This Tuesday, the good people at New Line invited me to the
Great Western Forum in L.A. to check out the set of AFTER
THE SUNSET, starring Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek and Woody
Harrelson.
The Forum, once home to Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s
“Showtime” era, provides the backdrop for the film’s opening
scene, which takes place during a fictional Lakers-Clippers game.
It features Chris Penn, dressed up as a belligerent hick,
angrily disputing a ref’s call. The
ensuing commotion that he creates, provides a convenient diversion
for Brosnan’s jewel thief to elude an FBI agent (played by Woody
Harrelson) assigned to keep track of him.
It was my first exposure to a Brett Ratner film set, and I
was amazed at how loose and laid-back the atmosphere was.
Once Brett arrived, he and producer Beau Flynn casually went
over the scene’s blocking while extras arrived and crewmembers set
things up. Some of Ratner’s
pals stopped by, including Shaquille O’Neal, who agreed to appear
in the scene as a favor to his buddy Brett.
Initially slated to be on the set for an hour, Shaq
eventually stayed for three, as the charming director somehow
convinced the big man to stick around.
Fellow Lakers Gary Payton and Karl Malone also had cameos.
The irrepressible, trash-talking Payton was clearly a crowd
favorite.
Multiple cameras rolled as Payton acted out a scene in which
he drives to the basket, runs over a defender and is called for
charging. Unhappy with the
call, Payton shouts insults to the ref as he’s restrained by
teammates Shaq and Malone. All
three got a chance to do some improv, with Shaq even giving the ref
the finger in one inspired take.
We got a chance to sit down with director Brett Ratner, but
not before one of the more surreal events of the day took place a
few feet in front of us. Payton
and Malone (Shaq had left by this point) came over to the monitor
area to say hello to tennis champ Serena Williams, yet another pal
of Brett’s. After Payton kissed her on the cheek, Malone decided to be a little
more ambitious and planted one on Serena’s lips.
Startled, she began to stumble backward and – no kidding
– her jeans began to fall down. For
about five seconds we had a direct view of Serena’s ass (I
didn’t see any underwear, by the way), until the flabbergasted
girl regained her composure and pulled her pants back up......and
then there was the Brett Ratner interview.
BRETT
RATNER
Can
you give us a set-up of what we're seeing today?
We're seeing the scene that's the opening of the movie where
Pierce Brosnan – the whole way he works as a diamond thief is that
he sets up a diversion. He sets up an alibi.
Chris Penn is part of his team here and – he's not really a
hick, he's Irish – I mean, in the movie, the character he plays is
an Irish guy. He's setting up a diversion so that he can say that
during the heist, he was here at the game. So, this is the scene
that we're shooting. We're
just trying to capture a real game.
How
do you know Shaq? Have you
worked together before?
I became a good friend of his when I was directing SUPERMAN.
He kept calling me everyday and begging to be in the movie.
So that’s when we became really close.
When
did AFTER
THE SUNSET first
come to your attention?
I had a three-picture deal at New Line and I owed them one
more picture. Toby Emmerich came to me and said, “I wanted to show
you this script. I guess there was another director on it and he had
left and we really want to make this movie with you.” I said,
“Okay, I'll read it.” And I loved it.
And I'm here. That's how it happened, basically. Oh, and RUSH
HOUR wasn't ready. I was supposed to do RUSH HOUR next, but the
script wasn't ready, so I said lemme just go do this.
You
shot for several weeks in the Bahamas.
How did that go?
The rain was crazy! I wanted it to be better, but you know,
certain things are out of your control. You go with it.
If it rains, “Ok, it's a rain scene!” So, we made it
work. But it was beautiful shooting there. It was fun being away on
an island. Everyone kinda bonds. And it's a great cast of
characters. Pierce Brosnan is the complete opposite of Woody
Harrelson. Salma Hayek, Don Cheadle – it’s such a great...then
we come to L.A. and get guys like Chris Penn. Some really
interesting characters in this movie.
Let’s
talk about Pierce’s character. Obviously, he played an art thief
in THE
THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR.
How is this character different
here?
I was excited about doing this because I'm a huge fan of
Bond. I wanted to do a Bond movie so bad. I did it really mainly not
only because Toby asked me and because I loved the script, but
because Pierce Brosnan, when I was doing RUSH
HOUR 2, flew to Vegas to ask me to do Bond. He said, “I want
you to do the next Bond.” You know – Bond 20. He said, “The
only problem is, I have no say in it!” And I’m like,
“Well, why are you here?” He said, “Because I just would love
for you to do it.” It was
like a dream come true. I never forgot that.
When I read this script, I thought, “Wow, this is such an
interesting choice for Pierce because it's something he's never done
before.”
It still has elements of who he's played in other movies
because he's a diamond thief, but it's got a tremendous amount of
humor. It's got a tremendous
amount of heart. It's a really smart film. It's not just about the
action. There's actually not a lot of action in the film. It's more
like what I would call a “caper” film. It's really about the
relationship between the characters. Hopefully, you even forget
about the diamond getting stolen and you care more about the
relationships between the characters and what happens to them. My
favorite director is Hal Ashby. I love movies where you care about
the characters, you care about the relationships between the
characters and everybody has a specific purpose. It's not just
fluff.
We've
seen a lot of heist movies lately, THE
ITALIAN JOB being one
example. How will AFTER
THE SUNSET
be different?
THE
ITALIAN JOB
has huge action in it. This doesn't have a lot of
action in it at all. It's more of a character-driven movie, which
made it interesting for me because just do a big action heist was
not something I was excited about doing. Toby's pitch was that this
movie starts where the jewel thief retires. Usually they end on the
beach. This one starts on the beach.
So it's an interesting twist. I like to challenge myself to
do different types of movies. After I did RUSH HOUR, all I got
offered were movies like RUSH HOUR – buddy comedies. I was like,
“I want to try something different.” That's why I did THE
FAMILY MAN and then that's why I did RED
DRAGON and that's why I'm doing this. It's more of a challenge
for me. Can I do a movie like this and get the tone right? If it's
too broad, you don't care about the characters. If it's too serious,
it's just a dramatic film and you then don't care.
Were
Pierce and Salma attached to the picture before you came on?
They were actually. I've only done that on one movie, which
was MONEY TALKS, where I was hired a week before the movie started
shooting. This movie, I was hired like eight weeks before the movie
started shooting. I didn't actually develop it, but I did change the
script completely. Once I came on, I completely changed the script.
Did
you already know Salma?
Yes, Salma and I are very good friends because I did a movie
with Edward (Norton) when they were a couple. And I knew her years
before that, so she called me and said, “You've gotta do the
movie! You've gotta do the movie!”
What
about the casting of Woody Harrelson as an FBI agent?
He's just a great actor. He's just awesome. I love working
with him. He can do anything. He can do comedy, he can do drama.
He's just one of those actors who is just such a unique individual
and he's the opposite of Pierce Brosnan. They could not be from two
further places in the world. They're just completely opposite.
So,
who has more of the comedy - Woody or Pierce?
Pierce is somewhat straighter - he's the straight man. In a
comedy, there always has to be one - Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker,
you know? Hold on –
(Brett turns to Serena and her pals and motions for an
assistant)
Can you ask these girls if they want something?
What would you guys like? Water,
soda, anything.
(Brett turns back to us)
So yeah, Pierce is more of a straight man, but the comedy
comes from the situation, not jokes like a broad comedy where
there's one-liners. You might see jokes in the trailer, but the
truth is, that's not what the movie is. It's really about the
relationships. It's definitely a movie you will laugh at and you'll
really care about the characters. It's funny as hell, but
based on the situations, not because of the jokes.
AFTER THE
SUNSET is slated for a November 12, 2004 release.
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