|
Empire (UK) - November 2002 PIPELINE - Previews, Rumour and Hype
The Gangs's All Here by Colin Kennedy After more than 25 years of planning and one of the longest shoots in recenbt moemory, Scorsese's Gangs of New York will be out in the UK on January 10, 2002
In June '77, Martin Scorsese, hot off Taxi Driver, took out a two-page advert in Variety
to announce his next project: Gangs of New York. As of summer 2002, one whole Jubilee later, the
master director's dream project is nearing completion. Scorsese was still a movie brat, all of 34
years old, when he began planning his 19th century epic, an adaption of Herbert Asbury's 1927 book.
The director is now nearly 60 and apperently rather humbled by the whole experience. "All I know is
I did the best I could," he said recently.
Under any normal circumstance, Marty's best would be better than pretty much everything else; but
then, Gangs wasn't filmed in optimum conditions. During more than a year of shooting, rumours
constantly leaked from the Rome set surrounding the daily rewrites, spiralling costs and endless
delays. It would be hard to believe that the shoot entirely escaped clashes between the director
and the man who stumped up most of the $97 million budget - Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein.
However, from this years's Cannes launch onwards, Marty and Harvey have been sweetness and light,
with Weinstein joking to reporters: "After you have eaten in every restaurant Rome has to offer
five times over, it's time to go home."
Whatever arguments did or did not take place, it is now certain that the movie some people thought
would never see the light of the day is locked ( no word on the running time yet), and will be
released on Christam Day in the US, just in time for Oscar consideration. And, given the cast
Scoresese has put together, a clutch of nomination is surely guaranteed.
Scorsese hired Daniel Day-Lewis back to acting for the first time since 1997's The Boxer (Day-Lewis
says "he does not know" if he will work again), and, by all accounts, the 45 year-old Irish actor
has responded with his customary zeal. To tap into the rage of bloodthirsty political fixer Bill The
Butcher, Day-Lewis apperently spent each morning listening to Eminem while working out. The ultimate
Method actor also insisted that everyone call him Bill. "I just met Daniel recently", co-star
Cameron Diaz said almost a full year after Gangs wrapped.
As for Diaz herself, Marty has recently revealed that the unusual casting choice was influenced by
the effect she had on his chosen actor. "When she came in, something happened. He kind of
brightened up," Scorsese explains. There was some sort of chemistry between the two of them, and I
thought that she could do it - the way she was affecting him."
The lead actor is, of course, Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio signed on first and it was his interest,
rather than Marty's, that guaranteed a green light. Due to contractual quirk, DiCaprio has seen his
salary shrink by millions as budget overruns made Miramax nervous; however, the 28 year-old actor
has nothing but praise for the process. "This is the way movies should be made. It was almost like
a theatre group - we were creating a lot of what we did as we went along."
DiCaprio, of course, has been through all this press speculation before, and the movie about the
boat did okay. Then again, Leo didn't have a dodgy 'tache in Titanic. Indeed, if question marks do
remain, they focus on the central Diaz-DiCaprio love story, rather than the epic battle scenes
between rival gangs. So far Empire has seen 25 minutes, including some breathtaking tracking
shots around the huge Cinecittą set, some highly theatrical set-pieces and some great Day-Lewis
thesping. Overall, the movie seems more fun than you might expect.
If Gangs of New York does one-tenth of Titanic's box office, Harvey will probably be satisfied.
(One-tenth is about $180 million.) After all, Martin Scorsese's otherwise glittering career is not
punctuated by any break-out hits. In the US, his biggest film was the 1991 remake of Cape Fear, and
that grossed only $79 million. Gangs may turn out to be a huge hit, but if it does, it's not
because Marty planned it. "I'm not that interested in the average film that comes out of Hollywod,"
he says, "What can I learn? How to make a blockbuster?" ***
|