Q:
What was the history of Smokin'
Aces? When did you first
come up with the idea?
JC: I wrote the first seeds of it in 1993. I was still in
college and was fascinated by Frank Sinatra. There were all
these rumors about Sinatra and ties to
the mob, so I started thinking 'What if Sinatra had decided
one day to use his power as an entertainer to become a mob
boss?’ That was how I constructed Jeremy Piven's character,
Buddy Israel, who was one of those hybrid Vegas-style magician-comedians.
Q: Is it true that you only gave the first 30 pages of the
Smokin' Aces to the producers at Working Title as a bit of
a tease?
JC: Absolutely. It was 2002 straight after the Sundance
Film Festival where I had Narc and I was considered a bit
of a hot property, or whatever. For most of my career I had
been cash-strapped. So, that's what I did. Working Title
purchased the first 30 pages right after Sundance and then
they patiently waited for the rest.
Q: To write a great script is one thing, but to then recruit
such a star-studded cast must have been a dream come true.
JC: It really was. The great thing was the cast was attracted
by the script. The script spoke to people enough that they
agreed to come on and do so for almost no money. Nobody got
paid. This is a $25 million movie and almost all of it is
on the screen. If you had to pay each actor their usual rates,
forget about it. You couldn't do it. It was their willingness
to go for the ride. It wasn't a massive time commitment for
them. We shot it over 40 days.
Q: So, when you were pursuing actors to be in Smokin' Aces,
what was your pitch?
JC: The way I always went at everybody, knowing they had
a fondness for the script, I said 'Why don't you play a role
that is totally opposite to what you normally do as an actor?'
Piven and Reynolds are usually very funny, so I said I'd
deprive them of that. Alicia is this angelic woman, and I
said 'You're not going to be like that in this.' They got
it.
Q: Some people might say you took a risk with that approach.
JC: My philosophy is I'd rather die falling and reaching,
than go right down the middle and hand cotton candy to everyone.
Q: You must have a great relationship with Ray Liotta after
Narc.
JC: Absolutely. Ray read the script and was in. I could
have told Ray 'You play Janitor Number Three' and he would
have agreed to play it.
Q: So Ray was the first actor attached to the project?
JC: Yeah. I was able to build around him. I knew he would
have great chemistry with Ryan Reynolds. Then Andy Garcia
came onboard and he's another heavyweight.
Q: Visually, Smokin' Aces was interesting to watch. How
did you come up with the visual look?
JC: I tried to shoot each character in a way that was most
befitting them. The Tremor Bros had seen The Matrix 50 times
and watched Sergio Leone movies their whole lives, so I shot
them in big wide angles, slow motion and people burning.
It was big and operatic. Then with Ryan Reynolds, in the
scene where he's trying to revive his partner, it is very
still. Every character has a moment in the movie when they
show a side to them that's human. Nobody is this sarcastic
apathetic asshole who kills just for the sake of killing.
Q: You said Frank Sinatra influenced you in writing Smokin'
Aces and you also mentioned The Matrix and Sergio Leone.
What else inspired you?
JC: Music is such a huge part of my
life. It's a focal point. When I watch Smokin' Aces, when
I see Alicia, I see my love of old R&B, when I see
Common it reflects my love of hip hop. I see my love of
punk rock in the Tremor Bros and I see my love of Bruce
Springsteen in the FBI agents. The most direct ancestor
of Smokin' Aces is the Coen Bros film, Raising Arizona.
If you look at the structure of that film, the baby in
that movie is Jeremy Piven's character in mine.
Q: You said you are a big fan of music so it must be nice
for you to launch the acting careers of two great musicians
in Alicia Keys and Common.
JC: I'm thrilled. The thing that excites me the most and
gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment is everyone
in the film fits into Smokin' Aces seamlessly. I don't think
going from music to acting is too big of a transition. They
are still songwriters and storytellers so it's another facet
of them being artists. For them to go out and do well and
turn in performances so good, it will be an endless joy for
me.
Q: And Jeremy Piven, he really bared it all with his performance.
JC: People ask me what my favorite scene is and they expect
it to be one of the gun battle scenes, but for me it is when
Piven is looking at himself in the mirror and loses a contact
lense. He has that moment in the mirror. He has a complete
crisis of identity. Jeremy's ability to have so many gears
is amazing. He goes from over the top, mania, to introspective
and dour. It was great to cut him off from his considerable
gifts as a comedic actor.
Q: How about Andy Garcia? What was it like to have an actor
of his caliber who has been in some of the great gangster
films like Godfather III and The
Untouchables?
JC: Andy is someone who I have never seen have a better
relationship with the camera and the way it moves and where
he places himself in the frame. It's not an egotistical thing
at all. It's Andy knowing where to put himself in the frame.
You are not aware of it until you see it in dailies. You
go 'Wow, this guy is amazing.' Andy also had the unenviable
task of being the one stiff straight guy in a galaxy of freaks
in this film. He was the ballast that kept it together.
Q: Was Andy always happy to play the straight guy?
JC: He knew the importance of it. To get someone like him
and Ray in the same movie was amazing.
Q: How did Ryan Reynolds handle playing opposite two greats
like Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia? He really seemed to hold
his own.
JC: He did so in the most amazing way. Again, it's like
taking the actor out of his comfort zone. I have always thought
the funniest guys are also some of the
best dramatic actors. Look at Jim Carrey. I think comedy
comes from a source of pain. Ryan went for it. He didn't
have any fear. He was going up against Ray
Liotta and Andy Garcia so he had to bring his ‘A’ game
and he did.
Q: And Ben Affleck. We see him in Smokin' Aces in a role
that we have never seen him in.
JC: Ben understood the gag. Playing this hagged, world-weary
guy, he understood the intrinsic humor. Honest to God, I
wish I had one person to complain about while making this
film, but their support of the film was unconditional.
Q: Why set the film among the casinos of Lake Tahoe? It
was an interesting choice.
JC: I grew up near there so I also used to visit it. It
has never really been shot before, but it is a really interesting
place. You have these giant glass towers of the casino industry
built in the beautiful pristine environment. To do it there
I thought it hit the right freak strain to do the movie.
Lake Tahoe really embraced it too. They got a big kick out
of hosting a Hollywood film.
Q: With all of the action scenes in the movie, your crew
must have virtually taken over Lake Tahoe for weeks.
JC: The windows you see shattering in the film are actually
the casino's windows shattering. It was great to basically
go back to the place to blow it up.
Q: What did you tell the locals and vacationers staying
in the hotels and casinos? Did you warn them about the explosions?
JC: We said 'You're going to hear loud sounds and gunshots
because we're filming so don't be alarmed.'
Q: What about the huge, 50-calibre sniper rifle Taraji Henson
has to shoot? What kind of sound did it make?
JC: That gun was a monster. When we fired in a hotel room
out a window, the sheet rock dust from the roof above on
us fell down. We shot fully-loaded blanks and I'm telling
you, it unleashed such force you felt it go through your
entire body. Taraji shot about 40 rounds and at the end of
the day, to say she was punchy, was an understatement. It
exerts so much acoustic and sonic force coming off it, it
feels like you have been in a fist fight. It was the real
deal. That gun is designed to shoot people through tanks
and has a range of two miles.
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