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@coopdro lined up a Paul Newman bonanza for us this week and, after much confusion and consternation, we finally chose. . .
Road to Perdition is directed by SAM MENDES.
Mendes was born in England in 1965 and later attended Cambridge, where he directed several plays. Then, at 24, directed Judi Dench in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard in the West End. Soon after he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where his productions included Richard III and The Tempest.
He went on to have significant success on the stage before finally making his film debut, when he directed American Beauty in 1999. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture. (Can you imagine that shit? Your film wins Best Picture your first time behind the camera?)
He has since directed Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go, Skyfall, Spectre, and of course today's film, Road to Perdition.
His next project, according to IMDB, is The Voyeur's Motel. Premise: A voyeur opens a motel primarily to watch other people have sex, but gets caught up in criminal activities after he witnesses a murder.
Tom Hanks: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000158/?ref_=tt_cl_t5
Paul Newman: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000056/?ref_=tt_cl_t6
Tyler Hoechlin: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0388382/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t1
Daniel Craig: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0185819/?ref_=tt_cl_t7
Premise: Bonds of loyalty are put to the test when a hitman's son witnesses what his father does for a living.
Budget: $80 million
Box Office: $181 million (worldwide)
* The piano piece that Paul Newman and Tom Hanks play at the opening funeral was actually performed by the two actors.
* The final on-screen acting project for Paul Newman.
* Notice that Michael, Jr. isn't eating his pie and ice cream in the diner, when he and his father are talking about the money. According to Sam Mendes, in earlier takes, Tyler Hoechlin gobbled up his pie, not considering that he would have to perform the scene again and again. By the time they got to the take that's in the film, Hoechlin was stuffed and couldn't take another bite. Tom Hanks, by contrast, knew to put small amounts of food into his mouth and eat slowly.
* For the bank robbery sequences, Tyler Hoechlin had to learn to drive, something he was only too happy to do. Hoechlin mastered it all easily, but, just to be on the safe side, a stunt driver was sitting in the back, with his own set of driving controls.
* Jude Law hooked up with a magician to learn how to lace a coin through his fingers, a trick he performs in the film.
* The movie is loosely based on actual events and a real enforcer for mobster John Looney, who was betrayed by him.
* Maguire's crime scene photography work is based on 'Arthur 'Weegee' Fellig', a famous crime-scene photographer in the 1920s and 1930s who was licensed to possess a "scanner" radio that allowed him to listen to frequencies used by the police and fire departments. This enabled him to arrive (by car) at crime and fire scenes, sometimes before the authorities did, as if informed by telepathic powers, to which his nickname, a corruption of "Ouija", alludes. He sold his photos to the tabloid newspapers. The photos in Maguire's apartment are real 1930s crime scene photos, some of which were taken by Weegee himself.
* Jude Law hated his appearance for the film, and insisted on wearing a cap every time he wasn't on camera. Sam Mendes insisted that Law also remain paler than all of his co-stars.
* One day, when cinematographer Conrad L. Hall was setting up a shot of Paul Newman, Hall looked through his viewfinder and began to cry. When asked what was wrong, he just said, "He was so beautiful. He was so beautiful."
* Frank Nitti was a chain smoker, so Stanley Tucci had to get through approximately eighty cigarettes in one day.
* The film is set in 1931, and costume designer Albert Wolsky had real trouble finding distinctive clothing from the period. As this was the height of the Depression, fashions lacked the flamboyance of the 1920s and the style of the later 1930s when gangsterism was "fashionable". Failing to find any usable real clothes from 1931, Wolsky came across a weaver in upstate New York, who was able to make all of the required clothes, using the same weight of fabrics that were used in that period. Once woven, the costumes then had to be aged and dyed.
* The iconic shot of the Sullivan's car driving into Chicago involved 120 period cars on a quiet Sunday morning on Chicago's main thoroughfare.
* The diner where Tom Hanks and Jude Law meet was bought on the internet by production designer Dennis Gassner for 20,000 dollars.
* One of the locations for one of the bank robberies was physically perfect, but the wrong way around. There was only room to shoot from right to left and not vice versa. So production designer Dennis Gassner and his team had to dress the location, reversing street signs, license plates and even switching steering wheels on all the cars.
* Jude Law's character, Maguire, is not in the original graphic novel. He is a creation of writer David Self.
* Anthony LaPaglia filmed a scene in which he played Al Capone, but it was decided to leave Capone off-screen and so his scene was deleted. LaPaglia is listed first in the "special thanks" section of the credits as a result.
* The lake house, in Michigan, was actually reconstructed from existing foundations, and then taken down after the shoot, to preserve the history of the site.
* According to author Max Allan Collins, the "Road to Perdition" graphic novel was an American homage to the Manga series "Lone Wolf and Cub" by Kazuo Koike. Collins quotes Koike at the beginning of the book: "You must choose a road for yourself".
* Michael's book, which he carries in the film, is a book about the Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger however, wasn't invented until 1933. This film takes place in the winter of 1931, two years prior the Lone Ranger's existence.
* Paul Newman had an assist with his accent from Irish writer Frank McCourt, the author of "Angela's Ashes", who gave him a tape of him speaking. McCourt has lived in the U.S. for many years, but still has some vestiges of his native Irish accent, which is what Newman wanted to emulate.
* Temperatures occasionally dropped to -30 degrees while filming took place. This didn't necessarily mean that they had all the snow they required. The special effects department still had to make many tons of the fake stuff.
* Make-up artist Daniel C. Striepeke's first instruction to the cast was to stay out of the sun as much as possible, as the film is set in the mid-winter.
* Tyler Hoechlin won his part after a nationwide casting call that encompassed over 2,000 young actors.
* When Michael Sullivan undresses himself to get ready for dinner, the pistol that his son sees is a Colt M 1911 A1 .45 caliber. The pistol was used up until 1985 as the U.S. Army standard pistol.
* Filmed on location in Illinois and Michigan. Even the interiors were filmed on a sound-stage constructed in Chicago's Armory.
Members: @shadow_priest_x @europe1 @EL CORINTHIAN @HUNTERMANIA @iThrillhouse @DaDamn @chickenluver @jeicex @MusterX @BeardotheWeirdo @In The Name Of @Coolthulu @AndersonsFoot @TheRuthlessOne @coopdro @Scott Parker 27 @Mr Mojo Lane
@coopdro lined up a Paul Newman bonanza for us this week and, after much confusion and consternation, we finally chose. . .
Our Director
Road to Perdition is directed by SAM MENDES.
Mendes was born in England in 1965 and later attended Cambridge, where he directed several plays. Then, at 24, directed Judi Dench in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard in the West End. Soon after he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where his productions included Richard III and The Tempest.
He went on to have significant success on the stage before finally making his film debut, when he directed American Beauty in 1999. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture. (Can you imagine that shit? Your film wins Best Picture your first time behind the camera?)
He has since directed Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go, Skyfall, Spectre, and of course today's film, Road to Perdition.
His next project, according to IMDB, is The Voyeur's Motel. Premise: A voyeur opens a motel primarily to watch other people have sex, but gets caught up in criminal activities after he witnesses a murder.
Our Stars
Tom Hanks: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000158/?ref_=tt_cl_t5
Paul Newman: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000056/?ref_=tt_cl_t6
Tyler Hoechlin: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0388382/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t1
Daniel Craig: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0185819/?ref_=tt_cl_t7
Film Overview and YouTube Videos
Premise: Bonds of loyalty are put to the test when a hitman's son witnesses what his father does for a living.
Budget: $80 million
Box Office: $181 million (worldwide)
Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB . . . message board killers)
(courtesy of IMDB . . . message board killers)
* The piano piece that Paul Newman and Tom Hanks play at the opening funeral was actually performed by the two actors.
* The final on-screen acting project for Paul Newman.
* Notice that Michael, Jr. isn't eating his pie and ice cream in the diner, when he and his father are talking about the money. According to Sam Mendes, in earlier takes, Tyler Hoechlin gobbled up his pie, not considering that he would have to perform the scene again and again. By the time they got to the take that's in the film, Hoechlin was stuffed and couldn't take another bite. Tom Hanks, by contrast, knew to put small amounts of food into his mouth and eat slowly.
* For the bank robbery sequences, Tyler Hoechlin had to learn to drive, something he was only too happy to do. Hoechlin mastered it all easily, but, just to be on the safe side, a stunt driver was sitting in the back, with his own set of driving controls.
* Jude Law hooked up with a magician to learn how to lace a coin through his fingers, a trick he performs in the film.
* The movie is loosely based on actual events and a real enforcer for mobster John Looney, who was betrayed by him.
* Maguire's crime scene photography work is based on 'Arthur 'Weegee' Fellig', a famous crime-scene photographer in the 1920s and 1930s who was licensed to possess a "scanner" radio that allowed him to listen to frequencies used by the police and fire departments. This enabled him to arrive (by car) at crime and fire scenes, sometimes before the authorities did, as if informed by telepathic powers, to which his nickname, a corruption of "Ouija", alludes. He sold his photos to the tabloid newspapers. The photos in Maguire's apartment are real 1930s crime scene photos, some of which were taken by Weegee himself.
* Jude Law hated his appearance for the film, and insisted on wearing a cap every time he wasn't on camera. Sam Mendes insisted that Law also remain paler than all of his co-stars.
* One day, when cinematographer Conrad L. Hall was setting up a shot of Paul Newman, Hall looked through his viewfinder and began to cry. When asked what was wrong, he just said, "He was so beautiful. He was so beautiful."
* Frank Nitti was a chain smoker, so Stanley Tucci had to get through approximately eighty cigarettes in one day.
* The film is set in 1931, and costume designer Albert Wolsky had real trouble finding distinctive clothing from the period. As this was the height of the Depression, fashions lacked the flamboyance of the 1920s and the style of the later 1930s when gangsterism was "fashionable". Failing to find any usable real clothes from 1931, Wolsky came across a weaver in upstate New York, who was able to make all of the required clothes, using the same weight of fabrics that were used in that period. Once woven, the costumes then had to be aged and dyed.
* The iconic shot of the Sullivan's car driving into Chicago involved 120 period cars on a quiet Sunday morning on Chicago's main thoroughfare.
* The diner where Tom Hanks and Jude Law meet was bought on the internet by production designer Dennis Gassner for 20,000 dollars.
* One of the locations for one of the bank robberies was physically perfect, but the wrong way around. There was only room to shoot from right to left and not vice versa. So production designer Dennis Gassner and his team had to dress the location, reversing street signs, license plates and even switching steering wheels on all the cars.
* Jude Law's character, Maguire, is not in the original graphic novel. He is a creation of writer David Self.
* Anthony LaPaglia filmed a scene in which he played Al Capone, but it was decided to leave Capone off-screen and so his scene was deleted. LaPaglia is listed first in the "special thanks" section of the credits as a result.
* The lake house, in Michigan, was actually reconstructed from existing foundations, and then taken down after the shoot, to preserve the history of the site.
* According to author Max Allan Collins, the "Road to Perdition" graphic novel was an American homage to the Manga series "Lone Wolf and Cub" by Kazuo Koike. Collins quotes Koike at the beginning of the book: "You must choose a road for yourself".
* Michael's book, which he carries in the film, is a book about the Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger however, wasn't invented until 1933. This film takes place in the winter of 1931, two years prior the Lone Ranger's existence.
* Paul Newman had an assist with his accent from Irish writer Frank McCourt, the author of "Angela's Ashes", who gave him a tape of him speaking. McCourt has lived in the U.S. for many years, but still has some vestiges of his native Irish accent, which is what Newman wanted to emulate.
* Temperatures occasionally dropped to -30 degrees while filming took place. This didn't necessarily mean that they had all the snow they required. The special effects department still had to make many tons of the fake stuff.
* Make-up artist Daniel C. Striepeke's first instruction to the cast was to stay out of the sun as much as possible, as the film is set in the mid-winter.
* Tyler Hoechlin won his part after a nationwide casting call that encompassed over 2,000 young actors.
* When Michael Sullivan undresses himself to get ready for dinner, the pistol that his son sees is a Colt M 1911 A1 .45 caliber. The pistol was used up until 1985 as the U.S. Army standard pistol.
* Filmed on location in Illinois and Michigan. Even the interiors were filmed on a sound-stage constructed in Chicago's Armory.
Members: @shadow_priest_x @europe1 @EL CORINTHIAN @HUNTERMANIA @iThrillhouse @DaDamn @chickenluver @jeicex @MusterX @BeardotheWeirdo @In The Name Of @Coolthulu @AndersonsFoot @TheRuthlessOne @coopdro @Scott Parker 27 @Mr Mojo Lane
