Million Dollar Hotel is an unusual film, even for Wim Wenders. It is his 20th movie and the first that he made using the new digital technology. Its bizarreness and depth was made possible by Wenders deep collaboration in the making of this film with six exceptional people: first, the musician, composer and benefactor Bono who contributed in many ways (when Bono was with U2 he did Where the Streets Have No Name); second, the Australian actor and producer Mel Gibson who plays the lead FBI agent Skinner and donated his time and energy pro bono; third, the inputs in creating a vibrant, fast moving and exhilarating script created from a story by Bono and Nicholas Klein by Mr Klein; fourth, the perceptive cinematography of Phedeon Papamichael who, like Wenders, loves his shots of heights and distances-note the continuous, flowing use of hotel windows from both inside and out; fifth, the superlative acting of Jeremy Davies, a young man only found after a casting hunt involving thousands and lasting for three months; and sixth, Milla Jovovich who heard of the film, read the script, and wanted the female lead so much she told Wenders to let her take the film test again, "I promise I'll do better than anyone else".
Tom Tom (acted by Jeremy Davies) says at the start in voice over "After I jumped it occurred to me, life is perfect. My life started two weeks ago after my best friend Izzy found Eloise ... not just a dumb s..t - she was the love of my life". Now the film goes back and traces what happened over those two weeks.The Million Dollar Hotel in the heart of Los Angels (filmed at Rosslyn Hotel, 112 West 5th Street) with the large metal sign on its roof has become a haven for California's outcasts - a welfare hotel full of derelicts and weirdoes. The film revolves around a core of a dozen of them.
