Empire Online - January 14, 2002
Gang Warfare
From his ebullient performance as booming Moulin Rouge owner, Harold Zidler, to a moving dramatic
performance alongside Judi Dench in Iris, Jim Broadbent has certainly been keeping busy. But the
most anticipated project in his upcoming arsenal has to be Martin Scorsese's epic drama, The Gangs
of New York.
"That was absolutely wonderful," Broadbent enthuses to Empire Online. "It’s great working with
these people, getting up close and watching them do their work and seeing how they’re going to
shoot it, how they’re going to tell the story. I found it quite an education; I’d eavesdrop on
conversations and take notes. They’re just amazing people."
Starring alongside the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz, Broadbent
plays Tweed, a decidedly shady statesman. "Boss Tweed is based on a real man, he’s a corrupt New
York politician. A real villain who ripped off millions of dollars from the state and ended up in
prison."
As to the supposed troubles from the set, such as Scorsese's reported drubbing of Dicaprio for
tardiness on set, it would appear that someone has been telling fibs. "I didn’t hear that and I
didn’t notice anything like that. They’re doing something else, Leonardo and Marty, so they must
have got on alright. When I was doing it, it seemed a blissful relationship."
"Actually there was a lot of scurrilous stuff in the press coming from Rome which was absolute
bollocks so far as I could tell. You'd read it and think ‘where did they get that from?’
Thanks a lot to Eve !
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