Raw L. The Ridley Scott Encyclopedia

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quoted ALBERT FINNEY (playing the central character

Crocker-Harris) as saying that he had seldom played a char-

acter “so isolated and stoic. It goes back to English good

manners—that you’re not supposed to show the world how

you are, how you feel or express your emotions.” GRETA

SCACCHI (playing Laura Crocker-Harris) felt that Laura

suffered as a result of Crocker-Harris’s reticence: “To have

spent so many years giving herself to all the requirements of

that position [as a teacher’s wife] and then to have it taken

away so abruptly must feel like a terrible betrayal. This is a

woman in need of tenderness, love and affection . . . she’s not

getting those things from her husband and hasn’t for a long

time. She’s also being spurned by her lover. She’s very vul-

nerable.” BEN SILVERSTONE felt that the young boy

Taplow cared for both Crocker-Harrises, as his own parents

were divorced; they were surrogate parents for him. Princi-

pal photography commenced in the early summer of 1993

in Sherborne, Dorset at the historic public school, and

wrapped three months later.

Reviews were mixed: Geoff Brown of the London Times

was surprised that “the directors of Alien and Stormy Mon-

day would aspire to such pedigree British fare.” Although

they produced a worthy film, it seemed to be little else other

than “an exercise in widening one’s portfolio, supplying the

market with genteel fodder. You rarely feel they were moti-

vated by fresh thoughts about the material.” Geoffrey Mac-

nab of Sight and Sound agreed, criticizing screenwriter

Harwood for failing “to communicate what makes The

Browning Version relevant to 1994, or to chart any of the

social and political changes since it was first performed in

1948.” He wondered why the film had been made in the first

place,“if neither director, scriptwriter nor star had anything

new to add to the innumerable Browning Versions that have

gone before it” (even though there had only been one pre-

vious film version of the play). Geoff Andrew of Time Out

believed the film’s principal focus of interest lay in the char-

acterizations, especially Finney’s; his “quiet but overwhelm-

ingly moving performance . . . lends the film an emotional

truth its heritage trimmings hardly deserve.”

Responding to the critics’ comments, Figgis gave an

interview to the London Independent, in which he accused

them of misunderstanding his purposes: “My interest was

less in the school, the boy and his teacher than on the fail-

ure of a marriage. It was not my intention to make him a

cold-hearted teacher ...He is simply out of time and mis-

understood ...So I put the relationship into the foreground.

I don’t care about the original in terms of reverence. I don’t

think what we did was out of character with the original.

The boy’s character also benefited from this change of

emphasis.” The film experienced problems with distribution

in the United States, so much so that it made only $400,000

in the first year of its release.

From the film’s beginning, we realize that we are back

in the world of THE DUELLISTS, one dominated by tradi-

tion and eccentric codes of behavior. Anyone caught break-

ing the rules is put in “Cromwell’s” (the school’s euphemism

for being punished); boys should not speak to the teachers

once the bell has rung signaling the beginning of a lesson;

the end-of-semester celebrations are marked by the annual

cricket match between the first team and the Old Boys; the

entire school meets for prize-giving; and the boys themselves

are encouraged not to show their emotions, as this would be

a sign of weakness on their part. Crocker-Harris is a living

symbol of the school’s ethos; nicknamed “the Hitler of the

Lower Fifth,” his “end-of-term treat” consists of having his

students read the Agamemnon by Aeschylus out loud in

Latin, even though none of them have the faintest clue what

is going on. The fact that Greek and Latin continue to be

taught in private schools is testament to the power of tradi-

tion. Frank Hunter (MATTHEW MODINE) might marvel

at one point that, by walking around the school, “you feel

the history, the tradition,” but the film suggests that this is

something potentially destructive, rather than beneficial, to

the students’ education.

The film uses visual devices to reemphasize this point.

On several occasions Laura and Frank are shown riding their

bicycles along winding country roads, with the green English

fields in the background. This movement-image contrasts

with the interior shots of the school, where staff walk sedately

and senior students scold their juniors for running down the

corridors. Crocker-Harris is frequently photographed from

the inside, looking through a barred window at the fields out-

side: a classic prison-image characteristic of HERITAGE

FILMS of the 1980s and 1990s.

In such a world, it is hardly surprising that boys and

teachers alike grow up emotionally stunted. The boys them-

selves never experience a true CHILDHOOD, being bound

to observe certain rules and conventions which so inhibit

them that they are cruel to one another; for example, the

older boy Trubshaw’s (Oliver Milburn’s) arbitrary bullying

of Taplow in the showers (where he calls Taplow’s mother a

whore). Nor are the teachers of much help: Dr. Rafferty

announces brusquely to the boy Buller (Walter Mickleth-

wait) that Buller’s parents will not be coming to the school

for prize-giving and that Buller himself should take the train

home. When Buller’s face screws up with tears, Rafferty asks

him the pointless question “Are you all right?” and pauses,

until the boy recovers his sang-froid and replies “Yes, sir.” In

this kind of environment, manliness is achieved by suppress-

ing one’s emotions. Nor can the boys expect much sympa-

thy from the headmaster Dr. Frobisher, who brusquely

announces during the end-of-semester celebrations that he

does not believe in “stuffing the boys” either with food or

pastoral care.

■

THE BROWNING VERSION

(1994)

The prime example of how the school’s atmosphere can

affect an individual can be found in Crocker-Harris himself,

a once brilliant classical scholar who has learned to keep his

emotions under wraps at all times. Even when the headmas-

ter tells him that he will not receive a pension from the

school on his retirement, Crocker-Harris’s characteristic

reaction is to nod his head and accept the decision, even if

it will cause him considerable financial strain. When the ide-

alistic teacher Tom Gilbert (JULIAN SANDS) asks him

about his future career, Crocker-Harris responds by repeat-

ing the phrase—“My future career?”—and taking a long

pause before finishing the discussion with the words,“Thank

you.” Even when he learns from Frank of his wife’s infidelity,

Crocker-Harris’s mask of civility never drops; he admits that

Laura and he “were incompatible from the moment we met”

and thereby concludes that perhaps her adultery was

inevitable.

In this film we are back in familiar Scott territory. The

role of the emotions in determining human behavior has

also been analyzed in BLADE RUNNER, as the REPLICANT

Batty (RUTGER HAUER) turns out to be more human than

Deckard even though he has been manufactured by Tyrell

(JOE TURKEL). In the futuristic world of LOS ANGELES,

emotions are not particularly significant—especially for

beings with a limited four-year life span. Similarly, in The

Browning Version human emotions are equally unimportant;

what matters more is to maintain the school’s finances and

thereby ensure that long-established traditions survive. In a

significant sequence, the headmaster is shown brushing

aside a parent’s complaints about the quality of the food as

he seeks to cultivate the friendship of a rich Nigerian prince

(Jotham Annan) in the hope of securing a substantial finan-

cial gift.

The Browning Version also parallels Blade Runner in its

view of language, which is perceived not as a means of com-

munication but as a way of filling the empty void. This is

especially evident during the end-of-semester cricket match,

where everyone congratulates the star all-rounder David

Fletcher (David Lever) on his performance, whether they are

interested in the game or not. While the school choir is

shown performing a classical piece in the chapel, not one of

the assembled company actually listens to them. The head-

master continues his social ritual of talking to affluent par-

ents; two prominent old boys Newton and Trimmer

(Stephen Mitchelson, David Pullan) offer financial assistance

to Crocker-Harris; and the teachers gossip amongst them-

selves. It seems that silence is discouraged on the basis that

it might prompt the characters to reflect on their personal

inadequacies.

Figgis emphasizes this point through repeated close-ups

of Laura’s face, staring expressionlessly into the distance

while everyone else continues to speak. She understands how

life in the school has transformed her into an emotional

cripple and led to the destruction of her marriage. The point

is reemphasized in the film’s climactic scene, when Fletcher

delivers his farewell speech to the boys. Although highly

adept at cricket, he can barely communicate except in a

series of meaningless clichés.

However, unlike Blade Runner, The Browning Version

offers some hope for the future in Crocker-Harris’s climac-

tic speech. Having spent his entire teaching career cultivat-

ing a mask of emotional indifference, he takes the

opportunity to look back on his life. He moves down from

the podium into the audience and apologizes to the boys for

his failure to give them sympathy, encouragement or

humanity. This is why everyone called him “the Hitler of the

Lower Fifth.” He admits that he had ideals when he first

came to the school eighteen years before, but that he has

now lost them; for this he begs the students’ forgiveness. As

he walks through the auditorium, the camera tracks him

in medium close-up: here is a man desperately trying to

acknowledge his inadequacies in public, perhaps for the first

time. When he finishes, the audience applauds—hesitantly

at first, but gradually gaining in enthusiasm as they realize

exactly what he has done. The film ends with Crocker-Har-

ris removing his academic gown as he watches Laura driv-

ing away in a minivan; symbolically this represents him

throwing off the shackles of his previous life and looking

forward to the future, even if it might seem uncertain.

The Browning Version returns once again to the ques-

tion of LOVE VS. DUTY that runs through so many of

Scott’s films. In Crocker-Harris’s case, the conflict simply

does not arise; he has consciously suppressed any emotions

and dedicated himself to the duty of teaching the Classics.

Towards the end of the film he is shown standing outside the

school with a stone statue in the background, an image that

well expresses his state of mind. However, there are at least

occasions upon which Crocker-Harris hints at the imagina-

tive possibilities lurking beneath the surface. At one point he

is shown reading the Agamemnon out loud to his class; his

voice wraps itself round the Latin consonants, and, just for

once, we see just how dramatic Aeschylus can be if per-

formed by an enthusiast. The sequence is punctured by a

bathetic climax, as the bell rings to signal the end of the les-

son, Crocker-Harris falls silent and the students nervously

offer their good wishes, consisting mostly of the two words

“Bye, sir.” Even in this restricted environment, where stu-

dents and staff alike are restricted from expressing their feel-

ings except in monosyllables, Crocker-Harris retains his love

of literature. It is one of the tragedies of this film that he can-

not communicate it to his students; the only way he can deal

with this is to suppress his emotions and concentrate on his

duties. Only when he delivers his retirement speech does

Crocker-Harris have sufficient confidence to show his true

THE BROWNING VERSION

(1994)

■

personality—one which totally contradicts his reputation as

“the Hitler of the Lower Fifth.” One of the other nicknames

he is given is that of “the Crock”—which either can refer to

a crocodile or describe someone who has been injured (as

in, he/she has been “crocked”) in British English. This is pre-

cisely what has happened to Crocker-Harris; eighteen years

in a public school has transformed him into an emotional

cripple, obsessed with duty and incapable of love.

This Browning Version may have its anachronisms

(some of the idioms—“cut along,” meaning “off you go”—

have long passed out of current British English usage), but

it once again shows off Rattigan’s ability to create dramas of

narrowly reclaimed opportunity. His protagonists do not

achieve much, but what they do achieve is worth keeping—

for example, self-respect.

References

Geoff Andrew, “The Browning Version,” Time Out,2 November

1994, 68; Geoff Brown, “Rather a Browned-off Version,” The Times

(London), 27 October 1994, 37; Mike Figgis, interviewed by David

Benedict, The Independent, 3 November 1994, 26; Mike Figgis,

quoted in Anwar Brett, “Back to School,” What’s on in London,26

October 1994, 31; Geoffrey Macnab,“The Browning Version,” Sight

and Sound, November 1994, 42; Production Information: The

Browning Version (Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures, 1994), 4–5;

“Profiles—Mike Figgis,” Empire, November 1994, 56–57.

Bibliography

Brian Case, “Grave Browning,” Time Out, 2 November 1994, 67.

BRUCKHEIMER, JERRY (1945– )

Born Jerome Leonard Bruckheimer in Detroit, Bruckheimer

has enjoyed a long and successful career as a producer in

films and television. His numerous successes include TOP

GUN (1986), Con Air (1997), Armageddon (1998), and Pearl

Harbor (2001).

Bruckheimer bought Mark Bowden’s book Black Hawk

Down for the film of the same name as a follow-up to Pearl

Harbor (2001). He brought in Scott to direct, on the basis of

his track record in war films, notably G.I. JANE. He had

worked with Scott thirty years previously, when the two of

them had collaborated on a tire commercial.

Bruckheimer had a close hands-on involvement with the

making of the film. He insisted in an interview that the actors

had to prepare meticulously for their roles by spending some

time in US Army training camps: “[I]t was really important

for the actors to actually become part of the military, even for

a short time, if they were going to portray soldiers. We

wanted actors to have respect for the military and understand

the physical challenges that they go through. If you talk to

any soldier who has been through a battle or a war, they’ll tell

you that the only thing that saved their lives was either the

man next to them, or their training.” Bruckheimer also had

to deal with the bureaucratic problems arising from the deci-

sion to film in Morocco. In the production notes he recalled

that “even though we have a great relationship with the gov-

ernment, this was a much bigger operation than anything we

had attempted before . . . We were talking about actual troop

deployment.” Eventually the problems were overcome, and

Bruckheimer subsequently oversaw much of the filming: “it

was an awesome sight to see . . . This isn’t a movie where

we’re using a lot of computer-generated imagery. It’s the real

deal, and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. They [the crew

and the pilots] did an amazing job.”

James Clarke remarks that the film, when it opened, was

considered by many to be “nothing less than a piece of

American propaganda, the second such produced by Bruck-

heimer in 2001 [after Pearl Harbor].”

References

Jerry Bruckheimer, quoted in A. C. Parfitt, Orlando Bloom: The

Biography (London: John Blake Publishing Ltd., 2004), 50; James

Clarke, Ridley Scott (London: Virgin Books, 2002), 210, 219;“Pro-

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

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

172–73.

BRUNO, DYLAN (1972– )

Born in Milford, Connecticut, Bruno made his debut on the

NBC series High Sierra Search and Rescue (1995) while

working as a model for Calvin Klein. He made his film debut

in Naked Ambition (1997).

Bruno has played agent Colby Granger in seventy-three

episodes of NUMB3RS since 2005. A reliable presence within

the FBI team, he had the chance to lead an investigation in

“One Hour” (Series 3, Episode 17). A veteran of the war in

Afghanistan, Granger brings some of his army training to the

process of trying to solve crime in the series. His behavior

seems impeccable, which made the revelation (at the end of

Series 3) that he had apparently been spying for the Chinese

seem all the more shocking. The occasion caused such conster-

nation amongst fans of the series that they opened up a web-

site, Save Colby!—dedicated to the character—which continues

to this day, even if the character still remains in the series.

References

Save Colby! http://community.livejournal.com/savecolby (accessed

22 February 2009).

BUDDY MOVIES

In SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME and BLACK RAIN,

Scott uses the convention of the buddy film to suggest the

strength of male bonding and thereby reiterates the fact that

there is something clearly definable as “masculine” behavior.

■

BRUCKHEIMER, JERRY (1945– )

A buddy film is a film in which the central characters are two

friends who appear together throughout the film. The buddy

cop film is a popular sub-genre of the buddy film; this is espe-

cially evident in Black Rain, with the central characters Nick

Conklin (MICHAEL DOUGLAS) and his sidekick Charlie

Vincent (ANDY GARCIA). When Charlie meets a bloody

end, Nick forms another bond with the Japanese police offi-

cer Masahiro (KEN TAKAKURA). As with other buddy cop

films, Black Rain analyzes the friendship that exists (and

develops) between the police officers. In a reassertion of MAS-

CULINITY, Scott stresses the importance of loyalty towards

one’s buddy when logic (or outside forces) would demand

otherwise. The same also applies in the reality series AMERI-

CAN FIGHTER PILOT, where group loyalty ensures that the

pilots remain a coherent fighting unit both in war and peace-

time. BLACK HAWK DOWN elevates the notion of male

bonding into a creed that determines the soldiers’ lives. Hoot

(ERIC BANA) sums up the Rangers’ outlook succinctly in a

short speech towards the end: “Why do you do it man? [fight

in battle] Why? You some kind of war junkie? I won’t say a

god damned word. Why? Because they [outsiders] won’t

understand. They won’t understand why we do it. They won’t

understand, it’s about the men next to you . . . and that’s it . . .

that’s all it is.” In AMERICAN GANGSTER—EXTENDED

VERSION Scott includes a new ending which shows the police

officer Richie Roberts (RUSSELL CROWE) and the ex-drug

dealer Frank Lucas (DENZEL WASHINGTON) walking

down the streets of Harlem together. Once deadly enemies,

they now try to help one another out. The same also applies

to the two brothers, Don and Charlie Eppes (ROB MOR-

ROW, DAVID KRUMHOLTZ) in NUMB3RS; although they

come from vastly different backgrounds, they always look out

for one another.

If that sense of camaraderie is lost, then individual men

often do not know how to act; this is the case with Melot

(Henry Cavill) in TRISTAN + ISOLDE, who loses his two

friends Simon (Leo Gregory) and Tristan (JAMES FRANCO)

in battle, and who subsequently turns against his king in the

hope of obtaining power. Needless to say, Melot is punished

for his action, as Wicktred (MARK STRONG) stabs him to

death.

The validity of male bonding is subject to intense

scrutiny in CLAY PIGEONS. Earl (Gregory Sporleder)

commits suicide in front of his best friend Clay (JOAQUIN

PHOENIX), despite proclaiming that Clay is his best

friend. The explanation, according to MATT HEALY’s script,

is simple: Clay has been sleeping with Earl’s wife Amanda

(GEORGINA CATES), and in Earl’s view Clay has to pay for

this: “I’m not saying with your life. But you got to do some

time . . . I got it all figured out, Clay.” Clay strikes up another

friendship with Lester Long (VINCE VAUGHN), but finds

himself unable to shake the other man off, even though

Long happens to be a serial killer. The friendship only ends

when Long has no further use for him: Long hitches a lift

with a man in a pickup truck carrying horses, bidding Clay

a cheery farewell with the observation that perhaps “we’ll do

better next time.” But perhaps there will be no “next time”:

the truck driver is actually Sheriff Mooney (SCOTT WIL-

SON) in disguise, preparing to arrest Long for murder. The

fragility of male bonding is also explored in RKO 281,where

Orson Welles (LIEV SCHREIBER) cultivates a close friend-

ship with screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (JOHN

MALKOVICH), but willfully omits his name from the fin-

ished script of Citizen Kane. The two of them are apparently

reconciled as Welles tells a sentimental tale of his stormy

relationship with his father; but screenwriter JOHN LOGAN

makes us aware this is nothing more than a ploy designed to

appeal to Mankiewicz’s better nature: “his [Welles’s] expres-

sion is one of ‘Gotcha!’—even as his cheeks are still wet with

tears.” Welles has no close friends; everyone can be manip-

ulated to serve his own interests. The same fate awaits the

three college buddies in THE COMPANY—Jack (CHRIS

O’DONNELL), Leo (ALESSANDRO NIVOLA), and Yevgeny

(RORY COCHRANE). Their friendship is nothing more

than an illusion: Yevgeny’s education has been funded by the

Soviet government so that he can successfully pass as an

American during his career as a spy; Leo turns out to be a

Soviet mole (codenamed Sasha) within the CIA; while Jack

ultimately denounces Leo as a traitor. Similarly in THE

ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD

ROBERT FORD, every member of the James gang suspects

one another of treachery—and with good reason, as Robert

Ford (CASEY AFFLECK) connives with his brother Charley

(SAM ROCKWELL) to bring Jesse James (BRAD PITT) to

justice and thereby claim a substantial reward. In BODY OF

LIES, the whole convention of the buddy movie is turned on

its head: Ed Hoffman (RUSSELL CROWE) uses the term

simply to make his subordinate Roger Ferris (LEONARDO

DICAPRIO) believe that the two of them are working for

the CIA as a team. In truth, Hoffman pursues his own

agenda and manipulates Ferris to carry it out.

The male bonding convention is given a feminist slant

in THELMA & LOUISE. While the primary relationship in

the film is between two women (SUSAN SARANDON,

GEENA DAVIS), Scott suggests that their relationship is sim-

ilar to that of the two cops in Black Rain in the sense that they

empathize with one another. Louise, for instance, has always

appreciated that Thelma was “a little crazy.” Their relation-

ship derives from friendship and trust, in contrast to the rela-

tionships between the two sexes, which are perpetually

subject to misunderstanding and misinterpretation. The

most extreme example of this occurs in the truck scene where

the trucker (MARCO ST. JOHN) makes lewd gestures to the

two women, gestures about which they later question him

BUDDY MOVIES

■

(“What’s that supposed to mean, exactly?”). Such comments

make no sense to him; in his view two women driving along

on an open road must always be available. When he stops the

truck, he takes off his wedding ring and grabs a couple of

condoms, asking them as he does so whether they are “about

ready to get serious.” The humor of this scene derives from

what he and the women understand by what it means to “get

serious.” More importantly, such moments underline the

importance of same-sex relationships—as embodied in the

buddy film—as a way of coping with the world.

WHERE THE MONEY IS depicts a similar relationship—

only this time it involves Carol MacKay, a younger woman

(LINDA FIORENTINO), and Henry Manning, an older

man (PAUL NEWMAN), who describes himself as old

enough to be her great-great-great-grandfather. There is

nothing sexual here; rather, the two of them are bound by a

shared desire to experience the world firsthand, to enjoy the

thrill of robbing a security firm or a jeweler’s shop. Like

Thelma and Louise, they empathize with one another, and

it is this empathy that keeps them together.

References

Matt Healy, In Too Deep (Draft Script dated 7 January 1997) (Bev-

erly Hills, CA: Scott Free, 1997); John Logan,“Draft Script for RKO

281” (dated May 1, 1997), http://sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=rko218

(accessed 16 November 2008), 37; Ken Nolan, Black Hawk Down:

The Shooting Script (New York: Newmarket Press, 2002), 126.

BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S. (1914–1997)

Author of the original text BLADE RUNNER, from which

Scott borrowed the title for his film. Blade Runner—A Movie

was published as a screenplay treatment wherein Burroughs

explored the coming apocalyptic medical-care crisis, and the

birth of a tenacious and inventive underground holistic

medicine.

Burroughs himself suggested that the book was “about

America. What America was and what America could be,

and how those who try to stifle the American dream are

defeated ...about a city we all know and love, a city which

has come to represent all cities. In the year 2014 New York,

world center for underground medicine, is the most glam-

orous, the most dangerous, the most exotic, vital, far-out city

the world has ever seen . . . this film is about a second chance

for Billy the blade runner, and for all humanity.” The frame-

work remains much the same in Scott’s film, even though it

takes place in LOS ANGELES rather than NEW YORK.

However the Burroughs text contains a racist element that

does not exist in the film as he refers to “the niggers and the

spics” kept on Medicare and thereby retaining sufficient

strength to mug or cause harm to hapless middle-income

white people.

Reference

William S. Burroughs, Blade Runner (A Movie) (Berkeley: Blue

Wind Press, 1979), 3–5.

■

BURROUGHS, WILLIAM S. (1914–1997)

CAGE, NICOLAS (1964– )

Born Nicolas Coppola, the son of an academic. His uncle is

Francis Coppola, director of the Godfather trilogy; his aunt

is actress Talia Shire and his grandfather was composer

Carmine Coppola. His mother, Joy Vogelsang, was a dancer.

Wanting to distance himself from the Coppola family

and the baggage that brought with it to Hollywood, he

changed his name to Cage, after a comic book hero. Cage

established the reputation of being a versatile actor, with

performances ranging from his Oscar-winning role in MIKE

FIGGIS’s Leaving Las Vegas (1995) to the name part in Cap-

tain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001). In MATCHSTICK MEN he

plays Roy Waller, a part reminiscent of his earlier role in

Honeymoon in Vegas. Producer Steve Starkey described the

part thus in a preproduction interview: “He has a whole cat-

alogue of nervous tics. It takes an actor with a certain sensi-

bility to do more with these compulsive mannerisms than

just play them for laughs. Nicolas Cage has the comic

instinct for that, but it’s the vulnerability he brings to the

character that makes you really feel for him, and I believe

that’s critical to the role.” However, the part as written was

not necessarily comic, but as Cage remarked, “we tried to

present them in such a way that audiences could see the

humor in it [by offering] . . . some very entertaining

moments without mocking people who actually have these

kinds of problems.”

NICK AND TED GRIFFIN’s script gives Cage plenty of

opportunity to display his versatility. One sequence begins

with Roy staring out of the window, coffee cup in hand, at

the swimming pool outside. Suddenly this moment of seren-

ity is violated as he espies two leaves floating on the water.

He removes them with a long pole, rinses out his coffee

mug, cleans the kitchen countertop, runs the faucet, and

looks for his vial of pills. However, he accidentally knocks

the vial into the sink and sends the pills scattering down the

garbage disposal. Unable to recover any of them, he walks

up and down the living room—only to discover that he has

dirtied the rug. This prompts another flurry of activity, as

he cleans the living room, bathroom, and all the exterior

windows. The entire sequence lasts about two to three min-

utes, and is shot at speed, rather like a Keystone Cops film,

emphasizing the comic aspects of Roy’s behavior.

Cage understands the importance of the single gesture

as a way of signaling Roy’s character development. When he

believes that Angela (ALISON LOHMAN) has shot Frechette

(BRUCE McGILL), he tells her, “Sit tight, honey.” He main-

tains eye contact with Angela—something he never could

have contemplated earlier on. Angela returns unexpectedly

into his life at the end of the film, as she and her boyfriend

visit the carpet shop where Roy now works. Now it is she

who cannot look at him; by contrast, Roy is a man at ease

who talks to people directly without embarrassment.

References

Nick and Ted Griffin, “Matchstick Men: Shooting Draft” (14 Octo-

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

4 January 2009); Production Information: Matchstick Men (Los

Angeles: Warner Bros. Pictures, 2003), 6–7.

Bibliography

Olivier de Bruyn, “Pourquoi on Sait Pas Qui T’Es?” Premiere

(French ed.) 319 (September 2003): 94–97; Chris Hewitt, “Play:

Ridley Scott: Q&A,” Empire 177 (March 2004): 138; Ian Markham-

Smith and Liz Hodgson, Nicolas Cage, The Unauthorised Biography

(London: Blake Publishing Ltd., 2001); Rebecca Murray, “Nicolas

Cage Plays a Con Artist in ‘Matchstick Men,’ ” About.com (September

2003), http://movies.about.com/cs/matchstickmen/a/matchnicolas

.htm (accessed 7 August 2008).

CALLEY, JOHN (c. 1930– )

Producer and former president of Sony Pictures Entertain-

ment (1996–2003). His credits include Ice Station Zebra

(1969), and Castle Keep (1969) and more recently Closer

(2004) and The DaVinci Code (2006). He had vetoed an early

draft of WHITE SQUALL before the project was handed on

to Ridley Scott. In 2006 Calley initiated the project to film

THE COMPANY by contacting KEN NOLAN, who later

introduced him to Scott. The two of them—Calley and

Scott—acted as co-executive producers of the series.

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CANUEL, ERIK (1964– )

Canuel directed three episodes of THE HUNGER: TELEVI-

SION SERIES, including “Night Bloomer” (Series 2 episode

12). Subsequent work in television includes Big Wolf on

Campus (1999–2002) and The Dead Zone (2007).

CAPSHAW, KATE (1953– )

Born Kathleen Sue Nail in Fort Worth, Texas. Capshaw made

her debut in the daytime soap opera The Edge of Night

(1981), and beat 120 actresses to secure the part of Wil-

helmina (“Willie”) Scott in Indiana Jones and the Temple of

Doom (1984).

Cast as Joyce in BLACK RAIN, Capshaw had for the first

time to play a tough-girl role, something she had hitherto

not experienced in films. She also had to undergo a “radical

appearance change,” spending eight hours in a New York

salon having her naturally brunette hair dyed seriously

blond: “Blond women are a hot commodity in Japan . . . The

concept for Kate in Black Rain is golden goddess. Virtually

everything she appears in is gold.” However, she fulfills a

largely peripheral role in the film as an itinerant American

living in Osaka who has acquired the language but still can-

not appreciate the nuances of the local culture. She works at

a local bar providing “comfort” for tired businesspeople. Her

relationship with Nick Conklin (MICHAEL DOUGLAS) is

a stormy one; she chides him for his lack of cultural sensi-

tivity and provides him with minimal assistance in his search

for the yakuza leader Sato (YUSAKU MATSUDA). However,

CRAIG BOLOTIN and Warren Lewis’s script has her under-

going a miraculous change of heart; by the film’s end she is

prepared to conduct a tentative love affair with Nick even

though she is well aware it will not last.

As with other actresses (notably JOANNA CASSIDY in

BLADE RUNNER), Scott does not seem particularly interested

in Capshaw. Consequently, she gives a colorless performance,

particularly when compared to the male protagonists. In the

original script Joyce had a more substantial role, in which

she is taken hostage by Kobo/Sato and held at gunpoint in

exchange for Sato’s freedom, but this sequence was taken out

of the final version.

References

Kate Capshaw, interviewed in “Black Rain: The Script, The Cast,”

Special Feature included in the Special Collector’s Edition DVD

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

mount Pictures, 2006); Jerry Lazar, “Going for the Gold,” Premiere

2, no.11 (July 1989): 64.

CAPTIVE AUDIENCE PRODUCTIONS

This company was responsible for the visual effects in HAN-

NIBAL, especially the silicone makeup for Mason Verger

(GARY OLDMAN). Wes Wofford, key makeup artist,

observed in an interview that “The whole film was reality-

based....And there was the technical aspect of Verger, try-

ing to do the disfigured thing so Gary Oldman could come

through it and not be covered up too much. He still has to

look deformed. When you cut the face off, and subtract it,

that’s always a challenge.” The company was also responsi-

ble for the animatronic model of RAY LIOTTA, used during

the climactic scene when the character is seen eating his own

brains.

References

Douglas Eby, “Captive Audience: Realizing the Gruesome Makeup

Efx,” Cinefantastique 32, No.6 (February 2001): 14.

CARHART, TIMOTHY (1953– )

Born in Washington, DC, Carhart made his film debut with

small roles in Ghostbusters (1984), Witness (1985), and Work-

ing Girl (1988).

Cast as the drunken Harlan in THELMA & LOUISE,

Carhart portrays a character who initially seems attractive

and charming, but who expects a payoff at the end of the

evening as he tries to rape Thelma (GEENA DAVIS). When

she refuses, he reacts with disbelief; this is not how women

should behave in a patriarchal world. He ignores her pleas

to stop, so Louise (SUSAN SARANDON) shoots him; what

she witnesses is very close to her own experiences of rape in

Texas. The role of Harlan is a thankless one, but is nonethe-

less important to the film as an example of the kind of male

behavior that the two women repudiate as they forge new

identities for themselves.

CARNAHAN, JOE (1969– )

Graduated from Fairfield High School, California in 1987.

Carnahan made his directorial debut with a low-budget

thriller Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane (1998). THE HIRE:

“TICKER” was his major debut as a writer-director. In the

“Director’s Commentary” to the film, he recalled how he

tried to keep the story fragmented in order to maintain the

audience’s interest. Although supposed to take place in an

unspecified African country, the film was actually shot in

northern California. He also likened the plot of the film to

Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959).

References

Joe Carnahan, Director’s Commentary to the DVD release of The

Hire: Ticker (Los Angeles, BMW of North America, 2003).

CARRADINE, KEITH (1949– )

Keith Carradine, the son of John Carradine and Sonia Sorel,

got the break that launched his career while providing musi-

cal accompaniment for his late brother David during an

audition for the Broadway musical Hair. The author and

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CANUEL, ERIK (1964– )

stars found Carradine to be more suited for the part, and he

spent nearly a year on Broadway, eventually moving into the

lead role of Claude (1969). He then landed the role of a

young gunslinger in A Gunfight (1970) with Kirk Douglas

and Johnny Cash, which was followed by Robert Altman’s

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) with Warren Beatty, and the

Altman classics Thieves Like Us (1974) and Nashville (1975).

Carradine was Ridley Scott’s second choice for the role

of Feraud in THE DUELLISTS, after STACY KEACH. At the

time of filming, he was enjoying such success with the song

“I’m Easy” (which resulted in a US tour) that it was uncer-

tain until the last moment whether he could accept the part.

Nonetheless, Carradine eventually played the role—and

proved to be extremely competent. Scott recalled that the

actor was especially good at horseback riding and also

encouraged the director’s two children—who played small

parts in the film—to act naturally in front of the camera.

Carradine turns in a powerful performance as the aris-

tocratic Feraud that contrasts starkly with the bullish HAR-

VEY KEITEL as D’Hubert. Carradine is especially good later

on in the film, when he realizes the futility of the duel and

requests in vain to finish it with an apology rather than a

fight to the death. His face twitches in close-up as he realizes

that, in spite of the fact that he enjoys a prosperous life with

an attractive spouse (CRISTINA RAINES) and children, he

must satisfy the code of HONOR by continuing the combat.

No one can explain why, but he is duty bound to do so. He

stalks out of the right hand side of the frame, leaving D’Hu-

bert’s second (Arthur Dignam) staring after him in disbe-

lief. The reviewer in Va ri et y described Carradine’s Feraud as

“determined and a bit troubled but also caught up in this

strange need of one to prove honor [D’Hubert] and the

other [Feraud] slaking a twisted nature”—the “twisted

nature” being one that feels obliged to satisfy the code of

honor even though it seems perfectly ludicrous to do so. Fol-

lowing his role in this film, Carradine was dubbed “the

thinking person’s sex symbol.”

References

“The Duellists,” Var iety (June 1977), www.variety.com/review/

VE1117790602.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 (accessed 13 Novem-

ber 2007); Douglas Martin, “Can Keith Carradine Lasso the Essence

of Will Rogers?” New York Times, 28 April 1991, B4; 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).

CARROLL, GORDON (1928–2005)

Born Charles Gordon Carroll III; studied at Princeton Uni-

versity and worked in advertising before becoming a pro-

ducer. His credits included Cool Hand Luke (1967) and PAT

GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID (1973).

Carroll formed Brandywine Productions in association

with DAVID GILER and WALTER HILL. The three of them

made a list of candidates to direct ALIEN and came up with

Scott as an idea. Scott had failed to raise capital for his next

project TRISTAN AND ISEULT, so he agreed to direct the

film. Carroll was closely involved in all aspects of the film.

He also produced other films in the Alien series, as well as

ALIEN VS. PREDATOR.

Bibliography

Gordon Carroll biography, www.twistytales.com/03_Gordon

Carroll.pdf (accessed 1 March 2009).

CARS

Several Scott commercials celebrate certain brands of car,

notably the NISSAN 300ZX TWIN TURBO. Iconic cars crop

up in several Scott films. In ADAM ADAMANT LIVES! the

eponymous hero drives a trademark Mini-Cooper (registra-

tion number AA 1000). There is the futuristic flying car that

Harrison Ford uses in BLADE RUNNER, which hermetically

seals him up from the DYSTOPIAN scene around him.

Stephen Rowley suggests that the car distances him from the

overcrowding, dirtiness, and crime that defines the film’s

nightmare world.

In THELMA & LOUISE, the 1966 Thunderbird the pro-

tagonists use is in itself a star of the film. Scott suggested in

an interview with Paul M. Sammon that screenwriter CAL-

LIE KHOURI “identified it as a car that’s always represented

a symbol of freedom, because the Thunderbird was one of

the last great American cars . . . American automobiles used

to have their own absolute singular identity that somehow

reflected everything that was attractive about the United

States.” He revealed in the film’s pressbook that he actually

used five cars, one as the “principal” car, one as a backup,

one as a camera car (in which sections were cut away to

allow space for cameras and their operators, and two that

were used as stunt vehicles. Marita Sturken observes that

“the car . . . is the height of impracticability, a veritable road

car meant to put its driver on display.” Louise’s (SUSAN

SARANDON’s) commitment to the car is evident—at one

point she yells out to a few errant cows on the road, “Don’t

dent my car!” It is her one indulgence, and ultimately its

conspicuousness is crucial to the story’s end. The luxury cars

of BODY OF LIES—including several SUVs and a Mer-

cedes—fulfill a thematic purpose; although stylish in them-

selves, they are totally impractical for use in the teeming

streets of the Jordanian capital Amman or in the desert sep-

arating Jordan from Syria.

AMERICAN GANGSTER uses iconic cars of the early

1970s, including a Lincoln Continental for the gangster

Dominic Cattano (ARMAND ASSANTE) and a Shelby

Mustang for the police officers Richie Roberts (RUSSELL

CARS

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CROWE) and Javier Rivera (JOHN ORTIZ). In WHERE THE

MONEY IS, the two central characters Henry Manning (PAUL

NEWMAN) and Carol MacKay (LINDA FIORENTINO)

make their escape from the pursuing police cars in a 1970s

Mustang. This not only alludes to a similar chase sequence

involving a Mustang in the 1968 film Bullitt but reminds us

how much a classic car can become an expression of personal

identity. The series THE HIRE was commissioned by BMW

to advertise several of its luxury cars. The three episodes pro-

duced by Ridley and Tony Scott, “HOSTAGE,” “TICKER,”

and “BEAT THE DEVIL,” featured the BMW Z4 model.

References

Stephen Rowley, “False LA: Blade Runner and the Nightmare City,”

in The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science Fiction

Classic, ed. Will Brooker (London and New York: Wallflower Press,

2005), 204; Pressbook: Thelma & Louise (London: United Interna-

tional Pictures [UK], 1991), 7; Paul M. Sammon, Ridley Scott Close-

Up: The Making of His Movies (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press,

1999), 108; Marita Sturken, Thelma and Louise (London: BFI Pub-

lishing, 2000), 27.

CARSON, JOHN (1927– )

Gravelly-voiced British actor, whose voice has often been

compared to that of James Mason. Never a star, Carson has

been involved in British films and television since 1952. In

“THE LEAGUE OF UNCHARITABLE LADIES” he plays

Randolph, a villain masquerading as a butler, who works at

a ladies’ club (The Gentlewoman’s Charity League).

Although apparently dedicated to peace and universal dis-

armament (the professed aim of the club), Randolph is actu-

ally employed by the Communists to eliminate as many

British politicians as possible, and thereby undermine con-

fidence in western democracy. Eventually he meets a sticky

end as he is poisoned by Hope (Sheila Grant) while fighting

a duel with Adam Adamant (GERALD HARPER).

Carson’s Randolph is typical of the villains in the tel-

evision series ADAM ADAMANT LIVES! most of whom

were deliberately overplayed (in keeping with the light-

hearted tone of the series). He acts in a camp manner, his

mincing walk and fastidious gestures contrasting with the

eponymous hero’s gentlemanly gait. Randolph also has a

speech impediment—being unable to pronounce the let-

ter “r” properly—which also contrasts with Adam’s exqui-

site vowels.

CARTWRIGHT, VERONICA (1949– )

Born in England, Cartwright spent much of her early career

in US television series such as Daniel Boone (1964–66), as

well as taking a leading role in Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963).

Cast as Lambert in ALIEN, Cartwright had once been

in the running for the role of Ripley (eventually played by

SIGOURNEY WEAVER). She only learned she was being

cast as a different character when she saw the name tag on

the uniform that she was due to wear. Cartwright recalled in

a 2004 interview that everything “on that Alien set, every-

thing was connected. You walked down a hall and the first

room you hit was the engine room, and out of that was a

corridor that went to the place where we are, and from there

to the hospital, and so on. Every single room was connected,

you had to go through everything to get to it. It was very

claustrophobic, because once you were in there, where could

you go?” In such an atmosphere, it is not surprising that

Lambert should become more and more hysterical as the

film unfolds. We are not sure how she dies in the end; what

we do know, however, is that she freezes to the spot, unable

to move, as the alien moves towards her. This contrasts with

the reaction of Ripley, who adopts a more proactive

approach to resisting the alien.

References

John Millar,“Tough Little Son-of-a-Bitch,” Film Review Special 53

(August 2004): 32; “The Voice of Reason,” Starlog 359 (October

2007): 34.

CASSIDY, JOANNA (1945– )

Born Joanna Virginia Caskey in New Jersey, Cassidy began

her career in television series such as Mission: Impossible and

Starsky and Hutch.

BLADE RUNNER was her first major film role, as

Zhora. According to PAUL M. SAMMON she felt that the

character “was an independent—she didn’t belong to any-

body. Certainly not like Pris (DARYL HANNAH) was with

Roy (RUTGER HAUER) . . . I really sympathized with them,

those REPLICANTS.” The role calls for Cassidy to display

strength and dexterity as she deals with a huge python

(which is supposed to be artificial). However, there is a

strong suspicion that Scott presents her as an object of the

male gaze, as she poses in the nude and subsequently takes

a shower. This creates an interesting ambiguity in the film—

although we are asked to sympathize with her as she runs

through the streets in a futile attempt to escape from

Deckard (HARRISON FORD), we also feel that she, running

through the incessant rain in a skimpy bikini and clear plas-

tic mackintosh, is being fetishized. This prompts us to ask

whether Scott himself has any concern for the replicants or

whether he, like Deckard at the beginning of the film, treats

them as second-class citizens.

Cassidy has a leading role in one of the episodes of the

first series of THE HUNGER—“The Other Woman.” She

plays an ambitious fashion designer who has a very public

love affair with her boss (Nicholas Campbell). As someone

determined to get what she wants both professionally and

personally, she believes there should be “no holding back.”

■

CARSON, JOHN (1927– )

Eventually her ambition comes to nothing, as she and her

boss are caught in flagrante delicto by the boss’ wife, who

shoots them both dead. However the fashion designer has

the last laugh as the two of them are reunited “together in

death.” Cassidy does not have much to do other than to per-

form the obligatory sex scene and wear padded shoulders to

signify her independent nature.

Reference

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

ed. (London: Gollancz, 2007), 152.

CASSIDY, PATRICK (1956– )

Patrick Cassidy was born in Claremorris, County Mayo,

Republic of Ireland. He is best known for works he has writ-

ten for orchestra and choir based on Irish mythology. The

Children of Lir remained at the top of the Irish classical

charts for a full year. In addition to his concert work Cassidy

has scored and collaborated on numerous films including

KING ARTHUR (2004), Che Guevara (2005), and Ashes and

Snow (2005). Cassidy also provided music for HANNIBAL

and KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The aria Cassidy wrote for

Hannibal—‘Vide Cor Meum’—was the only piece by a liv-

ing composer on the Warner Classics 2006 compilation The

40 Most Beautiful Arias.

CATES, GEORGINA (1975– )

Born Clare Woodgate in London. Cates made her debut in

British television series such as 2 Point 4 Children (1992–

1994) under her real name. She changed her name when she

graduated to the big screen in films such as An Awfully Big

Adventure (1994), Stiff Upper Lips (1996), and Big City Blues

(1998).

Cates married Hollywood actor Skeet Ulrich and came

to work in America. Although British-born, she apparently

put her heart and soul into the auditions. Director DAVID

DOBKIN recalls that “Georgina had such a European sensi-

bility, which is what I love . . . And she just blew me away

when I watched the casting tape back.” Cates herself felt that

Amanda “is someone who wants to get what she wants, and

doesn’t care how she gets it.” However, “I thought she was,

in some ways, a victim—the need she has to keep Clay is so

strong, and I think that need makes her so completely obses-

sive to get what she wants that she becomes a victimizer.” In

another interview she relished the fact that she had the

chance to “do practically everything you shouldn’t do—as

an actress and as a woman. I got to play The Guy: my char-

acter wants sex and that’s all she cares about.”

Cates makes the most of her limited appearances in the

film. She comes across as an insatiable personality who is

prepared to go to any lengths to keep Clay (JOAQUIN

PHOENIX) for herself. In many ways she provides the focus

for the film’s fundamentally misogynist tone: all women,

Dobkin suggests, are either virgins or vamps. Cates falls into

the second category.

References

Michael Atkinson, “Heavenly Cates,” Movieline, August 1998, 16;

Georgina Cates, David Dobkin, interviewed in “Production Notes:

Clay Pigeons,” included on the European DVD release of the film

(Frankfurt: BY Internationale Medien und Film, 1998).

CHEADLE, DON (1964– )

Don Cheadle was born in Kansas City but moved through-

out his childhood. He made his name at first in the televi-

sion series Fame (1982). He was then cast in the John Irvin

film Hamburger Hill (1987). He first became recognized in

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), which won him the Best Sup-

porting Actor Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics.

Don Cheadle takes a leading role in THE HIRE:

“TICKER,” where he plays a government agent trying to take

a heart to an unnamed leader to prolong his life and thereby

sustain democracy in his country.

CHESTNUT, MORRIS (1969– )

A tall, handsome, and versatile African-American actor,

Morris Chestnut first came to be recognized by moviegoers

starring as Ricky in Boyz n the Hood (1991). He later starred

in the action flick Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995).

Cast as McCool in G.I. JANE, Chestnut gives a sympa-

thetic performance as a person who understands the expe-

rience of discrimination. Thus he is one of the first to accept

Jordan O’Neil (DEMI MOORE) as someone with the right

to be treated on equal terms as the other male soldiers.

DAVID TWOHY’s script makes this clear: Jordan asks him

“What about you, McCool? Any problem with the room

assignment?” McCool (described in the script as “an imper-

turbable black lieutenant”) simply ignores the question and

quotes from the SEAL manuals: “It’s not a job—it’s an

adventure.” For him it doesn’t matter whether Jordan is

female or not; she is a soldier.

Reference

David Twohy, “G.I. Jane: First Draft” (6 August 1995) http://

sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=gi_jane (accessed 21 October 2008).

CHICK FLICKS

Genre associated with women, either as stars or directors.

From its first big cycle of women’s melodramas in the early

1980s, through the persistent stream of high-profile costume

dramas and, in particular, the continuing triumph of new

romantic comedy, female-orientated cycles have continued

to flourish throughout the 1990s and into the twenty-first

century (for example, THELMA & LOUISE). The widespread

CHICK FLICKS

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