American Gun (2005 film)

American Gun
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Aric Avelino
Written by	Aric Avelino Steven Bagatourian
Produced by	Ted Kroeber
Starring	Linda Cardellini Tony Goldwyn Marcia Gay Harden Donald Sutherland Forest Whitaker
Edited by	Richard Nord
Music by	Schuyler Fisk Peter Golub
Production company	Participant Productions
Distributed by	IFC Films
Release dates	September 15, 2005 (2005-09-15) (Toronto Film Festival) March 23, 2007 (2007-03-23) (United States)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$34,138[1]

American Gun is a 2005 American crime drama film produced by Participant Productions, IFC Films, IFC First Take, and Spirit Dance Entertainment. It was written in 2001 by Steven Bagatourian and Aric Avelino and directed by Avelino as his directorial debut.

Avelino attended Loyola Marymount University and made the film with many LMU alumni,^[2] including producer Ted Kroeber.

The film took two and a half years to finance. The central idea came from a "Column One" article in the Los Angeles Times. In addition, the writers were influenced by a friend from the Chicago school district who related stories about how students brought guns to school, not to use them on campus, but because of the dangerous neighborhoods they live in or walk through to attend classes. Avelino was very appreciative of the directorial advice of Forest Whitaker, one of the film's producers. The first actress attached to the project was Marcia Gay Harden.^[3]