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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2004)
NEl ^TTAIH nn|| Entertainment ’gravi >day The Battalion Page 3 • Tuesday, September 14, 2004 Pace Design by Julie Bone Jniversit) rime P re unction, ffer freei / from 6[ osher bit, ide of Mo; r eet from ohn C. Feeling like a criminal Reilly, Gregory Jacobs join forces once again for neo-noir film By John Muller THE DAILY TEXAN 56. of the 1 olice Dei ition Unit. )een pla; AUSTIN, Texas John C. Reilly is one of the st respected character actors in Hollywood and |s worked hard to attain that reputation. In the tfive years he has become a staple in the work some of the industry’s most revered filmmakers, jth parts ranging from the puppy-dog policeman “Magnolia” to Roxie Hart’s sad-sack spouse in hicago” and “Happy” Jack Mulraney in “Gangs New York.” 1 So it is cause for celebration among many ppporters to see him in a rare lead role in this nth’s “Criminal.” And it doesn’t hurt that the st-time director of the movie, Gregory Jacobs, s long-standing ties to the celebrated director ven Soderbergh. “Criminal” is a convoluted story of scams d salesmanship, with numerous layers of de- wption swirling beneath the surface. Reilly's 5 i0u3l arac ter Richard icycle ig of the ncouragt, fy their 1 getting :• iber engi and kee; bike’s ihlgemtrtl >n camp., due at 1! as wellai :er of Cc; be rallyir; is a professional con man o takes an amateur (Diego Luna) under his ng for a day, only to need him as a partner hen they stumble upon a chance to bilk a hob- ist tycoon out of $750,000. University of Texas’ The Daily Texan sat down th Jacobs and Reilly before a recent Austin Film ciety benefit screening to talk about the film: Daily Texan: “Criminal” is adapted from pcommg* Argentinean film “Nueve Reinas,” (“Nine ■leens”). What made you decide to remake it? | Gregory Jacobs: Well, I saw “Nueve Reinas” licans i. a sennd \ f e it ijk e nobody I knew had seen it. But I ior, said Ally liked it, and 1 felt there was a great opportu- aeaking iy there to take that story and translate it to L.A. datforms Id try to bring some of my own ideas to it. It had ; for Conrls great framework from which to work, and I ipaigner: fcought it’d be fun to do. mpaign s i DT: John, had you seen “Nueve Reinas” before? dents to:* ^°* in C* Reilly: No, 1 hadn't. I read the script tear whatA^ enmet ^ re 8 ant l Steven, and then 1 watched ■after we were done. 1 didn’t even realize at first there t ^ at was ' :,asc ^ 011 t * iat - ant * t * lcn w l lcn • diT 1 son said : ^ ou 8* 1t ’ y° u ^ now what, the smarter thing to do le best Cc and for Tffl AP PHOTO/SUZANNE HANOVER Richard (John C. Reilly, left) and Rodrigo (Diego Luna, right) find themselves stuck with each other when they come across one of the most valuable pieces of currency in U.S. history in “Criminal." would be to just bring my own original take to this. So I waited until after we were done to see it, but it was really interesting to see a South American version of mean, it’s funny to flip-flop it that way — but to see this movie ex isting in a parallel universe to the one we had just created. DT: So why John for this part? GJ: I obviously had been a big fan of his, but I felt like 1 hadn’t seen him play anything quite like this. Really as a fan, I thought. I’d love to see him do this part. 1 know what a great actor he is. I know he can do anything. I've seen him do a lot of different things but nothing quite like this. 1 just thought it would be really fun to see him do it. DT: What were the hard parts about making the film, and what were the best parts? JCR: The tough part was our schedule, one of the miracles that Greg pulled off. He pulled in a lot of favors and we made this movie for really probably half the bud get that it should have cost. The joy was being able to col laborate with Greg and Diego Luna, who I really hit it off with. You know, as much as you hear people talk in the press about how they love each other — that’s probably true about 70 percent of the time. But in this case, it was really true: 1 really have an affec tion for Diego, and I think he’s a really talented young actor. That made it really easy to get up ev ery morning and want to go do this. DT: Out of curiosity, what other actors do you have that kind of relationship with? JCR: Well, a lot of the people that 1 work with more than once, you end up establishing a close bond with. Leo DiCaprio and I have done three movies together now, so I feel a real friendship with him, you know? DT: How is “The Aviator,” by the way? JCR: I haven’t seen it yet, but everything I’ve heard is really, really good. And a lot of other ac tors from Paul Thomas Anderson’s films — he kind of has his own little repertory company there, so over the years I’ve made some great friends. Honestly, 1 don’t really take a job if I don't re spect the people I’m working with even before we start working. DT: You mentioned Paul Thomas Anderson — that’s how I first became familiar with you, in “Hard Eight.” Maybe I’m just trying to force con nections here, but were you drawing any inspira tion from “Hard Eight”? GJ: No, I loved “Hard Eight,” and 1 think he’s a brilliant filmmaker, but the inspirations are re ally more from ‘70s films. . . But “Hard Eight” is an amazing movie, and John was great in it. DT: You were talking about the location shoot ing earlier, which sometimes invites problems. Did you have any difficulties during production? GJ: There were a few days, but it was such a fast shoot — most studio movies have 50, 60, 70, See Film on page 8 building if it said. “Ill it continual academicii ach of ther| ? e - I fails, pfl said. “Pi juldn’t di| in the C* e more pi ON ! 'opy Chief I cs Editor | rioto Editor E Producer [ igh Friday dusi summer sess-l irsity. Pehodtej jress changes I '843-1111 | s ASM Univeisj :Donald Bui'l Ithebattaliowfl ■ endorsement! 79-845-2696. F ‘ Reed McDonM 45-2678. | iM studenttoPT Mail subset* - .merican Expr6-| Leadership, Friendship & Service All inclusive collegiate Fraternity Alpha Phi Omega is committed to being the foremost student-run organization in developing lifelong leaders, instilling lasting friendships and fostering a lifetime of sevice to all people. National CO-ED Service Fraternity Informationals: September 14 & 15 Koldus 111 7 p.m. apo.tamu.edu Leadership, Friendship & Service I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I The People Have Spoken! The Foreigners « Hilarious Hit! Buy Your Tickets Now! Call 845-1234. www.MSCOPAS.org ! %\ ee those hilarious Tuna guys as you fSify have never seen them before! Jaston Williams and Joe Sears, joined by a full enlighten I entertain j inspire cast, will open the 2004-2005 OPAS season with Larry Shue’s hit comedy THE FOREIGNER. If Sears and Williams kept you in stitches as the outrageous characters of Tuna, you won’t believe the side-splitting hilarity brought on when joined by five other comedic actors! THE FOREIGNER Starring Jaston Wiliams & Joe Sears (stars of the Tuna Trilogy) joined by five other comedic actors! Friday & Saturday, September 24 & 25 7:30 PM in Rudder Auditorium * Available in balcony seating only. Limited number of tickets available for each performance. Discount valid at MSC Box Office only. TAMU student ID required. Limit two tickets per student per performance. Not valid for tickets already purchased. Offer expires September 25,2004.
