Method Rage, True-life killers and A Rom-com Specialist
Spring 1996. New York. The sky was gloomy, and the air was filled with the lead smell of exhaust gas. The Bayside Queen Bridge towers high above the East River, and sewage flows freely under the bridge. A Cadillac is towed on the bridge alone, with a camera tied to the front of the car. Sitting in this car are two Hollywood superstars: Al Pacino as Mafioso • "Old Zuo" Ragello, and rising star Johnny Depp as the undercover CIA detective Don Ni Blasco.
The Cadillac was dragged by the previous production car, with British director Mike Newell sitting in the middle, arching his back, looking at the monitor. This shot has been passed 12 times: "Old Zuo" the gangster couldn't believe that Downey had just scared a debtor and gave him the key to his Porsche 911. "I have killed 26 people, but you are the one he is afraid of?" he roared. It's not easy to say this sentence satirically. They reshooted again and again, and the atmosphere was suddenly tense.
"Is my performance adequate?" Finally, Pacino couldn't help yelling into the microphone. Newell, the 54-year-old polite Cambridge graduate, grabbed his walkie-talkie and said, "I'm sorry, Al. I don't think so." Pacino immediately showed his signature rage: "Fuck you! Fuck you." Fuck you! You have to know that this is my last movie! I have to retire when this movie is finished!" Newell sighed. In his memory, working at Granada TV would not be like this. . .
December 2007. Hertfield, England. The filming of "The Traitor" was exactly ten years ago, and he was 3,500 miles away from the shadow of the Bayside Queen Bridge, but for Newell, this scene is still vivid. Now, Total Film is at the University of Hertford, and the auditorium is full. The university is about to show a free show of "The Traitor", and Newell will give a speech to these audiences.
Newell looks very friendly. He is more like a middle-aged university teacher than a director from Hollywood. The only clue that made him seem unlikely to host a seminar on TS Eliot's poetry was the Cartier watch on his wrist. This diamond-encrusted watch slipped out of the cuff of his shirt from time to time. This is undoubtedly an elegant testimony. It proves that this humble English gentleman and former TV director has transformed into a Hollywood money-making machine: "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Mona Lisa's Smile", "Harry Po Special and the Goblet of Fire.
Before the screening was over, Total Film sneaked into a room next to the auditorium. The mirrored surface of the single-sided windows in the room makes this room look like an FBI interrogation room. This environment is suitable for our communication. "I think they are looking at us." When Newell shook my hand, he whispered. He is in a good mood, especially because "The Traitor" is still his own favorite work. "This afternoon, I finally watched it again. This is the first time in years... It still looks good. I am always proud of it. It will always be one of my favorites because of this type of film. It always conveys a deep meaning of humanity."
"The Traitor" is adapted from the memoirs of CIA undercover detective Joe Bridgestone, who infiltrated the notorious Bernano gangster family in the late 1970s. He is a strong Sicilian immigrant, claiming that he never sweated when he was threatened, and his undercover work resulted in the arrest of more than 100 criminals. For the CIA, he is undoubtedly a hero; but a mafia betrayed by him has issued a killing order, offering $500,000 to anyone who can make others head to the ground.
Bridgestone’s memoir "Donny Blasco: My Undercover Career in the Mafia" is a frank book. For this reason, Hollywood studios will not be stingy to buy this book at a high price. Copyright: This is a dark, dramatic and true story. At first, Pacino will co-star with Tom Cruise, who will play the role of Bridgestone/Brasco, and the microphone will be directed by British director Stephen Fryers ("Dirty Sweet Thing"). Then, Martin Scorsese started filming "The Good Guy", so "The Traitor" was stranded, and the studio certainly didn't want to go head-to-head with the director of "Cruel Street".
Six years later, "Four Weddings and a Funeral" achieved unexpected success in the United States, so British director Newell restarted the filming plan for this film. "I joked that these British directors are so ignorant that they are not afraid of Martin Scorsese." said the film's producer Marco Johnson.
If "The Good Guy" is the most iconic gangster movie in the 90s, then what is "The Traitor"? Johnny Depp replied: "This is a fucking movie." Of course, he has reason to say that. In order to make this movie, he exhausted his efforts to learn Bridgestone's unique mannerism and his tough pace. "To make myself look like this fucking guy, I took a lot of thought," Depp said. "He's a real person. I just pretended to be him." Bridgestone was eventually killed by Depp. His acting skills were impressed: "He looks like me. This feeling is so amazing."
For Depp, a young actor, Blasco was a breakthrough point in his acting career. When he plays this role, his eyes (the eyes that are always moving, tense, and full of guilt) convey the movie themes of friendship and betrayal. As far as the essence of this film is concerned, it tells a tragic story between two male emotions: one of them is a hunter and the other is a prey. Admittedly, this is not an epic masterpiece. It does not have the grandeur of Coppola's "The Godfather", and it also has the dirty violence of Scorsese's "Goodfather".
In fact, "Loyal Traitors" is not so much a movie about gangsters, it is more concerned about the bottom figures of gangster society. You don't like to be with a character like "Lao Zuo". He has "testicular cancer", his son is a drug addict, he has a veteran style, but he has few friends. However, he was still willing to ride a luxury bridge with Downey. The two were as close as father and son. He tried his best to get Downey to intervene in Brooklyn controlled by Sonny (Michael Madsen), and he never doubted it. It turned out that Downey turned out to be an undercover agent. "If you are a gangster," he said to Downey, "then I am the dumbest bastard in the history of the gang." Al Pacino presents one of the best performances of his life in this film: temperance, It is sympathetic and unforgettable tragedy.
For Newell, the pairing of Pacino and Depp is undoubtedly a godsend. "The chemistry between them is really great," he said. He seemed to have forgotten that during the filming of the film, both of them tested his patience with dirty jokes. Depp is the most impatient of them. "I just walked around with this fucking tape recorder every day," he complained to a visiting reporter when he returned to the 1996 filming scene, "I fell in love with it. But it is so antisocial. Newell is very anti-social. I hate it." Pacino was having a great time. He later recalled: "I have never laughed so hard like that time. When I want to shoot those dramatic scenes, I always let myself relax. The more relaxed I am, the better the effect I can achieve. Good."
However, Newell had more troubles besides being angry. "I really want to tell Al that he must temper his performance," he admitted. "At that time, Al was at a critical point in his acting career. His acting style is always so exaggerated! The voice is exaggerated, the movements are exaggerated, everything is exaggerated... And this role needs moderation and low-key. Fortunately. What’s more, it’s funny when Al thinks that he has developed this style since acting as Michael Corioni, and that it has become a burden now. He quickly realized the irony."
In the spring of 1996, New York. "You fucking British sissy!" This swear word with a strong Brooklyn accent comes from "The Sopranos." Naturally, a smart person would say this; but he was not a staff member who followed Newell—in fact, he was forced to cooperate with him. He was venting his anger on Newell. The director was wandering in a gangster nightclub, which used to be a nail salon with a bar and a record player. The record collection was nothing but Frank Sinatra. He was drinking with cosa nostra, feeling the real gang life (but there was no "fake diamond" on him), and suddenly things broke out.
"Someone recommended these Brooklyn people to me," Newell recalled. "They had great doubts about me from the beginning, so one of them decided to provoke me and test me. Those days, Hugh Grant I just got into trouble on Sunset Boulevard. So this guy walked up to me and said (Newell deliberately lowered his pitch to a very low level, like a gangster talking through a trench coat):'Fuck fucking Hugh. Grant...' That's what he said. So I replied:'Okay!' Then he repeated the sentence:'Fucking Hugh Grant...' This guy obviously wants to get it. I would give up with some of my reactions. "You know what," I said to him, "If I did instruct him, the oral sex would definitely look softer." The whole room laughed. Since then, they have never provoked me again.
Well, although most people are convinced of him, the provocative person is not so easy to stop. "You fucking British sissy! "Years later, when Newell remembered this man, he couldn't help laughing. "This guy wanted to annoy me all night. He really doesn't like me. I closed my mouth tightly, ignoring all this with a smile on my face. But when we left, I mentioned it to one of them. He was really angry:'What did he say? Tell me what he said to you! 'I finally realized that no one likes this guy, and if they are given a proper reason, they will kill him. For these people, if they don't like someone, give them 20 yuan, and they will kill him. If I complain again, the whole guy may have been killed. "But Newell is still an Englishman after all, and he didn't let things go to that point. "I don't know if that guy is alive or not," he mused. "However, I suspect he is dead. "
The real experience of living with gangsters gives "The Traitor" a sense of reality, and this is what other gangster movies cannot achieve. In the movie, "Lao Zuo" likes to watch nature documentaries, and "The Traitor" "Itself is also like a documentary, it cares more about the details of human nature, it is these details that make people in the underground world look special: from the special meaning of the phrase "forget this bird thing" to the fugazi (fake diamond) The definition of is followed by a etiquette course on how smart people put money (roll the banknotes into a ball and put them on top).
When the film premiered in 1997, the depth and wisdom it showed earned it a lot of admiration (Vanity Fair said, "This is a fascinating, dramatic crime story."). However, it was the two leading actors that really made the film praised: "Pacino and Depp are simply a perfect pair, their interpretations are surprisingly subtle and intelligent, and they stimulate each other." "Rolling Stones." "Peter Travis wrote. Oscar could have obeyed the public opinion and portrayed the Little Golden Man to these two actors, but it did not do so in the end. That year, Oscar was busy allocating awards to "Titanic", "Perfect" and "Mind Catcher", but "The Traitor" finally received only one nomination for best screenwriter.
However, as time has passed, "The Traitor" is still a powerful gangster movie. It is a movie portrayed with heart and soul. Compared with those lazy repetitions of genre and comic characters, this film The characters are more real and vivid. This story does not have too many fierce battle scenes, but it is a standard human tragedy. It is a movie about the dignity of small people, a movie about betrayal, and it touches us in a calm manner. Is it a classic? Forget about this bird event!
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