the movie the place Nicolas Cage entertains and strikes as a neurotic con artist | EUROtoday

HASclose to her gigantic peplum Gladiator (2000) and its XXL conflict movie Black Hawk Down (2002), Ridley Scott plans to shoot one other blockbuster with Russell Crowe, which would require seven and a half months of preparation: Tripoliin regards to the 1805 Mediterranean battle between the United States and the Barbary Coast. But this colossal undertaking acquired slowed down, twentieth Century Fox having deemed it too dangerous commercially.

So, the director decides to deal with himself to a break. To put Tripoli apart and return to a extra intimate cinema. To a movie with a extra human dimension, much less “allegro”. To a undertaking that doesn’t require the implementation of extreme sources. We have simply supplied him a script which was refused by Robert Zemeckis: Matchstick Men (The Associates in French model). And he’s seduced by this manuscript.

Knocks and upsetting encounter

Based on the novel by Eric Garcia, tailored by screenwriting brothers Nicholas and Ted Griffin (Ted is the creator ofOcean’s Elevenone other rip-off movie), the screenplay tells an astonishing story. The Griffins wrote it within the spirit of The Scam (1973) by George Roy Hill with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. This parenthesis would represent for Ridley Scott a foray right into a style with which he has till now had little expertise: comedy.

Starting level of the movie: in Los Angeles, two scammers, Roy (Nicolas Cage) and his younger affiliate Frank (Sam Rockwell), to whom he teaches the tips of the commerce, stay small schemes. They spend their time fleecing the gogo and defrauding poor retirees on the cellphone. Their enterprise is kind of profitable. But there’s nonetheless a darkish facet to the image: Roy suffers from obsessive-compulsive dysfunction. Agoraphobic, he’s riddled with tics. A stickler for cleanliness and tidying, he vacuums twelve instances a day. A stain on his carpet causes an existential drama. Immediate melancholy. When he sees a lifeless leaf floating on the floor of his pool, he rushes in with a touchdown web. He winks when a crumb of tuna is not in the appropriate place on his plate. In quick, his OCDs are ruining his life.

Until the day when this utterly loopy man decides to seek the advice of a psychologist (Bruce Altman) and learns by the physician that he has a 14-year-old daughter, Angela (Alison Lohman), whose existence he didn’t know. Roy had in truth left his spouse when she was pregnant. The sudden arrival of this teenager will act as a hurricane in her orderly life. Totally overwhelmed by this assembly, Roy belatedly discovers the fun of fatherhood… Impossible to disclose the remainder of the plot with out spoiling the story. We will subsequently abstain.

Nicolas Cage’s immense efficiency

After having distinguished himself on large-scale epic movies, the legendary director is enthusiastic about this modest function movie of which Robert Zemeckis is govt producer, and his spouse, Costa Rican actress Giannina Facio, co-producer. With an inexpensive finances of $62 million, The Associates profit from the high-energy efficiency of Nicolas Cage as a criminal filled with tics and tocs. A personality who’s neurotic to the final diploma and allergic to the skin world, fearing being contaminated by microbes.

The star provides an unimaginable efficiency within the movie. The unhealthy repetition of his gestures (he opens and closes every door 3 times) is predicated on a examine he carried out on actual individuals affected by obsessive-compulsive issues. In his manufacturing notes, the director is filled with reward for his actor: “Nic was an obvious choice. I have followed his work closely for years and I am struck by his incredible eclecticism. He always brings a moving side to his characters. » Nicolas Cage returns the compliment: “Economic and precise in his instructions, Ridley never needs more than two or three takes, which allows the actor to preserve all his energy. »

Sam Rockwell, Nicolas Cage’s partner, shows a certain nonchalance in the role of his showoff partner, amused by his comrade’s phobias. This excellent actor has distinguished himself in numerous independent films. And above all it was the revelation of the first feature film directed by George Clooney Confessions of a Dangerous Man (2002). At her side, Alison Lohman is credited with 14 years old even though the actress was actually 23 years old at the time of filming!

During filming in California, Ridley Scott smokes cigar after cigar. He sets up his cameras in the San Fernando Valley, at Dodger Stadium, at the seaside resort of Marina del Rey, and transforms the Anaheim convention center into an airport. Indeed, after September 11, it became almost impossible to organize a filming in a real airport. And that of the film began on July 15, 2002, barely ten months after the tragic attacks that shook America. The production designer, Tom Foden, therefore completely redecorated the Anaheim Convention Center into an airport terminal.

A moral fable with mixed success

In July 2003, when he had just finished post-production of the film, the director received a great honor. Like his two heroes, Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean, he was knighted by Elizabeth II, in recognition of his contribution to British cinema. At the age of 65, he became “Sir Ridley Scott”.

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In The Associatesthis Englishman delivers a satire on materialist America and reveals dishonest individuals, blinded by the lure of acquire. Individuals able to do something to afford a “suburban house with lawn and swimming pool”. Presented on the 60^e Venice Film Festival out of competitors and on the Deauville American Film Festival, the movie, admirably written, offers immense pleasure. Funny and touching, this leisure has many surprises in retailer. But it can solely accumulate $65.5 million in worldwide income. A disappointing rating. The director will observe up with a brand new spectacular fresco, two years later: Kingdom of Heaven (2005). However, nothing is extra thrilling than a “small” movie from an amazing filmmaker.

“The Associates”, by Ridley Scott (United States, 2003). 1:56. With Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman, Bruce McGill, Bruce Altman, Sheila Kelley, Beth Grant. Broadcast on Sunday December 14 at 9 p.m. on Arte. And obtainable on arte.fr.