Smokin' Aces - Joe Carnahan interview
Compiled by Jack Foley
JOE Carnahan talks about directing Smokin’ Aces and asking his actors to perform roles that they weren’t usually associated with.
Q: When did you first come up with the idea for Smokin’ Aces?
A. I wrote the first seeds of it in 1993. I was still in college and was fascinated by Frank Sinatra. There were all these rumors about Sinatra and ties to the Mob, so I started thinking: “What if Sinatra had decided one day to use his power as an entertainer to become a mob boss?” That was how I constructed Jeremy Piven’s character, Buddy Israel, who was one of those hybrid Vegas-style magician-comedians.
Q: Is it true that you only gave the first 30 pages of the Smokin’ Aces to the producers at Working Title as a bit of a tease?
A. Absolutely. It was 2002 straight after the Sundance Film Festival where I had Narc and I was considered a bit of a hot property, or whatever. For most of my career I had been cash-strapped. So, that’s what I did. Working Title purchased the first 30 pages right after Sundance and then they patiently waited for the rest.
Q: To write a great script is one thing, but to then recruit such a star-studded cast must have been a dream come true…
A. It really was. The great thing was the cast was attracted by the script. The script spoke to people enough that they agreed to come on and do so for almost no money. Nobody got paid. This is a $25 million movie and almost all of it is on the screen. If you had to pay each actor their usual rates, forget about it. You couldn’t do it. It was their willingness to go for the ride. It wasn’t a massive time commitment for them. We shot it over 40 days.
Q: So, when you were pursuing actors to be in Smokin’ Aces, what was your pitch?
A. I said: “Why don’t you play a role that is totally opposite to what you normally do as an actor?” Jeremy Piven and Ryan Reynolds are usually very funny, so I said I’d deprive them of that. Alicia is this angelic woman, and I said: “You’re not going to be like that in this.” They got it.
Q: Some people might say you took a risk with that approach…
A. My philosophy is that I’d rather die falling and reaching, than go right down the middle and hand cotton candy to everyone.
Q: Visually, Smokin’ Aces was interesting to watch. How did you come up with the visual look?
A. I tried to shoot each character in a way that was most befitting them. The Tremor Bros had seen The Matrix 50 times and watched Sergio Leone movies their whole lives, so I shot them in big wide angles, slow motion and people burning. It was big and operatic.
Then with Ryan Reynolds, in the scene where he’s trying to revive his partner, it’s very still. Every character has a moment in the movie when they show a side to them that’s human. Nobody is this sarcastic, apathetic asshole who kills just for the sake of killing.
Q: You said Frank Sinatra influenced you in writing Smokin’ Aces and you also mentioned The Matrix and Sergio Leone. What else inspired you?
A. Music is such a huge part of my life. It’s a focal point. When I watch Smokin’ Aces, when I see Alicia, I see my love of old R&B. When I see Common it reflects my love of hip hop. I see my love of punk rock in the Tremor Bros and I see my love of Bruce Springsteen in the FBI agents.
The most direct ancestor of Smokin’ Aces is the Coen Bros film, Raising Arizona. If you look at the structure of that film, the baby in that movie is Jeremy Piven’s character in mine.
Q: What do you think Jeremy Piven brings to the film?
A. People ask me what my favourite scene is and they expect it to be one of the gun battle scenes, but for me it’s when Piven is looking at himself in the mirror and loses a contact lens. He has a complete crisis of identity. Jeremy’s ability to have so many gears is amazing. He goes from over the top, mania, to introspective and dour. It was great to cut him off from his considerable gifts as a comedic actor.
Q: How did Ryan Reynolds handle playing opposite two greats like Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia? He really seemed to hold his own…
A. He did so in the most amazing way. Again, it’s like taking the actor out of his comfort zone. I have always thought the funniest guys are also some of the best dramatic actors. Look at Jim Carrey. I think comedy comes from a source of pain. Ryan went for it. He didn’t have any fear. He was going up against Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia so he had to bring his ‘A’ game and he did.