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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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I start with a question,
as a filmmaker and a storyteller,
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how should this story tell itself?
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Because there's different strategies
that are available.
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And what attracted me
to Stuart Beattie's screenplay
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was the notion that it all happens
in a very short time frame,
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meaning that it's like the third act
of a traditional drama
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and you're making a whole motion picture
about only the third act.
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Yeah, I'm fine, mate.
Don't worry about it.
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One of the big reasons
I wanted to make the film
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was that we're seeing fractions,
or fractals...
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We're seeing a fraction
that represents the whole,
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and only what you need to know
is what you're seeing.
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And it doesn't go backward in time
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or give you exposition
about other parts of their lives.
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They don't really talk
about themselves that much.
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So, in the beginning,
I wanted to enter this scene,
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or enter these activities,
with kind of a torn edge.
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So we just see Vincent in LAX.
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We hear a plane land, Vincent's in LAX.
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He meets somebody who's foreign,
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and that's all you need to know
is that he's foreign.
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He's got a South London,
working-class accent.
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This accidental bumping into each other,
you realize,
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if I've done my job correctly,
is not really accidental.
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It's premeditated,
and a briefcase has been exchanged,
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so that whatever it is
that Vincent's here to do,
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you know only the few things
you need to know,
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which is that there was
a premeditated plan to it,
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it's secretive, and it involves people
from foreign places.
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And then we enter the domain of Max,
but we don't know what it is.
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First, there's abstract pieces of things,
and then we realize
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those abstract pieces of things
are, in fact, cars,
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and that the cars are cabs and that
there's drivers waiting to go on a shift.
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And what I'm trying
to direct the attention to
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is that Max is very obsessive
about making this environment
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of the interior of his cab
clean and perfect.
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And that he has a picture
that has some significance to him,
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'cause he very carefully
mounts it on his visor,
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and that he closes out chaos,
makes chaos go away.
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This mural that we put outside the cab
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comes from Estrada Courts,
which is in East LA,
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and there's a spectacular tradition
in Los Angeles of mural painting
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that's Hispanic, derives from Mexico.
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And this is-- It was painted in '74.
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The painter's anonymous,
and he never finished it.
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The vaquero doesn't have a head,
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and for some reason
that I can't put my finger on,
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it just really felt like
it fit into the vision
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of here's Max
launching out of the cab depot
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onto the streets of Los Angeles
in late afternoon,
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on a shift that probably began about 4:00.
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Cab driver described to me
as folks who get in the back seat
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are kind of like a radio
with a random Wonder Bar.
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You never know what station
you're gonna land on,
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and so you never know
who's gonna wind up in the back seat.
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There's a lot of aerial shots
in the picture,
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and they're shot with a Wescam mount,
which is amazingly steady.
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This is a gas station
just off the Santa Monica Freeway
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after the sun has set,
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and the light in LA
has this amazing red quality,
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red-yellow quality to it.
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And the mural of the products for sale
in the tienda
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is taken off a tienda in East LA.
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The fractions of LA and how diverse LA is,
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and diverse not in-- I grew up in Chicago.
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Not in a Chicago or East Coast
or New York way,
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but diverse in a Pac-Rim, Hispanic,
Los Angeles way
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are part of the intent of this,
of again, the opening of the film,
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Max's world, and the world of Los Angeles.
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Now, this guy here, his real name,
the actor's name is Manny Urrego,
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and he was a limo driver.
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In working out every detail,
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the most important details
of Max's life as a cab driver
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and the work we did
in preproduction with Jamie,
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one of the key things we did
was make complete
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Max's business plan
for having a limo company.
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And consequently,
Manny provided spreadsheets,
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a whole business plan,
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complete with depreciation,
overheads, salaries.
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Annie is played by Jada Pinkett Smith,
who I worked with in All'.
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When Jada gets in the cab...
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This is one of the first sequences
we shot,
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and we were using the Sony F900
high-definition video camera.
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If we were shooting film,
you wouldn't see any definition
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of the images behind them.
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And you wouldn't have this feeling
of the low light levels
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that make me feel
that we're actually in a cab.
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The 110 turns into a parking lot
around USC.
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But once you get to La Brea north
of Santa Monica, then it's jammed.
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The 110 north of the 10,
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you get people driving to Pasadena,
and they drive slow.
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Yeah, they do, but what I do is
I get off on Grand, and then I...
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The picture was originally written
for New York City.
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And my interest in shooting
a motion picture that took place at night
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in Los Angeles
in a compressed period of time
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predates my getting my hands
on the Collateral script,
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which was given to me
by Walter Parkes at DreamWorks.
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And it's written by Stuart Beattie.
It's an excellent script,
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but it was written about
the Russian Mafia and New York City.
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And my interest was immediately
to transpose all of that
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into not just LA as a location,
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but LA with its unique,
diverse population.
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And the way it seems to be organized,
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where there are almost, like,
sites or domains...
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that you travel to.
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The ethnic richness
and the sense of place in LA
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is not immediately apparent
off the freeways.
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You have to go to it.
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What you were was right. I was wrong.
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Max.
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And then in putting together the film,
again, as the storyteller,
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the first thing I'm looking for is,
who are these people?
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Who is Max? Who is Vincent?
Who are these characters?
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I do. I used to play in high school.
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What's their history?
Where did Vincent come from?
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How did Vincent get made into
the Vincent who shows up in LA,
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late afternoon...
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on this one day?
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Where did Max come from?
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Some of the answers to this
that, as the director,
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that I build in building the characters...
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and in working with the actors
in preproduction,
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and in forming the character
of Vincent with Tom
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and Max with Jamie had to do with...
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their histories, where they came from.
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In fact, the backstory of Tom and the film
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was that in the offshore world
of narco-trafficking cartels...
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they have the budgets to buy the best,
and they do.
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Particularly since the end
of the Cold War went on,
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that labor market has become available.
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People who are ex-KGB, ex-Stasi,
as well as Brits and Americans
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from Special Forces, Israelis.
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And these cartels also have
the best of computer technicians,
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signal-intercept capabilities
to run sophisticated counter-intel,
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as well as attorneys
and private investigators
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to discover
if there's any operations against them,
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or whether or not there's
a Department of Justice investigation
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or a DEA investigation
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or any indictments pending against them
in the United States.
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And that's exactly what's happened here.
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There's the dark pinstripe suit.
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Elegant, not too flashy.
That rules out advertising.
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The group that's hired Vincent
has found out
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that there are pending indictments
and that an assistant US attorney,
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played by Jada, is, in fact,
about to indict,
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in a grand jury hearing that's supposed to
begin tomorrow morning, certain figures.
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And they have had
private investigators working,
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and they've discovered the identities
of five key witnesses,
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and have spent
the last three or four months
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working up an operation
to kill these witnesses.
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And tonight's the night.
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Max and Annie,
who have just met in this cab,
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Max doesn't even know
she's a prosecutor yet,
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are completely unaware of this.
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I wanted to form characters
who were absolute strangers to each other
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and constituted opposites to each other
in every conceivable way that I could,
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because they're about to be
thrown together into this cab.
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One of the big things
that appealed to me about this film
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is to tell a story
the way this story tells itself,
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which is that since we're only
in these ten hours,
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we're only seeing
a small fraction of a whole life.
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And since we're only in the ten hours,
the challenge is,
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can I design those fractions
so that they become glimpses,
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that you kind of sense the person?
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To do that, one has to invent
the history of Vincent,
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the history of Max,
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and then choose those details
to put into the ten hours of tonight.
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The way Max dresses
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or the kind of self-deceptive attitude
he has when he talks about a limo company.
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The film doesn't do what a life experience
of these ten hours also would not do,
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which is to have exposition
or to travel backwards in time
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via flashbacks
or any of those other devices,
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but instead just to keep us
immediate into this present,
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and yet to have a greater degree
of knowingness about their lives.
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I think the case sucks,
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my exhibits aren't in order,
I'm not prepared enough,
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people are gonna find out
that I don't know...
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Max is averse to impulsive action.
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He has planned to perfection
this business plan,
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in which he's gonna set up a limo company.
He's been doing it for 12 years.
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Now, one of the hardest things
for an actor to play is indecision.
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That in-between state that means that...
That's exactly what Max is.
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He's a man who has big dreams
and has realized none of them.
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So for Jamie to play this,
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it means that he must generate
the object of Max's desire,
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really experience it and feel it,
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and then invent what impedes him
from actualizing it
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so that he exists
in that kind of twilight zone
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of potential and frustration.
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And in this case,
it all becomes personified by Annie,
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with whom he has this stunning rapport,
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as played out by Jada and Jamie
right here.
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How often?
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A dozen times a day.
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My favorite spot.
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Maldives Island.
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It's my own private getaway.
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Things get heavy for me,
I take five minutes out,
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and I just go there.
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And I just concentrate
on absolutely nothing.
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-Here. Take it.
-No. Icouldn't do that.
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Take it. Because you need it
a lot more than I do.
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And it'll help you. I guarantee it.
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But he can't bring himself
to actually ask her out,
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and the way Jamie plays it
and the way Jada plays it,
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I, for one, feel Jamie melt
when Jada's eyes look up
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at the moment that just passed.
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Thanks, Max.
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There's this kind of instant regret
at his having failed himself.
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And then as she's leaving,
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she realizes she has no way
to ever have contact with this guy again.
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She could take cabs in LA
for the next 15 years
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and might not run into him.
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So she responds to her impulse
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and she gives him her card,
and then the contact is made.
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Hey.
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Feeling that she's just been in this cab
with this man
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who has other plans in life
beyond driving a cab
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but just understood her
and was so generous
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about giving up something that's his
because he recognized she needed it.
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And it's kind of the rapport and intimacy
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that can be struck up
only between strangers,
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because you believe
there's no consequence,
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'cause you're never gonna
see each other again,
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so you can be open.
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Vincent is somebody who is decisive
and who's embraced force
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as a way of controlling his environment,
as a way of--
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And I don't think Vincent
is actually actively aware of this,
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but as a way
of controlling the environment
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so that bad things don't happen to him.
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He, consequently, is somebody
who can be improvisational.
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He's highly trained, he takes action,
he has opinions.
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Max is exactly the opposite.
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Vincent chooses public transportation,
and the thought behind that
237
00:13:58,505 --> 00:14:01,633
is the same thought
that's behind Vincent's suit.
238
00:14:01,717 --> 00:14:04,011
It serves two purposes.
239
00:14:04,094 --> 00:14:07,764
One is to be indistinguishable,
to be anonymous,
240
00:14:07,848 --> 00:14:10,100
so that if somebody witnesses Vincent...
241
00:14:11,768 --> 00:14:14,771
do an illegal act
and are later questioned by the police
242
00:14:14,855 --> 00:14:17,149
and they're trying to describe him,
well, he's a guy with gray hair,
243
00:14:17,232 --> 00:14:20,902
kind of average-sized, gray suit,
white shirt, there's nothing there.
244
00:14:20,986 --> 00:14:23,405
So that choice is,
245
00:14:23,488 --> 00:14:26,575
in the first instance,
simply really good tradecraft,
246
00:14:26,658 --> 00:14:29,578
to be inconspicuous by being anonymous.
247
00:14:29,661 --> 00:14:33,040
And that's one of the reasons
that he also picks public transportation.
248
00:14:33,123 --> 00:14:36,334
In his mind,
and according to his plan for tonight,
249
00:14:36,418 --> 00:14:37,961
the cab driver who's driving him around
250
00:14:38,045 --> 00:14:41,131
will not, in fact, know what he's doing
at each of the stops he has to make.
251
00:14:42,507 --> 00:14:43,717
This is an interesting shot.
252
00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:45,886
I'm gonna digress here because, again,
253
00:14:45,969 --> 00:14:50,265
this is something only possible
with high-definition video.
254
00:14:50,348 --> 00:14:53,060
It became a whole strategy
about how to see the world
255
00:14:53,143 --> 00:14:55,270
that Vincent and Max
are gonna traverse this night.
256
00:14:56,772 --> 00:15:01,777
I viewed the first scene between
Max and Vincent in the cab as casting.
257
00:15:02,944 --> 00:15:05,113
Vincent is being provocative
intentionally,
258
00:15:05,197 --> 00:15:08,617
saying things about Los Angeles--
nobody knows each other--
259
00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:10,786
To see what Max's reaction is gonna be.
260
00:15:10,869 --> 00:15:15,082
And if Max was aggressively defensive,
Vincent might just have changed cabs.
261
00:15:15,165 --> 00:15:19,336
And when Tom and I
were working in preproduction,
262
00:15:19,419 --> 00:15:22,923
I thought that it was likely
that Vincent, in fact,
263
00:15:23,006 --> 00:15:25,133
had a cab that took him from the airport,
264
00:15:25,217 --> 00:15:28,470
and he didn't like that cab driver
for whatever reason,
265
00:15:28,553 --> 00:15:32,641
and so he switched out when he went to
reconnoiter Annie's building,
266
00:15:32,724 --> 00:15:35,811
and that Max is, in fact,
his second cab of the night.
267
00:15:35,894 --> 00:15:38,188
Vincent would've been one of these guys
268
00:15:38,271 --> 00:15:39,940
who would've been recruited
in the private sector.
269
00:15:40,023 --> 00:15:41,691
He probably lives offshore.
270
00:15:41,775 --> 00:15:46,363
He has a domicile that's maybe
in Uttahorn Province in Thailand
271
00:15:46,446 --> 00:15:48,865
or Songkhla in Thailand,
some place where...
272
00:15:48,949 --> 00:15:51,993
A Buddhist country where people
leave everybody else alone a lot.
273
00:15:52,077 --> 00:15:57,040
Max comes from a middle-class family,
Ladera Heights in Los Angeles,
274
00:15:57,124 --> 00:16:01,586
and he has a plan,
a business plan to set up a limo company,
275
00:16:01,670 --> 00:16:04,881
so that driving a cab is only temporary.
It's only a means to an end.
276
00:16:04,965 --> 00:16:08,885
We're about to find out
that temporary's been about 12 years.
277
00:16:09,219 --> 00:16:11,805
I'm not in this for the long haul.
I'm just filling in, you know.
278
00:16:11,888 --> 00:16:14,266
Just temporary while I'm getting
some things shaped up.
279
00:16:14,349 --> 00:16:15,767
This is just temporary.
280
00:16:15,851 --> 00:16:17,978
-How long you been driving?
-Twelve years.
281
00:16:18,603 --> 00:16:19,729
Really?
282
00:16:20,981 --> 00:16:24,401
The other aspect
about Vincent's appearance is,
283
00:16:24,484 --> 00:16:26,820
again, in building the character
284
00:16:26,903 --> 00:16:29,489
and how to make these two characters
be oppositional,
285
00:16:29,573 --> 00:16:32,409
what Vincent's chosen to wear,
it tells us things.
286
00:16:32,492 --> 00:16:36,454
I believe that audiences are much brighter
than they are aware of.
287
00:16:36,538 --> 00:16:39,374
There's a lot of information they take in
on a feeling level.
288
00:16:40,208 --> 00:16:46,089
There's a cut to his suit that says
perhaps it was custom-tailored,
289
00:16:46,173 --> 00:16:49,676
but not in Milan or London or New York.
290
00:16:49,759 --> 00:16:52,470
In my mind, it was in Kowloon.
291
00:16:52,554 --> 00:16:55,223
The thing about his hair,
the scars on his hands,
292
00:16:55,307 --> 00:16:56,683
scars on his face...
293
00:16:57,976 --> 00:17:01,104
In effect, he's kind of rough trade
in a good suit,
294
00:17:01,188 --> 00:17:05,025
prematurely gray,
kind of a steely aspect to him.
295
00:17:05,108 --> 00:17:09,196
Those are design issues
that are designed to tell us,
296
00:17:09,279 --> 00:17:13,116
tell the audience, tell you things
about who he is on a feeling level,
297
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:17,245
not on anything
that is didactic or spoken to you.
298
00:17:17,329 --> 00:17:19,122
It was tricky to arrive
to some of these looks
299
00:17:19,206 --> 00:17:22,375
and some of these issues because...
300
00:17:22,459 --> 00:17:23,919
And this was also
the challenge of the film
301
00:17:24,002 --> 00:17:27,631
that made it very exciting for me to do it
and want to do it,
302
00:17:27,714 --> 00:17:31,593
which is that when you compress
the time frame of a narrative,
303
00:17:31,676 --> 00:17:33,803
and it's down to under two hours,
304
00:17:33,887 --> 00:17:37,390
and you're just in one locale
for one night,
305
00:17:37,474 --> 00:17:40,936
it also means there's gonna be one suit
and one wardrobe change,
306
00:17:41,019 --> 00:17:42,729
so everything becomes
inordinately important.
307
00:17:42,812 --> 00:17:44,814
It's kind of like driving a race car,
308
00:17:44,898 --> 00:17:48,026
where a small input in steering
has a very radical effect.
309
00:17:48,944 --> 00:17:52,405
So the slightest change,
because it's cumulative,
310
00:17:53,365 --> 00:17:54,449
becomes a big deal.
311
00:17:57,994 --> 00:18:03,124
Now, this location is an alley off of...
In Pica-Union.
312
00:18:03,208 --> 00:18:05,418
That's Downtown Los Angeles
in the background.
313
00:18:05,502 --> 00:18:06,711
It's about two miles away.
314
00:18:06,795 --> 00:18:10,674
You couldn't see this, again,
without using digital video.
315
00:18:12,217 --> 00:18:16,304
The building Vincent's walking up in
is at 1839 South Union.
316
00:18:16,388 --> 00:18:18,139
When you're working on a film
doing preproduction,
317
00:18:18,223 --> 00:18:21,268
you find yourself moving through
different neighborhoods
318
00:18:21,351 --> 00:18:23,270
as you're looking for your locations,
319
00:18:23,353 --> 00:18:26,731
and you often times get glimpses into lives
and people's residences,
320
00:18:26,815 --> 00:18:32,904
and you see fragments of working folks
and their conditions.
321
00:18:32,988 --> 00:18:35,073
And sometimes these fragments
can speak about
322
00:18:35,156 --> 00:18:39,494
a whole life or a whole existence
that's not really part of the story,
323
00:18:39,577 --> 00:18:41,454
yet it is really part of the environment.
324
00:18:42,455 --> 00:18:44,916
And I find that very powerful,
325
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,461
and sometimes I'll try to build that
into the environment
326
00:18:48,545 --> 00:18:50,422
as something that maybe
is glimpsed in passing,
327
00:18:50,505 --> 00:18:54,551
and maybe something that we don't take in
except on kind of a sensory level.
328
00:18:55,343 --> 00:18:59,264
And so it's a small detail, but the idea
of these two guys in this room,
329
00:18:59,347 --> 00:19:01,182
with a line that they run across the room
330
00:19:01,266 --> 00:19:03,059
where they hang
their six or seven good shirts
331
00:19:03,143 --> 00:19:04,936
that they brought up from Mexico,
332
00:19:05,020 --> 00:19:07,397
that was a particularly unique facet
of something we saw,
333
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:08,690
and so I reproduced it here.
334
00:19:11,192 --> 00:19:14,446
Oh, no! Shit! Fuck!
335
00:19:16,072 --> 00:19:18,950
The local gang,
which is the 18th Street gang,
336
00:19:19,034 --> 00:19:21,870
provided the graffiti
which is on the walls here.
337
00:19:21,953 --> 00:19:22,954
Damn it!
338
00:19:24,122 --> 00:19:25,749
My man, you all right?
339
00:19:25,999 --> 00:19:28,001
Shit. Fuck.
340
00:19:28,835 --> 00:19:32,172
Vincent did not expect Ramone
to fall out the window.
341
00:19:32,255 --> 00:19:34,674
That's an accident.
342
00:19:34,758 --> 00:19:38,762
His first instinct is to look around him
to see if he's picked up any surveillance.
343
00:19:38,845 --> 00:19:41,598
Has anybody...
Are the neighbors looking out the window?
344
00:19:42,557 --> 00:19:46,561
Has somebody dialed 911?
Are the police coming in?
345
00:19:50,982 --> 00:19:52,275
You killed him?
346
00:19:52,692 --> 00:19:55,195
No, Ishot him.
Bullets and the fall killed him.
347
00:19:56,446 --> 00:19:58,365
And this is ironic here.
348
00:19:58,448 --> 00:19:59,449
Fuck this, man.
349
00:19:59,949 --> 00:20:01,034
-Red light, Max.
-Hold on.
350
00:20:01,117 --> 00:20:06,122
And Tom's ironic timing,
I think, is both subtle and masterful.
351
00:20:06,206 --> 00:20:09,542
And in analyzing it, how irony is achieved
352
00:20:09,626 --> 00:20:15,048
is by Tom playing it
as if he's as oblivious
353
00:20:15,131 --> 00:20:18,051
to what's self-evident as Max is.
354
00:20:18,134 --> 00:20:21,971
Max says, "You killed him."
Tom's response is,
355
00:20:22,055 --> 00:20:24,140
"No, I shot him.
The bullets and the fall killed him."
356
00:20:25,100 --> 00:20:28,812
And I'm an admirer of Billy Wilder,
who used irony a lot,
357
00:20:28,895 --> 00:20:32,107
kind of a Berliner wit from Weimar.
358
00:20:32,190 --> 00:20:36,861
And so I spent a lot of time studying
Cary Grant's work in From' Page
359
00:20:36,945 --> 00:20:43,618
in preparation for Vincent's use of irony,
his droll wit, and his facile nihilism.
360
00:20:43,701 --> 00:20:47,539
And so there's a kind of homage
to Billy Wilder
361
00:20:47,622 --> 00:20:51,084
way back in the preparation I did
362
00:20:51,167 --> 00:20:56,714
for these aspects of Tom's character,
and then Tom just nails it.
363
00:20:58,258 --> 00:21:01,344
Jamie's comedic timing is spectacular
just as it was in the last scene.
364
00:21:01,428 --> 00:21:03,471
He doesn't need any help from anybody.
365
00:21:03,555 --> 00:21:10,061
But I think underlying that
is actually his native talent as an actor.
366
00:21:10,145 --> 00:21:11,896
Hey, why don't you just take the cab?
367
00:21:12,397 --> 00:21:13,898
-Take the cab?
-Yeah, you take it.
368
00:21:14,399 --> 00:21:16,776
I'll chill. I'll just chill.
369
00:21:16,860 --> 00:21:19,154
They don't even know who's driving
these things half the time anyway.
370
00:21:19,237 --> 00:21:21,781
They never check or anything.
Okay? So just take it.
371
00:21:22,323 --> 00:21:23,324
You, me. ..
372
00:21:23,867 --> 00:21:26,911
-You promise not to tell anybody, right?
-Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
373
00:21:27,704 --> 00:21:31,291
Jamie trained not as a comedian,
he trained as a musician.
374
00:21:31,958 --> 00:21:33,793
And then when he wasn't getting work
as a musician,
375
00:21:33,877 --> 00:21:36,212
he saw people getting work
doing stand-up comedy,
376
00:21:36,296 --> 00:21:39,090
so he acted like a stand-up comic.
377
00:21:39,174 --> 00:21:42,552
Whatever the origins were,
his timing and gestures
378
00:21:42,635 --> 00:21:46,806
and attitude and hesitation
and stuttering...
379
00:21:46,890 --> 00:21:48,475
Just experiencing it, it's great,
380
00:21:48,558 --> 00:21:52,770
and if you look at it analytically,
it all hits in a certain perfect rhythm.
381
00:21:54,856 --> 00:22:00,612
Here's Mark Ruffalo,
the fine, fine actor, playing Fanning
382
00:22:01,112 --> 00:22:05,074
to a piece of score by Tom Rothrock
called "Ro||in' and Crumblin',"
383
00:22:05,158 --> 00:22:07,827
kind of a blues concréte thing.
384
00:22:12,540 --> 00:22:15,418
I had Ruffalo spend a lot of time
with a guy named Q,
385
00:22:15,502 --> 00:22:17,587
who's an undercover narc in LA.
386
00:22:19,047 --> 00:22:22,717
And we borrowed liberally
from Q's appearance,
387
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,387
in the way he holsters his gun
and the way he has these little clips
388
00:22:26,471 --> 00:22:28,640
that hold the magazines on his belt,
designed to be--
389
00:22:28,723 --> 00:22:31,434
If you just look at him,
you don't realize he's carrying.
390
00:22:31,518 --> 00:22:38,191
And if you saw Q, you would never guess
that he was, in fact, a detective
391
00:22:38,900 --> 00:22:43,905
by both his carriage and attitude,
as well as by his appearance.
392
00:22:50,370 --> 00:22:51,371
Ramona.
393
00:22:58,378 --> 00:22:59,546
Ramona.
394
00:23:06,886 --> 00:23:09,806
This apartment is in, really,
the same building,
395
00:23:09,889 --> 00:23:13,893
and the decor in this apartment
is, in fact, what's there in real life.
396
00:23:13,977 --> 00:23:16,563
It was one of those places
where you happen upon it
397
00:23:16,646 --> 00:23:19,357
and it's so evocative of a mood,
398
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:25,572
of a kind of working-class
Hispanic apartment
399
00:23:25,655 --> 00:23:26,906
in this section of the city.
400
00:23:26,990 --> 00:23:28,616
It's so representative of that,
401
00:23:28,700 --> 00:23:31,703
that other than putting in
a big-screen television,
402
00:23:31,786 --> 00:23:32,829
we changed nothing.
403
00:23:32,912 --> 00:23:37,000
So the fish tank, and on the opposite wall
that we're looking at right now,
404
00:23:37,083 --> 00:23:43,798
this backlit, strange aqua art object
of a ship is also...
405
00:23:45,008 --> 00:23:48,094
Belongs to the guys, two guys,
who actually live here.
406
00:23:49,345 --> 00:23:55,476
What this launches is the sub-story
of a quest by Fanning,
407
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,272
who has very solid procedure,
an unorthodox appearance
408
00:23:59,355 --> 00:24:04,027
belying a very orthodox
and sound procedure.
409
00:24:04,110 --> 00:24:08,031
And it's gonna lead Fanning to be
the only man who's gonna realize that,
410
00:24:08,114 --> 00:24:10,033
A, witnesses are being killed
411
00:24:10,116 --> 00:24:15,038
and B, that Vincent is not in fact, Max,
but in fact is Vincent.
412
00:24:15,121 --> 00:24:19,042
He'll be the sole person who has
what happened here correctly
413
00:24:19,125 --> 00:24:20,877
as the events of the night unfold.
414
00:24:22,879 --> 00:24:28,926
We're now entering a long scene,
and what's interesting to...
415
00:24:29,010 --> 00:24:33,723
What may or may not be interesting
to people who aspire to direct
416
00:24:33,806 --> 00:24:36,225
or want to know
how films are made is that...
417
00:24:38,269 --> 00:24:42,190
for myself, I have to know
exactly what a scene is trying to do,
418
00:24:42,273 --> 00:24:44,984
and I believe that
I should be able to distill that
419
00:24:45,068 --> 00:24:49,572
into one simple set of words
called "the action."
420
00:24:49,656 --> 00:24:52,367
And in this case, it's,
"What is Vincent doing?
421
00:24:52,450 --> 00:24:54,118
What does Vincent want?"
422
00:24:54,202 --> 00:24:56,579
And it usually has to be expressed
in the infinitive,
423
00:24:56,663 --> 00:24:57,789
and it is that Vincent...
424
00:24:57,872 --> 00:25:01,751
It is "to manage."
Vincent needs to manage Max.
425
00:25:02,460 --> 00:25:03,461
Why?
426
00:25:04,462 --> 00:25:06,381
No, no, no. Hold on, man.
427
00:25:07,465 --> 00:25:09,092
Now, there's many other layers
428
00:25:09,175 --> 00:25:12,595
and many other things
that are happening here.
429
00:25:12,679 --> 00:25:15,765
Max has just experienced a dead body.
430
00:25:15,848 --> 00:25:18,434
He's never seen
this kind of violence before.
431
00:25:18,518 --> 00:25:22,814
If there was an adrenaline rush
that kept him functioning in the alley,
432
00:25:22,897 --> 00:25:24,857
now that he's driving,
the adrenaline's worn off.
433
00:25:24,941 --> 00:25:28,027
He's on the precipice of falling
into shock
434
00:25:28,111 --> 00:25:29,487
or going into a fugue state.
435
00:25:29,570 --> 00:25:30,780
I mean it'. / mean it'.
436
00:25:32,448 --> 00:25:33,825
I'm not up for this.
437
00:25:34,158 --> 00:25:36,452
-Okay, you're stressed.
-Yes, I am.
438
00:25:36,536 --> 00:25:38,454
You're stressed. I understand that.
439
00:25:38,830 --> 00:25:41,958
Now, you just keep breathing
and eta y calm.
440
00:25:42,625 --> 00:25:44,836
So one of the things he's doing
441
00:25:44,919 --> 00:25:47,672
is throwing out
some really provocative thoughts
442
00:25:47,755 --> 00:25:49,924
that are also part of Vincent's themes,
443
00:25:50,007 --> 00:25:52,719
but nevertheless,
they're being used to provoke Max.
444
00:25:52,802 --> 00:25:54,762
And that's keeping Max sharp.
445
00:25:54,846 --> 00:25:57,807
Vincent's saying that, "What difference
does it make if one fat guy falls?
446
00:25:57,890 --> 00:26:00,309
There's six billion people on the planet,
Max, what are you worried about?"
447
00:26:00,601 --> 00:26:02,895
We're into plan B. You still breathing?
448
00:26:04,105 --> 00:26:07,191
We gotta make the best of it.
Improvise. Adapt to the environment.
449
00:26:07,275 --> 00:26:10,987
Darwin. Shit happens. I Ching.
Whatever, man. We gotta r0// with it.
450
00:26:11,070 --> 00:26:13,781
I Ching. What are you talking about, man?
You threw a man out of a window.
451
00:26:14,198 --> 00:26:15,742
I didn't throw him. He fell.
452
00:26:16,743 --> 00:26:17,994
Well, what did he do to you?
453
00:26:19,203 --> 00:26:20,288
What?
454
00:26:20,371 --> 00:26:24,625
He's giving him justifications
using everything from social Darwinism
455
00:26:24,709 --> 00:26:28,421
to the lCh/ng
to advise Max in a therapeutic way,
456
00:26:28,504 --> 00:26:31,257
how Max ought to think about the events
that have just happened.
457
00:26:31,340 --> 00:26:33,050
And Max is confounded.
458
00:26:33,134 --> 00:26:34,927
By being confounded,
he's also preoccupied.
459
00:26:35,011 --> 00:26:37,263
And, in fact, he is still driving
460
00:26:37,346 --> 00:26:40,516
'cause Vincent, from his point of view,
has a number of jobs to do.
461
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,144
He's got to watch out for...
See if they picked up surveillance.
462
00:26:43,227 --> 00:26:46,230
So you'll see him throw looks
from time to time out the side of the car.
463
00:26:46,314 --> 00:26:52,111
Secondly, he's working on his PC,
because he has to go to target number two.
464
00:26:52,195 --> 00:26:54,530
And number three,
he's got to keep Max functioning.
465
00:26:54,614 --> 00:26:57,074
I off one fat Angeleno,
and you throw a hissy fit.
466
00:26:57,158 --> 00:26:58,826
Man, I don't know any Rwandans.
467
00:26:58,910 --> 00:27:00,369
You don't know the guy
in the trunk either.
468
00:27:01,245 --> 00:27:02,747
Man.
469
00:27:04,248 --> 00:27:06,083
Okay, if it makes you feel any better,
he was a criminal
470
00:27:06,709 --> 00:27:09,086
involved in a continuing
criminal enterprise.
471
00:27:10,505 --> 00:27:13,841
And what he does next
is put Max into this impossible situation,
472
00:27:13,925 --> 00:27:15,635
that Max has to talk his way
out of a ticket,
473
00:27:15,718 --> 00:27:18,387
or Vincent is gonna kill
both of these two cops.
474
00:27:18,471 --> 00:27:20,014
- Gel rid of them.
-How?
475
00:27:20,765 --> 00:27:23,226
You're a cabbie.
Talk yourself out of a ticket.
476
00:27:28,481 --> 00:27:30,066
Just, please, man, don't do anything.
477
00:27:30,149 --> 00:27:33,361
Then don't let me get cornered.
You don't have the trunk space.
478
00:27:33,736 --> 00:27:36,989
The officer on the left
is played by Jamie McBride,
479
00:27:37,073 --> 00:27:40,952
who is, in fact, an actual LAPD officer.
480
00:27:41,035 --> 00:27:43,996
He's ex-CRASH unit.
481
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,541
I've used him as an actor before
in Robbeq/ Homicide Division.
482
00:27:46,624 --> 00:27:48,751
And the actor on the right
is an extremely fine actor
483
00:27:48,835 --> 00:27:52,338
named Richard T. Jones
who's a regular on Judging Amy,
484
00:27:52,421 --> 00:27:55,466
which stars Amy Brenneman,
who I worked with in Heal'.
485
00:27:55,550 --> 00:27:56,843
But getting back to Jamie McBride,
486
00:27:56,926 --> 00:28:00,972
it's really interesting
for a director to work with people
487
00:28:01,055 --> 00:28:03,850
who have some native ability to act.
488
00:28:05,935 --> 00:28:08,062
The most difficult thing
for them to do, by the way,
489
00:28:08,145 --> 00:28:12,942
is to play a character
that's close to them in life.
490
00:28:13,025 --> 00:28:14,944
It's much more easy, for example,
for Jamie McBride
491
00:28:15,027 --> 00:28:17,113
to be playing a villain
than for him to be playing a cop.
492
00:28:17,947 --> 00:28:20,366
But in working with them,
it would be a mistake for me
493
00:28:20,449 --> 00:28:22,577
to expect them to have
the kind of technique
494
00:28:22,660 --> 00:28:24,745
that comes from
years and years of training.
495
00:28:24,829 --> 00:28:28,124
As a director, I have to find the means,
496
00:28:28,207 --> 00:28:30,835
maybe through subtle suggestion
or whatever,
497
00:28:30,918 --> 00:28:34,672
to help Jamie McBride lose himself
in the moment of what he's doing,
498
00:28:34,755 --> 00:28:39,677
because it'll be really good
and spontaneous only the one time.
499
00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:44,891
And what Jamie McBride is doing here
is not playing, he's doing.
500
00:28:45,683 --> 00:28:49,395
And even though it's something
as routine as a traffic stop,
501
00:28:49,478 --> 00:28:53,399
nevertheless, there's a 120-man film crew
all around Jamie McBride,
502
00:28:53,482 --> 00:29:00,323
and for him to be unselfconscious
about that process is the objective.
503
00:29:00,406 --> 00:29:04,493
And to just do what he, in fact,
does at a normal traffic stop.
504
00:29:06,954 --> 00:29:11,000
You can see how good
Richard T. Jones is there.
505
00:29:11,083 --> 00:29:16,339
I've had people ask me if both these guys
were, in fact, real LAPD.
506
00:29:16,422 --> 00:29:18,549
Get out the cab. Open the trunk. Come on.
507
00:29:21,719 --> 00:29:23,554
Step out. You, too, sir. Please.
508
00:29:25,264 --> 00:29:28,809
This is Rampart Division dispatch.
Shots fired at 83rd and Hoover.
509
00:29:30,728 --> 00:29:32,897
All available Precinct 26 units respond.
Over.
510
00:29:32,980 --> 00:29:35,775
-Hey, partner, we gotta roll.
-Roger. En route.
511
00:29:35,858 --> 00:29:38,194
Go straight to the garage.
Have a nice night, sir.
512
00:29:44,283 --> 00:29:50,289
There's a certain fatalistic attitude
that Jamie has as he sits back in the cab,
513
00:29:50,373 --> 00:29:54,460
as if he's just been condemned
514
00:29:54,543 --> 00:29:58,005
to get back behind the wheel
and be in his seat and ride this cab.
515
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,552
This is an alley right off
of Wilshire Boulevard
516
00:30:03,636 --> 00:30:06,013
on the edge of Koreatown.
517
00:30:13,646 --> 00:30:18,651
A lot of Max's character
is built around this inability to confront
518
00:30:18,734 --> 00:30:24,907
and the evasion and avoidance
of doing what, in fact, he wants to do.
519
00:30:27,785 --> 00:30:31,497
And that's when there's...
We have the impulses to do things in life.
520
00:30:31,580 --> 00:30:33,207
We want to do things.
521
00:30:33,290 --> 00:30:38,713
We enact them or chart a course
that takes us to a certain outcome,
522
00:30:38,796 --> 00:30:40,006
a certain goal.
523
00:30:40,089 --> 00:30:44,176
And Max has these things, and he has
a lot of latent power as an individual.
524
00:30:44,260 --> 00:30:49,682
But it all exists behind a wall
of repression that he can't break through.
525
00:30:50,725 --> 00:30:52,852
That's Lenny. Just dispatch.
526
00:30:55,813 --> 00:30:59,608
And one of the interesting constructions
of the picture,
527
00:30:59,692 --> 00:31:01,736
viewed as the big picture,
528
00:31:01,819 --> 00:31:06,574
is the collision of these two guys
in this situation...
529
00:31:07,575 --> 00:31:09,160
Don't blow it.
530
00:31:11,829 --> 00:31:14,165
Yeah, Lenny, what's up? It's me.
531
00:31:14,248 --> 00:31:16,459
...in which, at the end,
532
00:31:16,542 --> 00:31:21,464
Vincent actually becomes an agent
for the liberation, in a way, of Max
533
00:31:21,547 --> 00:31:27,636
and enables Max to manifest
his individuality and, in fact, act.
534
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,431
Do I care what, where or why?
You're paying.
535
00:31:37,396 --> 00:31:39,398
It was an accident. You're not liable.
536
00:31:40,066 --> 00:31:42,651
It was an accident. I'm not liable.
537
00:31:43,611 --> 00:31:46,614
And reciprocally, Max,
towards the end of the film,
538
00:31:46,697 --> 00:31:50,367
provides us and Vincent
with an illumination into Vincent.
539
00:31:50,451 --> 00:31:52,828
There's a moment in time,
later in the film,
540
00:31:52,912 --> 00:31:55,831
when Max sees beyond
the end of Vincent's gun
541
00:31:55,915 --> 00:31:59,543
and sees Vincent for who Vincent is,
which is damaged goods.
542
00:31:59,627 --> 00:32:03,589
And at that point in the film,
Max's judgment to Vincent
543
00:32:03,672 --> 00:32:07,885
is devastating to Vincent,
and he's truly impacted upon.
544
00:32:07,968 --> 00:32:11,639
The Teflon coating, the impervious armor
545
00:32:11,722 --> 00:32:15,434
that Vincent,
in this part of the film has, is gone.
546
00:32:15,518 --> 00:32:20,773
And one of the designs
in the evolution of his character,
547
00:32:20,856 --> 00:32:23,359
of Vincent's character,
through the film that I hoped to get
548
00:32:23,442 --> 00:32:27,363
was the glimpse of fractures
in Vincent's armor,
549
00:32:27,446 --> 00:32:31,492
the realization that
he's not this machine-like presence,
550
00:32:31,575 --> 00:32:34,370
that, in fact, there's something wrong
with Vincent tonight.
551
00:32:34,453 --> 00:32:36,413
And it begins in the scene
that happens later
552
00:32:36,497 --> 00:32:38,666
with the paroxysm of remorse
553
00:32:39,458 --> 00:32:42,795
that Vincent does after he shoots
somebody named Daniel.
554
00:32:42,878 --> 00:32:45,381
And some other small subtleties
555
00:32:45,464 --> 00:32:48,759
that I designed into our understanding
of Vincent's character,
556
00:32:48,843 --> 00:32:53,347
hoping to try and communicate those
to an audience almost subliminally,
557
00:32:53,430 --> 00:32:55,099
almost things that you sense about him
558
00:32:55,182 --> 00:32:57,226
without even being aware
that you're sensing them.
559
00:32:57,309 --> 00:33:02,857
And that sensing lays a foundation
for actual overt reactions
560
00:33:02,940 --> 00:33:05,776
when Vincent has them
much, much later in the film.
561
00:33:07,027 --> 00:33:10,531
That's all working backwards
from the end about the necessity,
562
00:33:10,614 --> 00:33:12,575
I believe, to know the man,
563
00:33:12,658 --> 00:33:15,578
to have characters
that are three-dimensional,
564
00:33:15,661 --> 00:33:19,373
meaning that he can commit heinous acts
565
00:33:19,456 --> 00:33:22,751
and is responsible for his actions,
566
00:33:22,835 --> 00:33:24,837
and there should be
consequences to those actions.
567
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,299
At the same time,
you glimpse something wounded
568
00:33:28,382 --> 00:33:30,176
behind those actions
569
00:33:30,259 --> 00:33:33,929
and come to whatever conclusion
you would like to come to.
570
00:33:34,013 --> 00:33:36,807
One of those conclusions might be
that, given different circumstances,
571
00:33:36,891 --> 00:33:39,894
Vincent might have been
somebody else in life.
572
00:33:39,977 --> 00:33:43,314
Understanding Vincent
doesn't let him off the hook.
573
00:33:43,397 --> 00:33:46,066
Even having
positive emotional feelings for him
574
00:33:46,150 --> 00:33:48,027
does not let Vincent off the hook
575
00:33:48,110 --> 00:33:52,781
for the judgment
that we render upon his actions.
576
00:33:52,865 --> 00:33:55,743
Because I believe that
you're responsible for what you do,
577
00:33:55,826 --> 00:33:59,997
and your intent is something that
we all maybe sympathize with,
578
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,209
but that's got nothing to do
with responsibility for your actions.
579
00:34:03,292 --> 00:34:06,045
But it's dimensional to have
both be there.
580
00:34:06,837 --> 00:34:09,298
That's what makes characters
fascinating to me,
581
00:34:09,381 --> 00:34:10,925
and I wanted to try and fuel that.
582
00:34:11,008 --> 00:34:15,721
Soto do that, I built backwards
towards the front of the film
583
00:34:15,804 --> 00:34:18,557
the sense that there's something
going on with Vincent that we...
584
00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:21,560
That he's not just machine-like.
585
00:34:22,895 --> 00:34:26,065
Tom trained for about three months
with live ammunition,
586
00:34:26,148 --> 00:34:29,526
under extremely rigorous, safe conditions,
587
00:34:29,610 --> 00:34:32,404
on the LA County Sheriff's
combat shooting ranges.
588
00:34:32,488 --> 00:34:36,033
And Tom had not fired live rounds
through a handgun before,
589
00:34:36,116 --> 00:34:37,701
so for him it was a new experience.
590
00:34:37,785 --> 00:34:40,287
And it's a whole different deal
when you're doing it for real
591
00:34:40,371 --> 00:34:41,580
than when you're firing blanks.
592
00:34:41,664 --> 00:34:43,207
Do I look like I'm kidding you?
593
00:34:43,290 --> 00:34:47,544
The true lethal potential of a firearm--
and your managing of it--
594
00:34:47,628 --> 00:34:50,214
Becomes a very strong dynamic
in a performance,
595
00:34:50,297 --> 00:34:51,840
particularly when your skills--
596
00:34:51,924 --> 00:34:57,388
And Tom is extraordinarily skilled
at everything athletic that he tries,
597
00:34:57,471 --> 00:35:00,266
particularly when the skills
become so schooled in him
598
00:35:00,349 --> 00:35:02,476
that they become truly second nature.
599
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:05,271
Thanks, for real.
600
00:35:14,780 --> 00:35:19,576
But the real sign of how integrated
Tom was able to become
601
00:35:19,660 --> 00:35:22,788
with the skills that Vincent,
in fact, would have,
602
00:35:22,871 --> 00:35:25,291
is the expression that's on Vincent's face
603
00:35:25,374 --> 00:35:28,919
after he shoots these guys
and when he's holstering his gun.
604
00:35:32,548 --> 00:35:36,677
He's not thinking about holstering
the gun. He can do that in his sleep.
605
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,346
And immediately after
he's fired that last round,
606
00:35:39,430 --> 00:35:42,349
his attention gets focused
on Wilshire Boulevard,
607
00:35:42,433 --> 00:35:43,642
down at the end of the alley.
608
00:35:43,726 --> 00:35:46,520
"Is anybody coming at us from there?
609
00:35:46,603 --> 00:35:49,690
Did anybody hear these gunshots?
What's Max doing?"
610
00:35:49,773 --> 00:35:52,276
He immediately switches over
to the next task,
611
00:35:52,359 --> 00:35:55,112
and that's absolutely perfect craft.
612
00:35:55,195 --> 00:35:58,324
And it's exactly what somebody
who had a lot of trigger time,
613
00:35:58,407 --> 00:36:01,493
who had been in the kinds of conflicts
in various places in the world
614
00:36:01,577 --> 00:36:04,663
that we imagine Vincent had been in,
that's exactly what he'd be doing.
615
00:36:04,747 --> 00:36:07,124
He wouldn't be worrying
about how he holsters his gun.
616
00:36:07,207 --> 00:36:09,001
So that is a beautiful little movement,
617
00:36:09,084 --> 00:36:13,672
and it's a testament
to the commitment of Tom
618
00:36:13,756 --> 00:36:17,593
to the work of turning himself
into Vincent
619
00:36:17,676 --> 00:36:19,428
and having deeper
and deeper understandings,
620
00:36:19,511 --> 00:36:21,555
as well as acquiring
all the physical skills.
621
00:36:21,638 --> 00:36:27,394
There's no cutting in it, and Tom draws
and fires five rounds in 1.4 seconds.
622
00:36:27,478 --> 00:36:29,313
And we did that on the range.
623
00:36:29,396 --> 00:36:32,358
And we did that with dummies
and with plates and stuff
624
00:36:32,441 --> 00:36:34,985
and with live ammunition. And it's hard.
625
00:36:35,069 --> 00:36:37,696
As well as a lot of close-quarter combat,
626
00:36:37,780 --> 00:36:39,948
a lot of hand-to-hand combat
627
00:36:40,032 --> 00:36:44,036
of a very brutal, short, efficient nature.
628
00:36:44,119 --> 00:36:45,829
Not martial arts.
629
00:36:46,955 --> 00:36:49,249
And all the other tradecraft
that Vincent would have,
630
00:36:49,333 --> 00:36:51,794
a lot of which doesn't even appear
in the text of the film.
631
00:36:51,877 --> 00:36:54,004
But it's a whole package,
632
00:36:54,088 --> 00:36:57,800
and it had to do with reconnoitering
each of these people.
633
00:36:57,883 --> 00:37:03,055
But the deeper work that goes
into this kind of thing is, in fact,
634
00:37:03,138 --> 00:37:05,391
how did Vincent become Vincent?
635
00:37:05,474 --> 00:37:09,603
And Tom and I did a lot of work
in trying to understand
636
00:37:09,686 --> 00:37:11,688
where this guy came from.
637
00:37:11,772 --> 00:37:13,690
If he was in a foster home
for part of his time,
638
00:37:13,774 --> 00:37:16,151
if he had an institutionalized childhood
639
00:37:16,235 --> 00:37:19,113
and he was back in
the public school system at age 11,
640
00:37:19,196 --> 00:37:21,365
that would have been sometime in the '70s.
641
00:37:21,448 --> 00:37:23,659
He would have been dressed very awkwardly.
642
00:37:23,742 --> 00:37:26,995
He would've probably been ostracized
'cause he'd have looked odd,
643
00:37:27,079 --> 00:37:31,333
and the kind of brutality of, you know,
preteens and early adolescence.
644
00:37:33,377 --> 00:37:37,005
We postulated an alcoholic, abusive father
645
00:37:37,089 --> 00:37:40,050
who was culturally very progressive.
646
00:37:40,134 --> 00:37:44,304
He was probably part of Ed Sadlowski's
Steelworkers Local in Gary.
647
00:37:44,388 --> 00:37:46,223
He was a Vietnam veteran.
648
00:37:46,306 --> 00:37:49,643
He had friends who were African-American
on the South Side of Chicago.
649
00:37:49,726 --> 00:37:52,438
The Checkerboard Lounge is 30 minutes away
on the Calumet Skyway.
650
00:37:52,521 --> 00:37:54,773
So the father,
probably in the '60s and early '70s,
651
00:37:54,857 --> 00:37:57,651
was probably an aficionado of jazz.
652
00:37:57,734 --> 00:38:00,112
There was a great jazz scene
on the South Side of Chicago,
653
00:38:00,195 --> 00:38:01,238
Modern Jazz Quartet.
654
00:38:01,321 --> 00:38:04,658
But it's almost as if the father
blamed the son, i.e., Vincent,
655
00:38:04,741 --> 00:38:06,034
for what happened to the mother,
656
00:38:06,118 --> 00:38:10,080
and the father drank
as Gary was being reduced into...
657
00:38:10,164 --> 00:38:12,875
You know, it looked like Dresden
at the end of the Second World War.
658
00:38:12,958 --> 00:38:15,294
The father never tutored the boy in jazz,
659
00:38:15,377 --> 00:38:17,796
but the boy extolled the virtue
of knowing about jazz
660
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:21,341
'cause he heard his father talk about
jazz, not to him but to other people.
661
00:38:21,425 --> 00:38:23,635
And that's why he knew about jazz.
662
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:25,762
And that's why he learned about jazz.
663
00:38:28,765 --> 00:38:33,103
His father-- Vincent's father--
never tutored Vincent about jazz
664
00:38:33,187 --> 00:38:37,024
because he had rejected
his son and ignored him.
665
00:38:37,107 --> 00:38:39,693
It was something
that got constructed as backstory
666
00:38:39,776 --> 00:38:43,113
in the work I did with Tom
during preproduction
667
00:38:43,197 --> 00:38:46,116
and understanding every aspect
of the character, of who Vincent was,
668
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,452
much more than appears
in the text of the film.
669
00:38:48,535 --> 00:38:53,874
So that the fractions of Vincent-ness
that we have in the text of the film,
670
00:38:53,957 --> 00:38:57,586
within these ten hours,
could resonate with the totality of a life
671
00:38:57,669 --> 00:39:00,631
the same as they would
with anybody you met, you know.
672
00:39:00,714 --> 00:39:03,842
We all bring our whole history with us
into any moment of the present.
673
00:39:03,926 --> 00:39:06,428
Cabbie drove around all night,
killed three people,
674
00:39:06,512 --> 00:39:09,223
-then put the gun to his head.
-Yeah, the guy flipped out. So what?
675
00:39:09,306 --> 00:39:11,808
So that Oakland PD detective,
what's-his-name, he never bought it.
676
00:39:12,226 --> 00:39:14,895
Cabbie had no criminal record,
no history of mental illness.
677
00:39:15,479 --> 00:39:20,651
This is my pal, Pete Berg,
who's an extremely talented director,
678
00:39:20,734 --> 00:39:23,529
as well as being a fine actor,
playing Weidner,
679
00:39:23,612 --> 00:39:28,617
who's Fanning's careerist partner
on this crime scene.
680
00:39:28,700 --> 00:39:31,453
And we segue to a jazz club.
681
00:39:32,287 --> 00:39:34,831
And this is Barry Shabaka Henley,
682
00:39:34,915 --> 00:39:38,835
who also played Herbert Muhammad in All'.
683
00:39:45,592 --> 00:39:47,219
Max doesn't like jazz,
684
00:39:47,302 --> 00:39:49,179
and I got the idea
that Max didn't like jazz
685
00:39:49,263 --> 00:39:51,682
because Muhammad Ali doesn't like jazz,
686
00:39:51,765 --> 00:39:54,643
and Muhammad Ali doesn't like blues.
Muhammad Ali only likes soul.
687
00:39:54,726 --> 00:39:56,979
I never learned to listen to jazz.
688
00:39:58,522 --> 00:40:02,192
It's off melody. Behind the notes.
Not what's expected.
689
00:40:02,776 --> 00:40:06,196
-Improvising, like tonight.
-Like tonight?
690
00:40:13,829 --> 00:40:16,832
But Vincent knows all about jazz
and has just explained it.
691
00:40:16,915 --> 00:40:19,167
And in a way, that's kind of related.
692
00:40:19,251 --> 00:40:22,170
And that is not a direct metaphor
for what's happening in the film,
693
00:40:22,254 --> 00:40:23,589
but it's very closely associated.
694
00:40:23,672 --> 00:40:26,383
It's almost an analogue, rather than
a metaphor, about improvisation,
695
00:40:26,466 --> 00:40:28,343
about having a theme, having a structure,
696
00:40:28,427 --> 00:40:30,596
but then being able to improvise.
697
00:40:30,679 --> 00:40:32,764
Most people, ten years from now,
698
00:40:32,848 --> 00:40:35,267
same job, same place, same routine,
everything the same.
699
00:40:35,350 --> 00:40:38,061
Just keeping it safe
over and over and over.
700
00:40:38,145 --> 00:40:39,980
Ten years from now.
701
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,775
Man, you don't know where you'll be
ten minutes from now.
702
00:40:45,027 --> 00:40:46,528
Do you?
703
00:40:49,197 --> 00:40:56,079
And so, Vincent here is starting
to verbalize the themes that are...
704
00:40:56,163 --> 00:40:58,832
He sees into Max. He really reads Max.
705
00:40:58,915 --> 00:41:02,419
That's part of Vincent's job,
that's part of his craft-- is to read Max.
706
00:41:02,502 --> 00:41:05,505
So Vincent already knows
all that we know about Max,
707
00:41:05,589 --> 00:41:08,717
which is that Max is not improvisational.
708
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:10,886
And he also knows that Max
is along on a ride
709
00:41:10,969 --> 00:41:13,972
in which Max has no idea what's gonna
happen to him ten minutes from now.
710
00:41:14,056 --> 00:41:16,391
So it's really the first articulation
711
00:41:16,475 --> 00:41:20,354
of two of the central themes
each of these guys personify.
712
00:41:20,437 --> 00:41:22,189
They're in opposition to each other.
713
00:41:23,190 --> 00:41:26,652
The music that we just heard
is "Spanish Key" by Miles Davis.
714
00:41:26,735 --> 00:41:30,530
We cut down the 17-minute length,
which is on Bitches Brew,
715
00:41:30,614 --> 00:41:33,659
to a little over three-and-a-half minutes.
716
00:41:33,742 --> 00:41:36,953
July 22nd, 1964.
Who you think walks through that door?
717
00:41:37,037 --> 00:41:38,747
Bye, baby.
718
00:41:38,830 --> 00:41:41,291
Miles Davis. That's right.
719
00:41:41,375 --> 00:41:45,128
And Shabaka,
playing the character of Daniel,
720
00:41:45,212 --> 00:41:47,130
relates an incident in which Miles Davis
721
00:41:47,214 --> 00:41:51,259
came to South Central
after recording at Columbia
722
00:41:51,343 --> 00:41:54,596
and sat in on a session
723
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:59,017
in one of the great jazz clubs
that came out of South Central.
724
00:42:00,185 --> 00:42:03,939
This is after the flowering
of West Coast bebop,
725
00:42:04,022 --> 00:42:06,650
which, in part, came out of graduates
726
00:42:06,733 --> 00:42:10,320
of Jefferson High School in Los Angeles.
727
00:42:10,404 --> 00:42:12,322
Dexter Gordon, Lester Young.
728
00:42:12,406 --> 00:42:14,533
Just a whole slew of jazz musicians
came out of it,
729
00:42:14,616 --> 00:42:17,869
and then they were very much
part of that scene in the '50s,
730
00:42:17,953 --> 00:42:20,163
along with other West Coast jazz regulars,
731
00:42:20,247 --> 00:42:24,251
which would have included, say,
Charlie Mingus, Wardell Gray,
732
00:42:24,334 --> 00:42:26,378
Thelonious Monk, Chet Baker, like that.
733
00:42:26,461 --> 00:42:28,255
"Take your silly bitch with you."
734
00:42:31,258 --> 00:42:33,969
The anecdote that Daniel is relating here
735
00:42:34,052 --> 00:42:38,306
is an actual event
from Miles Davis's life.
736
00:42:38,390 --> 00:42:41,476
Miles Davis played a guest-starring role
737
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:43,854
in two episodes I did
on two television series.
738
00:42:43,937 --> 00:42:46,773
He played a character for me on Miami Vice
739
00:42:46,857 --> 00:42:50,694
and a more profound role
in one episode of Crime Story,
740
00:42:50,777 --> 00:42:54,322
in which we were telling the story
as a two-parter of the Moulin Rouge,
741
00:42:54,406 --> 00:42:58,744
which was an African-American casino
in segregated Las Vegas.
742
00:42:59,953 --> 00:43:03,498
He played in that one as well.
And so I had some contact with him.
743
00:43:04,207 --> 00:43:06,168
-Did you?
- No.?
744
00:43:06,251 --> 00:43:08,503
The anecdote that's related here
is interesting,
745
00:43:08,587 --> 00:43:11,256
because it talks about
746
00:43:11,339 --> 00:43:15,844
the violent reaction that you will have
747
00:43:15,927 --> 00:43:19,973
if you're somebody whose concentration
is so totally focused.
748
00:43:20,056 --> 00:43:24,478
Daniel talks about Miles's head
is in a musical head space, you know.
749
00:43:24,561 --> 00:43:27,272
His reaction to being pulled out of it
was fierce.
750
00:43:27,355 --> 00:43:30,066
And that is what you feel
when you are concentrated,
751
00:43:30,150 --> 00:43:33,236
if you're an actor
concentrating on a scene
752
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,323
while they're resetting lights
and somebody disturbs you.
753
00:43:36,406 --> 00:43:38,617
It's a violence. And it's not personal,
754
00:43:38,700 --> 00:43:42,954
but it comes from high, high order
of focus and concentration.
755
00:43:43,038 --> 00:43:45,749
And the irritation sometimes
almost is in direct proportion
756
00:43:45,832 --> 00:43:48,126
to your ability to focus.
757
00:43:48,210 --> 00:43:50,545
And there's nothing I can imagine
requiring focus more
758
00:43:50,629 --> 00:43:54,007
than doing the art
that Miles Davis did, so...
759
00:43:54,090 --> 00:43:55,425
Afraid so.
760
00:43:57,260 --> 00:43:59,554
Man, just when I thought
you were a cool guy.
761
00:43:59,638 --> 00:44:03,266
I am a cool guy,
with a job I contracted to do.
762
00:44:03,350 --> 00:44:05,644
Come on, Vincent, give the dude a pass.
763
00:44:05,727 --> 00:44:07,187
I'm working here.
764
00:44:07,270 --> 00:44:11,399
There's a stillness to the depth
765
00:44:11,483 --> 00:44:14,277
of which Torn is into the moment,
766
00:44:14,361 --> 00:44:20,534
in this particular scene right now,
that always I admire.
767
00:44:20,617 --> 00:44:22,994
He is so economically,
completely in the moment.
768
00:44:23,078 --> 00:44:24,246
I'll ask a question.
769
00:44:24,329 --> 00:44:27,123
- What question ?
-A jazz question.
770
00:44:27,958 --> 00:44:30,460
Now, you get it right, we roll.
771
00:44:31,795 --> 00:44:34,005
You disappear tonight.
772
00:44:34,673 --> 00:44:36,341
If! walk out of here tonight,
773
00:44:36,424 --> 00:44:40,428
I will go so far away,
it'll be just like I was dead.
774
00:44:40,512 --> 00:44:42,472
He knows what he's gonna do.
775
00:44:46,852 --> 00:44:50,146
He just has that sideways glance
to see if the waitress,
776
00:44:50,230 --> 00:44:53,692
who he heard leave, has, in fact, left.
777
00:44:53,775 --> 00:44:54,818
And she has.
778
00:44:56,820 --> 00:44:59,197
This is where, I think,
great acting resides.
779
00:44:59,281 --> 00:45:01,241
There's a pure economy of motion.
780
00:45:01,324 --> 00:45:04,327
There's immobility
when there should be immobility.
781
00:45:04,411 --> 00:45:08,999
You don't program this kind of work.
It's there or it's not there.
782
00:45:09,875 --> 00:45:11,459
Where did Miles learn music?
783
00:45:11,543 --> 00:45:13,628
I know everything
there is to know about Miles.
784
00:45:13,712 --> 00:45:15,130
Then let's have it.
785
00:45:15,213 --> 00:45:18,341
Music school.
He got into music school, right?
786
00:45:18,425 --> 00:45:21,261
His father was a dentist, East St. Louis.
787
00:45:21,344 --> 00:45:23,263
Invested in agriculture,
made plenty of money.
788
00:45:23,346 --> 00:45:26,725
He sent Miles
to Juilliard School of Music,
789
00:45:26,808 --> 00:45:29,060
New York, 1945.
790
00:45:29,144 --> 00:45:30,437
Man.
791
00:45:44,993 --> 00:45:46,745
Dropped out of Juilliard
after less than a year.
792
00:45:46,828 --> 00:45:49,247
Tracked down Charlie Parker
on 52nd Street,
793
00:45:49,331 --> 00:45:51,583
who mentored him for the next three years.
794
00:45:52,584 --> 00:45:54,836
And there's a paroxysm of regret.
795
00:46:03,637 --> 00:46:08,350
That's the first anomaly to the perfect,
machine-like presentation
796
00:46:08,433 --> 00:46:09,768
we've had from Vincent.
797
00:46:09,851 --> 00:46:12,479
And it's designed to be an anomaly.
798
00:46:12,562 --> 00:46:14,147
It's designed to be a deviation
799
00:46:14,230 --> 00:46:16,691
from the way we have seen him
up to this moment.
800
00:46:16,775 --> 00:46:19,903
And Max can't take it
and wanders off on this broken course
801
00:46:19,986 --> 00:46:21,821
without much navigation.
802
00:46:21,905 --> 00:46:23,615
And the way he walks across the sidewalk.
803
00:46:23,698 --> 00:46:25,784
He heads towards the parking meter,
then to the left.
804
00:46:25,867 --> 00:46:31,539
And Vincent, who has repressed regret
and is right back in business,
805
00:46:31,623 --> 00:46:34,668
back on the case,
reminds Max he's not playing.
806
00:46:34,751 --> 00:46:37,462
Max provokes a theme.
"If you were playing him,
807
00:46:37,545 --> 00:46:40,090
what would you have done
if he'd gotten the answer right?"
808
00:46:40,173 --> 00:46:42,717
And I wanted that question
to remain unanswered.
809
00:46:42,801 --> 00:46:45,095
I want it posed but not answered.
810
00:46:45,178 --> 00:46:49,849
So I then interrupt it
with Lenny the dispatcher, who returns.
811
00:46:50,642 --> 00:46:54,104
Now, the voice of Lenny
is the voice of Michael Waxman,
812
00:46:54,187 --> 00:46:55,981
who was my first assistant director.
813
00:46:56,064 --> 00:46:58,775
He's a dear friend, and we've done
many movies together, so...
814
00:46:58,858 --> 00:47:02,195
He just was reading these lines
so that we could shoot them,
815
00:47:02,278 --> 00:47:04,906
'cause Lenny was always to be off-camera.
816
00:47:04,990 --> 00:47:08,618
He was always to be off screen.
So we were gonna find a voice later on.
817
00:47:08,702 --> 00:47:12,205
We tried to cast some other voices,
but we couldn't find a voice
818
00:47:12,288 --> 00:47:18,294
that was as wonderfully kind of annoying
as Michael's voice, in fact, can be.
819
00:47:18,753 --> 00:47:21,131
"Why didn't he show?"
"Are you all right?" "Where are you?"
820
00:47:21,214 --> 00:47:22,215
Show for what?
821
00:47:22,298 --> 00:47:25,510
This is another use
of high-definition video.
822
00:47:25,593 --> 00:47:28,054
I wanted to see the world
that they're moving through,
823
00:47:28,138 --> 00:47:32,017
and this is nothing you would see
in normal motion picture film.
824
00:47:32,100 --> 00:47:35,186
You can see the clouds in the sky
behind Vincent,
825
00:47:35,270 --> 00:47:39,357
and you also are able to see
the colonnade of trees behind Max
826
00:47:39,441 --> 00:47:40,775
disappearing in the distance.
827
00:47:40,859 --> 00:47:43,653
You normally wouldn't be able
to see any of that.
828
00:47:45,655 --> 00:47:47,866
I'm not taking you to see my mother.
829
00:47:49,159 --> 00:47:52,078
Since when was any of this negotiable?
830
00:47:58,585 --> 00:48:00,336
Two paces ahead, one to the left.
831
00:48:00,420 --> 00:48:04,466
Now Vincent is about to deliver
a second anomaly.
832
00:48:04,549 --> 00:48:08,178
The first was the regret that he felt.
833
00:48:08,261 --> 00:48:10,430
It became kind of a paroxysm,
and then he repressed.
834
00:48:10,513 --> 00:48:12,599
And the second one is gonna be right now.
835
00:48:15,477 --> 00:48:17,437
When he says to Max,
836
00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:19,856
"She carried you in her womb
for nine months,"
837
00:48:19,939 --> 00:48:22,734
as if there's a special consciousness
838
00:48:22,817 --> 00:48:27,280
of the significance of mothers
that Vincent possesses.
839
00:48:34,704 --> 00:48:40,210
This sentiment will continue
in the scene with Ida
840
00:48:40,293 --> 00:48:46,382
and provoke almost a sibling rivalry
for the affections of Ida
841
00:48:46,466 --> 00:48:51,471
between Vincent and Ida's son Max,
which Vincent wins.
842
00:48:51,554 --> 00:48:54,307
We're gonna find out later on
that Vincent never had a mother.
843
00:48:57,227 --> 00:48:59,729
It's an accumulation of small anomalies
844
00:48:59,813 --> 00:49:05,527
to indicate that something
subterranean is going on with Vincent...
845
00:49:06,528 --> 00:49:08,613
that something is fracturing
with this man.
846
00:49:09,572 --> 00:49:11,032
And the coincidence,
847
00:49:11,116 --> 00:49:13,993
which is part of the wonderful structure
of the piece.
848
00:49:14,077 --> 00:49:18,289
Stuart Beattie's narrative construction
is unchanged.
849
00:49:19,082 --> 00:49:23,962
It's as if you take a screenplay
and throw it in an X-ray or an MRI,
850
00:49:24,045 --> 00:49:25,922
and you see
the underlying engineering of it.
851
00:49:26,005 --> 00:49:28,049
And that's what's so brilliant
about what Stuart Beattie did.
852
00:49:29,425 --> 00:49:33,388
These two vectors
of Fanning going some place--
853
00:49:33,471 --> 00:49:36,599
We don't know where it is. We're gonna
find out later he's going to the morgue.
854
00:49:36,683 --> 00:49:38,768
So it's as if the hospital
is Martin Luther King,
855
00:49:38,852 --> 00:49:40,979
which would also have the morgue in it.
856
00:49:44,190 --> 00:49:47,777
And Max and Vincent
going to visit Max's mother,
857
00:49:47,861 --> 00:49:49,696
'cause Max does this nightly.
858
00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:51,614
I got caught up at work.
859
00:49:51,698 --> 00:49:53,867
Why couldn't you call me on the telephone?
860
00:49:53,950 --> 00:49:56,786
I'm lying here wondering
if something terrible happened to you.
861
00:49:56,870 --> 00:49:58,163
I brought you flowers.
862
00:49:58,246 --> 00:50:00,623
-What am I gonna do with flowers?
-Cheer up.
863
00:50:00,707 --> 00:50:02,000
How?
864
00:50:02,083 --> 00:50:05,837
By worrying that you spend money
on stuff that's just gonna wilt and die?
865
00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:08,006
He has a complex relationship
with his mother.
866
00:50:08,089 --> 00:50:11,301
One can almost imagine
that there's three older brothers
867
00:50:11,384 --> 00:50:14,846
whose wives have made them
move out of Los Angeles
868
00:50:14,929 --> 00:50:17,182
to Houston some place
to get away from the mother.
869
00:50:17,265 --> 00:50:20,018
Why didn't you tell me we had company?
870
00:50:22,020 --> 00:50:25,481
What's your name? Sorry. My son is rude.
871
00:50:25,565 --> 00:50:26,816
No harm done, ma'am.
872
00:50:26,900 --> 00:50:30,195
Now she says to Vincent,
"They're beautiful."
873
00:50:30,278 --> 00:50:32,322
They're beautiful.
874
00:50:33,156 --> 00:50:34,824
And Vincent's struck by that.
875
00:50:37,410 --> 00:50:40,121
And Jamie's playing in this scene...
876
00:50:40,622 --> 00:50:42,040
Well, Max?
877
00:50:42,498 --> 00:50:47,295
...of betrayal is, I think, profound.
878
00:50:48,004 --> 00:50:52,675
And then Vincent is charmed
and gets seductive.
879
00:50:52,759 --> 00:50:55,053
I'm very happy to meet you, Mrs. Durocher.
880
00:50:55,136 --> 00:50:56,888
Oh, just call me Ida.
881
00:50:56,971 --> 00:51:01,017
Ida. I was with Max when he got the call.
882
00:51:01,100 --> 00:51:03,228
And you came all the way
over here to see me?
883
00:51:03,311 --> 00:51:06,272
-It's nothing, ma'am.
- Tell my son.
884
00:51:06,356 --> 00:51:09,442
But the hurt in Jamie's eyes...
885
00:51:09,525 --> 00:51:12,570
I just thought he just did
a wonderful job right here.
886
00:51:12,654 --> 00:51:15,657
And then the picture...
Another thing I liked about this picture,
887
00:51:15,740 --> 00:51:18,701
one of the reasons I did it,
is that it had a multiplicity of forms,
888
00:51:18,785 --> 00:51:22,372
of different kinds of narrative
all contained in the same picture.
889
00:51:22,455 --> 00:51:26,042
And this becomes ordinary sitcom.
890
00:51:26,125 --> 00:51:27,210
Do what?
891
00:51:27,293 --> 00:51:30,380
Don't talk about me like
I'm not right here in the room here.
892
00:51:30,463 --> 00:51:31,756
What's he saying?
893
00:51:31,839 --> 00:51:35,426
He says he's standing right here,
in the room here.
894
00:51:35,510 --> 00:51:37,095
Yes, you are.
895
00:51:37,929 --> 00:51:39,597
-He's sensitive.
-I know.
896
00:51:40,431 --> 00:51:43,601
-But I'm sure you're very proud of him.
-Of course I'm proud.
897
00:51:43,685 --> 00:51:47,814
Irma Hall started as a schoolteacher
in rural Texas,
898
00:51:47,897 --> 00:51:51,150
from a town that's next door
to the town of 8,000 people
899
00:51:51,234 --> 00:51:52,694
that Jamie Foxx grew up in.
900
00:51:52,777 --> 00:51:56,364
And so they were comparing notes
when we were shooting here this day,
901
00:51:56,447 --> 00:52:00,618
and they both knew some of
the same officials in the school system.
902
00:52:00,702 --> 00:52:04,664
And Jamie went to graduate
from his high school after studying--
903
00:52:04,747 --> 00:52:07,208
Being both on the football team
and studying piano--
904
00:52:07,292 --> 00:52:10,878
And got a scholarship into university
in classical piano.
905
00:52:13,381 --> 00:52:14,590
Visit again?
906
00:52:14,674 --> 00:52:19,971
This is the first time Max
is gonna manifest an impulsive act
907
00:52:20,054 --> 00:52:24,392
that is completely irrational,
which is to steal Vincent's briefcase.
908
00:52:24,475 --> 00:52:26,769
And run where? Do what with it?
909
00:52:26,853 --> 00:52:30,398
It's an illogical, irrational act.
910
00:52:33,693 --> 00:52:36,988
But it's provoked by Vincent winning
the affection of Max's mother.
911
00:52:37,071 --> 00:52:38,448
Max!
912
00:52:40,992 --> 00:52:45,872
And this puts us out of the hospital
and across a footbridge...
913
00:52:47,081 --> 00:52:52,712
over the 5 Freeway
in a neighborhood known as City Terrace.
914
00:52:56,090 --> 00:52:59,302
It's just east of downtown,
and what we're looking at right now
915
00:52:59,385 --> 00:53:04,223
is westbound on the 5
towards downtown LA in the distance.
916
00:53:05,391 --> 00:53:09,729
This is a very hotly-contested turf
between two gangs
917
00:53:09,812 --> 00:53:12,023
on opposite sides of the freeway,
918
00:53:12,106 --> 00:53:15,610
and so, this night,
we had elaborate security precautions.
919
00:53:22,492 --> 00:53:23,493
Don't!
920
00:53:28,039 --> 00:53:31,250
The question that gets asked
later in the film...
921
00:53:32,794 --> 00:53:35,713
in the scene after the shoot-out at Fever,
922
00:53:35,797 --> 00:53:37,799
actually relates to this moment in time.
923
00:53:37,882 --> 00:53:41,511
It's when Max says to Vincent,
"And why haven't you killed me yet?"
924
00:53:41,594 --> 00:53:43,930
Because by everything we know
about Vincent,
925
00:53:44,013 --> 00:53:46,224
that's exactly
what should happen right now.
926
00:53:52,939 --> 00:53:56,901
All of my prep was in there.
You are screwing with my work.
927
00:54:02,156 --> 00:54:03,408
And we start to wonder...
928
00:54:03,491 --> 00:54:07,370
And it's a question whose origin
is in this moment
929
00:54:07,453 --> 00:54:10,915
and in the continuing relationship
that starts to become
930
00:54:10,998 --> 00:54:17,004
almost the relationship of two brothers
who are violently quarreling,
931
00:54:17,088 --> 00:54:18,840
but nevertheless two brothers.
932
00:54:19,632 --> 00:54:23,052
Although Vincent will,
in a kind of schizoid way,
933
00:54:23,136 --> 00:54:24,512
have those relations with Max,
934
00:54:24,595 --> 00:54:29,142
but then he'll go back
to being on the job.
935
00:54:29,767 --> 00:54:31,602
The question is...
936
00:54:33,479 --> 00:54:36,983
what is Vincent seeking from Max?
What does Vincent want from Max?
937
00:54:37,066 --> 00:54:42,113
Why, as they get closer
and strike a rapport
938
00:54:42,196 --> 00:54:47,034
and begin to talk about things familiar
and then from familiar to intimate...
939
00:54:49,162 --> 00:54:53,374
What's going on? And it's something
that I hoped, and do hope,
940
00:54:53,458 --> 00:55:00,298
is occurring subtly within the audience
almost subconsciously.
941
00:55:00,381 --> 00:55:03,676
I'd prefer it to be they're not actually
aware that this question's being asked,
942
00:55:03,759 --> 00:55:06,971
but that it produces a state of openness
943
00:55:07,054 --> 00:55:10,558
to wondering what's gonna happen
with these two men.
944
00:55:10,641 --> 00:55:14,187
Because the wondering
what's gonna happen is actually not
945
00:55:14,270 --> 00:55:18,399
whether or not Max is gonna live or die
or Vincent's gonna live or die.
946
00:55:18,483 --> 00:55:21,068
It's about, what is this relationship?
947
00:55:34,415 --> 00:55:36,417
-Hello.
-Hey, it's Fanning.
948
00:55:36,501 --> 00:55:39,086
I'm still down here at the morgue
at Sisters of Charity.
949
00:55:39,170 --> 00:55:40,338
Those John Does didn't pan out,
950
00:55:40,421 --> 00:55:43,216
but you're never gonna guess
who I got here in the meat locker.
951
00:55:43,299 --> 00:55:45,510
- Who?
-Sylvester Clarke.
952
00:55:45,593 --> 00:55:47,595
Criminal attorney turned lawyer-criminal.
953
00:55:48,471 --> 00:55:53,142
Including Ramone, who he represented,
who's still missing.
954
00:55:53,226 --> 00:55:56,020
The both of whom are in
the exotic-substances business together.
955
00:55:56,479 --> 00:55:58,064
There's something going on...
956
00:55:58,147 --> 00:56:00,233
Fanning has linked the victims together,
957
00:56:00,316 --> 00:56:03,945
so we have a situation
in which Fanning, that is, the LAPD,
958
00:56:04,028 --> 00:56:06,989
knows there's linkage among victims.
959
00:56:11,369 --> 00:56:15,373
Meanwhile, we cut back to Max and Vincent.
960
00:56:15,456 --> 00:56:21,796
And this is the first time Vincent
will digress with Max into familiarity,
961
00:56:21,879 --> 00:56:23,631
as if these are two guys in a bar
962
00:56:23,714 --> 00:56:25,967
who've known each other
for a couple of months.
963
00:56:26,050 --> 00:56:29,136
And they're talking about their father.
And Max talks about his mother.
964
00:56:29,220 --> 00:56:31,514
I'm not the one lying to my mother.
965
00:56:31,597 --> 00:56:34,392
She hears what she wants to hear.
I don't disillusion her.
966
00:56:34,475 --> 00:56:36,602
Yeah, right.
Maybe she hears what you tell her.
967
00:56:36,686 --> 00:56:38,646
Whatever! tell her
is never good enough anyway.
968
00:56:38,729 --> 00:56:40,189
It's always been that way.
969
00:56:40,898 --> 00:56:47,196
This is a design by which this subtext
of the two men impacting on each other
970
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:50,658
actually begins to take over
and start to drive the story.
971
00:56:50,741 --> 00:56:53,077
And for it to do that,
it has to begin early on,
972
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:56,330
where you start to see there's
certain anomalies in Vincent's behavior.
973
00:56:56,414 --> 00:56:59,584
Where he's not the machine-like presence
he was at the beginning of the film,
974
00:56:59,667 --> 00:57:01,669
but that there's deviations
that are happening.
975
00:57:01,752 --> 00:57:04,964
So you get the sense something else
is going on with this guy tonight.
976
00:57:05,047 --> 00:57:06,632
What happened to your father?
977
00:57:07,842 --> 00:57:09,844
Hated everything I did.
978
00:57:10,970 --> 00:57:15,433
Got drunk, heat me up. Foster homes.
Went back with him. Like that.
979
00:57:16,434 --> 00:57:20,605
Now, this is the truth,
but Vincent doesn't play it for truth.
980
00:57:22,648 --> 00:57:23,649
I killed him.
981
00:57:26,110 --> 00:57:27,903
I was 12.
982
00:57:35,620 --> 00:57:37,163
I'm kidding.
983
00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:41,334
And, again, this is a moment that I think,
984
00:57:41,417 --> 00:57:46,881
I believe, that Tom just absolutely hits
a very difficult thing to nail...
985
00:57:47,923 --> 00:57:50,551
which is that Vincent is brilliant...
986
00:57:51,761 --> 00:57:56,140
and he knows how easily shocked
is petit bourgeois Max
987
00:57:56,223 --> 00:58:02,938
and that he says things
to absolutely horrify and appall Max.
988
00:58:03,022 --> 00:58:04,899
And when Max delivers the reaction,
989
00:58:04,982 --> 00:58:07,485
Vincent laughs it off
and says he's kidding.
990
00:58:09,904 --> 00:58:13,324
And now they're talking about Island Limos
991
00:58:13,407 --> 00:58:16,744
and the rationalizations Max has
about why it hasn't been started yet.
992
00:58:16,827 --> 00:58:19,914
It's not just simply get the car
and put asses in the seats.
993
00:58:19,997 --> 00:58:21,082
Why not?
994
00:58:21,165 --> 00:58:24,710
Because Island Limos
is more than filet' a ride.
995
00:58:24,794 --> 00:58:28,005
It's like a club experience. Cool groove.
996
00:58:29,048 --> 00:58:30,716
Don't want it to end.
997
00:58:31,676 --> 00:58:35,721
So Max has evolved
and refined this ideation
998
00:58:35,805 --> 00:58:40,810
of this exalted, ephemeral state
of riding in a limo, in Island Limos,
999
00:58:40,893 --> 00:58:44,105
to such an elevated experience
1000
00:58:44,188 --> 00:58:46,857
that it's not only impractical,
it's never gonna happen.
1001
00:58:46,941 --> 00:58:51,070
And all this was shot
in the refineries of Wilmington,
1002
00:58:51,153 --> 00:58:53,114
which is near the Port of Los Angeles.
1003
00:58:53,739 --> 00:58:57,576
In Wilmington, there are clubs like this.
1004
00:58:57,660 --> 00:59:00,037
Why anybody would want to locate
a club there, I don't know.
1005
00:59:00,121 --> 00:59:02,998
The El Rodeo disco
that the following scene is shot in
1006
00:59:03,082 --> 00:59:06,210
is not in, actually, Wilmington.
1007
00:59:06,293 --> 00:59:10,005
It's in Pico Rivera,
and we did nothing to this place.
1008
00:59:10,089 --> 00:59:12,800
Go in, ask for Felix. He's expecting you.
1009
00:59:12,883 --> 00:59:14,009
-Felix.
- Yeah.
1010
00:59:14,093 --> 00:59:16,595
- What does he look like ?
-/ don't know. I've never met' him.
1011
00:59:16,679 --> 00:59:17,888
Who is he?
1012
00:59:17,972 --> 00:59:20,641
And the difficulty
in scenes like this sometimes--
1013
00:59:20,725 --> 00:59:25,604
And in which Jamie does a wonderful job--
1014
00:59:25,688 --> 00:59:26,939
İs to maintain,
1015
00:59:27,022 --> 00:59:30,443
sometimes three months after
the beginning of principal photography,
1016
00:59:30,526 --> 00:59:33,904
that pure line of exactly his character,
1017
00:59:33,988 --> 00:59:37,032
of what the character's circumstances are.
1018
00:59:37,700 --> 00:59:41,495
Because the night, in fiction,
is only two hours old,
1019
00:59:41,579 --> 00:59:45,916
and the circumstances are
that he's being asked to do
1020
00:59:46,000 --> 00:59:49,712
some preposterously outrageous,
difficult task,
1021
00:59:49,795 --> 00:59:52,214
which is to go into this club
and pretend that he's Vincent
1022
00:59:52,298 --> 00:59:54,008
and impersonate Vincent.
1023
00:59:54,091 --> 00:59:55,968
I can't do this.
1024
00:59:56,051 --> 00:59:57,678
-I can't.
-What are you talking about?
1025
00:59:57,762 --> 00:59:59,764
Sure you can, man. Come on. Hey. Hey.
1026
00:59:59,847 --> 01:00:03,350
Look, man, if I do this, I'm just gonna
end up getting other people killed.
1027
01:00:03,434 --> 01:00:04,477
Out of options, Max.
1028
01:00:04,560 --> 01:00:08,981
And the perplexed confusion, as Jamie--
1029
01:00:09,064 --> 01:00:15,154
As Max has to try and process a task
of which he's completely incapable.
1030
01:00:16,906 --> 01:00:19,116
Those circumstances, keeping those alive
1031
01:00:19,200 --> 01:00:21,786
and keeping those present
after you've been playing Max--
1032
01:00:21,869 --> 01:00:24,079
And we shoot all the scenes
out of order anyway,
1033
01:00:24,163 --> 01:00:28,209
so it may be, you know, two months later,
not two hours into the evening--
1034
01:00:28,292 --> 01:00:32,505
İs what Jamie's achieving here
and what he's able to do.
1035
01:00:32,588 --> 01:00:36,675
And it's an innocent look in his eyes
as he turns and looks at Vincent.
1036
01:00:50,147 --> 01:00:52,191
We're about to see Klea Scott,
1037
01:00:52,274 --> 01:00:55,945
who was a regular
on Robbery Homicide Division.
1038
01:00:56,028 --> 01:00:57,488
She's a fine actress who trained
1039
01:00:57,571 --> 01:00:59,657
at the North Carolina School
of Performing Arts.
1040
01:00:59,740 --> 01:01:01,951
And Bruce McGill,
who I've worked with a couple of times.
1041
01:01:02,034 --> 01:01:05,579
He was terrific playing the attorney,
Ron Motley, in The Insider
1042
01:01:05,663 --> 01:01:08,582
and did a well-remembered episode
of Miami Vice
1043
01:01:08,666 --> 01:01:10,835
called "Out Where the Buses Don't Run."
1044
01:01:10,918 --> 01:01:12,294
Mark the time.
1045
01:01:16,549 --> 01:01:18,133
What you're seeing
is exactly what appears,
1046
01:01:18,217 --> 01:01:21,887
including the security guards in the front
1047
01:01:21,971 --> 01:01:24,598
who are the real security guards
at the real El Rodeo.
1048
01:01:24,682 --> 01:01:27,393
And really nice performances,
1049
01:01:27,476 --> 01:01:28,894
particularly by this guy, Cosme,
1050
01:01:28,978 --> 01:01:32,147
who's gonna be the guy on the left
with the bald head.
1051
01:01:32,231 --> 01:01:34,400
And most everybody in the place
are regulars.
1052
01:01:34,483 --> 01:01:38,112
It's a nortefio disco.
The people are from northern Mexico.
1053
01:01:38,195 --> 01:01:41,490
The music has got a heavy polka influence.
1054
01:01:41,574 --> 01:01:44,702
And we substituted Calexico
and a couple of other bands.
1055
01:01:44,785 --> 01:01:46,453
I'm Vincent.
1056
01:01:57,131 --> 01:01:59,758
And Max doesn't know
what he's getting into.
1057
01:02:00,301 --> 01:02:01,510
COPY-
1058
01:02:04,763 --> 01:02:08,183
One of the things that intrigued me
about Stuart Beattie's script
1059
01:02:08,267 --> 01:02:12,855
was the way the story lines intersect.
1060
01:02:12,938 --> 01:02:18,569
They're held in a very disciplined way,
discrete, each in its own channel.
1061
01:02:21,780 --> 01:02:24,533
And we're about to see two of them collide
1062
01:02:24,617 --> 01:02:28,621
as the shadowy,
silhouetted figures we established
1063
01:02:28,704 --> 01:02:31,457
coming into the FBI surveillance
1064
01:02:31,540 --> 01:02:35,711
are, in fact,
revealed to be Fanning and Weidner,
1065
01:02:35,794 --> 01:02:39,548
who have information
that is specifically-- is and only is--
1066
01:02:39,632 --> 01:02:41,592
That there's a linkage between victims.
1067
01:02:41,675 --> 01:02:44,887
Not who the victims are
or how they network together
1068
01:02:44,970 --> 01:02:47,473
or who's responsible for killing them.
1069
01:02:47,556 --> 01:02:48,974
Whafis up ?
Why do you wanna know about our case ?
1070
01:02:49,058 --> 01:02:51,894
-Any unusual activity tonight?
-Like what?
1071
01:02:51,977 --> 01:02:54,229
The! relates f0 a murder
or a series of murders
1072
01:02:54,313 --> 01:02:56,190
in Wilshire Central or West Hollywood?
1073
01:02:57,483 --> 01:02:58,817
All quiet on the western front.
1074
01:02:58,901 --> 01:03:03,489
And somebody told Pedrosa,
played by Bruce McGi||,
1075
01:03:03,572 --> 01:03:05,699
to cooperate with these guys
and talk to them,
1076
01:03:05,783 --> 01:03:08,994
and he's totally reluctant to
and is stiffing them.
1077
01:03:09,828 --> 01:03:12,039
- Your interest in our case ?
-Well, our interest--
1078
01:03:12,122 --> 01:03:13,999
We got a situation. Two bodies.
1079
01:03:14,083 --> 01:03:16,752
Could be a coincidence,
could n02' be a coincidence.
1080
01:03:16,835 --> 01:03:19,880
It doesn't look like one.
We got an attorney and his client--
1081
01:03:20,839 --> 01:03:22,007
Roofs all beat to shit.
1082
01:03:23,425 --> 01:03:25,594
Roofs all beat to shit.
1083
01:03:27,346 --> 01:03:29,556
-Can you zoom in on this, please?
-On What?
1084
01:03:29,640 --> 01:03:30,975
On that.
1085
01:03:35,813 --> 01:03:39,775
But Fanning spotted the cab
and noticed it was the cab
1086
01:03:39,858 --> 01:03:42,778
described in the alley behind Ramone's...
1087
01:03:44,154 --> 01:03:46,824
and launches them on a voyage of discovery
1088
01:03:46,907 --> 01:03:50,869
that's gonna result in the convergence
of these two vectors.
1089
01:03:50,953 --> 01:03:53,414
And what's nice about Beattie's script
is the way,
1090
01:03:53,497 --> 01:03:56,917
once we know the vectors
are going to converge, he leaps ahead.
1091
01:03:57,001 --> 01:04:01,505
And the next time we go back
to the surveillance location,
1092
01:04:01,588 --> 01:04:05,551
Beattie leaps ahead
to the convergence already happened
1093
01:04:05,634 --> 01:04:08,721
and just takes us
right into the important part of it,
1094
01:04:08,804 --> 01:04:10,806
which is the conclusion.
1095
01:04:12,391 --> 01:04:15,894
And there's a great poster
for LA's famous Que Buena radio.
1096
01:04:21,984 --> 01:04:24,278
And El Rodeo on the interior is black-lit,
1097
01:04:24,361 --> 01:04:27,489
and these are the actual murals
on their walls.
1098
01:04:27,573 --> 01:04:31,285
And these are
some of the actual security guards there.
1099
01:04:31,368 --> 01:04:34,455
A couple other of these guys
playing security guards
1100
01:04:34,538 --> 01:04:37,374
are some folks we got
on a work-release program
1101
01:04:37,458 --> 01:04:39,752
from LA County Jail.
1102
01:04:39,835 --> 01:04:46,550
Here's Javier Bardem playing Felix,
and it's a case of a brilliant actor
1103
01:04:47,176 --> 01:04:50,721
who invests himself totally in a role
even though it was two days' shooting.
1104
01:04:50,804 --> 01:04:53,140
Javier is Spanish,
and he spent two or three weeks
1105
01:04:53,223 --> 01:04:54,683
learning how to speak English
with a Mexican,
1106
01:04:54,767 --> 01:04:56,351
as opposed to a Spanish, accent.
1107
01:04:56,435 --> 01:04:58,937
- What are the two names .7
- Ramona Ayala and Clarke.
1108
01:04:59,021 --> 01:05:01,523
Are you telling me Ramone Ayala
and Clarke were murdered tonight?
1109
01:05:01,607 --> 01:05:03,734
-Both killed?
-Sylvester Clarke for sure.
1110
01:05:03,817 --> 01:05:05,861
- Ramona, I don't know.
- / go! another DOA.
1111
01:05:05,944 --> 01:05:08,530
Daniel Baker out of South Central,
Leimert Park.
1112
01:05:08,864 --> 01:05:12,409
And the two story tracks between the LAPD
and the FBI have converged,
1113
01:05:12,493 --> 01:05:15,913
and now their information
is actually revealed to us,
1114
01:05:15,996 --> 01:05:17,915
'cause we have not known,
up to this point,
1115
01:05:17,998 --> 01:05:19,958
who these people are who are being killed,
1116
01:05:20,042 --> 01:05:22,544
which is very unusual
when you think about it.
1117
01:05:22,628 --> 01:05:25,047
We're engaged in a picture
in which Vincent is killing people,
1118
01:05:25,130 --> 01:05:30,010
and he's taken captive Max,
who's compelled to go along with him.
1119
01:05:32,930 --> 01:05:34,389
I lost my stuff.
1120
01:05:34,473 --> 01:05:36,725
And we don't know
1121
01:05:36,809 --> 01:05:39,019
why the people who are being killed
are being killed.
1122
01:05:39,103 --> 01:05:43,607
They're obviously crimes of dispassion.
Vincent is indifferent.
1123
01:05:43,690 --> 01:05:47,945
And we're gonna discover later
that Vincent isn't even sure
1124
01:05:48,028 --> 01:05:50,572
why they're being killed.
1125
01:05:50,656 --> 01:05:53,700
So the way the information is marshaled,
1126
01:05:53,784 --> 01:05:56,578
the way it's moved around
and where it's revealed
1127
01:05:56,662 --> 01:05:57,871
is fascinating to me,
1128
01:05:57,955 --> 01:06:01,333
and it enhances, for me,
the sense of immediacy.
1129
01:06:01,416 --> 01:06:03,794
Because when you are immediately
in the moment of something--
1130
01:06:03,877 --> 01:06:06,547
You don't know the backstory,
you don't know the context,
1131
01:06:06,630 --> 01:06:10,008
you don't know everything
about where people came from--
1132
01:06:12,594 --> 01:06:15,848
You're just occupied
with the "right now" of it.
1133
01:06:15,931 --> 01:06:20,769
And that's what appealed to me
about doing this film was that,
1134
01:06:20,853 --> 01:06:23,814
could I make a motion picture
in which I can engage the audience
1135
01:06:23,897 --> 01:06:26,191
in the "right now" of it
without a lot of history,
1136
01:06:26,275 --> 01:06:29,736
without a lot of exposition,
so that it kind of, in a way,
1137
01:06:29,820 --> 01:06:32,906
almost simulates our experience
of the present
1138
01:06:32,990 --> 01:06:35,075
when we're put in a context we don't know.
1139
01:06:35,159 --> 01:06:37,578
We don't know the circumstance.
We don't know exactly where we are.
1140
01:06:37,661 --> 01:06:40,914
The landscape may be
somewhat foreign to us.
1141
01:06:40,998 --> 01:06:44,710
And so we have less answers
than we have answers.
1142
01:06:44,793 --> 01:06:49,381
And as the impressions impact upon us,
1143
01:06:49,464 --> 01:06:51,425
one after the other, in sequence,
1144
01:06:52,217 --> 01:06:56,263
some of that experience,
that's what I wanted to...
1145
01:06:56,346 --> 01:07:00,309
That's what attracted me
to tell this story, because it did that.
1146
01:07:00,392 --> 01:07:03,312
It had that immediacy to it.
I found that very exciting.
1147
01:07:04,229 --> 01:07:07,065
And Pedro would come every night
to check them out.
1148
01:07:07,149 --> 01:07:10,402
And the people, the little kids
that were misbehaving,
1149
01:07:10,485 --> 01:07:12,112
that were not saying their prayers...
1150
01:07:12,196 --> 01:07:15,407
The degree of difficulty of this scene
for an actor is rather high,
1151
01:07:15,490 --> 01:07:20,037
because what Jamie has to do is
he has to pull off that he is Max
1152
01:07:20,120 --> 01:07:24,958
and he, playing Max,
has to have Max play that Max is Vincent,
1153
01:07:25,042 --> 01:07:26,919
and with believability,
1154
01:07:27,002 --> 01:07:31,673
so that you believe that
it's credible enough for Felix to buy.
1155
01:07:31,757 --> 01:07:34,593
And that's hard to do.
1156
01:07:34,676 --> 01:07:39,514
Behind all that, and why this is pivotal
in the realization of Max's character,
1157
01:07:39,598 --> 01:07:45,020
it has to do with this massive compression
of Max's life to this single point,
1158
01:07:45,103 --> 01:07:47,981
this single fine point in time
1159
01:07:48,065 --> 01:07:51,443
in which Max believes he's gonna die.
1160
01:07:54,780 --> 01:07:56,114
I think...
1161
01:07:57,908 --> 01:07:59,660
And there's the moment of truth for Max.
1162
01:07:59,743 --> 01:08:03,413
I think you should
tell the guy behind me...
1163
01:08:04,456 --> 01:08:06,333
to put that gun down.
1164
01:08:07,542 --> 01:08:09,795
What did you say?
1165
01:08:09,878 --> 01:08:12,714
I said I think you should tell the guy
behind me to put his gun away
1166
01:08:12,798 --> 01:08:16,093
before I take it'
and beat' his bitch ass I0 death with it'.
1167
01:08:26,812 --> 01:08:28,105
I picked up a tail.
1168
01:08:28,939 --> 01:08:31,316
- Federal?
-I don't know. You tell me.
1169
01:08:31,650 --> 01:08:36,989
And faced with mortality, what emerges is,
1170
01:08:37,072 --> 01:08:42,703
in fact, the power, the skill,
the improvisational ability
1171
01:08:42,786 --> 01:08:45,038
to speak his mind, to take action.
1172
01:08:45,122 --> 01:08:49,459
It's okay that it manifests itself
in mimicry. He's imitating Vincent.
1173
01:08:49,543 --> 01:08:51,670
And that's okay, 'cause that's actually
how our learning process--
1174
01:08:51,753 --> 01:08:53,297
As human beings, that's how we learn.
1175
01:08:53,380 --> 01:08:55,590
We mimic something,
and then we make it our own.
1176
01:08:55,674 --> 01:08:59,011
But, hey, shit happens.
1177
01:08:59,803 --> 01:09:01,972
Gotta roll with it. Adapt.
1178
01:09:02,764 --> 01:09:04,808
Darwin. I Ching.
1179
01:09:06,893 --> 01:09:07,894
Has--
1180
01:09:07,978 --> 01:09:09,813
The fat man. The penthouse guy.
The jazz man.
1181
01:09:09,896 --> 01:09:13,567
And that's exactly what the idea
of this was.
1182
01:09:13,650 --> 01:09:16,403
But he had to have that experience
1183
01:09:16,486 --> 01:09:20,949
as his jumping-off point,
as a catalyst of "he's gonna die."
1184
01:09:21,908 --> 01:09:26,246
And it comes from Felix
telling this anecdote
1185
01:09:26,330 --> 01:09:29,833
he probably just made up
about Black Peter.
1186
01:09:30,709 --> 01:09:32,711
...when have I not?
1187
01:09:32,794 --> 01:09:34,379
Say it's Vincent.
1188
01:09:35,339 --> 01:09:36,590
I'm Vincent.
1189
01:09:37,007 --> 01:09:38,759
Say it's Vincent.
1190
01:09:39,676 --> 01:09:40,677
I'm Vincent.
1191
01:09:41,553 --> 01:09:43,138
Say it's Vincent.
1192
01:09:44,389 --> 01:09:45,599
I'm Vincent.
1193
01:09:46,516 --> 01:09:48,226
-Say it's Vincent.
- Vincent?
1194
01:09:48,310 --> 01:09:51,229
- Thafis what I'm hearing.
-|'m Vincent.
1195
01:09:58,862 --> 01:10:05,202
Felix is surrounded by a ring
of security people around him,
1196
01:10:05,285 --> 01:10:09,748
and he is also surrounded
by sharply-pointed plants,
1197
01:10:09,831 --> 01:10:13,627
and it was-- I wasn't happy with the set,
1198
01:10:13,710 --> 01:10:15,712
and we couldn't really change anything
on the walls,
1199
01:10:15,796 --> 01:10:19,466
and so we just improvised
and brought in a bunch of plants.
1200
01:10:19,549 --> 01:10:23,470
And by the way,
as a token of my appreciation,
1201
01:10:23,553 --> 01:10:25,514
I would like to offer you a discount.
1202
01:10:28,350 --> 01:10:30,560
For all my services, 25%.
1203
01:10:31,561 --> 01:10:33,855
- Very generous.
-Hell, make if 35.
1204
01:10:33,939 --> 01:10:36,942
This is an interesting scene to me
in terms of audience reactions,
1205
01:10:37,025 --> 01:10:38,944
because for some reason,
some audiences get
1206
01:10:39,027 --> 01:10:43,365
that Max is offering Felix a big discount
1207
01:10:44,324 --> 01:10:46,243
on Vincent's fees,
1208
01:10:46,326 --> 01:10:49,871
that he's giving away
a whole bunch of Vincent's money.
1209
01:10:49,955 --> 01:10:53,834
And some audiences think
this is actually hilarious.
1210
01:10:53,917 --> 01:10:58,088
And for some reason, other audiences,
it just goes right past them
1211
01:10:58,171 --> 01:11:02,175
and it doesn't get any kind of a reaction.
1212
01:11:05,595 --> 01:11:10,016
The color right here
is just something that happened.
1213
01:11:10,100 --> 01:11:13,895
Just the composition, the light.
This is actually shot on film, this piece.
1214
01:11:13,979 --> 01:11:16,815
And we just managed to preserve it.
1215
01:11:21,403 --> 01:11:24,322
What's happened here
was very challenging for me
1216
01:11:24,406 --> 01:11:30,662
from a storytelling point of view,
or actually the plot point of view.
1217
01:11:33,081 --> 01:11:37,544
Because the information deficit
that each discrete track had--
1218
01:11:37,627 --> 01:11:40,797
İ.e., the FBI knew nothing,
1219
01:11:40,881 --> 01:11:43,925
the LAPD knew that bodies were dropping
and they were linked,
1220
01:11:44,009 --> 01:11:47,429
and then, also, we're about to generate
Paco and Rubio--
1221
01:11:48,722 --> 01:11:52,642
Have all come together
in the FBI surveillance scene.
1222
01:11:52,726 --> 01:11:56,438
And the FBI and the LAPD now know
1223
01:11:56,521 --> 01:11:59,107
that the bodies are dropping,
are all linked together
1224
01:11:59,191 --> 01:12:01,818
and that, in fact,
they're the FBI's witnesses
1225
01:12:01,902 --> 01:12:05,197
who were about to come forward
in a federal grand jury
1226
01:12:05,280 --> 01:12:07,115
that's supposed to be convening tomorrow.
1227
01:12:16,416 --> 01:12:18,084
Locate our witness, Peter Lim.
1228
01:12:18,168 --> 01:12:20,462
This was an abandoned Kmart,
and it was the largest--
1229
01:12:20,545 --> 01:12:23,632
I think it was the largest Kmart
in America,
1230
01:12:23,715 --> 01:12:27,844
and it was transformed into this set
by a very talented art director.
1231
01:12:27,928 --> 01:12:29,095
It was a very long night.
1232
01:12:29,179 --> 01:12:32,682
And we wound up working very fast,
and it was very late in the night.
1233
01:12:32,766 --> 01:12:37,145
And sometimes when you do that,
there's a real tremendous intensity.
1234
01:12:37,229 --> 01:12:40,774
And if you could keep that on a roll,
you get some of the best work because,
1235
01:12:40,857 --> 01:12:44,277
as an actor and also as a director,
it's just happening so fast,
1236
01:12:44,361 --> 01:12:46,821
there's a certain
spontaneous intensity to it.
1237
01:12:49,324 --> 01:12:55,288
And Mark Ruffalo, particularly,
I believe, really shined in this.
1238
01:12:55,830 --> 01:12:57,916
The guy who walked out of there
looks like this guy.
1239
01:12:57,999 --> 01:12:59,876
'Cause he picked a cabdriver
who looks like him.
1240
01:12:59,960 --> 01:13:03,588
- Yeah, I don't know.
-/ do. Zee ?
1241
01:13:03,672 --> 01:13:06,841
We see private-sector security companies
hiring out to cartels
1242
01:13:06,925 --> 01:13:08,969
in Colombia, Russia, Mexico,
1243
01:13:09,052 --> 01:13:13,932
hiring ex-Special Forces, Stasi,
ex-KGB, like that, all the time.
1244
01:13:14,432 --> 01:13:19,312
What's happening is that
Klea Scott is identifying for us
1245
01:13:19,396 --> 01:13:21,773
the origins of Vincent.
1246
01:13:22,857 --> 01:13:26,236
The FBI are poised
as kind of unguided missiles
1247
01:13:26,319 --> 01:13:27,320
or misguided missiles,
1248
01:13:27,404 --> 01:13:31,116
because they now have identified,
because of Vincent's ploy,
1249
01:13:31,199 --> 01:13:33,994
that they believe Max to be Vincent.
1250
01:13:34,327 --> 01:13:35,495
There is something else going on.
1251
01:13:35,579 --> 01:13:37,330
Ray, there's nothing else going on.
1252
01:13:37,414 --> 01:13:39,082
Fanning is skeptical.
1253
01:13:39,165 --> 01:13:41,835
It's their bail. it's their game.
There's nothing in it for us.
1254
01:13:41,918 --> 01:13:43,837
-There's nothing in it for you.
-That's right.
1255
01:13:43,920 --> 01:13:46,923
It's late. I'm going home.
You know what time it is?
1256
01:14:03,940 --> 01:14:06,234
This is Tom Rothrock's cue.
1257
01:14:09,112 --> 01:14:12,449
Most of the composing
is done by James Newton Howard,
1258
01:14:12,532 --> 01:14:13,825
who did excellent work,
1259
01:14:13,908 --> 01:14:17,787
particularly a very, very difficult piece
towards the end of the film,
1260
01:14:17,871 --> 01:14:20,957
which is alternately orchestral
and percussion.
1261
01:14:21,041 --> 01:14:23,418
But this particular piece
is composed by Rothrock,
1262
01:14:23,501 --> 01:14:29,174
whose strength is this kind of blues mode,
which you're hearing right here.
1263
01:14:29,257 --> 01:14:31,426
He also did the cue that opens the movie.
1264
01:14:33,053 --> 01:14:36,222
And I view music
as telling different parts of the story.
1265
01:14:36,306 --> 01:14:38,141
So sometimes
just as you have multiple characters,
1266
01:14:38,224 --> 01:14:39,517
you should have different,
1267
01:14:39,601 --> 01:14:42,979
slightly different perspectives
on the music all fitting into a plan
1268
01:14:43,063 --> 01:14:45,857
about how the story ought to tell itself.
1269
01:14:46,566 --> 01:14:48,735
Sheila is on with the wife-
She thinks he's at Fever.
1270
01:14:49,319 --> 01:14:53,698
There's four story tracks
all heading to a disco named Fever.
1271
01:14:53,782 --> 01:14:55,533
Max and Vincent are heading there.
1272
01:14:55,617 --> 01:15:00,038
And there's kind of a sense
of destiny's gonna get worked out
1273
01:15:00,121 --> 01:15:02,499
in this confrontation,
and there's a prelude,
1274
01:15:02,582 --> 01:15:06,336
in which something
I found fascinating was to happen.
1275
01:15:06,878 --> 01:15:07,921
Copy that.
1276
01:15:21,976 --> 01:15:23,978
Vincent changes registers again,
1277
01:15:24,062 --> 01:15:29,025
and I wanted Vincent to just elevate
without any transition
1278
01:15:29,109 --> 01:15:33,279
into a state of mind
in which he was speaking to Max
1279
01:15:33,363 --> 01:15:35,865
as if they were brothers
or if they were pals
1280
01:15:35,949 --> 01:15:38,368
who've known each other for 15 years,
and they're in a bar
1281
01:15:38,451 --> 01:15:40,245
and Vincent's just saying
this most casual thing,
1282
01:15:40,328 --> 01:15:42,747
"Hey, why aren't you gonna
ask that girl out?"
1283
01:15:42,956 --> 01:15:45,250
-You gonna call her?
- Who?
1284
01:15:45,333 --> 01:15:48,294
Your lady friend,
the one who gave you her business card.
1285
01:15:49,129 --> 01:15:50,630
I don't know.
1286
01:15:50,714 --> 01:15:53,299
-Maybe, maybe not.
- What?
1287
01:15:54,342 --> 01:15:55,468
Pick up the phone.
1288
01:15:55,552 --> 01:15:59,806
With a familiarity that's schizophrenic,
1289
01:15:59,889 --> 01:16:03,435
that has no basis at all
in the circumstances
1290
01:16:03,518 --> 01:16:06,813
that Vincent has, in fact,
imposed upon Max.
1291
01:16:06,896 --> 01:16:10,275
It's a step aside from reality
into a parallel reality,
1292
01:16:10,358 --> 01:16:12,277
the reality that's going on
in Vincent's mind,
1293
01:16:12,360 --> 01:16:15,238
which is also the subtext of the film.
1294
01:16:15,321 --> 01:16:18,116
That Vincent's, in fact, cracking up.
1295
01:16:18,199 --> 01:16:21,578
That subtext is gonna wind up
hijacking the whole of the story
1296
01:16:21,661 --> 01:16:23,371
and drive us to the end.
1297
01:16:23,455 --> 01:16:27,292
And after he asks this question,
each man kind of retreats
1298
01:16:27,375 --> 01:16:31,171
into the solitude
of his own self-awareness.
1299
01:16:31,713 --> 01:16:36,801
And what they see is something
that I witnessed a couple of times in LA.
1300
01:16:37,802 --> 01:16:40,221
I was driving a babysitter home
and saw three coyotes
1301
01:16:40,305 --> 01:16:42,766
who were just walking diagonally
across the intersection
1302
01:16:42,849 --> 01:16:45,059
of Fairfax and Sunset Boulevard.
1303
01:16:45,143 --> 01:16:47,228
They seemed to have an attitude
like they still owned it,
1304
01:16:47,312 --> 01:16:49,063
this was still their real estate.
1305
01:16:49,147 --> 01:16:52,150
And this civilized layer
called the City of Los Angeles,
1306
01:16:52,233 --> 01:16:55,069
which has only been here for 80 years
was, in fact, something temporary.
1307
01:16:55,153 --> 01:16:57,071
Maybe here, maybe gone tomorrow.
1308
01:16:59,991 --> 01:17:01,826
And each man thinking his own thoughts
1309
01:17:01,910 --> 01:17:05,663
as he's heading into
what may be mortal combat.
1310
01:17:23,014 --> 01:17:25,058
When I heard this song by Audioslave
1311
01:17:25,141 --> 01:17:28,478
and the Chris Cornell vocal,
"Shadow on the Sun,"
1312
01:17:28,561 --> 01:17:31,147
I knew I wanted it
for this moment in the film.
1313
01:17:31,231 --> 01:17:36,027
As they travel through
the neon shopping malls of Koreatown,
1314
01:17:36,110 --> 01:17:39,823
the advantage of the video
shooting in high-def
1315
01:17:39,906 --> 01:17:43,993
is the ability to see these distant
landscapes and trees against the sky,
1316
01:17:44,077 --> 01:17:47,372
almost as if we're
in some kind of a dark afternoon.
1317
01:17:57,632 --> 01:17:59,467
There he is. Hit it.
1318
01:18:17,110 --> 01:18:20,113
The club is a club--
The real name of the club is Bliss.
1319
01:18:20,196 --> 01:18:23,199
It's on 6th in Wilshire Central
in Koreatown.
1320
01:18:23,283 --> 01:18:24,993
We renamed it Fever.
1321
01:18:25,618 --> 01:18:29,956
And we actually enter the real location,
1322
01:18:30,039 --> 01:18:33,668
and we duplicated the decor
on a set that we built
1323
01:18:33,751 --> 01:18:35,795
that had to be seven times as large.
1324
01:18:35,879 --> 01:18:38,631
Seven or eight times
as large as the actual club
1325
01:18:38,715 --> 01:18:42,594
to fit the 800 or 900 Korean extras
we brought in.
1326
01:18:42,677 --> 01:18:44,512
Table towards the back is where he hangs.
1327
01:18:47,849 --> 01:18:53,146
What's happening
is that all the discrete story lines
1328
01:18:53,229 --> 01:18:57,275
are heading towards a collision,
and we, the audience, are aware of it.
1329
01:18:57,358 --> 01:19:00,862
Vincent, the hunter, is not aware
that he's, in fact, being hunted.
1330
01:19:00,945 --> 01:19:04,365
The challenge of shooting it,
and the excitement about shooting it,
1331
01:19:04,449 --> 01:19:08,369
was to set up each character
1332
01:19:08,453 --> 01:19:13,124
moving through this field of 800 dancers
1333
01:19:13,207 --> 01:19:17,795
in a way so that we were with each group
as they're moving through it
1334
01:19:17,879 --> 01:19:22,467
and knowing where we are at the same time
and keeping all three stories alive.
1335
01:19:25,303 --> 01:19:28,097
The music is Ready Steady Go
by Paul Oakenfold.
1336
01:19:28,181 --> 01:19:31,643
It's a great piece.
It was perfect for this scene.
1337
01:19:31,726 --> 01:19:36,356
But to make it be less familiar,
we translated Ready Steady Go into Korean,
1338
01:19:36,439 --> 01:19:38,650
so what they're saying in Korean
is "Ready, steady, go."
1339
01:19:39,692 --> 01:19:42,820
Koreatown has the largest population
of Koreans outside of Seoul.
1340
01:19:42,904 --> 01:19:47,659
And as a community,
it's particularly vibrant and unified
1341
01:19:47,742 --> 01:19:49,827
and has a great depth of culture,
1342
01:19:49,911 --> 01:19:54,999
which is kind of typical of Los Angeles
and ethnic communities in Los Angeles,
1343
01:19:55,083 --> 01:19:57,043
where there seems to be
a lot less assimilation.
1344
01:19:57,126 --> 01:20:02,090
So that in going to a Korean club,
you're gonna see music videos from Seoul.
1345
01:20:02,173 --> 01:20:06,052
You're not gonna see music videos
from MTV.
1346
01:20:08,221 --> 01:20:10,974
The way I thought about this whole scene,
in terms of scene analysis,
1347
01:20:11,057 --> 01:20:14,227
like, how does the scene work internally?
1348
01:20:14,310 --> 01:20:19,023
Is that-- It's a conflict between
our characters, Max and Vincent,
1349
01:20:19,107 --> 01:20:22,819
and then also Pedrosa
when we're tracking with Pedrosa.
1350
01:20:22,902 --> 01:20:26,948
And what he's in conflict with
is, in fact, chaos.
1351
01:20:27,031 --> 01:20:32,245
And it's the chaos
that Vincent has to work against
1352
01:20:32,328 --> 01:20:34,330
to achieve his objective.
1353
01:20:38,001 --> 01:20:39,961
Which is, of course,
completely pathological,
1354
01:20:40,044 --> 01:20:43,131
which is to murder a Korean gangster
named Peter Lim.
1355
01:20:56,769 --> 01:21:01,816
A lot of the close-quarter combat
that Vincent is doing, again,
1356
01:21:01,899 --> 01:21:03,735
took three to four months of training.
1357
01:21:03,818 --> 01:21:09,282
And we did a much broader variety of it
than what we're seeing here.
1358
01:21:09,365 --> 01:21:15,121
But Torn was very fast and very strong,
very skilled with this.
1359
01:21:15,204 --> 01:21:21,461
And the instructor I used is Mick Gould,
who was one of the two instructors I had
1360
01:21:21,544 --> 01:21:25,048
for all the close-quarter combat
that we did.
1361
01:21:25,131 --> 01:21:26,674
And the other guy was Andy McNab,
1362
01:21:26,758 --> 01:21:31,721
who was also the author
of a book called Bravo Two Zero,
1363
01:21:31,804 --> 01:21:34,390
which is highly recommended reading
on the First Iraq War,
1364
01:21:34,474 --> 01:21:37,602
that he was in
and was captured by the Iraqis.
1365
01:21:38,644 --> 01:21:43,441
Lim has an outer ring of protection,
1366
01:21:43,524 --> 01:21:46,569
which is exactly
the way security would behave.
1367
01:21:46,861 --> 01:21:49,155
There's Lim. Second booth from the left.
Get him out of here.
1368
01:21:49,238 --> 01:21:51,157
And then he's got
some closer people around him.
1369
01:21:51,240 --> 01:21:55,995
There were two classes of security,
one with bodyguards-- trained bodyguards--
1370
01:21:56,079 --> 01:21:59,332
And then some Korean gangsters
who didn't speak English.
1371
01:21:59,415 --> 01:22:01,417
And why they don't speak English
is something that's gonna be...
1372
01:22:01,501 --> 01:22:03,336
Freeze, Vincent! FBI!
1373
01:22:03,419 --> 01:22:04,545
...seen in a moment.
1374
01:22:04,629 --> 01:22:06,881
Get your hands in the air!
Get your hands in the air, Vincent!
1375
01:22:06,964 --> 01:22:12,720
The Korean gangsters behind Lim
now mistake the FBI,
1376
01:22:12,804 --> 01:22:16,140
who are, in fact,
coming to bring Lim to safety.
1377
01:22:16,224 --> 01:22:18,392
They mistake it as an assault on Lim.
1378
01:22:20,394 --> 01:22:22,563
They don't speak English.
1379
01:22:24,398 --> 01:22:26,109
Pedrosa gets shot.
1380
01:22:30,071 --> 01:22:34,117
That instantly initiates panic and chaos,
1381
01:22:34,200 --> 01:22:38,204
and now Vincent is not just having
to move through a field of dancers
1382
01:22:38,287 --> 01:22:40,832
to get closer to Lim.
1383
01:22:40,915 --> 01:22:45,419
He now has to move through, in fact,
a gunfight and the chaos and the panic
1384
01:22:45,503 --> 01:22:48,047
and a mob stampeding to get away.
1385
01:22:51,134 --> 01:22:55,763
We had an admirable group of Korean extras
recruited from Koreatown,
1386
01:22:55,847 --> 01:22:57,473
from UCLA, from all kinds of places,
1387
01:22:57,557 --> 01:23:00,309
who managed to work themselves up
into a state of panic
1388
01:23:00,393 --> 01:23:05,106
for about 12 to 14 hours a day
for about five days straight.
1389
01:23:06,232 --> 01:23:11,237
Vincent, in reality, would be
really focused on what's happening.
1390
01:23:11,320 --> 01:23:13,156
Almost like a fugue state.
1391
01:23:13,239 --> 01:23:16,534
And then it's gonna get interrupted
by a threat to Max.
1392
01:23:16,617 --> 01:23:18,661
And as Vincent deals with it,
1393
01:23:18,744 --> 01:23:20,913
I wanted Tom to have--
and he absolutely has--
1394
01:23:20,997 --> 01:23:26,002
A kind of look on his face,
almost as if he's irritated
1395
01:23:26,085 --> 01:23:28,546
because Max has been so inconsiderate
1396
01:23:28,629 --> 01:23:30,840
to allow himself
to have his life jeopardized
1397
01:23:30,923 --> 01:23:33,759
and Vincent's had to intervene
to save him.
1398
01:23:35,303 --> 01:23:38,014
The only guy who is headed right,
1399
01:23:38,097 --> 01:23:42,101
because he, in fact,
has really proper procedure
1400
01:23:42,185 --> 01:23:45,938
as a detective and investigator,
is Fanning.
1401
01:23:46,731 --> 01:23:50,193
And he's finally been able to rescue Max.
1402
01:23:50,276 --> 01:23:51,819
Hold on. Hold on. I'm Detective Fanning.
1403
01:23:51,903 --> 01:23:53,029
I'm Max! I'm Max!
1404
01:23:53,112 --> 01:23:54,322
I'm a goddamn cabdriver, man!
1405
01:23:54,405 --> 01:23:57,158
He sets up the unexpected.
1406
01:23:58,201 --> 01:24:02,371
Vincent, right here in this scene,
is disarmed,
1407
01:24:02,455 --> 01:24:06,250
and it's actually his weakest moment
in the film.
1408
01:24:06,334 --> 01:24:11,631
He rises to the occasion
and continues doing what he does.
1409
01:24:25,561 --> 01:24:29,523
But the point was that Vincent had
a moment of confusion.
1410
01:24:30,650 --> 01:24:33,319
And it's one of the other subtle glimpses
1411
01:24:33,402 --> 01:24:37,615
into what's going on
below the surface of Vincent's activity.
1412
01:24:37,698 --> 01:24:42,036
And in my mind, and this is strictly
from the director's perspective,
1413
01:24:42,119 --> 01:24:43,746
meaning that the audience
didn't necessarily
1414
01:24:43,829 --> 01:24:46,082
get impacted upon these things.
1415
01:24:46,165 --> 01:24:48,668
In my mind, it was that--
1416
01:24:48,751 --> 01:24:51,295
It's almost as if Vincent's 11 years old
for an instant,
1417
01:24:51,379 --> 01:24:53,339
for a fraction of a second,
1418
01:24:53,422 --> 01:24:57,343
and he's confused by bad things
that are happening to him.
1419
01:24:57,426 --> 01:25:02,723
And he responds by reassembling
his perspective in reacting
1420
01:25:02,807 --> 01:25:05,101
and acting out with violent aggression.
1421
01:25:05,184 --> 01:25:09,605
Now, the audience may or may not only
get a moment of weakness from him,
1422
01:25:09,689 --> 01:25:12,024
but it was fundamental to me
1423
01:25:12,108 --> 01:25:14,485
in my understanding of Vincent's history
and his character
1424
01:25:14,568 --> 01:25:17,405
that this, in fact, is something
that's repeated into his life.
1425
01:25:20,616 --> 01:25:21,993
Go! Drive! Drive!
1426
01:25:23,035 --> 01:25:25,913
Now, what Jamie was supposed to do was--
1427
01:25:25,997 --> 01:25:28,916
His door was open,
and he was supposed to be...
1428
01:25:30,418 --> 01:25:34,630
so distracted by the seemingly eternal...
1429
01:25:35,923 --> 01:25:38,175
situation he finds himself in--
1430
01:25:38,259 --> 01:25:40,094
Meaning that regardless of what happens,
1431
01:25:40,177 --> 01:25:43,514
he winds up back behind the wheel
on the seat of that cab--
1432
01:25:43,597 --> 01:25:46,642
That he just accelerated forward
without closing the door,
1433
01:25:46,726 --> 01:25:49,979
and the door is to bang
into the parked car.
1434
01:25:50,062 --> 01:25:53,774
That didn't happen. The door closed,
and Jamie just headed for the car.
1435
01:25:53,858 --> 01:25:58,446
We're into something called Scene 86,
1436
01:25:58,988 --> 01:26:04,160
and it's the big, pivotal scene
in the construction of the story.
1437
01:26:04,243 --> 01:26:06,704
Max has been changed
by a number of things that happen,
1438
01:26:06,787 --> 01:26:13,544
starting with the compression of his life,
facing death in the form of Felix.
1439
01:26:13,627 --> 01:26:16,797
My direction to Jamie
for that scene was that,
1440
01:26:16,881 --> 01:26:19,967
"You have to feel like you're gonna die.
You're gonna die right now."
1441
01:26:20,051 --> 01:26:23,012
And Max manifested individual action
for the first time,
1442
01:26:23,095 --> 01:26:26,349
which was always there.
It had been latent instead of manifest.
1443
01:26:26,432 --> 01:26:30,561
And in the scene with Felix, it took the
form of actually mimicking Vincent's style
1444
01:26:30,644 --> 01:26:33,064
when he talks about lCh/ng, Darwin.
1445
01:26:33,147 --> 01:26:38,110
But between then, with Felix,
and right now, Max is changed.
1446
01:26:38,194 --> 01:26:42,656
And right now, Max sees
beyond the end of Vincent's gun
1447
01:26:42,740 --> 01:26:45,117
to the man who is there.
1448
01:26:45,201 --> 01:26:46,660
Vincent's repeating a pattern,
1449
01:26:46,744 --> 01:26:50,081
and he again delivers
the kind of facile nihilism
1450
01:26:50,164 --> 01:26:52,083
about the purposelessness of the cosmos.
1451
01:26:52,166 --> 01:26:54,502
Nothing means anything,
so what difference does it make
1452
01:26:54,585 --> 01:26:56,253
how many bodies are dropped tonight?
1453
01:26:56,337 --> 01:26:58,714
This is the third time
we've heard this from Vincent,
1454
01:26:58,798 --> 01:27:02,510
and so there's almost
a kind of a self-directed cynicism.
1455
01:27:02,593 --> 01:27:03,803
He calls it crap.
1456
01:27:03,886 --> 01:27:06,055
-You full of shit.
-All that crap. I'm full of shit?
1457
01:27:06,138 --> 01:27:08,140
You're a monument of it.
You even bullshitted yourself.
1458
01:27:08,224 --> 01:27:10,434
"All I am is taking out the garbage,
killing bad people."
1459
01:27:10,518 --> 01:27:12,520
-Well, that's what you said.
-You believed me?
1460
01:27:12,603 --> 01:27:16,649
But this time, Max doesn't buy it.
And Max sees through it.
1461
01:27:16,732 --> 01:27:17,942
How do I know? You know?
1462
01:27:18,025 --> 01:27:19,443
They all got that...
1463
01:27:20,444 --> 01:27:23,322
"witness for the prosecution" look to me.
1464
01:27:23,406 --> 01:27:25,491
Probably some major
federal indictment of somebody
1465
01:27:25,574 --> 01:27:27,660
who majorly does not wanna get indicted.
1466
01:27:28,702 --> 01:27:29,995
So that's the reason?
1467
01:27:31,414 --> 01:27:33,040
That's the why. There's no reason.
1468
01:27:33,124 --> 01:27:35,918
There's no good reason,
there's no bad reason to live or to die.
1469
01:27:37,002 --> 01:27:38,587
Then what are you?
1470
01:27:39,213 --> 01:27:40,464
Indifferent.
1471
01:27:41,882 --> 01:27:44,802
Every film seems to have
its pivotal scenes,
1472
01:27:44,885 --> 01:27:48,514
and this is the pivotal scene
of this motion picture.
1473
01:27:49,640 --> 01:27:54,019
Max, for the first time,
is seeing beyond the end of the gun
1474
01:27:54,103 --> 01:27:58,816
and is seeing Vincent for who Vincent is,
which is damaged goods.
1475
01:27:59,817 --> 01:28:03,320
He experiences a feeling
of an understanding for Vincent,
1476
01:28:03,404 --> 01:28:05,698
and he struggles to put it into words.
1477
01:28:05,781 --> 01:28:07,408
What's with you?
1478
01:28:08,951 --> 01:28:09,952
As in?
1479
01:28:11,620 --> 01:28:12,913
And that struggle is something
1480
01:28:12,997 --> 01:28:17,626
I very much wanted Jamie to live through.
1481
01:28:17,710 --> 01:28:20,087
And that is Vincent's sociopathy,
1482
01:28:20,171 --> 01:28:22,548
that even if you put a gun
to his head and told Vincent,
1483
01:28:22,631 --> 01:28:25,593
"I'll shoot you unless you can tell me
what somebody over there's feeling,"
1484
01:28:25,676 --> 01:28:27,970
Vincent can't do it.
He isn't capable of empathy.
1485
01:28:28,053 --> 01:28:31,640
He's literally incapable of it,
as if he were handicapped.
1486
01:28:33,267 --> 01:28:35,478
I think you're low, my brother. Way low.
1487
01:28:37,480 --> 01:28:40,441
Like, what were you? One of those
institutionalized-raised guys?
1488
01:28:40,524 --> 01:28:44,904
So Max renders
a negative judgment on Vincent.
1489
01:28:44,987 --> 01:28:47,114
He says,
"You are low, my brother. Way |ow."
1490
01:28:49,200 --> 01:28:52,119
Vincent is actually not impervious.
1491
01:28:52,203 --> 01:28:54,580
He's not the Teflon man
we saw landing at LAX.
1492
01:28:54,663 --> 01:28:56,665
He's injured by this.
1493
01:28:58,834 --> 01:29:02,922
And he assaults Max reactively.
1494
01:29:03,005 --> 01:29:08,260
And it's very personal,
and his intent is to devastate Max
1495
01:29:08,344 --> 01:29:13,933
with a prediction of the purposelessness
of what Max's life will be,
1496
01:29:14,016 --> 01:29:17,019
almost as if Vincent
is the Ghost of Christmas Future,
1497
01:29:17,102 --> 01:29:21,815
and telling him
that Max's evasion is chronic
1498
01:29:21,899 --> 01:29:25,653
and he'll never achieve any of his dreams.
1499
01:29:26,195 --> 01:29:28,113
It's all turned around on you.
1500
01:29:28,197 --> 01:29:30,658
It never will. Suddenly you are old.
1501
01:29:32,201 --> 01:29:33,452
Didn't happen.
1502
01:29:33,536 --> 01:29:36,580
And it never will, because you
were never gonna do it anyway.
1503
01:29:36,664 --> 01:29:39,792
You'll push it into memory,
then zone out in your Barcalounger,
1504
01:29:39,875 --> 01:29:44,296
being hypnotized by daytime TV
for the rest of your life.
1505
01:29:44,380 --> 01:29:46,257
Don't you talk to me about murder.
1506
01:29:46,340 --> 01:29:50,511
All it ever took was a down payment
on a Lincoln Town Car.
1507
01:29:50,594 --> 01:29:53,264
Or that girl.
You can't even call that girl.
1508
01:29:54,598 --> 01:29:56,684
What the fuck are you still doing
driving a cab?
1509
01:29:56,767 --> 01:30:01,313
In this scene right here, I can't fail
1510
01:30:01,397 --> 01:30:06,318
but to have a director's appreciation
for actors.
1511
01:30:06,402 --> 01:30:08,195
'Cause fine acting is fine acting,
1512
01:30:08,279 --> 01:30:11,949
and it's not something
directors really do,
1513
01:30:12,032 --> 01:30:13,993
except notable exceptions
like John Huston.
1514
01:30:14,076 --> 01:30:18,706
But we have the highest-- At least
I have the highest regard for it
1515
01:30:18,789 --> 01:30:22,876
because it is that projection
out onto the end of the limb
1516
01:30:22,960 --> 01:30:24,628
or on the wire without a net.
1517
01:30:24,712 --> 01:30:29,425
It's, you know,
going to that ineffable place...
1518
01:30:30,426 --> 01:30:35,180
where you're simultaneously in control
and completely uncontrolled,
1519
01:30:35,264 --> 01:30:38,058
living, breathing and being in the moment.
1520
01:30:38,142 --> 01:30:41,145
And I think that's what Jamie Foxx
and Tom Cruise are doing right here.
1521
01:30:41,228 --> 01:30:47,943
And it never ceases to be marvelous to me.
1522
01:30:48,027 --> 01:30:49,778
But you know what? New news.
1523
01:30:50,321 --> 01:30:53,449
It doesn't matter anwvay.
What does it matter anyway?
1524
01:30:53,532 --> 01:30:57,244
We're all insignificant out here
in this big-ass nowhere.
1525
01:30:57,328 --> 01:30:58,662
Twilight Zone shit.
1526
01:31:01,749 --> 01:31:05,169
Max has taken what Vincent said earlier
and stood it on its head,
1527
01:31:05,252 --> 01:31:09,256
which is to say that
if existence has no inherent meaning,
1528
01:31:09,340 --> 01:31:13,761
and it's meaningless,
then, in fact, the individual is free
1529
01:31:13,844 --> 01:31:15,846
to put meaning into his life
by his actions.
1530
01:31:15,929 --> 01:31:17,389
And Max takes action.
1531
01:31:21,143 --> 01:31:23,437
What does it matter?
It don't, so fuck it. Fix it.
1532
01:31:24,938 --> 01:31:26,607
What do we got to lose anwvay, right?
1533
01:31:27,775 --> 01:31:30,235
-Slow down.
-Why? You gonna shoot me?
1534
01:31:30,319 --> 01:31:31,654
You gonna pull the trigger and kill us?
1535
01:31:31,737 --> 01:31:33,739
Max rebels, and he's about to destroy
1536
01:31:33,822 --> 01:31:36,784
what, in fact, has imprisoned him
for the last 12 years.
1537
01:31:36,867 --> 01:31:39,453
Well, shoot my ass, then. Shoot me.
1538
01:31:39,536 --> 01:31:41,288
-Slow down!
-You're right.
1539
01:31:43,123 --> 01:31:44,458
You know what, Vincent?
1540
01:31:45,459 --> 01:31:47,086
Go fuck yourself.
1541
01:31:58,472 --> 01:32:02,142
In flipping the cab, I designed the shot
1542
01:32:02,226 --> 01:32:05,562
and how many times I wanted the cab
to flip and how I wanted it to end up.
1543
01:32:05,646 --> 01:32:10,317
And the physics of it
are pretty interesting.
1544
01:32:10,401 --> 01:32:11,860
You weight the cab in certain parts,
1545
01:32:11,944 --> 01:32:14,738
and you lift the back of the cab
with kind of an air mortar.
1546
01:32:14,822 --> 01:32:19,493
And you just actually run the left front
of the cab into a piece of concrete,
1547
01:32:19,576 --> 01:32:23,038
and physics do the rest.
1548
01:32:23,122 --> 01:32:28,585
Joel Kramer, the stunt coordinator,
and the stuntmen who worked on this
1549
01:32:28,669 --> 01:32:31,672
are pretty much able to dump the cab
exactly where we want,
1550
01:32:31,755 --> 01:32:34,508
and we went out to an abandoned airstrip
1551
01:32:34,591 --> 01:32:38,762
and set up this course
with exactly the right distances.
1552
01:32:38,846 --> 01:32:42,808
And the cab dropped
where it was supposed to that day,
1553
01:32:42,891 --> 01:32:45,144
and it also dropped
where it was supposed to this day.
1554
01:32:45,227 --> 01:32:49,481
There were about nine cameras there,
but the key camera is the last one...
1555
01:32:52,025 --> 01:32:54,778
the camera in which the cab
actually comes to a stop
1556
01:32:54,862 --> 01:32:57,281
after it lifts the front end
of this Pontiac.
1557
01:32:57,865 --> 01:33:01,452
And this is take one.
They just hit it, and they nailed it.
1558
01:33:01,535 --> 01:33:04,204
I reviewed it on the monitors,
1559
01:33:04,288 --> 01:33:06,623
and because of the higher contrast
on the monitors,
1560
01:33:06,707 --> 01:33:10,836
it made it seem as if the crash
was actually more kinetic than it was.
1561
01:33:10,919 --> 01:33:13,297
And I thought it was too violent.
1562
01:33:13,380 --> 01:33:17,176
So we reshot it, I think, two more times.
1563
01:33:17,259 --> 01:33:19,511
Didn't need any of it. The first take,
1564
01:33:19,595 --> 01:33:21,972
with the multiple cameras,
is the one we used.
1565
01:33:22,055 --> 01:33:25,350
Okay. Don '1' warty about the cab.
They'll gez' you a new one.
1566
01:33:25,434 --> 01:33:30,773
This is Bob Deamer.
Bob Deamer is an officer in the LAPD.
1567
01:33:30,856 --> 01:33:34,443
And I've gone on a number
of ride-alongs with him,
1568
01:33:34,526 --> 01:33:36,779
in which we've had various adventures.
1569
01:33:36,862 --> 01:33:39,948
And contrary to his appearance here,
he's a very tough cop.
1570
01:33:44,036 --> 01:33:45,412
Put your hands up.
1571
01:33:45,496 --> 01:33:48,791
Put your hands up. Face the cab.
Get down on your knees.
1572
01:33:48,874 --> 01:33:51,293
-Go ahead and arrest me.
-Put your hands on top of your head.
1573
01:33:51,376 --> 01:33:53,921
-Take me to jail. LA County jail's great.
-Don't move!
1574
01:33:54,546 --> 01:33:55,714
Put your hands behind your head.
1575
01:33:55,798 --> 01:33:58,217
Jamie's so weary of life with Vincent
1576
01:33:58,300 --> 01:34:01,220
that being taken to LA County Jail
sounds like a good idea.
1577
01:34:01,303 --> 01:34:04,473
1-L-20, I need a backup on a 187 suspect.
1578
01:34:05,224 --> 01:34:08,769
This begins a music cue
by James Newton Howard
1579
01:34:08,852 --> 01:34:13,482
that's going to alternate
between orchestral,
1580
01:34:13,565 --> 01:34:16,109
with the horns and low strings--
1581
01:34:16,193 --> 01:34:20,239
Meaning cellos, violas,
1582
01:34:21,073 --> 01:34:22,407
double bass--
1583
01:34:23,367 --> 01:34:27,830
And a horn section and percussion.
1584
01:34:27,913 --> 01:34:30,916
And it begins here,
and it's an extremely long cue.
1585
01:34:30,999 --> 01:34:34,127
Goes for almost 16 or 17 minutes,
taken in total.
1586
01:34:34,211 --> 01:34:36,630
It was written and composed
as a unified cue.
1587
01:34:37,381 --> 01:34:41,176
And that was some
of the fascinating dynamics
1588
01:34:41,260 --> 01:34:45,973
of the construction of this narrative
for those of us who made the film.
1589
01:34:46,056 --> 01:34:49,226
Because it's immediate
and because it takes place in ten hours,
1590
01:34:49,309 --> 01:34:52,479
that means you examine
smaller pieces of time
1591
01:34:52,563 --> 01:34:56,191
under a very powerful microscope,
which means that events
1592
01:34:56,275 --> 01:35:00,320
which normally, in a normal film,
might occupy two and a half minutes,
1593
01:35:00,404 --> 01:35:02,197
in this film occupy five minutes,
1594
01:35:02,281 --> 01:35:04,908
because we examine them much more closely.
1595
01:35:05,868 --> 01:35:08,704
And so, consequently, music cues
that would be two or three minutes,
1596
01:35:08,787 --> 01:35:11,206
which are more conventional,
become five- and six-minute cues.
1597
01:35:11,290 --> 01:35:14,710
Or, in this case, a long cue
becomes a hugely long cue.
1598
01:35:28,265 --> 01:35:29,600
Come on!
1599
01:35:44,031 --> 01:35:49,369
The visualization that you're seeing
in some of these shots of Jamie
1600
01:35:49,453 --> 01:35:52,831
on the rooftop are interesting,
because they would not be possible
1601
01:35:52,915 --> 01:35:55,751
with motion-picture film.
Those buildings are not lit.
1602
01:35:57,085 --> 01:36:00,255
There's, I think,
one parking-structure light
1603
01:36:00,339 --> 01:36:02,674
that's on Jamie, and that's about it.
1604
01:36:03,050 --> 01:36:06,011
Come on. Come on. Pick up.
1605
01:36:16,271 --> 01:36:18,774
If I had shot
on 35-millimeter motion-picture film,
1606
01:36:18,857 --> 01:36:22,277
I would have had to use
a lot of very powerful lights,
1607
01:36:22,361 --> 01:36:24,571
and then it wouldn't have had
a realistic look.
1608
01:36:24,655 --> 01:36:26,490
It would have looked like
it was, in fact, lit.
1609
01:36:26,573 --> 01:36:28,116
So it was...
1610
01:36:28,200 --> 01:36:31,453
Cityscapes like this
are one of the key reasons
1611
01:36:31,536 --> 01:36:33,789
I wanted to shoot in high-def video,
1612
01:36:33,872 --> 01:36:38,752
because it revealed
the whole world of the city at night.
1613
01:36:55,560 --> 01:36:56,728
US Attorney's Office.
1614
01:36:56,812 --> 01:36:58,146
-Annie./
-Yes.
1615
01:36:58,230 --> 01:37:00,357
It's Max. Max, the cabdriver.
1616
01:37:00,440 --> 01:37:03,694
That's also apparent in the scene
when Vincent kicks in the door,
1617
01:37:03,777 --> 01:37:08,281
and you're seeing the detail
of the exterior and the depth of field.
1618
01:37:08,365 --> 01:37:10,492
Meaning things in the foreground
are in focus
1619
01:37:10,575 --> 01:37:14,246
and things in the deep background
are also in focus,
1620
01:37:14,329 --> 01:37:16,248
including the distant lights.
1621
01:37:16,331 --> 01:37:17,666
He's coming to kill you!
1622
01:37:17,749 --> 01:37:20,293
He was scoping out the building
when I dropped you off--
1623
01:37:20,377 --> 01:37:24,798
Okay, Max, if this is supposed to be
some type of joke, it's not funny.
1624
01:37:24,881 --> 01:37:27,050
Ifis n01' a joke.
Annie, listen to me, please.
1625
01:37:27,134 --> 01:37:31,304
Felix hired him. Okay?
Or people that Felix worked for.
1626
01:37:31,388 --> 01:37:34,016
Felix Reyes-Torrena.
How do you know about my case?
1627
01:37:34,099 --> 01:37:35,809
I don't understand what's going on.
1628
01:37:35,892 --> 01:37:39,271
All I know is that he's already killed
witnesses. He's coming to kill you.
1629
01:37:40,313 --> 01:37:43,442
When I dropped you off, I don't know how,
but he ended up in my cab.
1630
01:38:04,046 --> 01:38:05,380
Annie.
1631
01:38:06,089 --> 01:38:08,300
Listen. All I want you to do...
1632
01:38:08,383 --> 01:38:11,636
Here's more of the lights
that we're seeing
1633
01:38:11,720 --> 01:38:15,766
only as a courtesy
of high-definition video.
1634
01:38:16,683 --> 01:38:18,977
-I don't understand what's going on.
-Annie, listen.
1635
01:38:19,061 --> 01:38:20,145
-Max.
-Please listen.
1636
01:38:32,657 --> 01:38:36,286
This shot would also have been
impossible in motion-picture film.
1637
01:38:36,369 --> 01:38:39,581
Max would either be not exposed at all,
1638
01:38:39,664 --> 01:38:42,209
and/or he would not be able
to carry the focus.
1639
01:38:42,292 --> 01:38:44,961
Get out of the building. Annie.
1640
01:38:45,045 --> 01:38:49,049
This rooftop that Max is on
was a very, very difficult--
1641
01:38:49,132 --> 01:38:52,385
Probably the most difficult location
for us to get permission
1642
01:38:52,469 --> 01:38:54,679
to shoot on in the city,
1643
01:38:54,763 --> 01:38:58,183
because it's controlled
by the Secret Service.
1644
01:38:58,266 --> 01:39:02,145
And they use it to park vehicles on
from time to time,
1645
01:39:02,229 --> 01:39:05,232
and they don't want anybody
even remotely near the rooftop.
1646
01:39:05,857 --> 01:39:08,985
And it took a lot of convincing
1647
01:39:09,069 --> 01:39:11,738
and us willing to work
under mass restrictions,
1648
01:39:11,822 --> 01:39:16,076
meaning we shot all of Max's work
in about two hours.
1649
01:39:17,869 --> 01:39:20,831
That's the only way we were able
to get permission to be on this rooftop.
1650
01:39:20,914 --> 01:39:23,416
It's the only exposed rooftop
quite like it
1651
01:39:23,500 --> 01:39:26,962
in downtown Los Angeles,
which was why I needed it.
1652
01:39:29,089 --> 01:39:30,298
Max?
1653
01:39:36,638 --> 01:39:38,056
Shit.
1654
01:39:43,979 --> 01:39:46,231
-Max.
-He knows you're up there. Just...
1655
01:39:47,482 --> 01:39:48,692
I can't hear you. Hello?
1656
01:39:48,775 --> 01:39:50,986
Annie. Annie, listen to me.
1657
01:39:51,945 --> 01:39:52,988
Shit.
1658
01:39:55,949 --> 01:39:57,659
Annie. Annie!
1659
01:39:59,744 --> 01:40:00,954
Shit.
1660
01:40:07,836 --> 01:40:11,006
The drums were originally heard
in Mozambique.
1661
01:40:11,089 --> 01:40:13,133
In Maputo, Mozambique on Al/Z
1662
01:40:13,216 --> 01:40:15,886
When I heard them in Maputo,
I recorded them,
1663
01:40:15,969 --> 01:40:21,266
and then we got Ghanaian drummers,
who happened to be in Los Angeles,
1664
01:40:21,349 --> 01:40:25,187
to go into the third level
of my parking garage.
1665
01:40:25,270 --> 01:40:27,147
It's got a lot of echo in it.
1666
01:40:27,230 --> 01:40:32,694
And we repeated the drumming pattern
I had heard in East Africa
1667
01:40:32,777 --> 01:40:34,988
with drummers
who were mostly from West Africa.
1668
01:40:35,071 --> 01:40:36,448
We call them Ghanaian drums.
1669
01:40:36,531 --> 01:40:40,035
In fact, they're Mozambican drums,
if you like.
1670
01:40:40,118 --> 01:40:41,703
And we sampled those.
1671
01:40:41,786 --> 01:40:44,497
We also repeated it
and did them mostly live.
1672
01:40:57,636 --> 01:40:58,845
911. Operator.
1673
01:40:58,929 --> 01:41:01,556
Yes- Listen, there is a man
in my building, and he is--
1674
01:41:06,353 --> 01:41:08,021
Hello?
1675
01:41:26,248 --> 01:41:29,209
This scene,
without being able to use digital video,
1676
01:41:29,292 --> 01:41:32,545
would not even have been able
to have been written, much less shot,
1677
01:41:32,629 --> 01:41:35,048
because you wouldn't even conceive
1678
01:41:35,131 --> 01:41:38,760
of a scene in which characters
are moving around with no lights.
1679
01:41:38,843 --> 01:41:42,055
And, in fact, it's only their silhouettes
against the city lights
1680
01:41:42,138 --> 01:41:45,767
and a little bit of bounce that's coming
from the city lights themselves
1681
01:41:45,850 --> 01:41:47,143
that enables you to see them.
1682
01:41:47,227 --> 01:41:50,105
It just would've been
physically impossible to capture it.
1683
01:41:50,188 --> 01:41:52,148
The cameras are seeing more
than the naked eye.
1684
01:41:52,232 --> 01:41:55,652
When we finished some of these shots
and I said, "Cut,"
1685
01:41:55,735 --> 01:41:58,446
everybody had to stay where they were
until the lights were turned on
1686
01:41:58,530 --> 01:42:00,782
so that people didn't trip and fall
and hurt themselves.
1687
01:42:02,993 --> 01:42:04,452
Max grew up in Ladera Heights,
1688
01:42:04,536 --> 01:42:06,913
which is a very middle-class section
of Los Angeles.
1689
01:42:06,997 --> 01:42:10,500
And he's never been exposed
to street violence, really, in his life,
1690
01:42:10,583 --> 01:42:12,919
except what he might have seen
as a cab driver.
1691
01:42:15,255 --> 01:42:18,466
So he doesn't know
how to shoot an H&K .45.
1692
01:42:50,290 --> 01:42:53,501
In doing some of the research
about what Vincent would've done
1693
01:42:53,585 --> 01:42:55,295
if he walked in a strange building,
1694
01:42:55,378 --> 01:42:57,297
he would have, first of all,
1695
01:42:57,380 --> 01:43:00,467
acclimated himself
to the ambient noise of the building.
1696
01:43:00,550 --> 01:43:03,595
Buildings heat up during the day
when the sun's out.
1697
01:43:03,678 --> 01:43:05,930
At night, they cool off and they contract,
1698
01:43:06,014 --> 01:43:10,935
and thousands of contractions
throughout the entire structure
1699
01:43:11,019 --> 01:43:12,812
give the building noise.
1700
01:43:17,025 --> 01:43:20,362
And if you're quiet in a building
and you listen, you could listen to it.
1701
01:43:20,445 --> 01:43:22,822
And the point is
that what Vincent would've been doing,
1702
01:43:22,906 --> 01:43:26,201
and what he does here,
is that he stops and he listens.
1703
01:43:26,284 --> 01:43:28,745
And he gets the ambient noise
that's supposed to be there.
1704
01:43:28,828 --> 01:43:32,082
Because what he's really listening for,
once he understands what the ambient noise
1705
01:43:32,165 --> 01:43:34,417
that's supposed to be there is,
are the anomalous noises.
1706
01:43:34,501 --> 01:43:38,797
And the anomalous noises
are the sounds of his prey,
1707
01:43:38,880 --> 01:43:40,799
and that's Annie.
1708
01:43:47,138 --> 01:43:51,142
And all he's doing when he's static here
is, in fact, listening.
1709
01:43:51,226 --> 01:43:55,688
And he's just almost kind of like a bat,
and he's listening for the sound.
1710
01:43:55,772 --> 01:44:01,236
What he hears are her stockings...
scraping against the carpet
1711
01:44:01,319 --> 01:44:04,155
and her palms scraping against the carpet,
1712
01:44:04,239 --> 01:44:05,990
and that's how he locates her.
1713
01:44:16,793 --> 01:44:18,586
Let her go.
1714
01:44:18,670 --> 01:44:19,754
Max?
1715
01:44:22,674 --> 01:44:24,008
Why? What are you gonna do about it?
1716
01:44:29,013 --> 01:44:30,390
Come on.
1717
01:44:43,486 --> 01:44:44,571
Max!
1718
01:44:59,711 --> 01:45:02,922
It wasn't planned
that Vincent fall over the chair,
1719
01:45:03,006 --> 01:45:09,387
but, when he did,
it's one of those accidents that I love.
1720
01:45:09,471 --> 01:45:11,973
I love it when something happens
that's unexpected.
1721
01:45:12,056 --> 01:45:14,267
It's kind of an anomaly.
1722
01:45:14,350 --> 01:45:16,227
He said his name is Vincent.
1723
01:45:17,061 --> 01:45:18,188
I sometimes ask myself,
1724
01:45:18,271 --> 01:45:21,900
what are the characteristics
of an event or an activity
1725
01:45:21,983 --> 01:45:24,402
that are gonna make it simulate
something real
1726
01:45:24,486 --> 01:45:26,196
or feel to me as if it's real?
1727
01:45:26,279 --> 01:45:29,491
And it's the things that
don't go exactly according to plan.
1728
01:45:30,617 --> 01:45:32,368
I tend to be attracted to them.
1729
01:45:51,638 --> 01:45:53,181
I was attracted to this location
1730
01:45:53,264 --> 01:45:57,310
among all the different
MTA subway stations in Los Angeles
1731
01:45:57,393 --> 01:46:00,396
particularly because
of the amount of steel.
1732
01:46:01,022 --> 01:46:05,026
I like the sense that they're running
into some place metallic,
1733
01:46:05,109 --> 01:46:07,153
almost like a metallic tube.
1734
01:46:08,613 --> 01:46:13,660
LA's got a pretty beautiful subway
and public-transportation system.
1735
01:46:13,743 --> 01:46:17,747
And when it travels on the surface
and hits some of the train stops,
1736
01:46:17,830 --> 01:46:22,043
many of them are one-off --
they're individually architected.
1737
01:46:28,007 --> 01:46:29,384
Wait, wait. Wait. Wait.
1738
01:46:43,898 --> 01:46:47,902
Vincent is enraged.
He's impossibly formidable.
1739
01:46:49,320 --> 01:46:54,742
Max surprised Vincent
and actually pulled the trigger,
1740
01:46:54,826 --> 01:46:58,538
something that Vincent
thought Max incapable of doing.
1741
01:47:00,873 --> 01:47:04,502
In his clumsy way,
Max has been improvisational,
1742
01:47:04,586 --> 01:47:07,422
which brings it back to a theme
that's actually defined
1743
01:47:07,505 --> 01:47:09,882
in Stuart Beattie's script.
1744
01:47:10,592 --> 01:47:14,429
In the jazz club,
when Vincent talks about improvisation...
1745
01:47:15,638 --> 01:47:17,348
and Max is acquiring...
1746
01:47:18,433 --> 01:47:21,102
certain characteristics
through the agency now,
1747
01:47:21,185 --> 01:47:26,524
not at the advice of Vincent
but via his conflict with him.
1748
01:47:43,249 --> 01:47:44,417
Shit.
1749
01:47:48,254 --> 01:47:52,759
I didn't desire to ameliorate
in any way Vincent's intent.
1750
01:47:52,842 --> 01:47:54,802
Vincent intends to kill Annie.
1751
01:47:54,886 --> 01:47:58,556
And it was something
that I questioned one or two times
1752
01:47:58,640 --> 01:48:00,725
and came to the conclusion
it has to be what happens.
1753
01:48:00,808 --> 01:48:05,271
This is a spectacular MTA station
right above--
1754
01:48:06,064 --> 01:48:08,566
Right amongst a conjunction
of three freeways.
1755
01:48:08,650 --> 01:48:10,777
It's the Harbor station.
1756
01:48:34,884 --> 01:48:36,260
Shit.
1757
01:48:46,896 --> 01:48:49,440
This is not a visual effect.
This is shot practically,
1758
01:48:49,524 --> 01:48:53,653
as are all these other shots
of pulling out of the Harbor station.
1759
01:48:53,736 --> 01:48:56,030
There are some shots
that are gonna be coming up
1760
01:48:56,114 --> 01:48:59,617
in which I chose to shoot green screen,
1761
01:48:59,701 --> 01:49:04,747
meaning that I wanted to be able
to customize the backgrounds
1762
01:49:04,831 --> 01:49:07,083
that were outside the windows.
1763
01:49:08,793 --> 01:49:10,044
Like right here.
1764
01:49:10,128 --> 01:49:13,172
And the reason for it was because
I wanted the graphic pattern
1765
01:49:13,256 --> 01:49:18,177
of particularly those rectangles of light,
which are from parking structures,
1766
01:49:18,261 --> 01:49:20,430
and I wanted them to occur
right at this moment.
1767
01:49:25,601 --> 01:49:29,355
Max has closed his eyes
and simply pulled the trigger,
1768
01:49:29,439 --> 01:49:32,525
expecting to die
after he's forced himself,
1769
01:49:32,608 --> 01:49:35,319
impelled himself to confront Vincent.
1770
01:49:44,495 --> 01:49:48,791
There was a direction here,
the particular attitude
1771
01:49:48,875 --> 01:49:50,793
for Vincent to have as he sat down.
1772
01:49:50,877 --> 01:49:53,171
And the direction was to be irritated,
1773
01:49:53,254 --> 01:49:56,883
as if he was being irritated
at something pedestrian.
1774
01:49:56,966 --> 01:50:01,721
And he's irritated
at the absurd outcome of this gunfight,
1775
01:50:02,472 --> 01:50:04,557
at the whole of this night.
1776
01:50:06,768 --> 01:50:08,227
Particularly about the gunfight.
1777
01:50:08,311 --> 01:50:13,274
If Max hadn't closed his eyes
and just fired chaotically, he'd be dead.
1778
01:50:27,747 --> 01:50:29,248
We're almost...
1779
01:50:30,458 --> 01:50:32,251
at the next stop.
1780
01:50:34,253 --> 01:50:35,588
Hey, Max.
1781
01:50:39,383 --> 01:50:42,720
A guy gets on the MTA here in LA and dies.
1782
01:50:48,434 --> 01:50:50,603
Think anybody will notice?
1783
01:51:20,633 --> 01:51:23,511
Vincent's ironically repeated
the same line,
1784
01:51:23,594 --> 01:51:26,722
an anecdote about,
"A guy gets on the MTA, dies.
1785
01:51:26,806 --> 01:51:28,015
Think anybody will notice?"
1786
01:51:28,099 --> 01:51:30,101
But it's not a rhetorical question.
1787
01:51:31,644 --> 01:51:33,437
Vincent is asking,
1788
01:51:33,521 --> 01:51:37,525
"Will anybody note
that once upon a time I was here?"
1789
01:51:38,234 --> 01:51:40,152
And he's sincere.
1790
01:51:40,236 --> 01:51:46,367
All of Vincent's life, who he's been,
and all of Max's life,
1791
01:51:46,450 --> 01:51:48,911
it's all been collapsed
into this one moment,
1792
01:51:48,995 --> 01:51:52,331
into the events of this one night.
1793
01:51:52,415 --> 01:51:54,000
And the night's over.