___
|
 |
|
Director Interview
DOWSE Guide to the
Movies
The Whole Nine Yards:
What exactly does 'The Whole Nine Yards' mean?
"It didn't occur to me that people here wouldn't know that phrase. It's an American
idiom rather like 'The Full Monty'. It means the whole thing."
This is not a project you developed yourself - how did you come to be involved?
"I liked the script, I thought it was full of surprises. Films are so often
predictable in various ways, and the fact that there were a couple of things that
genuinely surprised me in the story was good. I thought there was some very funny
stuff in it, I went to meet Bruce and we got along. That's how it got set up. I'd
been about to make another film, but the studio pulled the plug eight weeks before
shooting, and this came up at the right time, so I was delighted to jump straight
into it."
Was there some trepidation meeting your star, Bruce Willis, knowing he was
involved in the project before you?
"Meeting Bruce Willis is not something you approach with trepidation, because if it
doesn't work in a meeting then you know that the movie won't work either. It's better
to discover you don't get along beforehand. If you desperately want the gig then I
suppose you will approach it with some trepidation. But I've worked with lots of
stars, and they all have the same concerns, they all want the film to be good, they
all have the same issues about how they'll look, does the part suit them and am I the
person who can make it happen in a way that works for them. Actors all have the same
concerns, whether they're stars or not. I think I'm at my best when directing actors,
so that doesn't hold much terror for me."
Having begun your career over here, was there a culture shock involved in you
making movies in the United States?
"The culture shock is really that here everyone believes that films are art which
have to be commercial in order to keep making the art. But in Hollywood they are
understood as primarily commerce - and if there is artistry in them so much the
better. It's a different emphasis."
Did you have final say in the casting of The Whole Nine Yards?
"I did. But obviously if you have a big star like Bruce Willis you obviously consult
on certain decisions. When we were ready to cast Amanda Peet, for example. Bruce came
in and read with her. We wanted to make sure that he was comfortable with her. That's
just comrnon sense. And Michael Clarke Duncan had worked with Bruce on Armageddon,
so he suggested him. But if I'd said I didn't want him then we wouldn't have cast him.
As it turned out he was terrific, and I was happy with the suggestion. Bruce knows
the difference between good and bad acting, and when he made suggestions they were
pretty good."
How is it you manage to capture a spontaneity in the performances of your actors?
"Some of it has to do with out-takes, if they're funny I put them into the film. Like
Bruce catching the fly, that wasn't in the script, he just tried to do it. He didn't
in reality suck it in and spit it out, that was something he pretended to do to make
Amanda laugh - but it was so funny, why throw it away? He was amazed when he saw it
in the film, he wasn't expecting it."
Was Matthew Perry influential in the physical comedy that he contributed?
"It all came from Matthew. He loves that kind of thing, and he came away with some
bruises, but he really knows what he's doing. When he crashes into that glass door,
that was the sixth take, he kept trying to get it a iittle funnier and a little
better. He didn't hurt himself. he's a real professional, he knows how to do it.
There's one fall where he sees Bruce in the hotel room, crashes into Michael Clarke
Duncan and then into the lamp and behind the sofa. I'd suggested doing something
slightly different there, and he said he felt he'd hurt himself if he did that, so he
did what you see. He's very much in command of that sort of thing, it's not random."
They are both stars in their own right - was there any sense of competition
between Matthew and Bruce?
"They weren't competitive with each other, I think because they both had very
different roles to play. Bruce couldn't do the frenzied thing that Matthew does, it
wouldn't have worked for his character. And Matthew couldn't have played it cool like
Bruce does, partly because he's not Bruce and partly because it wouldn't have suited
his character. Everything they did together was complementary. They liked to make
each other laugh and come up with new stuff. But unusually with two funny people it
wasn't competitive."
Did you find they both rose to the occasion of working together?
"They did. We shot this very fast, it was a relatively low budget film, and there
were two or three big dialogue scenes where we had to do six pages in a day which is
two to three times what normally happens in a feature film. I said to Bruce that he
would have to learn all this beforehand, and not on the set. He was slightly insulted,
saying he did Moonlighting for years on television, telling me he could learn
ten pages in a day easily. And so it proved to be. We enjoyed going fast, and I think
we enjoyed the pressure."
Who helped who the most?
"I would say they helped each other, and that's the way it should be. When you
rehearse a scene contributions come from both actors, and hopefully from me, but you
do find that you get it to a place where you want it to be. We rehearsed it in
advance, we couldn't have shot at that speed otherwise. We plotted everything out. So
by the first day of the film I knew essentially every shot, everything was pre-planned.
We only made minor adjustments for things that came up during shooting."
And yet Bruce has said that he is bored of being in films which has him running
around, waving a gun, hasn't he?
"The gun scenes in this film were the ones that interested him least. I'd give him an
idea of what the scene was, coming out and firing at the hit man. He'd say 'yeah,
I've done that. Where's the camera?'. He could do that stuff with his eyes shut. He's
very gun conscious, having had it in so many films. When it came to choosing Jimmy
The Tulip's gun I said to the prop master 'get every possible gun here and let Bruce
choose what he wants because I don't care'. And Bruce chose them."
How did you come to cast Amanda Peet in the film?
"She's wonderful isn't she? Lots of people came in to read for the role, she was just
one of them but we found her entrancing and very funny."
Do you suppose Bruce knew you from your career at home - was he a Yes, Minister
fan perhaps?
"I have no idea if he knew me from my work here in Britain. I think he rang Eddie
Murphy - who I worked with on The Distinguished Gentleman - and asked what I
was like. Fortunately, Eddie liked me."
The Whole Nine Yards is released on rental video, and DVD retail, by Warner
Home Video on 20 November 2000
Back
to Movies on Dowse index.
........................................................................
by Tony Lee editor of
Pigasus
Press
syndicated interview with Jonathan Lynn
Back to 
main
page
Archaeology
Architecture
Art
Autos
Books
Computing & Internet
Cryptozoology
Dowsing
Dreams
Education
Entertainment
Fantasy art
Fiction
Free Stuff
Games
Gardening
Geography
Geology
History
Landscapes
Movies
Music
Mysteries
Myths & Legends
Paranormal
People
Philosophy
Poetry
Religions/Beliefs
Science Fiction
Sciences
Security online
Shamans
Theatre
Travel
TV
Urban Legends Webmasters tools
Writing & Publishing
................................
dowse your start page