Gangster Cinema Central
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In Goodfellas, the actor playing the federal prosecutor negotiating Henry and Karen Hill's witness protection deal isn't an actor at all - it's Edward McDonald, the real-life prosecutor who negotiated the Hills' cooperation after their arrest in May 1980. How McDonald ended up in the film was pure chance. While prepping the film, Scorsese needed an authentic federal office for the scene. Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the book the film was based on, knew McDonald from his years as a crime reporter and asked if a production assistant could photograph his office for reference. As the staffer was finishing up, McDonald turned and asked her, "Who's playing me in the movie?" "We haven't cast that part yet," she replied. "I'll do it! I'll play myself!" An hour and a half later, McDonald got a call from Pileggi and Scorsese asking if he was serious and whether he would be willing to come in for a screen test. As a forty-two-year-old attorney with no acting training, McDonald was extremely nervous going into the audition - especially when he saw Scorsese himself sitting behind the desk, whom he hadn't expected to see. To put him at ease, Scorsese playfully leaped up, raised his hands and shouted, "Oh, Mr. Prosecutor, I didn't do nothing! I didn't do nothing!" McDonald fired back, "You're nothing but a mook!" "I'm a mook?" Scorsese replied. "What's a mook? You're a mook!" The two men laughed, having just reenacted the classic scene from Scorsese's 1973 film Mean Streets. “Okay,” the director said. “Let’s get to work.” McDonald’s initial reading was stiff and unnatural. Recognizing that the script was holding back the prosecutor’s natural authority, Scorsese grabbed the papers from his hands and threw them on the floor. He turned to the actors standing in as Henry and Karen. “He’s the prosecutor,” Scorsese told them. “Ask him questions.” For the next several minutes, they fired improvised questions at McDonald, who was much more comfortable answering in his own words. "That was great. You'll be hearing from us," Scorsese said. After McDonald got the part, Scorsese told him he would keep a professional actor on standby during filming in case he froze under the pressure of the cameras. But he never did. Instead, he gave a natural, commanding performance, calmly explaining to Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco their options just as he had with Henry and Karen Hill a decade earlier. At one point, Bracco claims that she "doesn't know anything," and McDonald responds with a line he made up on the spot: "Don't give me the babe in the woods routine, Karen. I've listened to those wiretaps. And I've heard you on the telephone. You're talking about cocaine." More than thirty years later, fans still recognize him and repeat the line back to him. "People are always coming up to me. It's crazy. It's like a cult movie. This is thirty-five years ago I shot the movie. It's just a phenomenon."
Gangster Cinema Central330,896 Aufrufe • vor 1 Tag
When Tarantino was casting Pulp Fiction, the script had so much heat on it in Hollywood, even Daniel Day-Lewis wanted to play Vincent Vega. But Tarantino was adamant the role had to go to John Travolta, despite the studios seeing him as washed up. Tarantino explains… “Absolutely nobody in the studio wanted John Travolta. And not only that, but it was also considered a really hot script at that time. When he was turning everything down, Daniel Day-Lewis expressed interest in playing Vincent. I like Daniel Day-Lewis —but I really wanted John. I had my heart set on him. And it's one thing to want the guy who's out of fashion when nobody else wants him, right? But when there's actually a hot guy who you can actually get, and you want to go with the guy from Barbarino? — Yes, I want the guy from Barbarino, I’m sorry... I was just kind of tough on it, in so far as — they really wanted to do the movie, and I just said, "look, I want to go this way, and if you don't agree that this is the way to go, then maybe we shouldn't make this movie together. Maybe I should make it with somebody else." It wasn't a take-it-or-leave-it kind of situation, right. It's like, "look, I think he's a terrific actor. I think what you should do is you should watch him in Brian De Palma's Blow Out, and if you don't think he's a terrific actor after that, then maybe we should talk about whether we should do this movie together." ...But also, aside from just that, there was this aspect: John Travolta is a movie star. Just because everyone in Hollywood had forgotten about it just shows how dumb they are. I actually walked down the street with John Travolta at his lowest ebb, in pre-production of the movie, and people would lose their minds when they saw him. We'd walk into a regular restaurant and we had to leave. Tourists in Hollywood would see him and just lose their minds. People were dying to see him in something worth watching. It's just stupid Hollywood didn't realize it.” Quote comes from Quentin Tarantino's appearance on the Opie and Anthony Show, 12-13-2012
Gangster Cinema Central618,379 Aufrufe • vor 2 Tagen
A deleted scene in Heat reveals exactly what happened to getaway driver Trejo, and why he couldn’t join McCauley and his crew for the bank robbery. In the film, Trejo calls from a payphone and claims he couldn’t shake the LAPD’s tail. But the deleted scene reveals that call was made under duress: Waingro and Van Zant’s men had already broken into his home and kidnapped his wife. The scene shows Trejo returning home to find them waiting. It also reveals that Hugh Benny, played by Henry Rollins, was the one who tipped off the LAPD about the robbery.
Gangster Cinema Central408,456 Aufrufe • vor 1 Tag
According to Quentin Tarantino, after Butch and Vincent’s face off at the bar in Pulp Fiction, Butch went outside and keyed Vincent’s car. Yes, Butch was the “fucker” who keyed his Malibu. Tarantino confirmed this during an appearance on the Opie and Anthony Show in 2007.
Gangster Cinema Central1,190,802 Aufrufe • vor 4 Tagen
One of the most shocking moments in Pulp Fiction was created using one of cinema's oldest editing tricks. The scene where Vincent Vega plunges an adrenaline needle into Mia Wallace’s chest to revive her from an overdose was incredibly difficult - and potentially dangerous - to pull off. Tarantino, however, found an ingenious way to make it work. The crew first planned to use an artificial chest plate on Thurman for the effect. But Tarantino felt it looked too fake up close, so he dropped that plan. That left Thurman's chest exposed -which was a major problem, as he needed Travolta to swing that needle down with enough force so it realistically looked like it was breaking through her ribcage. So Instead, he used an old filmmaking trick: shooting the scene backward. Travolta rested the needle tip right above Thurman's chest. Then, on cue, he yanked it straight up and away as hard and fast as he could. Since he was pulling away from her body instead of stabbing toward it, he could go full-force with no risk of hurting her. When they played that footage in reverse, the fast upward pull turned into a violent, high-speed downward plunge - exactly the effect they wanted. Tarantino's editor Sally Menke cut away right before the needle would've touched skin - jumping straight to a close-up of Thurman's eyes snapping open. The sound team added a heavy "thud" at that exact moment, which sells the impact perfectly, tricking the audience into believing they'd just watched a real puncture, even though they never actually saw it happen.
Gangster Cinema Central859,707 Aufrufe • vor 6 Tagen
The moment in The Irishman where Stephen Graham whacks Al Pacino’s ice cream across the prison cafeteria right before he lunges at him was completely improvised. Graham cleared it with the crew beforehand, but deliberately didn’t tell Pacino. Graham explains: “We shot it three times, and on the third take he’s eating ice cream really slowly — and he owes me two million quid, d’you know what I mean? I’ve known him for a while and he’s still not giving me my money — he’s Jimmy Hoffa and he owes me two million dollars. So he’s eating his ice cream and all that, and on the third go I thought, “Right, I’m going to do it now.” I didn’t want to pre-plan this, but I told the cameraman and I told the props fella. He’s eating it, and he just puts his ice cream down. He’s looking at me, and I just went and threw the bowl right across the room. And he went, “Oh!” Then we carried on a little bit, and then Marty (Scorsese) went, “Cut.” And he went, “Did you see that, Martin? The kid’s fighting me! The kid’s fighting me!” And then from then on, he called me the kid - It was just a really nice situation, do you know what I mean?”
Gangster Cinema Central707,916 Aufrufe • vor 13 Tagen
In Casino, Scorsese packed the film with mob‑connected guys as extras and bit roles. One of the best examples is the scene where Pesci calmly confronts two wiseguys trying to shake down the Tangiers for $200K. The one on the left was cast perfectly, giving off the vibe of a slimy, low‑rent scumbag — because in real life, that’s exactly what he was. The part was played by John Manca, a former corrupt NYPD detective with connections to the Colombo and Bonanno crime families. He used his badge to coordinate burglaries and shake down bookmakers, was kicked off the force, did three years in prison for bank fraud, then rolled over on his mob associates and entered witness protection. His reaction to Pesci is priceless. Scorsese shoots him from a slightly lower angle that exaggerates the height difference, so even though Pesci is much shorter, he still leaves Manca completely shook with just a subtle warning.
Gangster Cinema Central784,082 Aufrufe • vor 14 Tagen
In Casino, the Japanese “billionaire cheapskate” K.K. Ichikawa - who wins $2 million at the Tangiers before Sam Rothstein sabotages his flight home and lures him back to the casino - was based on real Tokyo real-estate mogul and legendary high roller Akio Kashiwagi. Known as “The Warrior,” Kashiwagi was one of the most notorious baccarat whales of the late twentieth century, reputedly playing over “$30,000 a hand” and nearly bankrupting several casinos. And like Ichikawa, he was also infamously cheap, reportedly taking “free soap, shampoo and towels” from luxury hotel suites. However, the real-life Sam Rothstein, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, never crossed paths with Kashiwagi. Their stories belong to different eras: Kashiwagi’s gambling spree peaked in the late 80s and early 90s, long after Rosenthal had been barred from the casino industry. The showdown between Ichikawa and Rothstein in Casino was instead loosely inspired by Kashiwagi’s infamous high-stakes clash with real-estate mogul and future U.S. president Donald Trump. In February 1990, Donald Trump flew Akio Kashiwagi to Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, put him up in an ocean-view penthouse, and reserved a private baccarat table just for him. Kashiwagi arrived with $6 million and received another $6 million in credit, but after two days he left up $6.2 million. Unwilling to accept the loss, Trump lured Kashiwagi back on terms that made it almost impossible for him to win again. He offered an informal “freeze-out” agreement: Kashiwagi would bring $12 million to the table and play until he had either doubled it or lost everything. Knowing the odds would eventually swing back in the house’s favor over a long enough session, Trump counted on Kashiwagi being unable to resist the challenge. He took the bait. And after a brutal weeklong marathon of high-stakes baccarat, Kashiwagi went from being up millions to facing a staggering $10 million loss. However, Kashiwagi’s real troubles were only just beginning. After the Japanese asset-price bubble exploded, Kashiwagi’s company, Kashiwagi Shoji, buckled under the strain of its highly leveraged real-estate loans and collapsed as land values cratered. It’s also widely believed that he defaulted on high-interest debts connected to yakuza groups. On January 3, 1992, the 54‑year‑old developer was found dead in the kitchen of his home, stabbed repeatedly with what investigators believed to be a samurai sword. To this day, his murder remains unsolved.
Gangster Cinema Central500,891 Aufrufe • vor 12 Tagen
Quentin Tarantino wrote Butch in Pulp Fiction for Matt Dillon, but Dillon was unsure about the part. Tarantino needed another big-name actor alongside Harvey Keitel to get the film financed. Luckily, he was able to cast Bruce Willis in the role, he explains how. “We weren’t going out to Bruce Willis. Especially at that time, he was one of the top five, maybe even top three biggest stars in the world - He was definitely popular in America, but you go to Korea or somewhere like that - he was the man. What happened was, I originally wrote the part for Matt Dillon, because Matt Dillon was a fan of my script for Reservoir Dogs. The deal with Miramax was that we had an ensemble cast, but we needed at least one, if not two, Miramax-approved actors. After that, I could cast anybody I wanted, as long as there was somebody they considered a name that they could sell. Matt Dillon fell into the category of names they would accept. So I wrote it for Matt, and it seemed like getting him would be easy. But he read it and he wasn’t so sure. He liked it, but he was disturbed by the fact that you never actually see Butch boxing. He said, “I want to see the fight.” And maybe he didn’t one hundred percent get it. Also, he didn’t want to play that part. He wanted to play Vincent - that happened a lot. Any time I offered somebody a part, they wanted to play somebody else. So Matt didn’t say no, but he didn’t say yes. He still had to think about it. That was a little scary, because I thought I had him in the bag. With him, I had a go movie. Then all of a sudden, I didn’t have such a go movie anymore. Harvey Keitel, who's in the movie - he was one of the guys - so I had him. He was he was shooting in town. When he was shooting in town, he'd usually rent a house in Malibu. And so he would invite friends to come over for the weekend and hang out. And so I came over and I'm hanging out at Harvey's place. And then, well, it turns out that Bruce Willis was only living about three or four or five houses down the way. OK. And so I come over to Harvey's - and there's Bruce Willis. (1/2)
Gangster Cinema Central1,196,477 Aufrufe • vor 28 Tagen
Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction and Mr. Blonde—Vic Vega—from Reservoir Dogs were actually brothers who existed in the same cinematic universe. Tarantino even planned a film built around the two characters. When asked about it, he responded: “Yeah. We never say it, but they both had the same last name. One’s Vincent, one’s Vic. I even had a title for it. It was called Double V Vega. It actually would have taken place during the time that Vincent was in Amsterdam, when he was running one of Marsellus' clubs, and Vic goes to visit him. Vic would be Michael Madsen. And…um….we’re all a little older now. And since they both died, it would have to be a prequel. I actually came up with a way I could have done it, even with them being older and dead. I’ll be revealing it right now for the first time, because I probably won’t do it: they all had older brothers, and I’d have both of the older brothers get together because the two guys died, and they wanted revenge or something like that. But now they’re still too old for that.” Quote comes from Quentin Tarantino’s appearance on the Opie and Anthony show (04/03/07)
Gangster Cinema Central378,596 Aufrufe • vor 11 Tagen
Brian De Palma originally wanted Andy Garcia to play Capone's enforcer Frank Nitti in The Untouchables, but Garcia turned it down and lobbied for the role of George Stone instead - partly because he wanted to work alongside Sean Connery. Garcia explains... "Obviously I wanted to work with Connery. He was one of my childhood heroes, so I lobbied immediately to play the other part. I had to be firm about it —I wanted to roll the dice. Eventually I met with Brian, and I auditioned for George Stone, and they gave me the part…. The dynamics in the film were basically the dynamics on set. We all became very close, but the hierarchy stayed the same — he (Connery) was the older, wise guy, always jabbing at us, and it was my job, as my character, to push back. Respectfully, but to keep the exchanges going. I love Sean Connery. I’ll tell you a quick story — I’ve told it before, but it’s funny.... (1/2)
Gangster Cinema Central1,192,482 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
Michael Cheritto, Tom Sizemore's character in Heat, famously says "for me, the action is the juice." But what the film never tells us is that he's a recovering heroin addict, using the adrenaline rush he gets from high-stakes armed robbery as a replacement for his fix. According to the original screenplay, Cheritto is a forty-year-old Sicilian ex-convict who spent fifteen years incarcerated for armed robbery to feed his habit. Though he's been "off smack and anything else for five years," the script paints a stark contradiction: "He's clean and sober. He's the nicest guy on the block and a loving father. If you get in his way, he'll kill you as soon as look at you. If you asked him about the contradictions, he wouldn't know what you were talking about." In a deleted scene meant to appear early in the film, Cheritto arrives home after the armored car robbery. He hands his wife Elaine a packet of cash — his share — then abruptly blanks out. His eyes glaze over, staring into space, completely detached. Elaine watches with a lingering, concerned expression. This moment of dissociation is rooted in the psychological phenomenon of compartmentalization — when someone mentally keeps different parts of their life separate, moving between conflicting identities without fully confronting the contradiction. Cheritto has two totally different sides: violent armed robber and loving family man. But he doesn't seem to experience those roles as incompatible. His mind keeps them sealed off from each other. On a job, he's the hyper-vigilant criminal. At home, he's a loving suburban father. The problem is, switching between those identities so fast and so often takes a toll — even if he doesn't notice it happening. He isn't consciously wrestling with the contradiction — the script is clear he wouldn't even recognize it as one. But that unawareness has a cost: keeping the two identities apart takes psychological work beneath conscious thought. The blank stare in this deleted scene is that work surfacing — the switch misfiring in real time, leaving him briefly catatonic in front of his own family. Elaine knows his history — the addiction, the methadone clinics, the years in prison. A sudden blank stare from a former addict is an immediate warning sign of relapse, and her concern reflects that hyper-vigilance. She recognizes that despite his sobriety, his mind remains lost in the addictive high of "the action" — a psychological absence that ultimately leads to his violent death later in the film.
Gangster Cinema Central230,435 Aufrufe • vor 8 Tagen
At one point John Travolta was going to play Manny in Scarface, but they went with unknown actor Steven Bauer because they wanted someone who was actually Cuban. At the time, Bauer was a struggling actor being pigeonholed into becoming a soap star. He explains… "I left Hollywood because I wasn't getting really good roles, I was getting stupid roles in television, and I was like, "Fuck, I gotta get in." And I met Stella Adler, the great teacher, and she said, "Come to New York, darling, study with me. "You have to become an actor." So I went to New York. So I'm in New York for like a year, and at the end of the year, I'm starving - my agents in Hollywood think I'm absolutely nuts, and they're like, "You've gotta come home, or at least go in for a soap opera in New York, you have the right type, blah blah blah" And I'm like, "No, no, I'm not doing that." And they're like, "But you're gonna starve." And I go, "I'll deliver furniture." - So I was delivering furniture. And then on my last day, finally they come in, "We have a meeting for you. An audition for a TV movie, and maybe for another independent feature." And I go, "Okay." "So we'll get you the airfare and come home." - I go, "Okay, I'm coming home." So I'm in New York on that last day, and my manager calls me, she goes, "Wait, before you go to the airport. They're casting a movie with Al Pacino, it's called Scarface, and it's a remake of an old movie. And the second lead is a tall, handsome Cuban boy, who's fun, and that's you - It's to play his best friend." And I go, "Yeah, what shot do I have with that!?" And they go, "No, they want someone new. They want someone new." - So I go uptown… She (the casting agent) opens the door - and she goes, "Come in, come in, come in, come in. Sit down, tell me who you are. Tell me what you've done. Tell me what you're working on - You've done theater? - “Yeah”, and television? “Yes." “You speak Spanish?" - I go, "I'm Cuban." And she goes, "You're really Cuban!?" And I go, "Yeah." And she goes…“Hang on a second…" (Imitating phone dial) - Regular phone, no cell phones - “Yeah, yeah. Brian, I found your guy. Right in front on me! "I found Manny, I found Manny. I swear to God, you got to see him. Can you see him?...okay, I'll send him over” - click. She goes "Go down to - the Village on Fifth and Eighth Street. And go see Brian De Palma… I got in a cab, and there was so much traffic that I had to get out of the cab and run the rest of the way to the Village. Because I was stuck in traffic! And I was running out of money! I had no money left! So I run to meet him, and he opens the door, and he's very lackadaisical. He's very aloof, Brian. And he's like, "Mm….yeah, you look…yeah, I can see it…are you really Cuban?" I go, "Yeah, I'm really Cuban." "Can you really speak Spanish?" I go, "Yes!" And he goes... "Wait, I'm gonna call Marty Bregman. He's the producer. He's in LA." He calls Marty... "Marty, I have this kid. He's perfect…yes, he's Cuban…." He gets up and he goes, "Okay, go to LA. Go see Marty Bregman tomorrow. Go to his office. He'll give you a script, learn it, and in two weeks we'll fly you back here for auditions."…And I was like, "Fly me back? I didn't have enough, I couldn't pay my airfare…" And then I get home, and I tell my agents, and they say, "John Travolta's playing Manny." And I said, "Wait, John Travolta's playing Manny?" "Yeah." And I go, "No, no, no, no. They're telling me I have a good shot at it." And they go, "You're an idiot. And you believe everything you hear." …And they were fired, obviously (laughing). They work on Wall Street now… That’s really how it happened. I met Bregman, and Bregman said, "You're gonna do Scarface." Just like that in his office - And I said, "But, but, how do you know?" - he goes, "You're really Cuban, right?" And he goes, - "I don't want a star. I don't want a superstar. I don't want another star. I don't want a prima donna. I don't want any of that. You're gonna do Scarface.”
Gangster Cinema Central1,801,557 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
Mark Wahlberg was in the running to play one of the leads in The Departed, but when he got the call from Scorsese that he would be playing the much smaller role of Dignam instead, he hung up on him. He later accepted the role under one condition: he'd be allowed to improvise his lines and harangue his co-stars - the same ones who got the parts he missed out on.
Gangster Cinema Central1,356,804 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
In the original Heat screenplay, when Neil McCauley realizes that he and his crew are under LAPD surveillance, he has them regroup at their usual diner, but Michael Mann instead chose to shoot the scene outside the La Fresa Electrical Substation – for a very specific reason. That substation is basically a giant electrical junction box for the city. It takes in extremely high‑voltage electricity from transmission lines connected to power stations, then redistributes it through the local grid. In the process, it generates so much electromagnetic interference that it can scramble any listening devices that might have been planted on the crew or their cars.
Gangster Cinema Central476,630 Aufrufe • vor 22 Tagen
Quentin Tarantino recalls early in his career, visiting the set of Casino and meeting Martin Scorsese for the first time - and having an “embarrassing” encounter with Don Rickles. “I’d never really met Martin Scorsese before. I got an invite to visit the set of Casino. I’d met De Niro before, but I’d never met Scorsese, and now I was actually going to go onto a Scorsese set — and he knew I was coming. The whole idea was that I’d come by for an hour or two before lunch, watch him shoot, and then we’d have lunch together… Don Rickles was in the movie, and he was on set that day... I’ve just done Pulp Fiction. I’ve only done two movies. I’m meeting one of my heroes for the very first time… This is - the gates of Oz opening up, and me going to meet the Wizard. So, I’m walking in to meet the Wizard. I walk onto the set, and they kind of see me. Then Don Rickles goes, ‘Quentin, thank God you’re here! This guy doesn’t know what he’s doing at all! Thank God a real director has finally showed up! This cat is out of it. Please, this is a disaster. It’s a disaster! Please save us from this wreckage. You are a talented man! We need your talent!!’ Oh my God. Now Marty’s laughing. The crew is laughing. De Niro’s laughing. I wanted to hide under the carpet. Cold sweat.”
Gangster Cinema Central639,334 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
No film has ever captured Los Angeles at night quite like Collateral.
Gangster Cinema Central1,441,406 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
When making The Departed, Jack Nicholson told Matt Damon, “I never would've made it this far in my career if I wasn't a great fucking writer.” Meaning, he would contribute great ideas to a story through his performance and improvisation. Damon recalls a perfect example of this: “And I'll give you one story - it was my favorite thing that happened on The Departed, was this story about a scene that I was not in, but he (Nicholson) was - it was 1 eighth of a page, and it said Costello - which is the name of his character - ‘Costello executes man kneeling in the marshes.’ Now, most people look at that, and they'll go, ‘All right, it's gonna be one shot - that's gonna be an hour of work, and that's all I'm doing that day, or whatever.’ He looked at that, and he goes, ‘Okay, I can do that, but I think I can make it better.’ And so he's telling me this story. He goes, (in Jack Nicholson’s voice) ‘So what I do is,’… he goes, ‘I come from the Roger Corman School, so I'm not gonna add any time, and I'm not gonna add to your budget. But instead of a man kneeling in the marshes, I make it a woman.’ ...And he goes, ‘So I'm gonna execute a woman, but I'm not gonna be alone. I put Ray (Winston) in the scene with me - and I shoot her in the back of the head like it says in the script. But if you leave the camera rolling, after she falls, I turn to Ray and I say, geez, she fell funny. Now that's a really sinister thing to say. Because it means I do this a lot, and there's a way people fall. And she didn't fall that way.’ And I go, ‘oh yeah, I get it man, I get it.’ ‘Now you could end the scene there, but if you leave the camera rolling, Ray steps forward, and he reveals that he's holding an axe. She's gonna chop her up. Now you could end the scene there.’ He goes, ‘But if you leave the camera rolling, I turn to Ray and say, “wait, I think I wanna fuck her again.”’ And he goes, ‘Now that's a very sinister line.’ I get it, I get it, it's really, really, really disturbing. And he says, Now you could end the scene there, but if you keep the camera rolling, Ray stops and looks at me, and there's a pause. And I go….ah! He goes, ‘And that's a sinister thing to do, “'cause we're making a joke out of this whole thing.” And I go, yeah, I get it, I get it. ‘Now you could end the scene there, but if you leave the camera rolling, Ray says, “Francis, you really oughta see someone.” And so that's what they did. He took this one eighth of a page scene, and he did all of that, and they had two cameras on it, so it could cut back and forth. And what Marty ended up cutting was he shoots her, she falls, he says, “Geez, she fell funny.” And Ray looks at him and says, “Francis, you really oughta see someone.” But he just gave him all of these options, as dark and as sick as you wanna go.” Quote comes from Matt Damon's appearance on the What A Joke Show with Papa and Fortune
Gangster Cinema Central1,053,147 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
Tom Sizemore's menacing glare in the coffee shop scene in Heat was brought about through his extensive training in lethal force. Michael Mann explains "Right here, Sizemore does something very interesting. He had the cold look in his eye, which anybody encountering, communicates without any words or histrionics - lethal potential. It’s a belief in himself as his character, Cheritto, that Sizemore got from the work we did in pre-production. You have to do the work, feel you have the aptitude and the capability of being that lethal, and then the moment's there." Michael Mann’s quote comes from the director’s commentary track on the Heat DVD.
Gangster Cinema Central1,523,722 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Michael Mann on why he chose Robert De Niro to play Neil McCauley in Heat: “The decision was organic and intuitive. And at the time, it was very, very — and still would be —very obvious. I couldn’t imagine a Neil McCauley adopting this very rigid method of operation on the street. There’s almost kind of a secular catechism he continues to repeat, basically about dissociation: how to stay safe, stay gray, stay anonymous. Who was that man who held up that bank? I don’t know. Medium height, gray hair, gray suit. He can’t be described. It’s all protective. It’s all there. Everything about him is for a reason. I couldn’t imagine anybody with that rigid code and then a very rich, internal, emotional life that he keeps totally suppressed. I couldn’t imagine anybody better doing that than De Niro.”
Gangster Cinema Central78,969 Aufrufe • vor 5 Tagen