#5. Requiem For a Dream Director's Cut Rip

According to Variety, Artisan originally appealed to the MPAA asking for an NC-17 rating on this film. That appeal was refused, the MPAA would not give the film a rating, so it was given unrated status, which greatly limited its theatrical release. According to Variety, the reason for the rating is a scene in which Jennifer Connelly's character has lesbian sex while a group of fully clothed men watch. However, other sources (such as New York magazine) attribute the rating to the film's devastating depiction of drug addiction.

Ellen Burstyn performed much of the movie in a 40-pound body suit.

Jared Leto shed a fifth of his normal body weight for his role in the film. After completing the intense film shoot, the actor shaved his head and checked himself into a monastery in Portugal.

Novelist Hubert Selby Jr. worked with Aronofsky to adapt his novel to the big screen.

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM contains more than 2,000 cuts.

Sean Gullette, who played the lead in Aronofsky's debut film, PI, has a minor role as a psychologist in this film

The haunting score for REQUIEM FOR A DREAM was composed by Clint Mansell, who also composed the music for director Darren Aronofsky’s first movie, PI. Mansell is a member of the industrial music group Pop Will Eat Itself. The Online Film Critics Society named Mansell's work Best Original Score.

The American Film Institute named the film among the 10 best of the year.

The jurors include David Ansen, Bill Duke, Michael Nesmith, Steven Zaillian, Saul Zaentz, and Anne Thompson.

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly chose REQUIEM FOR A DREAM as the second best film of 2000; John Anderson of Newsday named it fifth best.

Rober Ebert (EBERT AND ROEPER AT THE MOVIES), Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times, and Jack Matthews of the New York Daily News named REQUIEM FOR A DREAM one of the 10 best films of 2000.

Ellen Burstyn was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her outstanding performance. She was also voted Best Actress by the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Florida Film Critics Circle, and the Online Film Critics Society. She also won a Career Achievement Award from the National Board of Review.

The Online Film Critics Society named Darren Aronofsky Best Director; it also awarded the Best Editing prize to Jay Rabinowitz.

Matt Zoller Seitz and Godfrey Cheshire of the New York Press named REQUIEM FOR A DREAM one of the 10 best films of 2000.

Ellen Burstyn received the Career Achievement award from Al Pacino at the National Board of Review movie awards in January 2001.