Report from Canadian Premiere of Revolver
Toronto (CP) – It was a night for Guy Ritchie, but quite a lot of attention was paid to his wife.
Madonna accompanied her husband down the red carpet for the world premiere of Ritchie’s film, Revolver on Sunday night at the Toronto International Film Festival. Asked if she’d seen the film yet, Madonna replied, “Hell, yeah.”
The petite singer called it “definitely” Ritchie’s best film yet. “It’s just more sophisticated,” she said.
Madonna clearly didn’t want to draw attention away from Revolver. She hid coyly behind her husband while he answered questions from the press, making it difficult to see her from the shoulders down.
Earlier in the day, Ritchie was willing to answer a question about Madonna‘s condition after a recent horseback riding fall.
“The wife’s very good, thanks,” he said with a proud smile. “Eight broken bones and she’s come with me.”
Madonna did let slip that she has a new album to look forward to, called Confessions on a Dance Floor, with the first single called Hung Up. But she refused to drop any hints about the album’s sound. “You figure it out,” she said.
As for Revolver, the plot thickens from the word go. Ritchie and his stars discussed the movie’s many layers at a news conference held before the evening screening.
Revolver is a gangster drama that is often violent, often dark and sometimes very funny. The film twists and turns while delving into the psyche of the lead character, Jake Green – played by Jason Statham – a criminal who may hold the keys to the perfect con and defeating any opponent.
Ritchie said the film – which includes continuous internal dialogues narrating a la Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – may be a challenge to theatre-goers. “I think the audience is ready for that,” he said.
“It’s integral to the confidence trick that you have the illusion of things looking rather complicated,” Ritchie said of the film’s theme as well as its structure. “But they’re actually rather simple.”
Still, Ritchie said the film won’t appeal to the lowest-common-denominator moviegoer.
“I think I just got all too fed up with films that didn’t make you think,” said Ritchie. “I liked the idea of one that you’d have to be dancing around with. I like my mind to be engaged when I watch a film.”
Ray Liotta plays an over-tanned smooth operator concealing a bundle of insecurities. His first reaction to the script appears to be what Ritchie was striving toward. “What the hell was this script about?” said Liotta of his initial thoughts. “At its core, you could see bad guys going against bad guys. It’s very, very dense, very complicated, very smart, which is something you’re not used to getting in most movies.”
Liotta said working with Ritchie was a liberating experience. “This was one of the better experiences that I’ve had in making movies,” said Liotta. “It was great to just trust Guy and get on a building and just fall because you know you’re going to be caught.”
Vincent Pastore of Sopranos fame plays an enigmatic con man. He’s the counterpoint to Andre Benjamin – better known as Andre 3000 of the music duo OutKast – who plays a polished loan shark. Pastore said he liked the depth of the script. “To me, it was one of the best scripts I’d read in a long time,” he said. “Coming off The Sopranos, working with David Chase where he kept writing great stuff, it was really great to pick up Revolver.”
Revolver is expected in North American theatres in early 2006.
Source: The Canadian Press, 2005
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