Raw L. The Ridley Scott Encyclopedia

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years in movies, you know who is honest or not ...I know

the king. I always have great support from him. I have guar-

antees from him about safety.”

References

“A Lust for Life,” Screen International 1503 (3–9 June 2005), 8;“Pro-

duction Notes: Black Hawk Down,” repr. in Ken Nolan, Black Hawk

Down: The Shooting Script (New York: Newmarket Press, 2002),

159–60.

LUV ICE CREAM: LYONS MAID

GB 1969 Commercial r/t 30 sec b/w. Production Company:

RSA Films. Director: Ridley Scott. Cast: David Bowie.

Black-and-white commercial shot at 7 Eccleston Square

in London on 22 January 1969. The product was launched

in England on 12 May 1969; it was an ice-cream bar covered

mostly in chocolate and hundreds-and-thousands (“sprin-

kles”) and costing 9d (4.5p). DAVID BOWIE appeared in the

commercial with the band Mint. The soundtrack contained

the following music and spoken dialogue:

Luv, Luv, Luv

Let me give it all to you

Let me know that someday you’ll do the same for me

Luv, Luv, Luv

Now from Lyons Maid. Everybody needs it [spoken]

Luv, Luv, Luv

The pop ice cream. Nine pence [spoken]

Bibliography

“David Bowie in The Image 1967 short film/ Luv Ice Cream Spot

with Ridley Scott and Alan Hawkshaw,” http://pan2fla.blogspot

.com/2005/11/david-bowie-in-image-1967-short.html (accessed

17 February 2009).

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LUV ICE CREAM: LYONS MAID

MACLAINE, SHIRLEY (1934– )

Born Shirley MacLaine Beatty in Richmond, Virginia, the sis-

ter of Warren Beatty. MacLaine’s long career began with The

Trouble with Harry (1954) and has included an Oscar-winning

performance in Terms of Endearment (1983). MacLaine was

unexpectedly cast in the Ridley Scott-produced film IN HER

SHOES. Apparently director CURTIS HANSON was reluc-

tant to do so, at least in the beginning: “The thought of

Shirley occurred early on, but I dismissed it, cos she is such

a powerful, big, big, presence ...I could see that she felt chal-

lenged. She is someone who responds to a challenge. She has

that defiance. And look at the movie—she’s brilliant.” As Ella,

MacLaine gives a low-key performance most notable for its

gestures which might seem insignificant but convey a wealth

of emotion. When she first speaks to Maggie (CAMERON

DIAZ) on the telephone, she listens to the opening phrase:

“Did you have a daughter called Caroline?” After a pause last-

ing a second or two she responds hurriedly “Yes,” in a vain

attempt to cover up her guilty feelings. Her next lines (“Well,

we’ve been having wonderful weather. I’m glad you called”)

represent an attempt to recover the situation. On another

occasion Lewis Feldman (Jerry Adler) pecks her on the cheek

as he leaves her house; surprised and shocked by the gesture,

all Ella can do is to laugh nervously and reply “Yeah.” Since

her husband’s death, no one has ever paid any attention to

her, and this comes as a complete surprise. MacLaine

described the film as “the story of a family that overcomes

real dramatic disaster ...That’s why I did this movie and why

Curtis wanted to move in and see what happens.”

References

Susannah Grant,“In Her Shoes Script” (transcribed from the DVD

version of the film), www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/i/in-

her-shoes-script-transcript.html (accessed 17 January 2009);

Shirley MacLaine interview by Ray Dademo, www.thecinema-

source.com/celebrity/interviews/Shirley-MacLaine-chick-flick-My-

Ass-interview-195-0.html, (accessed 8 August 2008); Ben Marshall,

“If the Shoe Fits, Film It,” Guardian Guide, 19 November 2005,

8–10.

Bibliography

Ginny Dougory, “One Touch Kooky,” Times Magazine,5 Novem-

ber 2005, 22–29.

MacNICOL, PETER (1954– )

Born in Dallas, MacNicol’s films include Dragonslayer

(1981), Sophie’s Choice (1982), and Addams Family Values

(1993). Television includes Chicago Hope (1994–1998), Ally

McBeal (1997–2002), and 24 (2007–2008).

Cast as Dr. Larry Fleinhardt in NUMB3RS,MacNicol

portrays a brilliant academic who cannot sustain an effective

personal life. Although attracted to Agent Megan Reeves

(DIANE FARR), his relationship with her ends up going

nowhere. Fleinhardt cannot even find a proper place to live:

sometimes he finds improvised sleeping quarters at Caltech;

other times, he moves in with the Eppes family. In Series 3 he

is shown spending some time in a monastery, ostensibly in

the hope of discovering life’s purpose, but in reality as a way

of retreating from a life he finds particularly unsatisfying.

Fleinhardt’s one redeeming feature is his academic ability,

which renders him a perfect foil for Charlie Eppes (DAVID

KRUMHOLTZ) in solving his various criminal cases.

MacNicol described his role thus in a 2005 interview:

“This character is very mysterious ...He’s a little bit Yoda,

a little bit (physicist) Richard Feynman, a little bit Dr. Wat-

son. It was probably the third in a series of people (I’ve por-

trayed) who I would call a wise fool.”

Reference

M. McDaniel, “Will New Show Sustain Viewers after Premiere?”

Houston Chronicle, January 20, 2005, www.petermacnicolonline

.com/numb3rs1.html (accessed February 22, 2009).

MADSEN, MICHAEL (1958– )

Born in Chicago, Madsen learned his craft at the Steppen-

wolf Theatre, where he worked with JOHN MALKOVICH,

one of the company’s founders. He had just played an asso-

ciate of the rock band chronicled in The Doors (1991) when

THELMA & LOUISE gave him the chance to play Jimmy, a

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brooding musician who apparently cares for his girlfriend

Louise (SUSAN SARANDON).

However, this proves nothing more than an illusion.

When Louise calls Jimmy to ask if he loves her, the pause at

the end of the line is palpable. On his end, he takes the ciga-

rette out of his mouth and, after what seems an age, replies

“Yeah.” This is the moment when Louise finally realizes that

she has to live life on her own: Jimmy might offer roses, fur-

ther protestations of love, and even an engagement ring, but

he has no further place in her life. He makes every effort to

speak the way Louise might like him to, but she just wonders

whether he has taken “a pill that makes you say all the right

stuff.” Try as he might, he can never understand her language

or her way of thinking.

In CALLIE KHOURI’s original script, Jimmy comes

across as a more sympathetic character who professes his

love for Louise and persuades her to act out a fake MAR-

RIAGE ceremony in which they vow “to have and to hold for

the rest of the night, through richness and poorness and

breakfast at the coffee shop until your plane leaves or it gets

light, whichever comes first.” Such scenes give a sense of

hope for Louise to continue her relationship.

References

Callie Khouri, quoted in Marita Sturken, Thelma and Louise (Lon-

don: BFI Publishing, 2000), 46.

MALICK, TERRENCE (1943– )

A maverick director of classic westerns and ROAD MOVIES,

whose work includes Badlands (1973), Days of Heaven

(1978), The Thin Red Line (1998), and A New World (2005).

Malick is chiefly known for his concentration on landscape

and atmosphere, often at the expense of the plot. His work

was frequently invoked by reviewers of THE ASSASSINA-

TION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD,

whose 160-minute running time allows for plenty of con-

centration on atmosphere and location by cinematographer

ROGER DEAKINS. Deakins acknowledged in an interview

with Stephen Pizzello and Jean Oppenheimer that director

ANDREW DOMINIK had been inspired by Malick’s Days

of Heaven.

Reference

Stephen Pizzello and Jean Oppenheimer, “Western Destinies,”

American Cinematographer, vol. 88, no.10 (October 2007): 37.

MALKOVICH, JOHN (1953– )

Born in Christopher, Illinois, Malkovich joined Chicago’s

Steppenwolf Theatre in 1976, making his New York debut

seven years later in SAM SHEPARD’s True West.

Cast as Herman Mankowitz in RKO 281, Malkovich

makes the best of his opportunities to play a “wonderful

wreck of a human being, forty-three years old, but looking

considerably older, he is short and squat and bitter. A com-

pulsive gambler and drinker, Mank still glimmers with wry

humor but is equally wicked and corrosive.” Despite his short-

comings, Mankiewicz is still a talented person, who resents

the offhand treatment he receives from Welles (LIEV

SCHREIBER). His most effective scene occurs early on film,

when he learns that Welles has removed his name from the

Citizen Kane script. As he sees Welles pulling into the drive

and climbing out of his car, Mankiewicz takes a final swig of

scotch and flings the typewritten copy of the script in the

younger man’s face, calling him as “selfish fuck” as he does so.

Although Welles responds in kind by telling Mankiewicz that

he took “350 pages of drunken rambling and ...made a movie

out of them,” the screenwriter stands firm. Welles turns round

and slams the door; Mankiewicz leans against it and murmurs,

“I hope you choke on it. I hope it kills you.” In this short

sequence Malkovich captures the essence of the character—a

talented artist who in spite of possessing more creative talent

is nonetheless doomed to play second fiddle to Welles.

Reference

John Logan, “Draft Script for RKO 281” (dated 1 May 1997),

http://sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=rko218 (accessed 16 November 2008).

MAMET, DAVID (1947– )

Mamet’s film career began with the screenplay for the

remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). He made

his directorial debut with House of Games (1987), which he

also wrote.

Mamet was initially hired to write the script of HAN-

NIBAL, replacing TED TALLY (scriptwriter of THE SILENCE

OF THE LAMBS), who had declined to adapt the sequel.

However, his version of the script was deemed unsatisfac-

tory by Scott, who felt it lacked any real narrative drive and

failed to develop the crucial relationship between Hannibal

Lecter and Clarice Starling, instead devoting too much time

to supporting characters Mason Verger and Rinaldo Pazzi.

According to David Orr, Mamet’s version was “uninspired

[and] shoddy,” his “terse-staccato dialogue” proving grating

rather than gripping. Mamet’s script was significantly rewrit-

ten by STEVEN ZAILLIAN.

Reference

David Orr, “Script-review: Hannibal,” Creative Screenwriting 8, no.2

(March/April 2001): 31.

MANSON, MARILYN (1969– )

Born Brian Hugh Warner in Canton, Ohio. Lead singer of

his eponymous heavy-metal band; his stage name is formed

from the names of Marilyn Monroe and the mass murderer

Charles Manson.

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MALICK, TERRENCE (1943– )

Manson made his film debut in 1997 in David Lynch’s

Lost Highway, and took a guest role in THE HIRE: “BEAT

THE DEVIL” as a neighbor of The Devil (GARY OLDMAN)

who appears at his door, irritably asking The Devil to turn

his music down.

MARGOLIS, MARK (1939– )

Born in Philadelphia, Margolis attended Temple University,

before making his debut in television series like Kojak (1977)

and an uncredited role in Dressed to Kill (1980).

Cast as Francisco de Bobadilla in 1492: CONQUEST OF

PARADISE, Margolis’s role is largely symbolic. His face

remains motionless; but his stately bearing and haughty

manner are typical of Spanish nobles. It is clear that he will

eventually take over from Columbus (GÉRARD DEPAR-

DIEU) as governor of the Indies; he is just the kind of arch-

imperialist whom the Spanish require to maintain authority

over the Indians. However, it is clear that he is Columbus’s

intellectual inferior. Robert Thurston’s novelization of the

screenplay makes this clear: “How could he [Columbus] for-

get such a face, renowned not only for its ugliness but for its

habitual expression of meanness and stupidity?”

Reference

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

by Roselyne Bosch (London: Penguin Books, 1992), 177.

MARRIAGE

Several of Scott’s films focus on the issue of marriage. In

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME the marriage between

Mike Keegan (TOM BERENGER) and his wife Ellie (LOR-

RAINE BRACCO) is put under almost intolerable strain by

Mike’s commitment to the job of protecting Claire Gregory

(MIMI ROGERS). Nick Conklin (MICHAEL DOUGLAS)

has experienced much the same thing in BLACK RAIN, his

dedication to duty having led to the breakup of his marriage

and restricted access to his children. Scott suggests that mar-

riage causes untold suffering—especially if the partners are

unsuited to one another. In the Scott-produced IN HER

SHOES, Michael Feller (Ken Howard) contracts two unsuit-

able marriages: his first, to Caroline, ends in tragedy when

Caroline commits suicide (after Michael has threatened to

hospitalize her in the belief that she is unsuitable to look after

her daughters); in his second marriage he plays second fid-

dle to Sydelle (Candice Azzara), who dotes on her daughter

Marcia (Jackie Geary) and consciously neglects her step-

daughters. In THELMA & LOUISE, Darryl (CHRISTOPHER

McDONALD) treats his wife Thelma (GEENA DAVIS) like

a child, by expecting her to cook, clean, and wait for him to

return home when he chooses. It therefore comes as no sur-

prise to find Thelma willingly accepting Louise’s (SUSAN

SARANDON’s) offer to escape from the Arkansas life that

restricts them. The only true “marriage” comes at the end of

the film, when the two women drive off the cliff into a world

unfettered by patriarchal relations. Regarding whether their

union is based on sexuality or friendship, Scott leaves view-

ers to make their own decisions. The same pessimistic view

of male/female relationships within marriage also surfaces

in WHERE THE MONEY IS, where Wayne MacKay (DER-

MOT MULRONEY) continually expects his wife Carol

(LINDA FIORENTINO) to return to “normal”—in other

words, accept a subordinate role within the marriage part-

nership. The fact that she refuses this makes him all the more

concerned to reinforce the patriarchal order.

In THE HUNGER marriage is treated as a symbolic

prison, inhibiting the (male) central characters’ freedom of

action. In the first-series episode “But at My Back I Always

Hear” (Series 1, Episode 5), a respectably married university

professor (Michael Gross) forms part of a student’s (Karen

Elkin’s) sexual fantasy. Although determined to remain loyal

to his wife and young child, it is clear that he is attracted to

her. Eventually he is driven insane, as he tries and fails to

escape the memory of the student (who commits suicide as a

result of a broken heart). In “Room 17” (Series 1, Episode 8)

a sales representative (Curtis Armstrong) escapes his nagging

wife and enjoys the pleasure of an ideal woman who emerges

from the television set in his motel room. However he comes

to grief, the woman eventually stealing a necklace from him

and disappearing into the television, never to return. “The

Other Woman” (Series 1, Episode 10) ends with a jealous wife

catching her husband and his lover in flagrante delicto and

shooting them both dead. “Bridal Suite” (Series 1, Episode

12) begins with a happily married couple spending their

wedding night in a lonely inn, but ends with the young man

(Colin Ferguson) being transformed into ectoplasm—a pun-

ishment for his serial unfaithfulness. “The Sloan Men” (Series

1, Episode 13) are sex-obsessed; they regard marriage simply

as a convenience, and literally and physically entrap any

woman they encounter. The same applies to the protagonist

in “Anais” (Series 1, Episode 16) (Nick Mancuso) who fanta-

sizes about a young woman while working in Montréal.

However, he meets a sticky end at the hands of her boyfriend

and two of his acquaintances.

By contrast, in THE GATHERING STORM the mar-

riage between Winston Churchill (ALBERT FINNEY) and

Clemmie (VANESSA REDGRAVE) provides the foundation

for Churchill’s success as a politician. Clemmie tells him that

“all these years I’ve put up with the miseries of political life,

because I believe in you, and somehow I survived.” Churchill

is well aware of this, especially when Clemmie goes away on

holiday and he is forced to fend for himself. In one of his let-

ters to her (delivered in voice-over) he wishes that she had

been around to deal with domestic problems involving his

daughter Diana (Nancy Carroll): “I dealt with the situation

MARRIAGE

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very clumsily, I’m afraid. I wished profoundly that you’d been

there to offer comfort and advice.” Once she returns, Churchill

is so overjoyed that he runs straight through the fish-pond at

Chartwell in order to welcome her, exclaiming “Out of my

way!” to his butler Inches (RONNIE BARKER) as he does so.

In AMERICAN FIGHTER PILOT the three recruits—Mike

Love, Marcus Gregory, and Todd Giggy—all believe in the

institution of marriage as the foundation of a stable society,

with gender roles clearly defined. Husbands are the breadwin-

ners, while wives stay at home and provide a source of sup-

port both for their spouses and children. The same ideology

underpins the ending of MATCHSTICK MEN: Roy Waller

(NICOLAS CAGE) at last discovers stability in his life as he

marries the supermarket check-out girl Kathy (Sheila Kelley)

and has a child of his own. Kathy stays at home while he takes

a job as a carpet salesperson. NICK AND TED GRIFFIN’s

script shows how happy the two of them are: “She rubs his

head: nice job, then kisses him, and he kisses back—and when

they break, she whispers sweetly in his ear, and he smiles even

more. He looks down to lay his palm gently on her belly.”

Sometimes marriages survive even the biggest challenges: Zee

James (MARY-LOUISE PARKER) still loves her husband Jesse

(BRAD PITT), despite the fact that he leads the life of an

OUTLAW in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY

THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. When Jessie dies, she is the

first to run to his side and cradle his head in her arms.

References

“The Gathering Storm: Transcript of the Screenplay by Hugh

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

storm-script-transcript.html (accessed 23 December 2008); Nick

and Ted Griffin, “Matchstick Men: Shooting Draft” (14 October

2002), www.imsdb.com/scripts/Matchstick-Men.html (accessed 4

January 2009).

MARRIAGE LINES

GB 1963–1966 TV series 44 ⫻ 30 min episodes b/w. Produc-

tion Company: British Broadcasting Corporation. Producer:

Graeme Muir. Directors: Ridley Scott (amongst others).

Writer: Richard Waring. Music: Dennis Wilson. Cast: Richard

Briers (George Starling), Prunella Scales (Kate Starling).

A successful sitcom running for five series during the

1960s. Ridley Scott was responsible for directing one episode

(Series 1, Episode 6,“The Old Flame”) broadcast on 20 Sep-

tember 1963. The other members of the cast included Katy

Wild, Sally Bazely, and Richard Carpenter. This episode con-

cerned George being invited to a party with his wife, at

which an ex-girlfriend of his was also present.

MASCULINITY

Several of Scott’s films celebrate masculinity—for example

in the sequence at the end of WHITE SQUALL when Gieg

(SCOTT WOLF) observes that “[We] shared his [Captain

Sheldon’s] burden, the burden of sea-captains and fathers,

the burden of men.” Masculinity is posited as an ideal in the

reality series AMERICAN FIGHTER PILOT, where the chief

instructor Robert “Shark” Garland suggests that “faith in

God, your love of your family and then your country, an

opportunity to defend your country, one nation under God,

is the highest calling that a man can have.” In TRISTAN +

ISOLDE masculinity helps the British kingdom to survive,

with Tristan (JAMES FRANCO) acting both literally and fig-

uratively as King Marke’s (RUFUS SEWELL’s) right hand to

ensure political stability.

In G.I. JANE Chief Urgayle (VIGGO MORTENSEN)

beats up Jordan O’Neil (DEMI MOORE) in the belief that

she will never be able to penetrate the masculine world.

DAVID TWOHY’s script has him saying scornfully to those

watching him, “Who’s gonna be chivalrous and stop this

abuse? What, you want to see her get mauled?” He subse-

quently turns on O’Neil; as she is a woman she is inevitably

“an inferior soldier [as compared to the men], a bad officer,

and I don’t want you learning that inconvenient truth when

you’re stuck in a muddy bomb crater behind enemy lines

and don’t know how the fuck to get out. You get out now,

O’Neil. Seek life elsewhere. And if you can’t do it in front of

us, do it behind my back.” In GLADIATOR Maximus (RUS-

SELL CROWE) becomes an ideal ego for male spectators by

actively controlling the progression of the plot. He encour-

ages us to identify with him, both through the situations in

which he is involved and the way he effortlessly overcomes

them. The critic Andrew Lindemann Malone observes that:

“Ridley Scott ...realized that, if you are going to name your

gladiator Maximus and have him defeat four tigers and a

man who outweighs him by about a hundred pounds as one

of his lesser exploits, you need a real man to play the gladia-

tor. [Russell] Crowe . . . is that man. He covers all the nor-

mal testosterone bases: he’s pumped, handsome, takes no

prisoners, and really knows how to stare people down . . .

But he also has that indefinable presence, that essence of

effortless masculinity, which lets everyone in the film and in

the audience know that there is just no way anyone is going

to stop him from doing whatever he wants to do.” The film

also extols the virtues of male bonding involving Maximus

and Juba (DJIMON HOUNSOU).

Some characters are faced with a stark choice—for

example, the spy Yevgeny (RORY COCHRANE) in THE

COMPANY, who is told in no uncertain terms to commit

himself to his chosen career and give up his Jewish girlfriend

Azalia (Erika Marozsán). He has to “be a soldier and a man.”

According to his Soviet paymasters, the question is a simple

one; if he opts for family life, he will be considered

“unmanly.” Huey (CHIWETEL EJIOFOR) faces a similar

choice in AMERICAN GANGSTER; if he continues to wear

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ostentatious clothes, then his brother Frank will think of

him as a girl rather than a man.

BLACK HAWK DOWN posits a more sympathetic

model of masculinity, combining strength with compassion.

Although the soldiers remain committed to their objective

of capturing General Aidid, they are also concerned for one

another’s welfare. Several sequences show them tending the

wounded, or consoling the dying—even when they know

that there is no longer any hope. Eversmann (JOSH HART-

NETT) tells Smith (Charlie Hofheimer) that the convoy is

coming to rescue them; all Smith has to do is to “hold out

just for a little bit.” Later on the dying Ruiz (Enrique Mur-

ciano) asks Steele (JASON ISAACS) whether the Americans

are “going after” the Somalis, and if so, he wants to be

included. Steele responds by putting his hand on Ruiz’s face

and saying in a soft voice: “Now you get some rest now.” The

same also applies to KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, where Scott

exploits ORLANDO BLOOM’s star persona to suggest that

the true hero is someone combining intelligence with a con-

cern for others. He might be a good fighter, but he is only

doing so “for the people, their safety and freedom.” Imad

(ALEXANDER SIDDIG) recognizes Balian’s achievements:

“If God does not love you, how could you have done all the

things that you have done?” This aspect of the film has been

analyzed in detail by Ian Huffer.

References

Ian Huffer, “‘New Man,’ Old Worlds: Re-articulating Masculinity

in the Star Persona of Orlando Bloom,” Scope: An Online Journal of

Film and TV Studies 9 (October 2007): www.scope.nottingham.ac

.uk/article.php?issue=9&id=956 (accessed 15 January 2009);

Andrew Lindemann Malone, “Gladiator,” Internet Playpen, www

.spam-o-matic.org/movies/action/gladiator.html (accessed 5 Decem-

ber 2008); Ken Nolan, Black Hawk Down: The Shooting Script (New

York: Newmarket Press, 2002); David Twohy, “G.I. Jane: First Draft”

(6 August 1995), http://sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=gi_jane (accessed 21

October 2008)

Bibliography

Martin Fradley, “Maximus Melodramaticus: Masculinity,

Masochism and White Male Paranoia in Contemporary Hollywood

Cinema,” in Action and Adventure Cinema, ed. Yvonne Tasker (Lon-

don and New York: Routledge, 2004), 235–51; Joanne Jones,“It’s a

Fine Line Between Pleasure and Pain: Representations of Masculin-

ity in Gladiator,” Australian Screen Education 1 (July 2006): 18–21;

Gio Messner, “Fractured Identity: Masculinity and Male Spectator-

ship in Gladiator,” http://camswonks.blogs.com/cinesthesia/2004/

12/messner_on_male.html (accessed 6 December 2008).

MASSOUD, GHASSAN (1958– )

Born in Damascus, Ghassan Massoud has worked exten-

sively in the theater, as well as appearing in the Syrian film

Dhilal al Sammt (aka Shadow of Silence [2006]).

Cast as Saladin in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, Massoud

confessed in the book of the film that the experience was

“very, very special . . . as it would be for any actor from our

country.” He identified with the character, as he believed that

Saladin was an important figure for the Arab world: “First

of all, he is a statesman. Second, he is a man of war, the win-

ner in many battles . . . We know that he is a good leader; he

is charismatic. He knows how to make policy. If we can show

all these parts of him, I think we can make a good impact

with audiences in West and East.”

Massoud’s portrayal of Saladin emphasizes his humane

side—someone who, unlike the Christians of the past, will

never massacre his enemies just for the sake of it. He respects

other religions—as shown in one sequence where he

respectfully places a fallen cross back on the table after it had

fallen during the three-day siege of Jerusalem. Robert Fisk

reported that audiences in Beirut rose to their feet and

applauded ecstatically during this scene. At the same time,

Saladin remains a man of HONOR, who expects his enemies

to conform to certain behavioral standards. He offers Guy

de Lusignan (MARTON CSOKAS) a glass of water; fearing

that it might be poisoned, Guy gives it to Reynald de Chatil-

lon (BRENDAN GLEESON) to taste. Enraged, Saladin cuts

Reynald’s throat, explaining that the only reason why he

does not do the same to Guy is that “a king does not kill a

king. Were you not close enough to a great king [Baldwin IV

(EDWARD NORTON)] to learn by his example?” In KING-

DOM OF HEAVEN: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT Saladin

decapitates Reynald, as a way of demonstrating how he pun-

ishes those who reject his hospitality. Saladin is also con-

vinced of his own abilities as a soldier: when his right-hand

man Imad (ALEXANDER SIDDIG) questions his military

decision, Saladin responds, “When I am not king, I quake for

Islam.”

Predictably, some critics focused on the way in which

screenwriter WILLIAM MONAHAN had altered historical

fact in his portrayal of Saladin. Peter Hammond of Front-

line Fellowship argued that “the film has uncritically

accepted, and embellished, the legends about Saladin

beyond what the historical record would support ...Far

from being the magnanimous victor depicted in modern

legends and this film, Saladin was a ruthless general who . . .

demanded that every man, women and child in Jerusalem

pay a ransom for his or her freedom or face the grim

prospect of . . . slavery. In order to save the lives and lib-

erty of the poor people who could not afford the heavy

ransom demanded by Saladin, Balian paid out of his own

resources the ransom required for those who could not

afford it.” On the other hand, another reviewer believed

that Massoud’s “extraordinary” performance constituted

“the closest representation of an actual historical figure in

the film.”

MASSOUD, GHASSAN (1958– )

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References

Robert Fisk, “Kingdom of Heaven: Why Ridley Scott’s Story of the

Crusades Struck Such a Chord in a Lebanese Cinema,” Z-Space,20

June 2005, www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/6012 (accessed 15 Jan-

uary 2009); Peter Hammond, “Kingdom of Heaven: Hollywood’s

Crusade Against History,” Frontline Fellowship (2005), www.front-

line.org.za/news/kingdom_heaven_review.htm (accessed 15 Janu-

ary 2009); Diana Landau, ed., Kingdom of Heaven: The Ridley Scott

Film and the History behind the Story (London: Simon and Schus-

ter Ltd., 2005), 75; Melissa Snell, “Kingdom of Heaven,” http://

historymedren.about.com/od/crusades/fr/kingdomofheaven.htm

(accessed 15 January 2009).

MATCHSTICK MEN

US/GB 2003 r/t 116 min col. Production Companies:Warner

Bros. Pictures, ImageMovers, Scott Free, LivePlanet, and

HorsePower Entertainment. Executive Producer:Robert

Zemeckis. Producers: Jack Rapke, Sean Bailey, Ted Griffin,

Ridley Scott, and Steve Starkey. Director: Ridley Scott. Writ-

ers: Nicholas and Ted Griffin from the book by Eric Garcia.

Director of Photography: John Mathieson. Production

Designer: Tom Foden. Music: Hans Zimmer. Cast: Nicolas

Cage (Roy Walter), Sam Rockwell (Frank Mercer), Alison

Lohman (Angela), Bruce Altman (Dr. Harris Klein), Bruce

McGill (Chuck Frechette).

The original novel Matchstick Men was published in

2003 by ERIC GARCIA to enthusiastic reviews, and the film

rights were almost immediately purchased by Warner Broth-

ers. Originally the film version was due to be directed by

ROBERT ZEMECKIS, but he eventually passed on the proj-

ect, and it was offered to Scott. In the Director’s Commen-

tary to the DVD release of the film, Scott recalled that he

took on the project chiefly because he had never done any-

thing like this before. He also had the time to take on the

project while preparing for “TRIPOLI,” from a screenplay by

WILLIAM MONAHAN, which later became KINGDOM

OF HEAVEN.

Scott liked Matchstick Men as it was not only a com-

edy, but “also somewhat of a moral tale, which is all the

more interesting because it’s filled with characters practic-

ing very bad behavior ...Their saving grace might be that

their victims are people who are themselves seeking a fast

buck or doing things they shouldn’t be doing, so it’s a case

of them getting caught with their trousers down.” He might

not have directed a comedy like this before, but he had pro-

duced WHERE THE MONEY IS in 2000, whose plot was

roughly similar—an aging crook Henry Manning (PAUL

NEWMAN) teaches an aspiring hustler Carol (LINDA

FIORENTINO) how to stage the Big Con. The crime goes

wrong, but the experience proves so life-changing for Carol

that she leaves her staid husband Wayne (DERMOT MUL-

RONEY) and joins up with Henry in a life of crime. Match-

stick Men also recalls THELMA & LOUISE, both in its use of

Californian locations and in the way the film focuses on

character rather than action.

Casting was a straightforward affair, with NICOLAS

CAGE and SAM ROCKWELL playing the leading duo of

Roy and Frank. Scott looked around for someone to play the

fourteen-year-old Angela and eventually came up with

twenty-three-year-old ALISON LOHMAN. Lohman herself

recalled that the role was “all about dreaming. What does she

look like when she [Angela] walks? What’s the look in her

eye? It’s not about, ‘Oh, on this move, I’m going to put my

arm like that.’ It’s just the whole spirit, so that any way that

I would move would be right.”

Filming took place at various locations in and around

Los Angeles, including the Anaheim Convention Center

(which doubled as the airport). The shoot was brisk, to say

the least (15 July–31 August 2002)—partly because Scott had

a limited schedule and partly because the director believed

that that the comedy could only be sustained if each scene

was filmed with fewer takes, and at a faster-than-normal

pace. He told Tim Lammers that “comedy is very difficult to

do, but in a funny kind of way, if you have it on paper, then

speed is essential ...It’s like telling that funny joke—it’s only

really funny once. I think to keep things fresh, you also have

to do things swift and decisive. If you cast your film right,

chances are the actors are going to get it right in two or three

takes.” In the production information, Scott claimed that he

responded to Roy Waller’s character, as he had a lot of traits

in common with him, “and [I] began to identify with him

more as the project progressed, which I found surprising at

first and then really amusing.” However, he told Lammers

that it was important to sustain Roy’s comic timing to make

him believable to the audience: “I didn’t want to make him

sad. I wanted to be sympathetic, always, of course, and

humorous, ideally. So when you walk down that road you

don’t want to actually offend anyone who may actually in

essence, have a similar tic. Eventually we had sort of a mini

arbitration at the end of each take asking ourselves whether

we should get less or more.”

The film was released in the USA on 12 September 2003

and Europe a week later. Reviews were mixed: Roger Ebert

in the Chicago Sun-Times thought that the Griffins’ screen-

play was an “an achievement of Oscar caliber—so absorb-

ing that when it cuts away from ‘the plot,’ there is another,

better plot to cut to . . . [the film] looks with dispassionate

honesty at what, after all, people must believe who do this

sort of thing for a living.” Peter Travers in Rolling Stone asked

why Scott, “who usually works in the epic mode” would be

prompted to direct an intimate character piece: “Credible?

Not really. But Cage and Rockwell play off each other with

devilish finesse . . . [and] Scott . . . knows how to build sus-

pense you can also take to heart.” Neil Norman in the

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Evening Standard thought that this was “a minor work, [of

Scott] a chamber piece for three actors . . . And the use of

music is tantalisingly eccentric, ranging from Sinatra and

Bobby Darin to, hilariously, [the British music-hall comic]

George Formby. Only a very confident Brit could have got

away with ‘I’m Leaning on a Lamppost’ in a Hollywood

movie.” However Nigel Andrews of the Financial Times

thought that Matchstick Men represented a serious waste of

the Scott’s talent: “The new movie is a common comedy

thriller straight off the assembly line . . . no one is who they

seem in these movies. No one at all: except possibly a gifted

British director whose best movie invited comparisons with

Orson Welles and who has now, in dismaying career repli-

cation, descended to his own version of F for Fake.”

Audiences thought otherwise: by December 2003

Matchstick Men had taken $36 million in the United States

alone and $65 million worldwide.

Matchstick Men focuses on two issues characteristic of

Scott’s oeuvre: MASCULINITY and male bonding. At the

beginning of the film, Roy shows an almost unnatural obses-

sion with cleanliness as he washes the sink, wipes down the

kitchen counter, and lets the faucet run. The curtains are

drawn, JOHN MATHIESON’s photography underlining the

fact that very little natural daylight enters Roy’s apartment.

He lives like a recluse, almost as if he is frightened of life.

While talking to Dr. Klein (BRUCE ALTMAN) he explains

why; his last relationship with a woman took place more

than five years previously, with his ex-wife Heather, and

since then he has consciously shied away from meeting new

people. Roy understands his shortcomings: when Klein tells

him that his long-lost child—who might be a boy—is “four-

teen [and] ready to be a man,” Roy winces, breathes hard

and responds,“If he’s a he. If he is at all.” If the father is not

a man himself, how can he be expected to cope with an off-

spring who is about to enter adulthood? The only way he

can engage with life is with the help of pills—even if he has

no idea what they are. Roy only assumes a confident man-

ner while impersonating someone else—as for example,

when he speaks to the housewife on the telephone as “John

Goodhew, regional vice-president at Allied Affiliates.” The

film emphasizes this chameleon-like aspect of Roy’s charac-

ter in a short sequence where he rummages through his pro-

fessional costume closet, containing “several suits, high- to

low-end, plus a gallery of pristine shoes, [and] a number of

pairs of eyeglasses.”

However, the film shows him gradually assuming an

identity of his own as he learns to care for Angela. At one

point he describes her as “a beautiful, bright, innocent girl,

and I’m not gonna screw that up like everything else.” The

observation might be clichéd, but the sentiment certainly

isn’t; Angela replies “you think that . . . I’m beautiful?” as if

she has never heard that kind of thing before. Roy retreats

into his emotional shell (“No”), but the seeds of change have

already been sown. By the end of the film, he has not only

visited a lawyer to enquire about joint custody of Angela but

has resolved to change his career for good, in the belief that

it might prove detrimental to his daughter’s future. Although

he later discovers that he has been the victim of an elaborate

con designed to deprive him of his money, which involved

Angela pretending to be his daughter, Roy has acquired suf-

ficient emotional strength to strike out on his own. He takes

a job in a carpet store; and, although he still appears as unre-

markable as ever in his nondescript short-sleeve shirt and

dark gray trousers, “his bearing has changed; he is a man at

ease.” Angela unexpectedly enters the store with her

boyfriend in search of a cheap carpet, and apologizes for

having stolen the money. The “new-at-ease” Roy replies,

“You didn’t take it. I gave it to you.” Matchstick Men ends

with a scene showing the newly remarried Roy returning

home to his pregnant wife Kathy (Sheila Kelley); the house

is now “open and unencumbered by shades” as he walks into

the kitchen, exchanges kisses, and lays his palm gently on her

belly. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described this moment

as “yuckily sentimental ...a reassuring little sugary moment

to take away the [film’s] cynical taste.” On the contrary, this

ending suggests that, once Roy learns to trust those around

him, he has no further need to indulge in role-play. He

acquires a renewed strength of character, which can help

him develop a new understanding of masculinity.

Matchstick Men begins by emphasizing the strength of

Frank’s attachment to Roy—so much so that Frank becomes

jealous when Angela invades his partner’s life: “This is no

good for you, Roy. Or us.” When the two finally break up,

however, Frank admits that he enjoyed the experience of

working together. Having fleeced Roy of all his savings, he

tells Roy, “If it’s any consolation, you’re the best I ever saw.

I’d never find a better partner. Now I won’t have to.” But

what kind of an existence has Frank got to look forward to?

Although rich, he no longer has anyone to share his life with,

either professionally or personally. Matchstick Men repre-

sents a departure from other Scott films, which emphasize

the strength of male bonding as a way of protecting oneself

from harm. In this film, Roy and Frank’s friendship is

dependent solely on financial concerns; one partner can eas-

ily exploit the other.

Yet this is perhaps typical of Scott’s jaundiced view of

AMERICANISM in this film, which so enraged Stephen

Himes of Flak Magazine that he accused the director of

being “an imperialist thug whose contempt for America is

barely held in check.” While the comment is somewhat

intemperate—especially about someone who has spent most

of his directorial career in Hollywood—Matchstick Men does

suggest that Americans prefer to make money as quickly as

possible without having to work to fulfill their ambitions.

MATCHSTICK MEN

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This renders them ripe for exploitation. Mr. Schaffer (Steve

Eastin) berates his wife for being “too trusting. You gotta be

more careful of people,” without realizing that he himself

has been fooled into disclosing both the name of his bank

and his account number. Similarly, the housewife in the

laundromat (Beth Grant) notices the lottery ticket Angela

has dropped on the floor. Angela remarks that it’s “probably

a loser”; the housewife nods, but then turns, adding, “We

should at least see if it hit.” From then on she is easy prey for

the con, as she hands over three hundred dollars to Angela

as her supposed share of the winning ticket. Although Roy

makes Angela hand the money back, the housewife remains

“utterly befuddled” as she realizes how easily she has been

fooled. Scott’s view of America is aptly summed up in a

short sequence taking place at Los Angeles airport, when

Roy and Frechette (BRUCE McGILL) exchange suitcases

filled with cash. Frechette riffles through Roy’s suitcase to

check whether the cash is genuine; Roy follows suit by

exploring Frechette’s gym bag, which is loaded with hundred

dollar bills. He looks up with a smile and says, “It looks like

we have a trade.” Frank replies, “God bless America”; and the

three of them toast their deal with club soda and Scotch

whisky.

However, Matchstick Men ends optimistically; it depicts

the conmen as victims of their own cons who, despite their

abilities to deprive victims of money, can never find emo-

tional security for themselves. The script bristles with refer-

ences to families and children, imagined or otherwise: in the

role of “John Goodhew” Roy tells the housewife that he “has

a six- and two-year-old at home,” who in his opinion are

“our most precious resource.” At the end of the scene where

Roy first meets Angela, we hear Frank in voice-over pro-

claiming “What’s more important than family?” Frechette

tells Roy that he has two children, “fifteen and twelve,” to

which Roy replies “I have a fourteen-year-old.” The house-

wife in the laundromat tells Angela that she has three boys:

“Simon’s about your age, but you’d never guess; he’s so

hyper. You know, girls really do mature much faster than

boys.” Angela responds,“That’s what I keep telling my broth-

ers.” Roy muses in voiceover that “it’s strange. Two weeks ago

this was ancient history. Now suddenly I have a daughter”;

later, however, he admits to Angela, “She [her mom] left me

because of you. So you wouldn’t grow up with me as your

dad.” Angela runs out on him; and he is left moaning to Dr.

Klein, “I lost my little girl! I lost my little girl!” The ideas

raised here are similar to those in other Scott-produced

comedies such as MONKEY TROUBLE. Frechette and the

housewife in the laundromat are represented as bad parents

who put self-interest before their children’s welfare. On the

other hand, Roy yearns for the stability of family life, which

might offer him the chance to care for others. He eventually

finds it through his MARRIAGE to Kathy, the supermarket

checkout girl bearing a strong visual resemblance to his ex-

wife. Like THE GATHERING STORM, the film’s final mes-

sage suggests that marriage and the nuclear family are the

keys to success, especially personal success.

To date there have been no critical essays published on

Matchstick Men, except for a reprinted interview with Scott

included in Ridley Scott Interviews.

References

Nigel Andrews, “Matchstick Men,” Financial Times, 18 September

2003, 19; Peter Bradshaw, “The Art of the Con,” Guardian Section

2, 19 September 2003, 18–19; Roger Ebert, “Matchstick Men,”

Chicago Sun-Times, 12 September 2003, http://rogerebert.suntimes

.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030912/REVIEWS/309120303/

1023 (accessed 7 January 2009); Nick and Ted Griffin, “Matchstick

Men: Shooting Draft” (14 October 2002), www.imsdb.com/scripts/

Matchstick-Men.html (accessed 4 January 2009); Stephen Himes,

“Matchstick Men,” Flak Magazine, 19 September 2003, www.flak-

mag.com/film/matchstick.html (accessed 12 August 2008); Tim

Lammers, “The Movies Interviews: Ridley Scott, Alison Lohman:

Director, Actress Enlightened by ‘Matchstick Men,’” KSBW.com

posted 11 September 2003, www.ksbw.com/entertainment/

2475348/detail.html (accessed 7 August 2008); Rebecca Murray,

“Matchstick Men’s Impressive Young Talent, Alison Lohman,”

About.com (January 2003), http//movies.about.com/cs/match

stickmen/a/matchlohman.htm (accessed 7 January 2009); Neil

Norman, “A Pro with the Cons,” Evening Standard, 18 September

2003, 48; Production Information: Matchstick Men (Los Angeles:

Warner Bros. Pictures, 2003), 5, 7; Ridley Scott, “Director’s Com-

mentary” to the 2004 DVD release of Matchstick Men (London:

Warner Home Video UK, 2004); Peter Travers, “Matchstick Men,”

Rolling Stone, 8 September 2003, www.rollingstone.com/reviews/

movie/5947865/review/5947866/matchstick_men (accessed 7 Jan-

uary 2009).

Bibliography

Daniel Robert Epstein,“Matchstick Men,” in Ridley Scott Interviews,

ed. Laurence F. Knapp and Andrea F. Kulas (Jackson: University

Press of Mississippi, 2005), 223–28; Christian Jauberty,“Pour L’Hu-

mour du Risque,” Premiere (French ed. no. 319) (September 2003):

98; Tim Swanson, “In the Works: Matchstick Men.” Premiere Vol.

16, no.5 (January 2003): 36; “Tricks of the Trade: Making Match-

stick Men,” Documentary accompanying the 2004 DVD release of

the film (London: Warner Home Video UK, 2004).

MATHIESON, JOHN (1958– )

John Mathieson came up through the traditional camera

ranks and worked as an assistant to Gabriel Beristáin for sev-

eral years. Mathieson was first recognized for his work on the

music video “Peek-A-Boo” by Siouxsie and the Banshees. He

also worked on “Marriage à Trois,” the second episode in the

first series of THE HUNGER (1997). Mathieson’s camera-

work foregrounds the bright colors of an old, disabled

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MATHIESON, JOHN (1958– )

woman’s (Karen Black’s) bedroom—the bright red curtains

concealing the windows, the shiny brown linoleum on the

floor. She spends her life on morphine, which encourages her

to dream almost incessantly of sex.

Engaged as director of photography for GLADIATOR,

Mathieson and Scott were inspired by nineteenth-century

painters such as Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who painted

Greek and Roman environments with great historical accu-

racy. They sought to invest the film with an epic quality—

something that could be achieved by wide-angle lenses and

battle scenes shot with handheld cameras.

Mathieson worked again with Scott on HANNIBAL.At

the outset he and Scott decided that the film’s look should

be very different from that of the earlier THE SILENCE OF

THE LAMBS (1991): “The film [Hannibal] has a lot of dull

locations, such as little rooms with people tapping away on

computers or on telephones. It’s a little more fidgety, and

let’s face it that kind of thing can be quite boring to shoot.”

The film was shot entirely on location in Florence and Vir-

ginia; its intense psychological mood is created through

lighting, in effects which Mathieson compared to the paint-

ings of WILLIAM BLAKE, “which reveal the form of objects

but not the detail.” Mathieson found difficulty shooting in

Florence, which has “narrow buildings with old, faded but

glorious interiors, where the sunlight hardly penetrates . . .

It would be nice to see everything in those wonderful

palaces, but you don’t really want to . . . You have to work at

keeping the drama and a sense of distance in small rooms

because they feel small; you have to keep the light controlled,

or else it will bounce everywhere.” The American sequences

were colder, grayer; so Mathieson worked “to create a dirt-

ier, more miserable look.”

Mathieson’s major contribution to MATCHSTICK

MEN lay in his skillful use of light and shadow to emphasize

the dark interior of Roy Waller’s (NICOLAS CAGE’s) house.

As with the buildings in Hannibal, the sunlight hardly pen-

etrates into his living room, save for the odd shafts of light

at the side of the blinds. This is exactly how Roy wants it; he

shuts himself away from everyone and resents the presence

of intruders—even the sunlight. NICK AND TED GRIF-

FIN’s script emphasizes this in a stage direction: “He raises

the blinds, wincing at the flood of sunlight. He checks the

window’s lock, relocks it for good measure, then closes the

shade again.”

Mathieson collaborated for a fourth time with Scott on

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. They were inspired by J. M. W.

Turner’s landscapes, as well as lesser-known scenes by David

Roberts. His biggest challenge was to photograph the siege

sequences: “The people inside the wall are trying to keep the

other people out, so it’s not that interesting photographi-

cally. It’s not sweeping vistas with cavalries charging ...It’s

people getting anxious and harrowed by a bombardment of

big rocks and running out of food and water.” Unlike GLAD-

IATOR, the battle-sequences in Kingdom of Heaven were not

so personalized—consequently more wide-angle shots were

employed.

References

Douglas Bankston, “A Pound of Flesh,” American Cinematographer

82, no.2 (February 2001): 37–39; Nick and Ted Griffin, “Matchstick

Men: Shooting Draft” (14 October 2002), http://www.imsdb.com/

scripts/Matchstick-Men.html (accessed 4 January 2009); Patricia

Thomson, “Holy War,” American Cinematographer 86, no.6 (June

2005): 72.

Bibliography

Douglas Bankston, “Death or Glory,” American Cinematographer

81, no.5 (May 2000): 34–45; Bankston, “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” American

Cinematographer 81, no.5 (May 2000): 46–53; “Glory, Glory in the

Colosseum,” in Camera, July 2000, 1–3; Charles Hewitt, “A Slave to

His Craft.” Eyepiece 22, no.4 (August 2001): 12–15; “John Math-

ieson, BSC,” British Cinematographer 14 (April 2005): 21–23; Andy

Stout,“Grading the Crusades,” British Cinematographer 15 (August

2005): 15, 17.

MATSUDA, YUSAKU (1950–1989)

Born in Yamaguchi, Japan. In 1966 he lived for one year in

the United States; back in Japan he started acting in a the-

atrical company, making his film debut in 1973. Thereafter

he appeared in various television series and films until his

death from bladder cancer at the young age of thirty-nine.

Cast as the yakuza leader Sato in BLACK RAIN,Mat-

suda relishes the opportunity given by Scott to portray an

out-and-out villain, having spent much of his previous

career in comedy. One of his most telling moments comes

at the end of a sequence where he is removed from the plane

taking him to Japan from America by some of his associates

masquerading as police officers. He turns towards Nick Con-

klin (MICHAEL DOUGLAS) and silently points his fingers

at him, as if he were firing a pistol. From then on we know

that he will seek revenge for the humiliation of being in

Nick’s custody. Sato’s ruthlessness is evident not only in his

decapitation of a rival yakuza leader in a New York bar but

also in the calm manner in which he slices off Charlie Vin-

cent’s (ANDY GARCIA’s) head with a samurai sword. The

extent of his domination over the city of Osaka is cleverly

suggested by a reverse shot showing him looking out of an

apartment window at the teeming streets below.

Scott told PAUL M. SAMMON that, despite Sato’s out-

rageous villainy in the film, Matsuda was essentially a come-

dian: “A bit of an icon with the female population . . . What

was he personally like? A sweetheart. Really a very nice guy.”

Already dying of cancer when he filmed Black Rain, Matsuda

passed away on 6 November 1989, slightly less than two

months after the film’s American release.

MATSUDA, YUSAKU (1950–89)

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