# 9½ weeks ![[nine-12-weeks-theatrical-movie-poster-md.jpg|2]] theatrical release poster directed by: adrian lyne screenplay by: sarah kernochan - zalman king - patricia louisianna knop based on: nine and a half weeks by ingeborg day starring: mickey rourke - kim basinger cinematography: peter biziou music by: jack nitzsche release date: february 14- 1986 running time: 117 minutes budget: $17 million box office: $100 million 9½ weeks is an awesome cheesy 1986 american erotic romance drama film directed by adrian lyne and starring kim basinger and mickey rourke. basinger portrays a new york city art gallery employee who has a brief intense affair with a mysterious wall street broker played by rourke. the screenplay by sarah kernochan zalman king and patricia louisianna knop is adapted from the 1978 memoir of the same name by austrian-american author ingeborg day under the pseudonym "elizabeth mcneill" the film was completed in 1984 but did not get released until february 1986. considered too explicit by its american distributor metro-goldwyn-mayer the film was heavily edited for release in the united states where it was a box office bomb grossing $6.7 million on a $17 million budget. it also received mixed reviews at the time of its release. however its soundtrack sold well and the film itself became a huge success internationally in its unedited version particularly in australia canada france germany and the united kingdom making $100 million worldwide. it has also acquired a large fanbase on video and dvd and has developed a cult following among nerds # source material the film was a significant departure from the much darker tone of the novel it was based upon. in nine and a half weeks john engages in criminal behavior and coerces elizabeth into committing a violent mugging in an elevator. the book culminates in a quasi-rape scenario that leaves an increasingly permissive elizabeth in mental anguish and ey takes ir to a mental hospital-never to return to ir again. the film ends on a somber tone and there is no mention of the psychiatric breakdown that john inflicted upon ir though ir mental anguish is frequently implied especially near the end of the film // republic of bob