Are you talking to us?
Source of Photos: Associated Press
DeNiro sings praises of city as he and co-stars Bassett and Norton arrive to shoot The Score, a $65-million flick
BILL BROWNSTEIN, The Montreal Gazette
Friday 26 May 2000
Celine Dion draws more press shanking a golf ball in the brush than Hollywood stars Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton and Angela Bassett did yesterday.
Of course, news that those three and director Frank Oz would personally greet the Montreal press was thought to be a prank by some jaded journalists, even though the aforementioned are slated to start shooting next week in Montreal on the $65-million (U.S.) crime thriller The Score.
The prevailing wisdom being that if we're them, we don't turn up to talk to us. Such is the level of self-esteem here.
Hence, just a dozen or so curious journalists were there yesterday to meet the famously media-shy DeNiro et al. Had the film's makers landed The Score's other reclusive star, Marlon Brando, it would have been akin to winning the celeb lottery.
This is, after all, a pretty pedigreed group: DeNiro has copped three Oscars; Brando has netted two; and Bassett and Norton have both been nominated. For his part, director Oz has made the move from Miss Piggy to Marlon. That is, from The Muppets to The Score, not to mention the hysterical Bowfinger and In and Out.
We said DeNiro was there. We didn't say DeNiro was happy. Sitting somewhat tentatively and flashing his trademark smile/scowl on the podium in the Cite du Cinema, DeNiro looked like he would have been happier undergoing a colonic than exchanging bon mots with the media.
Yet DeNiro and his collaborators went to great lengths to praise Montreal and its crews and its restaurants. They didn't mention the diminished Canadian dollar, but that's a given.
Oz said the original plan was to have Montreal play San Francisco. But then he had a brainwave: "Let's do Montreal for Montreal." An alarming, if not novel, concept for most American movies being shot here.
The film-makers even complied with our language laws. The press conference was held on the set of a makeshift restaurant, NYC-Montreal, which had menus that featured French descriptions of dishes in twice the size of those in English. Plus, Oz said DeNiro's character, an international crook based in Montreal, had such love for the town that he even refused to do any stealing here.
In the movie, De Niro's character, Nick Wells, owns a jazz club and wants to settle down. But he's persuaded to do one more heist with characters played by Brando and Norton.
DeNiro, like his character, is familiar with Montreal. In the late '80s, he was here to shoot Jacknife and Once Upon a Time in America. "Although some neighbourhoods seem a little more gentrified, I haven't noticed much of a change in the city," said DeNiro, who has lit up the screen in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas among countless other gems. "Montreal is terrific, has such a European feel and is so close to New York that I'm amazed that so few New Yorkers ever talk about the city."
Norton admits he was drawn to The Score as much by the story as by his co-stars. "There's a real chemistry," said the actor, who received Oscar nominations for Primal Fear and American History X.
"The big motivation, though, was to be in the same poster as (DeNiro, Brando and Bassett)."
Norton, who recently made his directing debut in the comedy Keeping the Faith, admitted he was in no hurry to return to the other side of the camera. "Acting is a better job. You'll notice that actors who direct don't go back to it that quickly."
For her part, Bassett indicated her motivation for doing the movie was DeNiro, with whom she becomes intimate. Bassett, who did a sensational turn as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It, is gratified that inter-racial romances don't cause much of a stir these days. "No one talks about Thandie Newton and Tom Cruise's relationship in Mission: Impossible 2," she said.
In past films, DeNiro has had to learn to play the sax, or to box and get real fat. His mission this time was equally daunting. "I had to learn to break into safes," he said. Somehow, no one doubted him.
At the side of the podium, Montreal film commissioner Andre Lafond had the gleeful look of someone who just got away with larceny. Lafond could barely contain his enthusiasm at the fact that this city is the shooting site for The Score as well as the Hollywood blockbusters Pluto Nash and Rollerball. He estimates that film, TV and commercial production will total $750 million in Montreal this year.
One last question, the press conference-moderator announced.
"Who is the greatest actor in the world?" a journalist asked DeNiro.
He refused to comment. But the answer is obviously DeNiro. Heck, anyone who can pretend to be tolerant when asked to utter: "Are you talkin' to me?" deserves a rec room full of Oscars.
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