Raw L. The Ridley Scott Encyclopedia

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woman visiting America to film an interview on atrocities

on women back home is murdered. The action eventually

culminates in a shoot-out at a Los Angeles mosque, where

the culprit turns out to be an Iraqi national taking revenge

on the woman for being “a disgrace to [her] family.” Apart

from the orientalist slant of the material (Islam is automat-

ically equated with terrorism and violence), the episode sug-

gests that no one is safe anymore. “Blackout” (Season 3,

Episode 7) shows the entire city of Los Angeles under threat

from potential terrorists who cut the electrical supply to var-

ious suburbs. Although the suspect turns out to be a US

national, the implication remains that many citizens will

exploit the current political situation to cause mayhem.

“When Worlds Collide” (Season 4, Episode 18) shows a

counter-terrorism expert (Zeljko Ivanek) suspecting a char-

itable organization, the Pakistan International Fund, of links

to Al-Qaeda. Not unreasonably, one employee of that com-

pany accuses the FBI of suspecting all Muslims on account

of their skin color or religion. Eventually the criminal turns

out to be Shane O’Hanahan (Shawn Doyle) a former Irish

Republican Army (IRA) member, who has deliberately dis-

guised himself as a Pakistani in order to escape suspicion.

We are left to reflect on the fact that the standoff between

Christians and Muslims, explored both in KINGDOM OF

HEAVEN and BODY OF LIES, remains unresolved—espe-

cially when white law-enforcement officers make erroneous

assumptions about innocent Asian people, and Irish terror-

ists exploit such prejudices to pursue their own activities.

All episodes of Numb3rs are set in and around LOS

ANGELES, which is depicted as a city of almost perpetual

sunshine and imposing skyscrapers. Caltech is a typical cam-

pus university with its redbrick buildings, roomy classrooms

and offices, and grassy walkways—the ideal milieu for Char-

lie and his colleagues to work. Such appearances prove

deceptive; every street in the city, whether downtown or in

the suburbs, can witness the most appalling crimes. Even the

SMALL TOWNS outside the city are vulnerable: the action

of “Toxin” (Series 2, Episode 9) takes place in Sibley, Califor-

nia, where the deserted streets are very reminiscent of Pied-

mont, Utah, in TheAndromeda Strain.

Numb3rs has spawned several tie-in books such as The

Numbers behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime with Mathematics

by Keith Devlin and Gary Lorden (a consultant to the series),

which explains real-life mathematical techniques used by the

FBI and other law-enforcement organizations to catch crim-

inals. Julian Havil’s Impossible? Surprising Solutions to Coun-

terintuitive Conundrums suggests that the series provides a

good way of learning how to solve mathematical problems.

Karen Heyman’s “Talk Nerdy to Me” explains how the series

celebrates the nerd as personified by Charlie Eppes. An arti-

cle published in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

(2005) shows how life follows art, as the Harvard mathemati-

cian (and consultant to Numb3rs) Jonathan Farley proposed

to use lattice theory to fight the war on terrorism. Numb3rs—

and Ridley Scott’s involvement in it—is also mentioned in

Paul Michael Atallah’s article “A Usable History for the Study

of Television” (2007), while Sasha Torres looks at the series

in relation to the criminal mind in America since 9/11.

References

Paul Michael Atallah,“A Usable History for the Study of Televi-

sion,” Canadian Journal of American Studies 37, no.3 (2007):

325–49; Jillian Berry, “Creator Examines the Success of the Show

and Bemoans Loss of MIT Setting,” http://tech.mit.edu/V126/

N40/40Numbers.html (accessed 20 February 2009); Keith Devlin

and Gary Lorden, The Numbers behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime

with Mathematics (New York: Plume, 2007); Jim Finkle, “Follow

the Numb3rs,” Broadcasting & Cable, 23 January 2005, www.broad-

castingcable.com/article/101609-Follow_the_Numb3rs_.php

(accessed 20 February 2009); “Harvard’s Summa cum Laude Math-

ematician Proposes to Use Lattice Theory to Help Win the War on

Terrorism,” Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 48 (Summer

2005): 43; Julian Havil, Impossible? Surprising Solutions to Counter-

intuitive Conundrums (Princeton: Princeton University Press,

2008); Karen Heyman, “Talk Nerdy to Me,” Science 320, no.5877

(May 9, 2008): 740–41; Mark Nollinger, “Strength in Numbers,” TV

Guide, April 17, 2005, 42–43; “Numb3rs Star David Krumholtz to

Appear at NCTM Western Regional Conference and Exposition in

Denver” (9 November 2005), http://education.ti.com/education-

portal/sites/US/nonProductSingle/about_press_release_news74.ht

ml (accessed 20 February 2009); Kate O’Hare,“Numb3rs Counts

on Tony Scott for Action,” The Ledger, September 28, 2007, D2;

Kathleen O’Steen,“Math Blaster,” Emmy 27, no.3 (May 2005): 180,

185; Joan F. Smutny and Sarah E. von Fremd, Igniting Creativity in

Gifted Learners, K–6: Strategies for Every Teacher (New York: Cor-

win Press, 2008); Sasha Torres, “Criminal Minds: Thinking and

National Culture Since 9/11,” Review of Education, Pedagogy and

Cultural Studies 30, nos. 3–4 (July 2008): 275–95; Stuart Weight-

man, “Numbers,” Starburst 323 (May 2005), 92; “Welcome to Char-

lie Eppes’ World,” www.charlieeppes.com/home.htm (accessed

February 22, 2009).

Bibliography

Numbers.org Forums. www.fanrush.com/forums/forumdisplay

.php?f=15, accessed 20 February 2009); TV Com: Numb3rs News.

www.tv.com/numb3rs/show/25043/news.html?sort=sls (accessed

20 February 2009).

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O’BANNON, DAN (1946– )

Dan O’Bannon first burst on to the fantasy cinema scene

with Dark Star (1974), which he co-wrote with director John

Carpenter. O’Bannon also took a leading role in the film.

The next two years proved lean ones—one project, “They

Bite” (featuring bizarre carnivorous organisms attracting

their prey by camouflaging themselves as everyday objects),

came to nothing. O’Bannon was subsequently hired on a

project to direct Frank Herbert’s DUNE for the screen.

Again, the idea foundered; but it nonetheless brought

together some of the world’s finest fantasy artists, including

Jean (“Moebius”) Giraud, Chris Foss, and H. R. GIGER.

Giger would later play a prominent role in designing ALIEN.

By early 1975 O’Bannon had teamed up with fellow

writer RON SHUSETT to produce a new story based on an

uncompleted screenplay “Memory” and another scenario

entitled “Gremlins.” After further work, the composite struc-

ture was transformed into something called “Star Beast.” This

was the basic story for Alien.“Star Beast” begins with the mil-

itary craft Snark encountering a distress call in outer space.

Tracing its origins to a desolate planet, the crew investigates

and discovers the burnt-out wreckage of another spaceship.

The pilot was a being from another world, but is now noth-

ing more than a fossilized shell; the crew takes it back to the

Snark as a keepsake. However, a small creature has concealed

itself within the skull—once in the ship, this creature grows

and grows and becomes even more ravenous. One by one the

crew members are devoured by the creature, until at the end

it is expelled from the Snark through an airlock.

O’Bannon worked this story into a screenplay, making

minor changes, including the idea of an alien spreading itself

over one of the crew members’ face and implanting itself

within that person (which is what happens to Kane in the

finished film).

At this stage the film was planned as a low-budget

homage to 1950s sci-fi films such as THE THING FROM

ANOTHER WORLD and INVASION OF THE BODY

SNATCHERS. O’Bannon wanted to direct it himself. Even-

tually the script found its way to the offices of Brandywine

Productions, jointly run by WALTER HILL, DAVID GILER,

and GORDON CARROLL. They were attracted to it because

of its shocking central “chestbuster” scene (incorporated in

O’Bannon’s screenplay) in which the alien emerges from the

crew member’s stomach.

Eventually O’Bannon’s script was reworked by Hill and

Giler, with O’Bannon relegated to the position of Visual

Design Consultant. O’Bannon soon voiced his displeasure

at the way in which the script had been altered: a nasty

period of arbitration followed, with Giler and Hill on one

side and O’Bannon on the other. Eventually it was decided

to give O’Bannon sole screenplay credit.

O’Bannon’s subsequent career included the screenplay

for The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and two Canadian

films: Screamers (1995) and Bleeders (1997). More recently,

he received a screen story credit for ALIEN VS. PREDATOR

(2004), on the basis that the filmmakers used material from

the first Alien screenplay that never actually made it into

the film.

Bibliography

David Konow, “Alien: 25 Years Later Dan O’Bannon Looks Back on

His Scariest Creation,” Creative Screenwriting 11, no.5 (2004):

70–73; Mark Kermode, “What a Carve Up!” Sight and Sound,

December 2004, 12–15; Paul Scanlon and Michael Gross, The Book

of Alien (London: Star Books, 1979); Paul M. Sammon, ed. and

intro., Alien: The Complete Illustrated Screenplay (London: Orion

Books Ltd., 2000); Adam Smith,“Taming the Beast: The Making of

the Alien Saga,” Empire, November 2002, 164–69; “The Starburst

Vaults,” Starburst 349 (1 May 2007): 68–71.

O’DONNELL, CHRIS (1970– )

Early successes included D’Artagnan in the remake of The

Three Musketeers (1993), Ernest Hemingway in In Love and

War (1996), and Wardell Pomeroy in Kinsey (2004).

Cast as Jack McCauliffe in THE COMPANY, O’Donnell

plays an Ivy League graduate freshly recruited for service in

the CIA. He begins the story as an idealist—he believes that

he is genuinely helping to win the Cold War; his view of life

is very different from that of old-style operatives such as

Harvey Torriti (ALFRED MOLINA), whose “penchant for

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creativity and a bottle of whiskey a day [is] somewhat

removed from what he [Jack] was taught back in Washing-

ton.” As the story unfolds, however, Jack begins to realize

that there is no such thing as right and wrong: operatives

have to try and act as best they can, according to the

demands of the situation.

By comparison with other members of the cast (notably

Molina), O’Donnell gives rather a statuesque performance.

But perhaps this is deliberate on director MIKAEL

SALOMON’s part, to show how well Jack has absorbed Tor-

riti’s advice to proceed “onwards and upwards”—in other

words, forget what has happened in the past and look to the

future. This is the only way to preserve oneself in the spying

game.

Reference

Production Notes: The Company, www.tnt.tv/series/thecompany/

bts/ (accessed 12 August 2008).

O’HARA, DAVID PATRICK (1965– )

Also known as David O’Hara, his early films include Brave-

heart (1995) and The Slab Boys (1997), followed in the next

decade by Hotel Rwanda (2004).

Cast as the Irish King Donnchadh in TRISTAN +

ISOLDE, O’Hara plays someone who according to pro-

ducer Jim Lemley was simultaneously “malevolent and

powerful ...[who] has a hair trigger temper, but is also

powerful and stoic.” His best moments come early on in the

film when he emphasizes the importance of duty to his

daughter Isolde (SOPHIA MYLES). It is evident he has no

real feeling for her; she is just a pawn in his struggle to

assume absolute power over the English. He utters his lines

with malevolent relish, taking care to emphasize the conso-

nants in every word: “You have a duty to your King ...Then

obey me, daughter”; “You’ll find no refuge in a new religion.

Your place is here, with Morholt.” Although his assault on

King Marke’s (RUFUS SEWELL) castle is repelled, we do

not know what happens to Donnchadh at the end of the

film. Initially we learn that the English have driven the Irish

back, but that they are still in an offensive position; but

then a title card informs us that Marke eventually defeated

the Irish, rebuilt his castle and lived in peace until his

death. It would have been helpful to learn the Irish king’s

fate—particularly as he seems to have such an overwhelm-

ing physical presence.

References

Jim Lemley, quoted in Production Notes: Tristan + Isolde (Los Ange-

les: Twentieth Century-Fox, 2005), viii; “Tristan + Isolde, Written

by Dean Georgaris, Transcript by Chani at tristanandisolde.net,”

www.imsdb.com/Movie%20Scripts/Tristan%20and%20Isolde%20

Script.html (accessed 23 January 2009).

OLDMAN, GARY (1958– )

British actor and director, the star of successful films such as

Prick Up Your Ears (1987), JFK (1991), and Bram Stoker’s

Dracula (1992).

Cast as Mason Verger in HANNIBAL, Oldman described

the character to Helen Keier as “the villain, I’d say. It’s [the

film is] melodrama, you know, and it’s very humorous, like

black humor, dark humor. I find the film very funny.” He

takes a positive pleasure in playing the educated villain who

cannot be brought to trial because of his wealth. By contrast,

someone like Clarice Starling (JULIANNE MOORE) will

always suffer from “the stigma of [her] recent dishonor”—in

other words, the botched drug-raid where she was responsi-

ble for the death of five people. STEVEN ZAILLIAN’s script

stresses that, as a result of Hannibal’s violence in THE

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Verger “has no face to speak of

...He looks like some kind of creature that resides in the

lowest depths of the sea.” However the notion of “faceless-

ness” sums up Verger’s character—unlike either Hannibal or

Clarice, he has no particular aim in life except revenge. He

meets a grisly fate at the end of the film, eaten up by the hun-

gry boars that he hoped would devour Hannibal.

Oldman had his name removed from the film’s final

credits. While he claimed to Keier that it was done as a joke

(“The man with no face and no name, and sort of do it

anonymously. It’s no secret that I’m in the film. We just had

fun with it, really”), some critics have suggested that the

decision sprang from an argument over star billing.

Oldman has a cameo role in THE HIRE: “BEAT THE

DEVIL,” where he hams it up outrageously as the Devil, get-

ting the chance to peel eggs (in a shot recalling Robert De

Niro in Angel (1987).

References

Helen Keier, “Interview with Gary Oldman” (26 February 2001),

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/035/035937p1.html (accessed

5 August 2008); Steven Zaillian,“Hannibal: Screenplay Based on

the Novel by Thomas Harris,” Revision (9 February 2000), http://

sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=hannibal2001 (accessed 15 December 2008).

OLMOS, EDWARD JAMES (1947– )

Edward James Olmos’s first big break was in Luis Valdez’s

play Zoot Suit (1978) which earned him a Tony nomination.

The production was filmed three years later.

As Gaff in BLADE RUNNER, Olmos is one of the most

memorable characters; a multilingual company man with a

penchant for model-making. In one scene the camera cuts

from Deckard’s (HARRISON FORD’s) hands doing police

work to Gaff’s hands creating a matchstick figure with an

erection. This moment calls Deckard’s status into ques-

tion—is he human or a REPLICANT? In the DIRECTOR’S

CUT of the film (1992), this question is apparently answered

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O’HARA, DAVID PATRICK (1965– )

as Gaff’s aluminum foil model of a unicorn (briefly

glimpsed towards the end) reminds us of Deckard’s dream

of a unicorn, and thereby suggests that the thought has been

artificially implanted in Deckard’s mind.

At the beginning of Blade Runner Gaff seems dedicated

to his work and nothing else. By the end he has changed;

having watched Deckard from the sidelines, Gaff comes to

understand a little more about the significance of life and

death. This explains why he compliments Deckard on hav-

ing completed “a man’s job” (in PAUL M. SAMMON’s

phrase) and subsequently lets Rachael (SEAN YOUNG) live.

Perhaps best known for his work as Lieutenant Castillo

in Miami Vice (1984–1989), Olmos received an Oscar nom-

ination for his role in Stand and Deliver (1988). He made his

directing debut with American Me (1992). He was once mar-

ried to LORRAINE BRACCO, who played Ellie Keegan in

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME.

Reference

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

ed. (London: Gollancz, 2007), 198–99.

ORANGE: FUTURE THOUGHTS

GB 1998 Commercial r/t 45 sec col. Production Company:

RSA Films for WCRS. Writers: Leon Jaume and Larry Barker.

Director: Ridley Scott.

A commercial produced to advertise the company as a

cutting-edge technology company. Filmed in other-worldly

colors, Scott’s ad takes a tongue-in-cheek look at a future

where technology has become oppressive. Its subject matter

recalls his science-fiction movies such as ALIEN and BLADE

RUNNER. It opens with a postman delivering letters to some

delighted children as the voiceover declares, “E-mail will

make the written word a thing of the past.” With similar

irony, the narrator declares that, in the future, people will no

longer need to travel because video conferencing will make

it redundant; children won’t need to play football because of

video games, and no one will go to the movies since films

will be available at home through cable and satellite televi-

sion. Finally, the commercial dares to suggest there will be

no place for different sexes in this technologically advanced

future. At this stage, however, we realize this bleak vision is

not from our world at all, as the camera pulls back to reveal

the earth hanging in the night sky where the moon would

normally be. It is all happening on another planet.“Orange

don’t think technology should change the world—just make

it a better place,” the voiceover concludes.

This commercial was first broadcast in Great Britain

after the main news bulletin News at Ten on Independent

Television on 28 April 1998. It was Scott’s first for eight

years, and returns to the futuristic subjects covered in Scott’s

APPLE COMPUTER commercial as well as in his science

fiction movies. The boy-on-a-bicycle shot during the early

part of the commercial deliberately recalls Scott’s earliest

work, BOY ON BICYCLE.

Bibliography

Karen Yates, “Ridley Scott Returns to Ads with Orange Work,”

Campaign, 24 April 1998, 6.

ORBACH, JERRY (1935–2004)

Jerry was born in the Bronx. He slowly pushed to get acting

roles in television and movies, but was frequently overlooked

because of his musical roots.

As Lieutenant Garber in SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER

ME, Orbach had a cameo role as the representative of estab-

lished police values: to be committed to one’s job, to main-

tain a good family life; and to keep work and personal lives

separate. Garber is never going to understand Mike Keegan’s

(TOM BERENGER’s) predicament, as Mike falls in love with

rich socialite Claire (MIMI ROGERS) and thereby endan-

gers his family life. Rather, the lieutenant upbraids Mike for

his apparent negligence of duty: “I heard a lot . . . Anything

you want to deny, Mike? ...I gotta protect the Precinct, too.

You’re on suspension, pending disciplinary hearings. Don’t

hold your breath.” Garber is sorry to make this decision, but

feels that he is duty bound to do it (“Heavy with sadness,

Garber turns and heads toward the women [Ellie and

Helen]”). This focus on duty at the expense of love or

friendship is something Mike cannot accept.

ORPHEUS

US 2006 TVM r/t 60 min col. Production Companies:Para-

mount Network Television Productions and Scott Free.

Executive Producers: John McNamara, Nicholas Meyer, Rid-

ley Scott, Tony Scott, and David W. Zucker. Director:Bruce

Beresford. Writer: Nicholas Meyer. Production Designer:

Michael S. Bolton. Cast: Patrick J. Adams (Barry), Fairuza

Balk (Karen), Nicholas D’Agosto (Guy), Mena Suvari (Sue

Ellen), Eion Bailey (Brother).

Planned as a follow-up to the highly successful series

NUMB3RS, this pilot, written by Nicholas Meyer (The

Human Stain), involved a young man whose girlfriend is

involved in a sophisticated, modern-day cult and draws him

to it, has been given the green light to produce a pilot.

The script caused controversy—according to the Los

Angeles Times in March 2006: According to a copy of the

script, Orpheus concerns Guy (Nicholas D’Agosto), a young

would-be lawyer whose whirlwind romance with small-town

siren Sue Ellen (Mena Suvari) sidetracks him into a shadowy,

menacing group called “Grand Design,” or GD. GD attracts

new believers with a bestselling quasi-philosophical book

akin to Hubbard’s “Dianetics” and which, like Scientology,

uses a complicated ranking system for followers. GD-ers even

ORPHEUS

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boast of their exploits on behalf of victims of Hurricane Kat-

rina, recalling similar missions publicized by Scientologists.

Asked about the similarities with Scientology, Lauri Metrose,

a spokesperson for CBS Paramount Network Television,

replied in an e-mail, “You are reading an early draft and

there have been (as with any pilot) many changes big and

small. The cult is an amalgamation of all cults throughout

history.” The draft that Channel Island obtained is dated 20

January 2006. A spokesman for the Church of Scientology

did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The pilot has not yet led to any series being commissioned.

Reference

Scott Collins,“Nicholas Meyer’s CBS Pilot Suggests Scientology-like

Design,” Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2006, http://articles.latimes.com/

2006/mar/28/entertainment/et-channel28 (accessed 12 August 2008).

ORTIZ, JOHN (1968– )

Born in Brooklyn, Ortiz made his film debut in Carlito’s Way

(1993). More recently he has been in Take the Lead (2006)

and the film version of Miami Vice (also 2006).

Cast as Richie Roberts’s (RUSSELL CROWE’s) sidekick

Javier Rivera in AMERICAN GANGSTER, Ortiz offers a

study of an officer whose heroin habit has blinded him to

the distinctions between right and wrong. He cannot under-

stand why Richie should censure him for killing and robbing

a drug dealer—especially when Richie persuaded him to

turn in a million dollars, much against his better judgment.

STEVEN ZAILLIAN’s script has Rivera criticizing Richie for

“making that kind of accusation against your own kind . . .

I listened to you and turned in a million fucking dollars.

You’ll know who’ll work with me after that? Same as you. No

one.” Eventually Rivera dies of an overdose; and Richie looks

sorrowfully at the sight of his former sidekick’s corpse in a

cadaver drawer, his miserable personal effects resting on his

chest: “[A] few bucks, the Corvette key, a half-empty packet

of heroin in blue cellophane.”

Reference

Steven Zaillian,“American Gangster: Final Shooting Script” (27 July

2006), www.roteirodecinema.com.br/scripts/files/american_gangster

.htm (accessed 8 February 2009).

OUT OF THE UNKNOWN: “SOME LAPSE OF TIME”

GB 1965 TVM r/t 50 min b/w. Production Company: British

Broadcasting Corporation. Producer: Irene Shubik. Director:

Ray Jenkins. Writer: Leon Griffiths from a story by John

Brunner. Production Designer: Ridley Scott. Cast: Ronald

Lewis (Max Harrow), Jane Downs (Diana Harrow),Peter

Bowles (Policeman), Blake Butler (Anderson)

A fifty-minute adaptation of a story by John Brunner,

broadcast on 6 December 1965 (Season 1, Episode 10) in a

highly successful BBC science fiction anthology series that

ran for a total of thirty-six episodes (1965–1971).

OUTLAWS

The outlaw is a central figure in American mythology, which

embraces not only the idea of the rugged individual but the

notion of the landscape as a realm where the “real” men are

those who follow a different law from that practiced by the

majority of the people. Roy Batty in BLADE RUNNER and

Sato in BLACK RAIN are two examples of the outlaw figure

that recurs in Scott’s films. The same also applies to Henry

Manning (PAUL NEWMAN) and Carol McKay (LINDA

FIORENTINO) in WHERE THE MONEY IS, who form a

spring-and-autumn partnership reminiscent of Bonnie and

Clyde. THELMA & LOUISE is also an outlaw film with ori-

gins in films such as Bonnie and Clyde (1967) or Butch Cas-

sidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). However, it puts a novel

twist on the theme: the difference, of course, being that the

two central characters are women. Scott makes much of the

process of transformation: Thelma (GEENA DAVIS) acquires

a personality of her own, eventually reminding Louise

(SUSAN SARANDON) of why they went on the run in the

first place. Louise herself overcomes the disappointments she

experienced in her past life to become someone able to con-

trol her own destiny, as she rejects Jimmy (MICHAEL MAD-

SEN) and steps out on her own. Marita Sturken observes that

both characters are transformed as they take as their own sev-

eral signifiers of MASCULINITY and the road—the cowboy

hat, jeans and T-shirt, and baseball cap.

In placing two women as outlaws, the film recasts the

genre. They are accidental outlaws who happen into crime

and then spend the rest of the film trying to escape the law.

As they do so, however, they discover that the law (as under-

stood by mainstream society) is not that important. Eliza-

beth V. Spelman and Martha Minow suggest that “had

Thelma and Louise turned themselves over to the law—

whether to the sheriff or to an attorney—they would have

become subject to constraints much like those from which

they found themselves fleeing, constraints that among other

things make their versions of themselves and of the world

irrelevant. Screenwriter Calli[e] Khouri thus might be said

to have this to say to observers of law: We have as much to

learn about the law from those who find themselves (in both

senses of that phrase) outside it as those who enforce it,

wield it, or study it.”

References

Elizabeth V. Spelman and Martha Minow, “Outlaw Women:

Thelma and Louise,” in Legal Realism: Movies as Legal Texts,ed.

John Denvir (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press,

1996), 275–76; Marita Sturken, Thelma & Louise, BFI Modern Clas-

sics (London: BFI Publishing, 2000), 29–30.

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Bibliography

Peter N. Chumo II, “At the Generic Crossroads with Thelma and

Louise,” Postscript 13, no.2 (Winter/Spring 1994): 3–14.

OWEN, CLIVE (1964– )

British leading actor who made his name in television series

such as Chancer and plays such as Close My Eyes (1990).

Owen’s early films included Bent (1996) and Gosford Park

(2001).

Cast as The Driver in THE HIRE, a series of commer-

cials for BMW, Owen was suddenly brought to the attention

of Hollywood producers. The more action-packed install-

ments of these glossy short films saw him tracking down

drowning hostage victims under the direction of JOHN

WOO, or protecting DON CHEADLE from helicopter-

borne militia intent on destabilizing the state. His role was

that of the super-cool yet caustic agent under fire. Woo

likened him to James Bond with a smile.

Sometimes he could play light comedy too; Guy Ritchie

cast his wife Madonna in need of a driving lesson, while in

“BEAT THE DEVIL: he permits himself a mischievous

smile as he endures the experience of driving JAMES

BROWN around in a wild competition with The Devil

(GARY OLDMAN).

OWEN, MEG WYNN (1939– )

Meg Wynn Owen shot to fame in the 1970s as Hazel Bellamy

in the television series Upstairs Downstairs (1973–1974).

In THE DUELLISTS, she plays Armand’s (KEITH CAR-

RADINE’s) sister Leonie, who comments on the advantages

of a good MARRIAGE. She believes that it will help Armand

settle down. Armand does not like the idea—chiefly because,

as an honorable man, he believes that it will destroy his

fiancée Adele’s (CRISTINA RAINES’s) life. The irony here is

that Armand’s life will be destroyed if he does not settle

down: marriage may be the only thing that would help him

forget the duel that hitherto has blighted his existence. His

sister understands this; and brings the discussion to an

abrupt close by telling him to go and play billiards.

When Meg Wynn Owen made The Duellists, she was

still a big star. Scott himself recalled how privileged he felt

when she accepted the part of Leonie. Since then she has

appeared mostly in supporting roles in films such as Gosford

Park (2001), Love Actually (2003), and Vanity Fair (2004).

Reference

Ridley Scott, “Director’s Commentary,” to the 2000 release of The

Duellists by Paramount DVD in the “Special Collector’s Edition”

(London: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2000).

OWEN, MEG WYNN (1939– )

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PANJABI, ARCHIE (1972– )

Previous films include Yasmin (2004) and The Constant Gar-

dener (2005). Cast as Max Skinner’s (RUSSELL CROWE’s)

long-suffering personal assistant Gemma, Panjabi acts as

part-time secretary, confidante, and nursemaid to a man

who has little idea of how to cope with anything except mak-

ing more and more money. In most of her sequences she is

shown talking on her cell phone; the living embodiment of a

world where person-to-person contact is no longer valued.

The ethics of this world are summed up by Max’s line “Oh,

please—come to papa,” as he tries to reach up from the bot-

tom of the swimming pool to answer his cell phone, which

lies on the edge. Spouses and children are no longer impor-

tant; all an individual needs is something to do business

with. Gemma fades out of the film as Max gradually leaves

the London world behind and opts for a new life as a

château-owner in PROVENCE. But perhaps this is appro-

priate in a film that depicts the central character’s gradual

discovery of self-awareness.

Reference

Marc Klein, “A Good Year: Screenplay” (Draft dated 5 September

2005), www.dailyscript.com/scripts/A-GOOD-YEAR-2.pdf (accessed

26 January 2009).

PAPER MOON

US 1973 r/t 102 min b/w. Production Companies: The Direc-

tors Company, Paramount Pictures, and Saticoy Produc-

tions. Producer/Director: Peter Bogdanovich. Writer:Alvin

Sargent, from the novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown. Pro-

duction Designer: Polly Platt. Director of Photography: Lászl

Kovács. Music: Jack Hylton, Dick Powell, Nat Gonella

(among others). Cast: Ryan O’Neal (Moses Pray), Tatum

O’Neal (Addie Loggins), Madeline Kahn (Trixie Delight),

John Hillerman (Deputy Hardin), P. J. Johnson (Imogene),

Jessie Lee Fulton (Miss Ollie), Jim Harrell (The Minister).

Classic caper film for which Tatum O’Neal the Oscar for

Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Addie teams up with

small-time conman Moses in Depression-era America, and

the two of them travel across the country, making money in

every dishonest way imaginable, looking for the ultimate

con. In the production notes MATCHSTICK MEN,the

screenwriters NICK AND TED GRIFFIN acknowledged the

fact that they had been inspired by Bogdanovich’s film.

Reference

Production Information: Matchstick Men (Los Angeles: Warner

Bros. Pictures, 2003), 3–4.

PARKER, MARY-LOUISE (1964– )

Dubbed by some critics as “the long-suffering girl next

door,” Parker’s films include Grand Canyon (1991), Naked

in New York (1993), and Boys on the Side (1995). She plays

another long-suffering role as Jesse James’s (BRAD PITT’s)

wife Zee in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY

THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, who becomes accustomed

to a nomadic existence as her husband travels from place to

place to avoid the clutches of the law. In a preproduction

interview, Parker claimed that Zee was not entirely sub-

servient: “Considering how she helped him [James] regain

his strength after the war, she must have had some power in

the relationship. Plus, she was entrusted with keeping his

secrets.” Zee obviously has great love for her husband,

despite his dubious past; in director ANDREW DOMINIK’s

screenplay she rushes over and cradles James’s head in her

arms as he dies, murmuring “a syllable like ‘God’” as he

does so.

References

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

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

Dominik, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert

Ford,” Final White Draft Screenplay dated 17 August 2005, www

.simplyscripts.com/oscar80.html (accessed 5 February 2009).

PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID

US 1973 r/t 121 min col. Production Company:Metro

Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. Producer: Gordon Carroll. Director:

Sam Peckinpah. Writer: Rudolph Wurlitzer. Director of Pho-

tography: John Coquillon. Art Decorator: Ted Haworth.

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Music: Bob Dylan. Cast: James Coburn (Pat Garrett), Kris

Kristofferson (William “Billy the Kid” Bonney), Richard

Jaeckel (Sheriff Kip McKinney), Chill Wills (Lemuel), Barry

Sullivan (Chisum).

Classic American BUDDY MOVIE that inspired ANDREW

DOMINIK’s film THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES

BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, produced by Scott.

Whereas Peckinpah’s film looks affectionately back at the

West, Dominik adopts a more hardheaded approach, sug-

gesting that the two central characters are in a sense victims

of their own celebrity. The director of photography on The

Assassination, ROGER DEAKINS, admitted that Pat Garrett

influenced him while working on the latter film.

Reference

Stephen Pizzello and Jean Oppenheimer, “Western Destinies,”

American Cinematographer Vol. 88, no.10 (October 2007): 31–35.

PEOPLES, DAVID (1940– )

David Peoples’s first work as a screenwriter was on The Day

After Trinity (1981), having previously worked as a director

on How We Stopped the War (1969) and an editor on Doctor

Dracula/Svengali (1978) and Steel Arena (1973).

The story of how Peoples came to be involved in

BLADE RUNNER as a scriptwriter has been exhaustively

told by PAUL M. SAMMON in his book Future Noir, and in

the documentary “Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner”

included as part of the five-disc Blade Runner: Collector’s

Edition (2007).

Although brought in to work on HAMPTON FAN-

CHER’s original script, Peoples felt that his writing style was

sufficiently similar so as not to cause too many production

difficulties. He told James van Hise,“It was like somebody’d

opened my brain up or something and I look around and

she was reading from an old draft that Hampton had writ-

ten. In other words, I was writing exactly the same dialogue

that Hampton had written months before because I’d just

been presented with the same situation. So I felt that I had

picked up and gotten right in tune with what he was doing.”

Peoples recalled in a 2007 interview that he was brought

in to work on Blade Runner after many drafts of the screen-

play had already been written by Hampton Fancher. Accord-

ing to Ian Nathan, Scott invited Peoples to work on the

script because the director “was perturbed that the charac-

ters ‘never went outside the door’ in his ongoing draft.”

Nathan also quotes Peoples’s statement that his major

contribution to the script was that he came up with the piv-

otal term REPLICANTS: “I just felt that ‘androids’ was an

overused word and kind of comic-booky in the negative

sense.” The idea of replication focused viewer attention on

“What exactly makes us human beings or not human

beings? . . . Are we people because we have memories? That

is the underlying question of the film. And it’s not answered

and not answerable.”

Peoples told Nathan that the film itself had (and still

has) a resonance with viewers: “Is he [Deckard] human? Isn’t

he human? What is human? It’s in a large degree down to

Hampton and Ridley both; their brilliance is to put some-

thing there without giving it talky explanations. You can’t

escape it, but you don’t talk about it.”

References

Ian Nathan, “Empathy Test: Screenwriter David Peoples on the

Meaning of Blade Runner,” Empire, August 2007, 110–11; Paul M.

Sammon, Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner,” 2nd ed. (Lon-

don: Gollancz, 2007), 57–63; “Incept Date—1980: Screenwriting

and Dealmaking,” Disc 2 of Blade Runner: Collector’s Edition (Los

Angeles: Warner Bros. Entertainment and the Blade Runner Part-

nership, 2007); James Van Hise, “The Blade Runner Screenwriters:

Hampton Fancher and David Peoples,” Starlog 55 (May 1982): 23.

PEPSI COLA MIAMI VICE

US 1985 Commercial r/t 40 sec col. Production Company:

RSA. Director: Ridley Scott. Cast: Don Johnson, Philip

Michael Thomas.

At the time of its first broadcast the two stars of this

commercial were playing Crockett and Tubbs in the hit tel-

evision series Miami Vice (1984–1990). In an obvious bid to

attract younger consumers, Scott associates the act of drink-

ing Pepsi-Cola with the characters’ “cool” lifestyles. The

action begins a shot of Miami at night and cuts to a shot of

a dancer gyrating in a night club window. The two men

speak (“Do you see that?”/ “What”/ “That?”) and as they do

so we see the image of Pepsi Cola reflected in their car wind-

screen. Scott cuts to close-ups of the actors asking “So where

we going, anyway?” and then refreshing themselves with a

can of Pepsi. The advertisement finishes with the two of

them in their squad car traveling the Miami streets with a

voice-over (“Hey, I’m everywhere, pal”) followed by a close-

up of the Pepsi can. The slogan, “Pepsi: The Choice of a New

Generation,” appears on screen.

PERCY MAIN

Ridley Scott’s production company, responsible for

THELMA & LOUISE, 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE,

THE BROWNING VERSION, and MONKEY TROUBLE.

Percy Main changed its name to SCOTT FREE in the mid-

1990s.

PERFORMANCE

GB 1970 r/t 105 min col. Production Company: Goodtimes

Enterprises. Producer: Sanford Lieberson. Writer/Director:

Donald Cammell. Production Designer: John Clark. Director

of Photography: Nicolas Roeg. Music: Jack Nitzsche. Cast:

PERFORMANCE

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James Fox (Chas), Mick Jagger (Tur ne r), Anita Pallenberg

(Pherber), Michèle Breton (Lucy), Ann Sidney (Dana), John

Bindon (Moody), Stanley Meadows (Rosenbloom).

Chas, a violent and psychotic East London gangster,

needs a place to lie low after a hit that should never have

been carried out. He finds the perfect cover in the form of a

guesthouse run by the mysterious Mr. Turner, a one-time

rock superstar, who is looking for the right spark to rekin-

dle his faded talent.

Cult gangland thriller set in London in the late 1960s

and early 1970s. The film’s success derives mostly from its

two central performances: Jagger makes a creditable stab at

the role of Turner. His performance provided the inspira-

tion for GARY OLDMAN’s portrayal of The Devil in THE

HIRE: “BEAT THE DEVIL.”

PHILLIPPE, RYAN (1976– )

Began his career in the soap opera One Life to Live, the first-

ever gay character on American television. Described him-

self in one interview as a member of the new Hollywood

generation: “hardworking, ambitious, grounded. Uninter-

ested in drugs. Or sleeping around. Or trashing hotel rooms.

Or the fast, fierce burn-out.”

As Gil Martin in WHITE SQUALL, Phillippe undergoes

a considerable process of growth, both emotional and physi-

cal. Initially he seems completely unsuited to life on board

ship, as he is paralyzed by fears, including fear of heights. In a

brutally sadistic act, Captain Sheldon (JEFF BRIDGES) forces

the young man to confront his fears by climbing the rigging,

despite the young man being petrified of doing so. However,

Sheldon’s shock treatment has a positive effect: as Frank Beau-

mont (JEREMY SISTO) leaves the Albatross for the last time,

Martin climbs to the top of the crow’s nest, holding the ship’s

bell triumphantly over his head and waving to Frank. This

gesture not only emphasizes the crew’s unity of purpose, but

shows how Martin has grown up. It is not surprising, there-

fore, that the rest of the crew begins to cheer.

Reference

Sheila Johnston,“The Life of Ryan,” Evening Standard Hot Tickets,

29 July 1999, 2.

PHOENIX, JOAQUIN (1974– )

Real name Joaquin Rafael Bottom, born in Puerto Rico to

Children of God missionaries John Bottom Amram and

Arlyn Dunetz Jochebed. As a youngster he took his cue from

older siblings River Phoenix and Rain Phoenix and changed

his name to Leaf to match their names.

Cast as the eponymous Clay in the Ridley Scott-pro-

duced film CLAY PIGEONS, Phoenix admitted in an inter-

view, “The toughest part about the role was that there’s so

much happening to this character, that I never got to catch

my breath. During most of Clay’s dialogue scenes, he’s cov-

ering up for something that’s just happened, or is about to

get hit with something new. He tried to do the logical thing,

but events keep conspiring against him.” Phoenix gives a

convincing characterization of a basically well-meaning

young man perpetually subject to the vagaries of fate. In

spite of his best intentions, he keeps being in the wrong place

at the wrong time, and is thereby accused of murders he did

not commit. Compared to his costar VINCE VAUGHN, who

gives a much showier performance in the role of Lester

Long, Phoenix is quite restrained; but director DAVID

DOBKIN has obviously encouraged this kind of approach,

to show how Clay maintains his integrity even when the

fates seem to be against him (as signaled, for instance, in the

repeated use of shots of the sky juxtaposed with close-ups

of Clay, suggesting his insignificance in the overall scheme

of things.)

Cast as Commodus in GLADIATOR, Phoenix had

doubts about his capacity to play the part using an English

accent. In an interview with Film Review he recalled that as

he attended the first rehearsal “dressed in my jeans, I was

thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ Then I put on the lay-

ers of armour and I felt different. Costume and make-up

really do make a big difference, especially because I’m

obsessed with the physicality of a character.” In another

interview with Time Out Phoenix asserted that “[t]he great

thing about Ridley . . . is that, yes, this [Gladiator] is a huge

film, a big spectacle, but within all of that there are strong

characterisations. Ridley didn’t want any black-and-white,

heroes-and-villains stuff, and I think audiences are much

more fucking advanced than that. If you are going to feed

them Die Hard where you have the hero and the bad guy

with the dodgy English accent and that’s what you want,

then fine. But this has much more . . . there is so much going

on, there is this whole arc. He [Commodus] can go from,

like, screaming lunatic to spoilt kid. And that’s basically what

he is—a kid who never got any love from his dad.”

With his cleft palate and perpetual sneer on his face,

Phoenix makes a convincing bad guy. The contrast between

his diminutive stature and the sheer scale of his ambitions

is palpable, most notably in his exchanges with Lucilla

(CONNIE NIELSEN). As he talks about his dreams of pro-

viding the Roman people with “a vision” that will help them

“forget the tedious sermonizing of a few dry old men [the

Senate],” he has to look up to his sister, as if seeking approval

from her for his ideas. At the same time he possesses a great

sense of theater. His return to Rome is celebrated by means

of a vast pageant: an honor guard, cheering crowds, and a

welcoming party of senators waiting for him on the steps of

the Senate. The sheer scale of the scene recalls the fascist

parades of Hitler or Mussolini, the only difference being that

Commodus has not done anything to deserve it. Gracchus

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PHILLIPPE, RYAN (1976– )

(DEREK JACOBI) observes somewhat sardonically that “He

[Commodus] enters Rome like a conquering hero. But what

has he conquered?” The answer is obvious—the Praetorian

guard. Until the film’s final moments, when Quintus (Tomas

Arana) tells them to defy orders and “sheath their swords,”

Commodus’s position is secure. Once he loses the guard’s

support, however, he is no match for Maximus (RUSSELL

CROWE) in the final duel.

Even though Commodus conceives of himself as a vil-

lain, perhaps he is rather to be pitied than despised. Phoenix

himself observed in the book of the film that “he has all the

emotions that go with being that age without having had the

guidance he needed to handle that power. He’s vulnerable

and sad one minute and throwing a tantrum the next. He

desperately wants the love of the people, but the irony of the

story is that the gladiatorial games he decrees to get the

masses to love him are ultimately what bring his nemesis

[Maximus] to Rome.” Perhaps the problem can be attributed

to his father Marcus (RICHARD HARRIS), whose obsession

with military glory rendered him totally oblivious to his son.

Commodus at one point cries: “Father, I would have

butchered the whole world if you would only have loved

me!!” On this view, perhaps his despotic rule of Rome rep-

resents an attempt both to assert his authority and erase his

father’s memory.

References

“Gladiator by David Franzoni, revised by John Logan,” Transcribed

from the film, http://sfy.ru/sfy/html?script=gladiator_ts (accessed

29 November 2008); Martyn Palmer, “Royal Flush,” Time Out,

10–17 May 2000, 24; Joaquin Phoenix, interviewed in “Production

Notes: Clay Pigeons,” included on the European DVD release of the

film (Frankfurt: BY Internationale Medien und Film, 1998);

Joaquin Phoenix, quoted in Diana Landau, ed., Gladiator: The

Making of the Ridley Scott Epic (Basingstoke and London: Boxtree,

2000), 55; “Phoenix Rising,” Film Review Special #51 (2004): 65.

Bibliography

Anne Hanley,“Even an Emperor Likes a Good Day,” Evening Stan-

dard (London), 19 May 2000, 36.

PICARDO, ROBERT (1953– )

Robert Picardo began his screen career in series such as

Kojak and minor roles in films such as Oh, God! You Devil

(1984).

Cast as Meg Mucklebones in LEGEND, Picardo’s cameo

role offers him the chance to savor his lines in an evil, threat-

ening tone as s/he contemplates the prospect of eating Jack

(TOM CRUISE) for dinner. Actually, Scott’s decision to cast

a tall male in a female role reaffirms his belief in the tradi-

tion of the monstrous-feminine; no woman can actually

convey the monster’s sheer awfulness. This provides further

evidence of how skeptically the director approaches the

question of FEMINISM.

PILEGGI, NICHOLAS (1933– )

Writer of hit GANGSTER FILMS such as GoodFellas (1990),

Casino (1995), and City Hall (1996). Pileggi introduced

author MARK JACOBSON to Frank Lucas, which inspired

the story that was eventually turned into the film AMERI-

CAN GANGSTER. Pileggi also appeared in the television

profile of Lucas, broadcast in October 2006 as part of the

American Gangster series.

PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY

US 1999 TVM r/t 95 min col. Production Companies: Haft

Entertainment, St. Nick Productions, and Turner Network

Television. Producer: Leanne Moore. Director: Martyn Burke.

Writer: Martyn Burke, from the book Fire in the Valley by

Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. Director of Photogra-

phy: Ousama Rawi. Production Designer: Jeff Ginn. Music:

Frank Fitzpatrick. Cast: Noah Wyle (Steve Jobs), Joey Slot-

nick (Steve Wozniak), Anthony Michael Hall (Bill Gates).

The men behind Apple and Microsoft—Steve Jobs

(Noah Wyle) and Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall)—are

profiled in this made-for-TV movie, focusing in particular

on their early years and how they created their respective

companies. Ridley Scott appears as a character in the film,

portrayed by J. G. Hertzler; in the opening sequence he is

shown directing the famous commercial for APPLE COM-

PUTERS. The role is a small one; what comes across in the

film is that Scott is a dedicated filmmaker, perfectly at home

in the world of the studio and perfectly able to deal with

large crowds and elaborate settings. He has a brief exchange

with Jobs, but seems more concerned with the set-up, mak-

ing sure that the actors know their moves. The commercial

itself was supposed to represent the apotheosis of Jobs’s

achievement; the film suggests that it was the beginning of

the end. Whereas Jobs believed that his main enemy was

IBM computers (the “Big Brother”) of the commercial, in

truth it was Microsoft, then a fledgling organization run by

Gates, which was about to take over as the major player in

the global PC market. It was Jobs’s tragedy that he failed to

take note of this.

PITT, BRAD (1963– )

Born in Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri, Pitt

never formally trained in acting. He began his screen career

in TV sitcoms (Growing Pains in 1985, Head of the Class in

1986).

THELMA & LOUISE represented his big break in films.

Cast as the young drifter JD, he is portrayed as beautiful

object and roguish subject, the means to Thelma’s indepen-

dence, even if he does abuse and abandon her like every

PITT, BRAD (1963– )

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