Coleman Silk is a worldly and admired professor who loses his job after unwittingly making a racial slur. To clear his name, Silk writes a book about the events with his friend and colleague Nathan Zuckerman, who in the process discovers a dark secret Silk has hidden his whole life. All the while, Silk engages in an affair with Faunia Farley, a younger woman whose tormented past threatens to unravel the layers of deception Silk has constructed.
Acting
Nicole Kidman deglamorized and devastating as damaged Faunia
Writing
Roth's dense novel condensed with messy, ambitious results
Direction
Benton lets scenes breathe even when they shouldn't
Director
Robert Benton
Anthony Hopkins
Coleman Silk
Nicole Kidman
Faunia Farley
Ed Harris
Lester Farley
Gary Sinise
Nathan Zuckerman
Wentworth Miller
Young Coleman Silk
Jacinda Barrett
Steena Paulsson
Harry Lennix
Mr. Silk
Clark Gregg
Nelson Primus
Anna Deavere Smith
Mrs. Silk
Lizan Mitchell
Ernestine
Kerry Washington
Ellie
Phyllis Newman
Iris Silk
Margo Martindale
Psychologist
Ron Canada
Herb Keble
Mili Avital
Young Iris
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 2003 release sparked immediate backlash for casting Hopkins instead of a Black actor—some critics called it Hollywood's last gasp of racial blindcasting before the conversation shifted.
Wentworth Miller, who plays Young Coleman, is actually biracial—he didn't publicly come out as gay until 2013, adding another layer of 'passing' to his performance.
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