taking place over a 24-hour period;' says director Spike Lee. After previously exploring a story that takes place over a single day in his Academy Award' - nominated screenplay "Do the Right Thing;' Lee sought to expand on the device.
 
The idea originated with David Benloffis acclaimed novel, published in 2001. Before the publication of the novel, Industry Entertainment and Tobey Maguire optioned Benioffis book. Producer Julia Chasman and Executive Producer Nick Wechsier loved the material, and were willing to give the first-time author a chance to adapt it into a screenplay.

Says writer David Benloff, "I figured that no one knew the story better than I did"
 
The fact that the main character was unsavoury - a convicted drug dealer named Monty Brogan, didn't intimidate Spike Lee at all. "I don't choose which films to direct based on how sympathetic the characters are," says Lee. "Brogan is a drug dealer - and people will find that unsympathetic. But a lot of times, unsympathetic characters make the best movies, have the best stories. That's how I choose my projects. I choose stories that are interesting to me"
 
"You can't judge the potential of a film or a character based on whether someone in It is making choices that you wouldn't make in your own life, otherwise you would never play anything," says Edward Norton, who plays Brogan. "Monty is a drug dealer, but he is not necessarily a bad person. He and his friends and his family have complicated, mixed feelings about each other and about the choices he's made. To me, the script felt like real life, which is rare"

Norton was immediately drawn to the project. "It is about the consequences of moral passivity, of not taking a hard look at whether or not you've drifted 'into some gray areas ethically. I think this is a story with a cautionary intent"
 
In addition, the chance to work with Lee was a huge draw for the actor. "Like half the good young actors I know, I have been hoping to get something from Spike for years" says Norton. I have been bugging him as much as I felt like I appropriately could, and I have been dreaming of working with him since long before that. He has been one of my favorite filmmakers from the very beginning of his career. I probably would have said yes without opening the script"
 
Of course, the fact that he had such a rich character to portray didn't hurt. "Monty is a complicated character and that is thrilling as an actor. Monty is really wrestling with what he has done and the difficulty of taking responsibility for his choices when a big part of him wants to blame other people. The story is about his journey to taking responsibility for his own actions," says Norton.
 
Of Norton, Lee says, "Edward is one of the smartest people that I know, and not just about acting. He's also a very hard worker. Everything he does is what's best for the film"
 
The chance to do a character-driven ensemble piece was also appealing to Lee; the film is as much about the characters that surround Brogan - his family and friends - as it is about him.

"I was also interested in the mindset of not just Monty's character, but the people around him," says Lee. "It's just as hard for them to deal with the fact that their friend's going away to prison In 24 hours. What do you say to him? How do you act around him these last 24 hours? Do you talk about it? Do you just say, 'Let's get him drunk and have a good time?"
 
"This is a story that explores themes that people will be familiar with," says Norton. "We all have friendships that are based on past history but perhaps have lost a strong connection in the present. Sometimes you sit down with someone you have known for a long time and think, 'If I met you now, we would not be friends' But history between you binds you. The script explores the way that friendships can devolve, cruising on past history despite resentments that have grown and not been expressed and the way that people can diverge without acknowledging it."

For the role of Slaughtery, Monty's longtime friend, Lee turned to Barry Pepper, who intrigued the director with his performance in "Saving Private Ryan".

Pepper describes their unusual first meeting: "I was in New York doing a press junket and I heard that Spike wanted to meet with me. He took me to Madison Square Garden - right on the floor - to watch the Knicks play the Raptors, but really, to talk about '25th Hour.' I had never had a meeting with a director like that before. It was a challenge for me, because I had never played a character like Slaughtery. Spike wasn't sure that I could do it," says Pepper.

"He wanted me to convince him that I could make the character come to life. I told him that it was the challenge that I had been looking for years, to try and play a character unlike anything I had ever played before. I think through those first, preliminary meetings, he saw that I was dedicated to the film and that it was my number-one priority, and I think my commitment convinced him"

Pepper acknowledges the turbulent relationships in the film, but feels that they are based in love and not hate. "These are basic emotions that all friends deal with," he says. "There are always elements of jealousy or a desire for what the other has, and I think that those are very present within our friendship. So, there are definitely a lot of turbulent emotions throughout the film, but I think hate is far too strong a word for any of the emotions that they feel for one another. I think love is a much more resounding theme, because they realise in the end that they love each other like brothers, but they despise some of the choices each other has made in life, and wish that it could be like when they were kids"
 
Pepper describes Slaughtery as "the unlikely success story - the Wall Street whiz kid from the wrong side of the tracks. He's a little rough around the edges compared to the average Wall Street hustler, but he is a hustler nonetheless. Like the rest of them, Wall Street is his church and money is his religion"
 
He found it liberating to play Slaughtery. "He is so different from who I am. In my everyday life. I am a father and a husband, living a pretty kicked-back life, but Slaughtery is fast-paced all the way, living in the fast lane"
 
Norton enjoyed watching Pepper become Slaughtery. "Barry is really not at all the character he is playing. It was fun to watch him go down to Wall Street and absorb the cutthroat world of bond traders and floor traders. He has had to absorb the aggressiveness and the below-the-surface, explosive anger that is in these guys.

Lee chose Philip Seymour Hoffman for the role of Jacob, a high school teacher who is captivated and morally repulsed by his attraction to one of his students.

Hoffman was intrigued by the idea of undergoing what he describes as a rite of passage on screen. "This movie is about a rite of passage into adulthood which is a story we've seen before. But this is a pretty creative and unique story on that theme. What they ultimately have to do in order to move forward is very moving.  The story deals with a lot of colorful, different, very human stuff, and I found that very interesting in order to build a character on. The screenplay and the movie itself reveal that these characters have a lot of depth, and color and you might want to point a finger or create judgment, but I don't think the story allows you to do that"
 
"When you see people you like, you know that you want to work with them," says Lee. "Philip is one of those people that I wanted to work with. I was patient because it always should be the right role"
 
Norton was in the midst of working with Hoffman when Lee asked for his assessment of the burly actor. Norton gave an unqualified yes. "I have admired Phillip's work for a long time," says Norton. "He is one of the best actors of our generation. We didn't actually work much together in 'Red Dragon' and I kept thinking to myself that it would be really nice to do something more substantive with him. And this turned out to be the next thing"

Ex-NFL player Tony Siragusa was in the aisles at Home Depot when he got a call from Lee wondering if he might be interested in playing Kostya - the Ukrainian henchman assigned to protect Monty. Siragusa had never acted before and worried that he might not be up to the challenge, but Lee's confidence in his ability made the difference. I didn't want to mess anything up because he believed in me," says Siragusa. "He said, 'You're a natural - you've got to go out there, you can do it' I didn't want to let him down and I don't think I did"
 
Siragusa also gives credit to Norton for teaching him some of the tricks of the trade. "Ed took me under his wing and commented a lot and helped me throughout the whole movie. For example, don't look into the camera - that was a big one. But the toughest thing is to remember what you do each time - to remember exactly how you move - because when they cut and they move to a different area or a different angle, you have to do the same thing and remember where your head was and all this other stuff was"

For Spike Lee, filmmaking is a truly collaborative process. "For me, I have to give my crew the same respect and time as I do the actors," says Lee. "Cinematography, costume design, production design, music, editing - it's all part of the filmmaking process"