Requiem for a Dream
2000 film directed by Darren Aronofsky
Requiem for a Dream is a 2000 American psychological drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Aronofsky and Hubert Selby Jr., based on Selby's 1978 novel. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher McDonald and Marlon Wayans. The film depicts four characters affected by drug addiction and how it alters their physical and emotional states. Their addictions cause them to become imprisoned in a world of delusion and desperation. As the film progresses, each character deteriorates, and their delusions are shattered by the harsh reality of their situations, resulting in catastrophe.
Selby's novel was optioned by Aronofsky and producer Eric Watson. Selby had always intended to adapt the novel into a film, and he had written a script years prior. Aronofsky was enthusiastic about the story and developed the script with Selby, despite struggles to obtain funding. He and the cast said the film was about addiction in general, and not just drugs, and how chasing a dream can fuel an addiction with a theme of loneliness and avoidance of reality in different ways. Principal photography took place in Brooklyn, New York, from April to June 1999.
The public source identifies “Requiem for a Dream” as 2000 film directed by Darren Aronofsky. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Requiem, Dream and film.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q487181. VIAF identifies the subject as 316751968. The Library of Congress control number is n2004024772. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000, 1978 and 1999.
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This entry incorporates text from “Requiem for a Dream” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.