Inside Man

Inside Man
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Spike Lee
Written by	Russell Gewirtz
Produced by	Brian Grazer
Starring	Denzel Washington Clive Owen Jodie Foster Christopher Plummer Willem Dafoe Chiwetel Ejiofor
Cinematography	Matthew Libatique
Edited by	Barry Alexander Brown
Music by	Terence Blanchard
Production companies	Universal Pictures[1] Imagine Entertainment[1] 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks[1]
Distributed by	Universal Pictures[1]
Release dates	March 20, 2006 (2006-03-20) (New York City) March 24, 2006 (2006-03-24) (United States)
Running time	129 minutes
Country	United States[1]
Language	English
Budget	$45 million[2]
Box office	$184.4 million[2]

Inside Man is a 2006 American crime thriller film directed by Spike Lee and written by Russell Gewirtz. It centers on an elaborate bank heist-turned-hostage situation on Wall Street. The film stars Denzel Washington as Detective Keith Frazier, the NYPD's hostage negotiator, Clive Owen as Dalton Russell, the mastermind who orchestrates the heist, and Jodie Foster as Madeleine White, a Manhattan fixer who becomes involved at the request of the bank's founder Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) to keep something in his safe deposit box protected from the robbers.

Gewirtz spent five years developing the premise before working on what became his first original screenplay. After he completed the script in 2002, Imagine Entertainment purchased it to be made by Universal Pictures, with Imagine co-founder Ron Howard attached to direct. After Howard stepped down, his business partner Brian Grazer began looking for a new director and ultimately hired Lee. Principal photography took place on location in New York City from June to August 2005.

Inside Man premiered in New York on March 20, 2006, before being released across the United States four days later. It received generally positive reviews from critics and earned $184.4 million worldwide against its $45 million production budget, making it the highest grossing film in Lee's filmography.