Thirteen Days (film)

Thirteen Days
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roger Donaldson
Written by	David Self
Based on	The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis by Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow
Produced by	Armyan Bernstein Peter Almond Kevin Costner
Starring	Kevin Costner Bruce Greenwood Steven Culp Dylan Baker
Cinematography	Andrzej Bartkowiak
Edited by	Conrad Buff
Music by	Trevor Jones
Production company	Beacon Pictures
Distributed by	New Line Cinema (United States) Buena Vista Film Sales (Internationally)[1]
Release dates	December 19, 2000 (2000-12-19) (Premiere) January 12, 2001 (2001-01-12) (USA)
Running time	145 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million[3]
Box office	$66.6 million[3]

Thirteen Days is a 2000 American historical political thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson. It dramatizes the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, seen from the perspective of the US political leadership. Kevin Costner stars as top White House assistant Kenneth P. O'Donnell, with Bruce Greenwood featured as President John F. Kennedy, Steven Culp as Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and Dylan Baker as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.

While the film carries the same title as the 1969 book Thirteen Days by former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, it is in fact based on the 1997 book, The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow. It is the second docudrama made about the crisis, the first being 1974's The Missiles of October, which was based on Kennedy's book. The 2000 film contains some newly declassified information not available to the earlier production, but takes greater dramatic license, particularly in its choice of O'Donnell as protagonist. It received generally positive reviews from critics who praised the screenplay and performances of the cast but was a box-office bomb grossing $66.6 million against its $80 million budget.