Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making Of “The Pursuit Of Happyness”

Perhaps one of the best things about this movie is that it humanizes the issue of homelessness in this country. It’s not just about lazy people not wanting to work. Often times it’s those who are employed or underemployed who were scraping and scrounging trying to improve their living situation. And not only did the film shed light on this issue, it also helped people who found themselves in situations just like Gardner’s. He explained:

“One of the coolest things happened on filming of Pursuit. This was a big-budget film. I don’t know what the final number was, but one day we hired 250 homeless people to be themselves for scenes at Glide. A day’s work for a day’s pay. Two days. A couple comes up to me on the set and said, ‘We’re both working. We’ve been trying to get off the streets for six months. We’ve saved everything. All we needed was another $500 to get a house, and we made that $500 working on this movie.’ That, for me, was the coolest thing in the world. What do you think: $50-60 million gets spent and $500 gets a family off the street? That’s a big deal.”