Raw L. The Ridley Scott Encyclopedia

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JACOBI, DEREK (1939– )

Began his career at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and

London’s National Theatre. Jacobi made his name in Jack

Pulman’s adaptation of Robert Graves’s novels—I Claudius

(BBC, 1976).

Like MICHAEL GAMBON, Jacobi’s film career has

been largely confined to supporting roles. In GLADIATOR

he plays Gracchus, the senator who is determined to end the

corrupt reign of Commodus (JOAQUIN PHOENIX), even

at the risk of his own life. In a newspaper interview with The

Times published before the film’s opening, he contrasted

work on the screen epic with that of I Claudius: whereas the

BBC production was small-scale in concept, “the size and

scale of this set [on GLADIATOR] is just jaw-dropping . . .

we could be sitting here having gone $20 million over

budget.”

As the British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in

THE GATHERING STORM, Jacobi contrasts both physi-

cally and vocally with Winston Churchill (ALBERT

FINNEY). Baldwin is a slight, almost diminutive figure

with a calm, measured way of speaking; Churchill is a

rotund, splenetic man with a love of rhetoric. The real

Baldwin was a bluff, plain-speaking personality; in the

film, however, he is portrayed as shortsighted, a willing

dupe of those interested in minimizing the threat of

Nazism to Britain’s future stability. Jacobi himself argued

in a preproduction interview that Baldwin was “the one

who wanted negotiations to continue, he was the pacifist

and refused to see that war was coming. I don’t think that

makes him a villain, I think that makes him a bit short-

sighted ...He just backed the wrong horse.” Baldwin’s

point of view is aptly summed up in a short scene taking

place in the bathroom at the House of Commons. While

believing that war is inevitable, he nonetheless tells

Churchill that he is also right: “I have done everything in

my power to preserve peace, and I would do the same all

over again. Bloodshed, sorrow, irreparable loss—that’s

what I’ve been trying to prevent.” Such wrong-headed

strategies only serve to prove the rightness of Churchill’s

cause.

References

The Gathering Storm: Information Pack issued 17 June 2002 (London:

BBC, 2002), www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/06

_june/17/gathering_storm_pack.pdf (accessed 24 December 2008),

19; “The Gathering Storm: Transcript of the Screenplay by Hugh

Whitemore,” www.script-o-rama.com/novie_scripts/g/gatheringstorm

-script-transcript.html, (accessed 23 December 2008); Martyn

Palmer, “Revisiting the Grandeur That Was Rome,” The Times,27

April 2000, 22–23.

JACOBSON, MARK (1948– )

Mark Jacobson achieved fame in the 1970s while writing for

Village Voice, most notably for an account of life in the Chi-

natown Shadows Gang. He later wrote for New York Maga-

zine. His account of an encounter with the former

drug-dealer Frank Lucas, published in 2000, formed the

basis for AMERICAN GANGSTER. Jacobson pictured him

thus at the height of his fame during the 1970s: “Residing in

a swank apartment in Riverdale . . . and running his heroin

business out of a suite at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue,

Lucas owned several cars. He had a Rolls, a Mercedes, a

Stingray, and a 427 four-on-the-floor muscle job he’d once

tipped out at 160 miles per hour.” Had he not been pushing

an illegal, deadly substance new to the United States at that

time, Lucas would surely have been celebrated as one of the

keenest businesspeople of the early 1970s for his family-run

enterprise. Jacobson’s article was republished in a book

American Gangster and Other Tales of New York in 2007.

Reference

Mark Jacobson, American Gangster and Other Tales of New York

(London: Atlantic Books, 2007), 3–4.

Bibliography

“Mark Jacobson Archive: New York Magazine,” http://nymag.com/

nymag/author_393/ (accessed 12 February 2009).

JAFFE, STANLEY R. (1940– )

American producer and director. Credits as producer

include Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Ta p s (1981), and Fatal

Attraction (1987).

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In 1984 he joined SHERRY LANSING to form the inde-

pendent production company Jaffe-Lansing. BLACK RAIN

was one of their earliest films after Fatal Attraction and The

Accused (1988). They considered numerous directors for

the film, and engaged Scott after MICHAEL DOUGLAS

expressed enthusiasm for working with the director.

Although the film eventually made a profit, the experience

of working on it was not an entirely happy one: Jaffe stated

in an interview published in Premiere magazine prior to its

US release that “they [the Japanese] don’t shoot movies

exactly the way we do ...But I’ve got total control here [in

the US] and it’s cheaper.” When asked about the total

budget, Jaffe brusquely responded “None of your business

...It’s an expensive movie,but not overly expensive. We’re

very proud of this picture.”

Scott’s relationship with Jaffe could not have been

severely affected, however, as Jaffe was responsible for com-

mitting 25 percent of the total budget for 1492: CONQUEST

OF PARADISE.

References

Stanley R. Jaffe, interviewed in “Black Rain: The Script, The Cast,”

Special Feature included in the Special Collector’s Edition DVD

release of Black Rain (d. Laurent Bouzereau) (Los Angeles: Para-

mount Pictures, 2006); Kim Masters,“‘Rain’ Man,” Premiere 2, no.9

(May 1989): 22.

JAMES, BRION (1945–1999)

Brion James began his career in the theater, graduating to

small parts in television series such as Gunsmoke and The

Rockford Files.

As Leon in BLADE RUNNER, James evokes consider-

ably sympathy amongst viewers as he stares in horror at the

dead Zhora (JOANNA CASSIDY) who has just been

“retired” (i.e., eliminated) by Deckard (HARRISON FORD).

James told PAUL M. SAMMON that he was muttering

under his breath “He [Deckard] must die, he must die . . .

Even though we were these rogue androids [REPLICANTS]

and knew that the police were hunting us—that’s how Leon

knows Deckard’s a Blade Runner at that point—Zhora’s

death really had me distressed ...once again,you could see

how much feeling these replicants had.”

Reference

Paul M. Sammon, Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, 2nd

ed. (London: Gollancz, 2007), 159.

JAMES, JESSE (1847–1882)

Jesse James was an OUTLAW in the state of Missouri and

the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. After

his death, he became a legendary figure of the American

West. JESSE JAMES ON SCREEN has always been a popu-

lar subject, but often the characterizations are romantic,

overlooking the fact that his robberies enriched only him-

self and his gang. Andrew Dominik’s THE ASSASSINATION

OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD,pro-

duced by Scott, offers a more balanced portrait of James as

a legendary figure who nonetheless leads a very isolated exis-

tence.

Bibliography

“About the Production,” http://party931.com/common/movies/

notes/54706-1-full.html (accessed 12 August 2008).

JAPAN

In BLACK RAIN Scott’s representation of the city of Osaka

resembles that of the futuristic Los Angeles in BLADE RUN-

NER. We are introduced to the city through a panning shot

of the skyline at dawn, the sun glowing like an orb in the

background. Scott cuts to a shot of the teeming streets, a

mass of brightly colored lights, rain-washed sidewalks and

CARS careering along at high speed. No one appears to be

going anywhere specific, but rather moving aimlessly, paus-

ing briefly at one of the ramshackle restaurants to eat a bowl

of noodles.

Later on Scott represents Osaka as a threatening place;

the neon lights still flash on and off, but the streets are eerily

deserted, as if all the citizens had decided to hibernate for

the winter. As Nick Conklin (MICHAEL DOUGLAS) and

Charlie Vincent (ANDY GARCIA) return to their hotel, they

are menaced by a gang of leather-clad bikers (followers of

the yakuza leader Sato [YUSAKU MATSUDA]). No police

officers are around to restrain them; it is as if the streets have

been abandoned to the forces of lawlessness. Superintendent

Ohashi (SHIGERU KOYAMA) insists that the Japanese

police—and their New York guests—should observe the cor-

rect procedure in carrying out their duties. Scott’s vision of

Osaka clearly indicates how they fail to perform even the

most basic task of sustaining law and order.

In an interview with Jonathan Romney, published prior

to the film’s London opening in January 1990, Scott admit-

ted that Black Rain was “a problematic film to make at a time

when American distrust of Japan is running high—what

with the recent bad blood over proposed trade embargoes

and Sony’s recent takeover of the Columbia empire.” This

led to accusations that the film was catering to American

cultural paranoia. The theme was developed in a long arti-

cle by Pat Dowell, who argued that “Nick Conklin’s hysteri-

cally threatening brush with Japan is the nightmare, not of

being bested, but of being transformed: that ‘we’ [the Amer-

icans] will become ‘them.’ It used to happen to women and

children ...but in Black Rain it is a grownup white man

who is vulnerable. Nick Conklin, in every sense of the

phrase, goes to Japan to save face.”

JAPAN

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References

Pat Dowell, “Black Rain: Hollywood Goes Japan Bashing,” Cineaste

17, no.3 (1990): 10; Jonathan Romney, “Made in Japan,” City Lim-

its (London), 25 January 1990, 11.

Bibliography

Suzanne Moore, “Sun Rises in the East,” New Statesman Society,

2 February, 1990, 44; Jacob Raz and Arnold E. Raz,“‘America’ Meets

‘Japan’: A Journey for Real between Two Imaginaries,” Theory, Cul-

ture and Society 13, no.3 (August 1996): 153–78; Kin Yuen Wong,

“On the Edge of Spaces: Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Hong

Kong’s Cityscape,” Science Fiction Studies 27, no.1 (2000): 1–21.

JESSE JAMES ON SCREEN

Jesse James has always been a popular subject for the cin-

ema. The Internet Movie Database lists seventy-one films and

television productions since 1921, from early silent produc-

tions such as Jesse James Under the Black Flag (1921) and

Jesse James as the Outlaw (also 1921), both starring Jesse

James Jr., to THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY

THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (2007) and most recently

Jesse James: The True Story (2007).

Famous performances in the role include Tyrone Power

in the 1939 Twentieth Century-Fox film of the same name;

Roy Rogers in Jesse James at Bay (1941); Audie Murphy in

Kansas Raiders (1950); James Dean in a television film The

Capture of Jesse James (1953); and Robert Wagner in The

True Story of Jesse James (1957), directed by Nicholas Ray.

More recently, James has been played by James Keach in The

Long Riders directed by WALTER HILL (1980); Rob Lowe in

Frank and Jesse (1994); Colin Farrell in American Outlaws

(2001); and BRAD PITT in THE ASSASSINATION OF

JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (2007).

JOFFIN, JON (1963– )

American cinematographer whose credits include The X-

Files (1996–1997) and Masters of Horror (2005–2007). Jof-

fin’s work for the remake of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN

shows traces of The X-Files in its use of washed-out colors

and quick cutting to suggest the atmosphere of paranoia in

America as the country is swept by an apparently incurable

virus—the Andromeda Strain. One reviewer wrote that the

visual style emphasizing paranoia is “justified” in this adap-

tation which includes “kidnappings, blackmailings, assassi-

nations, plots within plots, all carried out by faceless men in

uniform at the direction of shadowy government puppet

masters. In the end, the team itself is not immune to betrayal

from within.”

Reference

Sarah Stegall, “Encoding Humanity,” SF Scope (May 2008), http://

sfscope.com/2008/05/encoding-humanitya-review-of-t.html

(accessed February 14, 2009).

JOHNSON, BRIAN (1940– )

Johnson’s credits as a special effects supervisor include Space

1999 (ATV, 1975–1976) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).

Johnson’s principal work on ALIEN was on the leg-

endary chestbuster sequence, famously filmed without the

actors’ prior knowledge, so that their reactions to what hap-

pened were entirely genuine. To achieve the desired effect,

Johnson and his team employed a series of pumps that

pushed the creature upwards, while others held Kane

(JOHN HURT) under the table. The blood was also pumped

upwards, combined with fresh pieces of offal. Ridley Scott

recalled that this sequence not only showed the alien birth,

but emphasized the extent to which it can possess and

destroy human beings. He also explored this theme in

ADAM ADAMANT LIVES! and would develop it in BLADE

RUNNER and THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN.

Bibliography

Don Shay,“Creating an Alien Ambience,” in Alien: The Special Effects,

ed. Don Shay and Bill Norton (London: Titan Books, 1997), 6–44.

JOHNSON, HUGH (?– )

Johnson served as FRANK TIDY’s camera assistant on THE

DUELLISTS, shot the second unit sequences for 1492: CON-

QUEST OF PARADISE, and was slated to shoot “THE HOT

ZONE,” based on the best-selling book, but the project dis-

integrated before a script could be finalized.

As Scott’s director of photography on WHITE SQUALL,

interviewed prior to the production, Johnson admitted that

he had “basically been brought up in the ‘School of Scotts’

So in a way it’s not very difficult to photograph for Ridley

because I know what he likes, and I like the same things. . .

.” Although initially reluctant to film another sea story after

1492, Johnson eventually agreed on account of the fact that

the film was “not a Ridley Scott showpiece where everything

is visually perfect. The movie is about young boys at sea, it’s

about what happens. The photography isn’t waiting for this

beautiful or magic light; it’s very natural in an acrid way . . .

We wanted to shoot in hard light, in the weather we had, so

you had the feeling of heat and warmth around the film. It’s

quite raw, really, especially during the boat sequences.”

Despite Johnson’s comments, the film nonetheless con-

firms Scott’s ability to create memorable images on the

screen. One of these occurs when the boys visit the Galapa-

gos Islands for the first time, and they are shown as mere

specks on a vast landscape—latter-day colonists discovering

land (and their true selves) for the first time. As Sheldon

(JEFF BRIDGES) observes, they are “claiming their place in

the world.”

Johnson later worked on G.I. JANE, where he and Scott

tried to achieve a color and shooting style that according to

PAUL M. SAMMON would reflect the “severe, very spartan”

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JOFFIN, JON (1963– )

lives of the SEALs. This might have been the intention, but

the film also suggests Scott’s technique in BLACK HAWK

DOWN, especially in the final battle sequence, where the

sense of individual emotional involvement, especially of Jor-

dan (DEMI MOORE), is replaced with an equally powerful

sensation—the experience of combat. By using a handheld

camera together with several zooms, Johnson and Scott draw

the viewer into the action; like Jordan’s group, we are will-

ing to put our lives at risk. Scott himself admitted this was

part of his desire to achieve “something more documentary-

like” in the film.

References

David E. Williams, “Stormy Weather,” American Cinematographer

77, no.2 (February 1996): 36–37; Todd Robinson, White Squall:

Revised First Draft (unpub. script, dated 31 October 1994),

http://sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=white_squall (accessed 8 September

2008); Hugh Johnson, Ridley Scott, quoted in Paul M. Sammon,

“Joining the Club: Ridley Scott on G.I. Jane,” in Ridley Scott Inter-

views, ed. Laurence F. Knapp and Andrea F. Kulas (Jackson, Univer-

sity Press of Mississippi, 2005), 138, 163.

JONES, TREVOR (1949– )

Born in South Africa, Jones made his debut writing scores

for British films such as Time Bandits and EXCALIBUR

(both 1981).

For G.I. JANE Jones’s score includes one moment, when

Jordan (DEMI MOORE) reports for duty; a meaty piece,

militaristic in its overall sound, stirring yet tense and excit-

ing. Another piece for the opening section shows the cam-

era panning upwards over a river (recalling BLACK RAIN)

and to a building where a meeting takes place. In Peter

Holm’s view the music is somewhat dark and foreboding,

the principal part of the work being performed by five

French horns, supported by strings.

The music for the film was likened by music critic John

Mansell to that of HANS ZIMMER, but nonetheless “highly

percussive and rhythmic giving a strong military feeling . . .

Since Jones has not ‘overcooked’ the score with action music

that keeps hitting the listener’s face, the true adrenaline

pumping peaks of the score can become much more notable

and enjoyable.” Scott told PAUL M. SAMMON that there

was about ninety-eight minutes of music in the film includ-

ing Jones’s score plus songs by Chrissie Hynde of The Pre-

tenders, one of which is playing on a radio during the

seminal scene when Jordan shaves her head. Scott observed

that “[he] always thought if O’Neil could sing, her voice

would be the voice of Chrissie Hynde.”

References

Peter Holm, “Trevor Jones: G.I. Jane,” Music from the Movies 23

(Spring 1999): 25; John Mansell, “G.I. Jane: The Sessions,” Legend

23 (Spring 1997): 59–60; Ridley Scott, quoted in Paul M. Sammon,

“Joining the Club: Ridley Scott on G.I. Jane,” In Ridley Scott Inter-

views, ed. Laurence F. Knapp and Andrea F. Kulas (Jackson, Univer-

sity Press of Mississippi, 2005), 164.

Bibliography

Thomas Glorieux, “G.I. Jane: Pompous Music Sounds like Media

Ventures, Go Jones for That,” http://users.telenet.be/soundtrack-fm/

Reviews/Trevor_Jones/gi_jane/gi_jane.htm (accessed 25 October

2008).

JONES, TREVOR (1949– )

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KAMEN, MICHAEL (1948–2003)

One of the leading film composers of the late twentieth cen-

tury, with scores for over seventy movies and television

shows—including the Lethal Weapon (1987–1998) and Die

Hard (1988–1995) series.

Although not his best work, Kamen’s score for SOME-

ONE TO WATCH OVER ME blends music by Antonio

Vivaldi and Leo Delibes’s Lakme into the soundtrack, both

to emphasize Claire Gregory’s (MIMI ROGERS’s) social

status and to draw attention to her loneliness. Richard

Younger remarks that Kamen’s score, coupled with the title

song (played at various points throughout the film)

“relate[s] to the principal characters . . . who are all in need

of protection . . . Aside from their mere entertainment

value, songs have proven to be a powerful element in the

rich art of film noir.”

Reference

Richard Younger, “Song in Contemporary Film Noir,” Films in

Review 45, nos.7/8 (July/August 1994): 48–49.

KANIEVSKA, MAREK (1952– )

British director, mostly known for his television work in

the early 1980s such as Muck and Brass (BBC, 1982). Made

his film debut with the cinema version of Julian Mitchell’s

play Another Country (1984), followed by an adaptation of

Brett Easton Ellis’s Less Than Zero (1987). Kanievksa made

his reputation by directing commercials for Ridley Scott’s

company RSA, for example Pernod, Renault 5, and GUIN-

NESS Extra.

Ridley Scott hired him to direct WHERE THE MONEY

IS. A small, nondescript film set in California but filmed on

location in Canada, it is directed with tact rather than flair,

allowing the three main performers PAUL NEWMAN,

LINDA FIORENTINO, and DERMOT MULRONEY to

shine.

Bibliography

Brian Davis, “Commercial Breaks,” Sunday Telegraph Magazine,17

December 1984, 42–44.

KARYO, TCHÉKY (1953– )

Nominated for a César Award for his starring role in La Bal-

ance (1982), Karyo received the prestigious Jean Gabin Prize

in 1986 in recognition of his talent.

Cast in the role of the shipbuilder Pinzón in 1492:

CONQUEST OF PARADISE, Karyo does not have much to

do other than to look outraged once he discovers that

Columbus has misled the crew. Columbus had no way of

knowing, of course, just how far the Indies were from Spain,

but when asked he fudged an answer, betraying the trust of

his favored crew. Robert Thurston’s novelization of the

screenplay sums up Pinzón’s mood: “Aboard a rowboat,

Pinzón made his way toward the flagship. His lips were

tightly together, his jaw clenched . . . He was plainly primed

for an argument, but Columbus raised his hand and told

him they would confer in his cabin.”

Reference

Robert Thurston, 1492: Conquest of Paradise Based on a Screenplay

by Roselyne Bosch (London: Penguin Books, 1992), 85.

KATSULAS, ANDREAS (1946–2006)

Born Andrew C. Katsulas in St. Louis, Missouri, Andreas

received a Master’s Degree in Theater Arts from Indiana Uni-

versity. During a hiatus from the stage, a part in Michael

Cimino’s The Sicilian (1987) brought Andreas to Los Angeles,

after which he was immediately cast as Joey Venza in Ridley

Scott’s SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME. The role of Venza

is a traditional thuggish role as a villain. Kastulas does not have

to do more other than to appear menacing. Although out-

wardly well dressed in a conservatively cut European pinstripe

suit, Venza likes to assume authority over everyone, particularly

women. He is certainly attracted to Claire (MIMI ROGERS)

but he treats her as a plaything. This contrasts starkly with

the central character Mike (TOM BERENGER), whose sen-

sitivity to women eventually puts his MARRIAGE at risk.

KEACH, STACY (1941– )

Stacy Keach made his name in television before breaking

into films in the early 1970s. His roles included the title role

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in Luther (1973) and Conduct Unbecoming (1975). As the

narrator in THE DUELLISTS, Keach has the responsibility

of delivering Conrad’s original lines. His presence lends a

certain weight to the film, by emphasizing its literary origins.

This technique is also evident in other classical adaptations

of the time such as BARRY LYNDON.

KEATON, MICHAEL (1951– )

Born Michael Douglas in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Early

successes included Beetle Juice (1988), Batman (1989), and

Batman Returns (1992). More recently Keaton has moved

into television films such as Live from Baghdad (TVM, 2002)

and The Last Time (2007).

In THE COMPANY Keaton was faced with the chal-

lenge of portraying a real-life character, James Jesus Angle-

ton (1917–1987) the former Deputy Director of the CIA and

master spy-hunter, who was also the guardian of the MJ

Majestic Twelve (MJ-12) project disclosing classified sub-

jects such as extraterrestrial life forms and their technolo-

gies. He was described by one of his colleagues as “truly a bit

of a lunatic. He fancied himself as a serious poet. He was

half-Mexican (via his mother), very tall and gangly, a racon-

teur who could stay up all night talking. In fact, he fairly well

destroyed the CIA single-handedly because of his paranoia.

He put a security system in place that ensures even today

that CIA people work in a bubble, isolated from the way the

world works.” Robert De Niro’s film THE GOOD SHEP-

HERD (2006) is loosely based on his life, with Matt Damon

in the title role.

Keaton admitted in an interview with TV Zone that por-

traying the character was “massively complex, and the work

was, in some ways, for me, more difficult because it’s the

antithesis of what I normally do.” He gives the character cer-

tain characteristic gestures—for example, emphasizing a

point with a wave of his cigarette. In Keaton’s performance,

Angleton is portrayed as meticulous in his attention to

detail—putting together apparently disparate pieces of evi-

dence to build up a picture of his enemies in a “very delicate

game.” He believes that people need “the patience of a saint

for counterintelligence.” However, Angleton’s persistence is

vindicated, as he eventually uncovers Yevgeny’s (RORY

COCHRANE’s) real identity and correctly identifies the mole

within the CIA as Leo Kritzky (ALESSANDRO NIVOLA).

References

Vincent Graff, “Know Your Enemy,” Radio Times, 24–30 (Novem-

ber 2007): 26–29; “The Company of Wolves,” TV Zone 219 (Sep-

tember 2007): 58.

Bibliography

Timothy S. Cooper, “James Jesus Angleton—Deputy Director of

Counter-Intelligence and Guardian of the CIA’s Greatest Secret” (3

April 2000). www.rense.com/politics6/secret.htm (accessed 3 Feb-

ruary 2009).

KEITEL, HARVEY (1939– )

Born in Brooklyn, Keitel won the male lead in the college film

production Who’s That Knocking at My Door? (1967), directed

by Martin Scorsese. He subsequently appeared in Mean Streets

(1973) and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974).

He was cast as Feraud in THE DUELLISTS after hold-

ing out for two months. According to his “Director’s Com-

mentary,” Scott eventually persuaded him with the promise

of “food, France and cigars.” Keitel had a role which in both

the original story and the film appears slightly one-dimen-

sional. The actor himself admitted this in a 1978 interview.

Nonetheless, Keitel makes the best of his opportunities.

When D’Hubert (KEITH CARRADINE) first brings him

news of his arrest, Feraud is in the salon of Madame de

Lionne (Jenny Runacre). Keitel demonstrates his character’s

common origins and lack of finesse by the way he sits and

scowls among the fashionable people around him—particu-

larly when forced to listen to a countertenor. But this is the

early nineteenth century, when it is possible for people of

humble rank to rise up the social scale without the benefit

of power and/or influence. Hence Feraud takes a pride in

wearing the Légion d’Honneur, a medal awarded for bravery.

For Charles Shiro Tashuro, Keitel’s Feraud represents “the

destructive energies of the [French] Revolution ...He is

both the Terror and the Eighteenth Brumaire, yet with nei-

ther the revolutionary ideals of the former, nor the talents

for rationalized organization of the latter.”

On the other hand, Keitel’s Feraud is intensely ferocious

and implacable—the kind of person who will fight on any

pretext, even when placed under arrest for dueling with a

civilian. Pages of JOSEPH CONRAD’s description are neatly

summed up in a sequence when Feraud, exiled to the

provinces, a splenetic figure in a black greatcoat, stares out

a small dog trotting behind a farmhouse as though he would

compete with it for a place in the road, and cut its head off

if the occasion required. In serving Napoleon and the cause

of war so passionately, Feraud embodies what Conrad

describes as “the fixity of savage purpose” that men alone are

capable of displaying.

According to Susan Knobloch, by the time Keitel made

THELMA & LOUISE, he had acquired the screen persona of

“a working-class tough guy usually on the wrong side of the

law, with much more use for and understanding of the men

in his life than the women—even as questions eat away at

him about how to define, defend, enjoy and withstand his

and others’ masculinity.” However, Scott cast him against

type as Hal Slocombe, a good cop trying to bridge the dif-

ferent discursive spaces between men and women. Screen-

writer CALLIE KHOURI described him thus: “Here was a

KEITEL, HARVEY (1939– )

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guy who was really trying to help them [Thelma and Louise],

really trying to see past their actions into what was motivat-

ing them. He really wanted to save them. I could go on about

this, but the fact is I wasn’t writing a treatise, I was writing

an outlaw movie, so I wasn’t necessarily interested in mak-

ing blanket statements about men or women.”

Slocombe is genuinely concerned about the two

women, who seeks to know what they are thinking (“I swear,

Louise, I almost feel like I know you”). However, this appar-

ently attractive quality also renders him potentially the most

dangerous threat to Thelma and Louise’s freedom. By con-

vincing Louise (SUSAN SARANDON) into believing that

he can help her, he might be able to catch them. On the

other hand, Slocombe’s sympathy alienates him from his FBI

colleagues. When he yells at his senior officer Max (Stephen

Tobolowsky) “How long are these women gonna be fucked

over?” he is portrayed as a hysterical man rather than a com-

petent police officer. In gender terms, he has become too

feminized for an aggressively masculine vocation. Scott here

returns to a theme explored in earlier films such as SOME-

ONE TO WATCH OVER ME and BLACK RAIN about what

makes a good police officer; whether they should concern

themselves with people’s feelings or confine themselves to

the job of arresting (or controlling) them.

Keitel played the lead role of Azro the gypsy in the Rid-

ley Scott-produced comedy MONKEY TROUBLE, directed

by FRANCO AMURRI. The actor confessed to his biogra-

pher Marshall Fine that he made the film for his daughter’s

benefit: “When I told my daughter Stella I’m making a

movie with a monkey, I can’t describe to you the look on her

face. She turned her head to me and broke into a grin and

said, ‘Daaaddy.’ That was worth everything ...It’s for chil-

dren and it discusses an ethic and it’s a beautiful story, a chil-

dren’s fairy tale.” In the pressbook Amurri claimed that

“Harvey has waited years for an opportunity to be in a com-

edy ...From the beginning, it was clear that he enjoyed this

chance to be seen in a different light.” Scott commented:

“Though Harvey hasn’t done a lot of comedy, he has a great

sense of humor which has been under-utilized on film.”

A slight tale of Eva, a young girl (THORA BIRCH) find-

ing a monkey who has run away from Azro, a gypsy (Keitel),

the film makes little demands on the actor’s capabilities.

Using an outrageous Italian-American accent, Keitel creates

a caricature villain’s role, complete with gold teeth and wavy

hair. He meets his just deserts in the film’s final moments, as

he is forced to choose between being beaten up by two heav-

ies working for the local Mafia (who have been badly let

down by his false promises), or facing arrest for kidnapping

Eva. He goes down on his knees in mock prayer, whining

“Please don’t hurt me!” and then kisses the policeman’s feet

in gratitude for saving him from a well-deserved beating.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times criticized both the

actor and the filmmaker for reinforcing “all kinds of nega-

tive stereotypes” about gypsies through this characterization.

Harvey Keitel has never graduated to stardom, but has

always proved a reliable if somewhat daunting character-actor.

In a 2003 interview one journalist described him as someone

who “defies expectations” who, in spite of his reputation for

playing tough guys, “displays a sensitivity and reserve—an

almost old-school politeness—that takes you by surprise.” He

was once married to LORRAINE BRACCO, who played Ellie

Keegan in Scott’s SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME.

References

Stuart Byron,“The Keitel Method,” Film Comment 14, no.1 (January/

February 1978): 39; Allegra Donn, “Harvey Keitel—Renaissance

Man,” The Times, 22 November 2003, 22; Roger Ebert, “Monkey

Trouble,” Chicago Sun-Times, 18 March 1994, http://rogerebert

.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940318/REVIEWS/

403180304/1023 (accessed 26 February 2008); Harvey Keitel,

quoted in Marshall Fine, Harvey Keitel: The Art of Darkness (Lon-

don: HarperCollins, 1997), 227; Callie Khouri, interviewed by

Bernie Cook in Thelma & Louise Live! The Cultural Afterlife of an

American Film (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007), 176–77;

Susan Knobloch, “Interplaying Identities: Acting and the Building

Blocks of Character in Thelma & Louise,” i n Thelma & Louise Live!,

ed. Bernie Cook, 100; Pressbook, Monkey Trouble (London: Enter-

tainment Film Distributors, 1994), 13; Ridley Scott, “Director’s

Commentary,” to the 2003 release of The Duellists by Paramount

DVD in the “Special Collector’s Edition”; Charles Shiro Tashiro,

“The Bourgeois Gentleman and The Hussar,” The Spectator: Uni-

versity of Southern California Journal of Film and Television Criti-

cism 13, no.2 (Spring 1993): 38.

Bibliography

Jack Hunter, ed., Harvey Keitel: Movie Top Ten (London: Creation

Books International, 1999).

KHOURI, CALLIE (1957– )

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Khouri attended Purdue Uni-

versity to study acting and drama, before relocating to Los

Angeles. She subsequently worked at Propaganda Films (a

Los Angeles-based music video production house) working

on rock videos for Alice Cooper and Robert Cray before

turning to screenwriting.

In an interview with David Konow, Khouri recalled that

she hit upon the idea for THELMA & LOUISE one night as

she sat outside her house: “I was pulling up in front of my

house at 3:30 in the morning after an awful rock video

shoot. I was producing music videos at the time. A day on a

music video is twenty-four hours, so I was probably in my

twenty-seventh hour. It kind of came to me . . . From where

I was sitting, in the world I was working in at the time, any-

thing that was centrally or mainly focused on women would

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KHOURI, CALLIE (1957– )

have been out of the question . . . But, honestly, I thought the

idea was so good I didn’t really ask myself too many ques-

tions about why no one else had done it.”

Khouri took the script to producer MIMI POLK, exec-

utive vice-president of PERCY MAIN (Ridley Scott’s feature

film development company), who passed it on to Scott: “At

first he [Scott] didn’t want to direct it himself, he was just

going to produce it ...I was trying to direct it myself . . . At

that time, I figured I could probably direct it for three mil-

lion dollars. I didn’t have any reason not to attempt it ...I

wrote it to be a low-budget film ...So Mimi [Polk] got it,

and she asked if I would let Ridley read it. I was reluctant

only in that I was so embarrassed to let a real director read

anything I had written. But he read it, he liked it, he

responded to it very strongly and we started having meet-

ings . . . We essentially shot the first draft. The only work we

really did was to combine a few scenes. The script was 136

pages and we had to get it down.”

In the Konow interview Khouri proclaimed herself sur-

prised by the reaction to the film, especially in America: “A

lot of people were powerfully affected by it. I think mainly

it had the same effect on women that other outlaw movies

had on men, in that it validates that there’s a side of your

personality that exists outside of the social expectations, and

it acknowledges you as larger than the perimeters by which

you’re expected to live ...I certainly didn’t set out to change

the way that people conducted themselves ...I just tell what

I hope will be a powerful, moving story that will be enter-

taining.” However, she did not consider the film particularly

violent, despite what some reviewers said: “I think if you talk

to pretty much any woman who’s ever driven down a road,

she’s going to tell you that’s just about as common an occur-

rence as you could imagine [for males to shout sexist

remarks from a truck] . . . The thing that blows my mind is

that a lot of people remember Thelma and Louise killing

that character, when they didn’t lay a finger on him. That

kind of surprised me too ...To me,it was fairly tame.”

Khouri won an for her script Oscar in 1992, for Best

Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

Reference

David Konow, “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” (Interview with

Callie Khouri), Creative Screenwriting 8, no.5 (September 2001):

53–58, 67.

Bibliography

Ana Maria Bahiana, “Scripting Thelma & Louise: Callie Khouri,”

Cinema Papers 85 (November 1991): 32–36; Deborah Chiel, Some-

thing to Talk About: A Novel Based on the Screenplay by Callie

Khouri (New York: Signet Books, 1995); Bernie Cook, “Interview

with Callie Khouri, December 19, 2002,” in Thelma & Louise Live!

The Cultural Afterlife of an American Film, ed. Bernie Cook (Austin:

University of Texas Press, 2007), 168–91; Syd Field,“The Phenom-

enon of Thelma & Louise: Callie Khouri,” in Four Screenplays: Stud-

ies in the American Screenplay (New York: Dell Publishing, 1994),

1–77; Lizzie Francke, Script Girls: Women Screenwriters in Holly-

wood (London: BFI Publishing, 1994), 129–32; “Gary & Callie: Cal-

lie Khouri and Gary Ross Converse about Adapting Seabiscuit,

Writing Thelma & Louise, and the Art of Directing Your Own

Script.” Written by 7, no.10 (December 2003): 40–46.

KIM, DANIEL DAE (1968– )

Born in Pusan, South Korea, Daniel Dae Kim has made his

name playing Jin Kwon in Lost (2004–2009).

Cast as Dr. Tsi Chou in THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN,

Kim plays a defector from the People’s Republic of China

who becomes the target of racist insults, most notably from

Major Bill Keane (RICKY SCHRODER). However, director

MIKAEL SALOMON shows that such insults are unjustified:

Dr. Chou is not only committed to solving the problem of

how to prevent the Andromeda Strain spreading but has

turned his back on his Communist past. This is emphasized

through a flashback sequence where he is shown ruing the

moment when, as a young doctor back in China, he helped

to release a deadly virus that killed several innocent citizens.

Such moments emphasize the film’s anti-Communist

stance—also emphasized in the frequent references to North

Korea as a rogue state which might have released the

Andromeda Strain in its campaign against the Americans.

Kim’s role in the film was criticized by the Boston Globe

reviewer, who noted that, although the actor “speaks in flu-

ent English here, the poor guy barely gets to utter a line of

dialogue that isn’t exposition.”

Reference

Joanna Weiss, “Doomsday Plot of ‘Andromeda’ Stands the Test of

Time,” Boston Globe May 26, 2008, http://www.boston.com/ae/

tv/articles/2008/05/26/doomsday_plot_of_andromeda_stan

(accessed February 13, 2009).

KING ARTHUR

US 2004 r/t 126 min col. Production Companies: Touchstone

Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Productions, Green Hills Pro-

ductions and World 2000 Entertainment. Producer:Jerry

Bruckheimer. Director: Antoine Fuqua. Writer: David Fran-

zoni. Director of Photography: Slawomir Idziak. Production

Designer: Dan Weil. Music: Hans Zimmer. Cast: Clive Owen

(Arthur), Ioan Gruffudd (Lancelot), Mads Mikkelsen (Tris-

tan), Keira Knightley (Guinevere), Stephen Dillane (Merlin),

Hugh Dancy (Galahad).

Medieval epic, released two years before TRISTAN +

ISOLDE that covers much the same ground. The visual style

is much the same as that created by Tristan’s designer MARK

GERAGHTY. Many of the creative personnel involved in King

Arthur—DAVID FRANZONI, HANS ZIMMER, SLAWOMIR

KING ARTHUR

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IDZIAK—were involved in Scott’s films. The cast also

includes CLIVE OWEN and Ioan Gruffudd, who were in

THE HIRE and BLACK HAWK DOWN respectively.

Bibliography

Susan Aronstein, Hollywood Knights: Arthurian Cinema and the Pol-

itics of Nostalgia (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2005),

191–215.

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

US/GB/Spain/Germany 2005 r/t 145 min col. Production

Companies: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, Scott

Free, Cahoca Productions, Dritte Babelsburg Film, and Inside

Track 3. Producer/Director: Ridley Scott. Writer: William

Monahan. Director of Photography: John Mathieson. Produc-

tion Designer: Arthur Max. Music: Harry Gregson-Williams.

Cast: Orlando Bloom (Balian), Eva Green (Princess Sibylla),

Jeremy Irons (Tiberias), David Thewlis (Hospitaler), Liam

Neeson (Godfrey of Ibelin), Ghassan Massoud (Saladin),

Brendan Gleeson (Reynald de Chatillon).

The production sprang into life as Ridley Scott’s idea.

He told Twentieth Century-Fox that he wanted to make a

picture involving knights: “These figures have always given

us great opportunities to tell stories that carry the attributes

of a hero. And one of the most important is that the charac-

ter carries with him his own degrees of fairness, faithfulness,

and chivalry. What it’s really about is right action.” From

knights to the Crusades was but a short step: “The Crusades

spanned over two hundred years and gave rise to so many

astounding stories—besides all the cinematic possibilities of

the Holy Land setting and the clash of culture between

Europe and the East. It was the obvious target.”

Scott asked LIZA ELLZEY, president of SCOTT FREE

in Los Angeles, to find a story and a writer; she read a

screenplay called “TRIPOLI” by WILLIAM MONAHAN,

which told of a political/military struggle between two cul-

tures. Scott accepted the idea and sold it to Twentieth Cen-

tury-Fox but the project was shelved due to casting

difficulties. In the book of the film Scott claimed that

“Tripoli” shared certain characteristics with Kingdom of

Heaven: “It was a very interesting script: again a historical

tale and very political—set on the Barbary Coast of North

Africa in 1803, at the time of Thomas Jefferson. It was

romantic but well documented, carefully and beautifully

seen, as only a good historian or great journalist could do.”

Eventually the “Tripoli” script was shelved, and Scott and

Monahan created Kingdom of Heaven; both realized that the

basic material, which had been employed so many times in

other CRUSADER FILMS, would assume a different mean-

ing for audiences in the post-9/11 world.

Scott himself explained in the introduction to the book

of the film that he wanted to make a film about peacemak-

ers, “beginning with the central situation of two leaders try-

ing to serve their own people and their sense of mission,

while exercising a degree of tolerance of the ‘other.’” His

model was David Lean’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA—which

contained “a strong personal story within the big frame.”

Scott wanted Kingdom of Heaven to interpret the Crusades

“from the Muslims’ point of view as well [as the Christians’]

. . . The Crusades were a sometimes glorious, often tragic,

and world-shaping series of events that are still having an

impact on events today. I hope that in opening a cinematic

window on that time, we’re doing a job that good drama is

meant to do; to excite our emotions, stir our souls, and make

us think, all at once.”

Casting was accomplished in several stages. ORLANDO

BLOOM was cast as Balian after an intensive search process.

He had had a small role in BLACK HAWK DOWN as Black-

burn; since then his largest roles to date, in the Lord of the

Rings trilogy (2001, 2002, 2005), Pirates of the Caribbean:

The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and Troy (2004) had not

demanded the kind of multi-layered performance he was

expected to deliver in Kingdom of Heaven.Other actors

agreed to work for Scott on account of the “Ridley factor”—

they admired his work so much that they went to great

lengths to accommodate themselves. JEREMY IRONS and

LIAM NEESON were two such performers. Sibylla was

played by the young French actress EVA GREEN, whose pre-

vious major role had been in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The

Dreamers (aka I sognatori (2003)). Saladin was played by

GHASSAN MASSOUD, a star of the stage and film in Syria.

Filming was completed in Spain and Morocco and

wrapped up in June 2004; but a long road lay ahead; over a

year of postproduction before the picture finally opened in

May 2005. CGI technology was used to create the crowd

scenes—of the Saracens attacking Jerusalem—as well as cre-

ating digital sets. As with many of Scott’s previous films,

Kingdom of Heaven encountered problems with the studio

executives. The director’s initial version ran to 194 minutes,

but Twentieth Century-Fox’s head Tom Rothman ordered

the film to be cut in the belief that audiences would not be

attracted to a three-and-a-half-hour film. Consequently the

film was cut down to 145 minutes.

Even before Kingdom of Heaven was released, it had pro-

voked controversy. During the filming in Morocco, more

than a dozen death threats were issued, forcing King

Mohammed V to offer a thousand soldiers to guard the set

in the Sahara. Moderate politicians in the country accused

the film of being part of an American propaganda campaign

for legitimacy in the crusade against the Arab world—a ref-

erence to President George W. Bush’s spontaneous use of the

word “crusade” when launching his “war on terror” after

9/11. As early as January 2004, Charlotte Edwardes pub-

lished an article in the London Daily Telegraph consisting

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KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

almost entirely of denunciations from academics such as

Jonathan Riley-Smith (Cambridge University) and Jonathan

Philips (University of London). Riley-Smith was quoted as

saying that the plot was “absolute balls . . . It’s Osama Bin

Laden’s view of history. It will fuel the Islamic fundamental-

ists.” Philips believed that by venerating Saladin, Scott was

“following both Saddam Hussein and Hafez Ahmed, the for-

mer Syrian dictator.” In an article published a year later,

Riley-Smith elaborated on his opinions: “Where they [the

filmmakers] could have created fictional characters they have

opted for real historical personalities whom they have dis-

torted ruthlessly. The characters and careers of the hero, her

lover, her husband, the king and Saladin have been reman-

ufactured to suit the needs of the script. Kingdom of Heaven

will feed the preconceptions of the Arab nationalists and

Islamists.”

The film drew similar responses in America: when

Sharon Waxman of the New York Times showed the script to

Islamic and other religious scholars, she received some

extreme reactions. Laila al-Qatami, a spokeswoman for the

Anti-Arab Discrimination Committee in Washington, was

quoted as saying that “there’s a lot of rhetoric ...with

prominent figures talking about Islam being incompatible

with Christianity and American values. This kind of movie

may reinforce that theme in the discourse.” Khaled Abou el-

Fadl, a professor of law at UCLA, was quoted as saying that

“this movie teaches people to hate Muslims ...There is a

stereotype of the Muslim as constantly stupid, retarded,

backward, unable to think in complex forms.”

In another interview el-Fadl protested that the film

depicted Islam as “practically insane, reflecting nothing of the

tolerance, historically, shown by Muslims to Jews and Chris-

tians; the film attributes that characteristic to the Christians

. . . the movie makes no allusion to the fact the Crusaders

butchered Jews and Arab Christians in horrendous numbers.”

Two reviewers tried to counter these early criticisms.

David Poland in Hot Button (12 August 2004) criticized Wax-

man for trying to stir up the kind of controversies that

dogged Martin Scorsese’s film The Passion of the Christ

(1988): “What really disturbs me in this [Waxman’s] story is

seeing the New York Times chasing controversy that has not

been created by political groups . . . it is the news organiza-

tion leading the groups to the controversy in this case.” Two

months later Richard Corliss in Time magazine quoted Scott

as saying that he was unmoved by the controversy: “‘I was

brought up on Ingmar Bergman,’ he says, ‘and in The Seventh

Seal and The Virgin Spring, he brilliantly touched on areas

where you can talk about religion without any discomfort.’”

Scott himself offered contradictory comments in pre-

production interviews. In the Waxman article he was quoted

as saying that “[The film] adopts a Boy Scout ethic. It talks

about using your heart and your head, being ethical. How

can you argue with that? There’s no stomping on the Koran,

none of that.” But in another interview quoted in Arthur

Lindley’s article “Once, Present and Future Kings” Scott said:

“The knight was the cowboy of the era. He carried with him

degrees of fairness, faith and chivalry ...Right action is what

it is really all about.”

Despite the controversy in the press, the film’s release

went ahead as planned in May 2005. As ever with Scott’s

films, the reviews were mixed: Derek Malcolm in the Evening

Standard described the film as “a rather upmarket epic, try-

ing to see both sides of the argument, while giving us as

much blood and thunder as possible on the way. The result

is undoubtedly better than Troy or Alexander ...[but] Glad-

iator this is not.” Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian felt that

“everything about it [the film] looks glib and naïve, and

Muslim audiences might well have mixed feelings about this

fictional good guy crusader, congratulating himself on doing

the right thing at all times.” By contrast John Millar in Film

Review felt that “The old master [Scott] hasn’t disappointed

with this sprawling, compelling and complex epic of the

Crusades in which you can taste the dust of battle and the

dust of death.” The Sight and Sound reviewer sensibly

remarked that “few should seriously be offended by a film

whose simple message is ‘We are the World,’ though funda-

mentalists of all stripes will no doubt open their shirts and

close their eyes for the blow.” The review also sensed that

“this would-be epic feels, at more than two hours, like a

romp reduced from a naturally more thoughtful work.” This

perhaps helps to explain why Scott rereleased a longer ver-

sion of the film a year later as KINGDOM OF HEAVEN:

THE DIRECTOR’S CUT.

Kingdom of Heaven cost $130 million to make; by

August 2005 it had only made just over $47 million at the

American box office. However the worldwide receipts of

$152 million by June 2005 helped to bring the film into

profit. Robert Fisk’s article “Why Ridley Scott’s Story of the

Crusades Struck Such a Chord in a Lebanese Cinema”

explains why.

Kingdom of Heaven suggests that the best way to avoid

armed conflict is through tolerance. Godfrey de Ibelin (Liam

Neeson) tells Balian (Orlando Bloom) that he should

embark on a crusade to establish “a kingdom of conscience

[in Jerusalem], a kingdom of heaven [in which] there is

peace between Christian and Muslim.” In a stirring prebat-

tle speech, Balian asks the Christians to decide “which is

more holy. The [city] wall? The mosque? The sepulcher?

Who has claim? No one has claim! All have claim!” Early on

in the film Balian defeats Imad, Saladin’s right-hand man

(ALEXANDER SIDDIG), but lets him go in the belief that

to kill him in cold blood would be a dishonorable thing to

do. Imad returns the favor later on when Balian is defeated

outside the walls of Jerusalem. In the film’s climax, Balian

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

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