Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

[Redlum]

KISS KISS BANG BANG
Release date: 5th October
Director: Shane Black

In KISS KISS BANG BANG, a breezy take on writer-director Shane Black's trademark buddy action/comedy oeuvre, a petty thief (Robert Downey Jr.) is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation, along with his high school dream girl (Michelle Monaghan) and a detective (Val Kilmer) who has been training him for his upcoming role.

Clip Here

AICN review Here

[modage]

i'm really really hyped up to see this after that review.

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

[killafilm]

Damn this looks fun.  Am I the only one who gets a slight Elmore Leonard feeling from the trailer?

[modage]

Am I the only one who gets a slight Elmore Leonard feeling from the trailer?

yes, but only by default.  because judging from this thread you're the only one who watched it.  i am still psyched though.

[killafilm]

and I didn't know that Shane Black was the man behind:

"Wolfman's got nards!"  

[modage]

and I didn't know that Shane Black was the man behind:

"Wolfman's got nards!"  

I didn't either.  NOW I AM DEFINITELY PSYCHED FOR THIS MOVIE!

[Ghostboy]

This is a future fratboy classic, I think. It's exactly like the stuff Black used to write - funny, violent, excessive, misogynistic, etc - except on a lower budget and with better actors and lots and lots of PoMo twists like having Downey stop the film to talk to the audience. It's entertaining, but not great.

[Stefen]

He should stop making movies and instead focus his time to getting the monster squad on dvd.

[modage]

ghostboy you're totally harshing my buzz for this, but you've kind of made me want to see Thumbsucker.

[modage]

i've never been to a frat.  i went to an art college that didn't even have frats, but i LOVED this movie anyways.  LOVED it.  i dont know what i was expecting and i cant even remember if i watched the trailer for this.  i really only read a few reviews and for some reason though it sounded really good so i put it high on my must-see radar. my girlfriend, who also LOVED it, had never even heard of it before tonite.  

a little history: though it might seem i'm probably a big fan of black's type of work (or maybe it wouldnt, i dunno what the hell anyone thinks of me) it actually goes a little something like this.  lethal weapon i have maybe seen once years ago and probably only on tv, it was not one that i grew up with.  last boy scout and long kiss goodnight i've never even seen.  so really i know shane black from monster squad, which is one of my favorite childhood films.  after watching this, i'm inclined to go back and watch all his stuff though.

the film is really assured and confident in its directorial style.  like, i would've never known black was a writer and not a wr/dr.  it was not overly stylistic and showy but it has a simple style that really works.  i also would've thought that it were a newer director because it does seem like the 'arrival' of a talent, even if it is 20 years after his first arrival.  his voice is so different and unique.  i guess going in i expected a sort of noir that maybe was overly retro-ish, but this really wasnt that.  it was really 2005.  

i dont know if any of that means anything, but i'll just say it was hilarious and unexpected and great and a little indescribable.  and watching it really made me think 'damn, where has this guy been?  and why isnt he making more movies?'

A-  probably my 2nd favorite film of 2005 (so far).

[Gold Trumpet]

I didn't realize he wrote Last Boy Scout. That bit of info is a ticket purchase for this movie. Mod, watch Last Boy Scout. Expect nothing but beautiful hilarious trash.

[SiliasRuby]

I Can't Wait. I've been slobbering at the mouth from just reading all I can about this movie and hope I see it soon.

[killafilm]

Skip The Long Kiss Goodnight... Team Harlin and Davis killed that bad boy.

[MacGuffin]

Shane Black is so cool. He’s worked on some of my favorite movies from my youth such as Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout and made millions doing it. But all that money hasn’t erased or even diluted the real artist in him. Black writes down and dirty noir where men punch other men in the nose sending bone shards into their brain and when a guy is hitting on a girl and she slams the door in his face, his finger gets cut off in the door frame.

That last bit is from Black’s directorial debut Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang starring Robert Downey Jr as a small time hood Harry Lockhart who stumbles [literally] into an acting audition and ends up in LA where he gets caught up in some shithead’s conspiracy. Now he has team up with a Perry Van Shrike, a gay private eye, [Val Kilmer] to try and make sure his ex-flame, Harmony Faith Lane [Michelle Monaghan]. don’t stop breathing.

Daniel Robert Epstein: I loved Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, it’s so amazing. How long has this movie been inside your head?

Shane Black: This is just the kitchen sink version of all the accumulated private eye stories that I stuffed into my head from childhood on. But I think this one focuses particularly on a specific type of hard-boiled 50’s/60’s private eye with a modern twist on it. There’s a fictional character in the movie, named Johnny Gossamer, that is a detective from that period and everyone’s trying to emulate. One character is a gay tough guy and the other one is kind of a schlub who tries to do the tough style and can’t even do it. So basically it’s contrasting the modern attempts of people to live up to the private eyes of olden days, when they’re pitifully inept and unable to fulfill the shoes they’re trying to. Everyone’s failing because reality keeps slapping them down. That’s what I came into it with.

I think when I was a kid I always wanted to be a tough guy and I always got slapped down but I would still read the books. I would still desperately bask in this certain fantasy of what if I had the cool and the grace under pressure that these guys had. But I know if I ever really tried it, I’d get my ass kicked.

DRE: What about Joel Silver? Is he a tough guy?

Black: Joel’s not necessarily a tough guy, but boy he understands tough movies. I think like me, he’s not just a fan of action movies. I think he became sort of paired with that label. He likes thriller movies with a really tough minded protagonist. The movies that have done best for him have combined action with a lot of character. As much he makes money off the Matrix films and these $100 million dollar extravaganzas, I honestly believe that he’s just as interested in a small time crime movie with real rough edges to it and raw dialogue and a tough protagonist with a real pragmatic sense. Joel and I are both drawn to that character.

DRE: I’ve been to film school and the scriptwriting teachers always told us to avoid phone conversations in movies. What’s interesting is you incorporated cell phones into this movie. Were you aware of that or was that part of what you were trying to do?

Black: It’s part of what I was trying to do. The magic words from childhood that you expect to come from God on high, or from his tortured memory, at the end of the movie, they end up coming from a cell phone. That’s the whole idea. Now in LA you can’t walk anywhere without people barking at each other on these damn phones. I’ve talked to mystery writers and they’ve agreed that cell phones ruined everything because they made it harder to write mysteries. If they’re like “Something’s happening. We’ve got to get to a phone.” Now everybody has a phone. You can’t have that race against time. So things get harder and hopefully better.

DRE: Did you have a chance to see Sin City yet this year?

Black: Yes.

DRE: I loved that movie and I love the comic book as well. But what I liked about Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, is that it wasn’t about the huge government takeover of the city. It was about this small time schmuck and what an asshole this small time rich guy was. Was it always going to be such a small-scale private eye story?

Black: Yeah, I think so. The template on which this was based exists to tell stories that are hard-boiled puzzles but not necessarily epic. The 50’s/60’s private eye stories had this sort of formula. In Raymond Chandler stories, a guy walks in and hires him for a case and another guy walks in hires him for another case and they end up being connected. One is a very small thing and the other is a swindle of some sort, but not necessarily huge. The Rockford Files was a great example. With that it was just some white collar asshole trying to make a corporate bundle or trying to get a lawsuit withdrawn. It’s very crass and everyday sort of crimes. There’s a period where the mob came in and then it was all about the private eye against the various gangsters and mobsters. I never liked that as much. I always liked the more classical structure of just someone who’s fighting one guy who’s committing a crime while executing this elaborate swindle or hoax.

DRE: I always knew that a film like The Last Boy Scout was really a film noir. But in the hands of Tony Scott, that’s probably not going to happen. Rewatching Lethal Weapon I realized that’s very much a noir as well. Were you always writing in this style, but it was other directors changing it?

Black: Yeah. I think this is the first time this style has emerged sort of unscathed from the development process because the only guy developing the script with me was Joel Silver who also enjoys the same sort of material. I like a lot of what Tony did with Last Boy Scout and I like Lethal Weapon a lot but there is a darker side to the more melancholy quality. But I realized that people would rather just cut that out and make it more action with less noir. Look at Lethal Weapon 2. He has a girl who is brutally murdered. He’s crazy. By number three and four it’s just a Wild West show. There’s not a touch of noir in it.

DRE: Four was bizarre because he’s just walking into that Chinese guy’s restaurant and just smashing things.

Black: He’s not even a hero anymore. He’s just an annoying guy. He’s an asshole.

DRE: And a lunatic too on top of that.

Black: Yeah, but at least you had the sense before that this wasn’t just Freebie and the Bean. They were just going around beating people up and being assholes and that’s what I tried to avoid. Let them be a pragmatic asshole. I don’t even care if he has to do something really horrible, but make it for a reason, not just because he’s a dick.

DRE: What was the process on the Kiss Kiss script?

Black: I started out to write something that I didn’t want to be an action picture. So it was going to be a very dark LA romance movie. As it turned out, it was getting to be so dark that people I’d show it to said, “Well, the scenes are okay. We sort of like it. It’s a little too dark to be a romantic comedy. It feels like you’re sort of floundering a bit.”

DRE: Wow.

Black: One of the people telling me that was James L. Brooks, who I trust. Also I was really trying to emulate Brooks in a way. He said, “Instead of jumping so far away from action movies in that you’re trying to do romantic comedy. What if you do something more like Chinatown which is still very suspenseful, with a lot of twists and turns but it’s just not an action movie.” I thought to myself, “That sounds about right. Why not do something and make it a murder mystery with romance in it and stylize it and make it classy?” But I didn’t have to go so far away from what I do in my desperate attempt to get away from action that I actually overcompensated and ended up in Tacoma.

DRE: Were you always going to direct this script?

Black: Yes, that was the idea.

DRE: When did you sit down and say, “You know what? I’m going to direct now.”?

Black: I didn’t realize until probably after I’d made The Long Kiss Goodnight that those experiences were less satisfying to me than I needed. I wasn’t getting as much of a kick out of writing something because I don’t like writing. It’s really torturous. When it’s done, it’s great. When it’s going well, it’s great. But for the most part, it’s just like pulling teeth. Finally getting to that place where I said “I want to direct” was a wake up call. I always thought directing was the fun part and I’ve just been doing the bad part and it turns out that I was right. It is the reward for all the hard work and in my case directing on paper because I tend to do that anyway. So getting it up on its feet and seeing it come to life is the gravy. I just realized that around the millennium so I set out to write something for me to direct. I felt stale and that I needed to reinvent and start over. I’d written a bunch of scripts in the action genre and made a lot of money and I felt like “Okay. That’s good. Now what? Make more money? Write more action movies? No. Try something.” Hopefully my next picture will even be farther away from action movies. I want to try to keep pushing to something that challenges me a little more each time. But not something so far off my sensibility that I’m dooming myself. For instance, I couldn’t do a period drama about some Spanish queen.

DRE: Oh please don’t.

Black: Or some historical romance. I’d be floundering and totally insane.

DRE: Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer are two of my favorite actors. What was their different energies like and how did that contribute to the chemistry?

Black: I think they both have their own process. There was this mutual respect when they encountered each other. I think each one was very aware of the lofty pedigree that they were going up against her. It wasn’t like Val said, “Oh. I’ll just get up, go to the set and hang out.” He’d be like, “Shit. I’m acting with Robert Downey Jr. I better put on my game face.” Robert similarly thought, “Val Kilmer. Jesus.” They were very aware that the other guy was going to come to play the game. I think there was even a little bit of competition where they were going at each other and making some sparks just because they really respected the fact that there was a great actor working opposite them. You can’t really find two more acclaimed actors just for their pure craftsmanship or talent. It’s always everything else that people talk about in the bad sense.

DRE: Right, when they’re good, there’s almost no one better. .

Black: I think that together as one, they’re almost the star of the movie. It’s not that Robert Downey Jr. is in it and Val Kilmer is in it. The star of the movie is the fact that these two guys, who have never worked together, are now doing a picture together. That is exciting enough to get me out of my chair and go to the movies.

DRE: How was your confidence level with directing for the first time?

Black: I didn’t have time to worry about it or be afraid. I just had to get the job done. We had 35 days which is such a small amount of time. So I just put my head down and stayed relentlessly on track. I tried to be as flexible as I could to incorporate changes and the problems that would come up. I also wanted time enough for new ideas during a scene to emerge in the staging of it and the execution. At the same time, I had done a six month preparation where I ate, slept, breathed nothing but film. So I came in feeling pretty competent that I had at least a working knowledge of what I was doing. Couple that with 20 years spent on movie sets.

DRE: With this being your first movie and your lead actress has a nude scene, how was directing Michelle Monaghan?

Black: That’s the one good thing about my acting training back at UC. I don’t get shocked. Nothing like that bothers me especially if you’re as open and kind as Michelle is. Also I’m steeped in the history of theater and acting. That sounds pretentious, huh?

DRE: [laughs] Yeah it did.

Black: I don’t get shocked by the things actors do or want. I’m comfortable on a set. I’ve been on sets for 20 years. I’m not going to get freaked out because there’s a woman there. In fact, I’m going to try to make her feel as safe as possible and encourage her. Give her permission to do her best work by doing my best work and showing her that it's okay.

DRE: Speaking of acting, when I told a friend of mine that I was going to be interviewing you, he immediately went into the big vagina joke from Predator.

Black: Oh yeah. Once again nearly 20 years ago.

DRE: I’m not going to bug you too much about this old stuff. But that’s probably your biggest acting role.

Black: I was an actor in college. I directed plays and I would act in plays in college. I’m a better actor now than I was then because I understand more. But I hate the auditioning and the standing in line. I don’t particularly like writing roles for myself. If someone came to me and said, “Here’s a role. You don’t have to stand in line. We want you to do it. We’ll pay for a coach if you want a coach.” I’d say, “Fine. Thanks.” I just don’t like all the bullshit to get there. But it feels almost unfair to those poor actors who have to stand in line and fight if I go into the process and I’m half-assed.

DRE: Just a couple of weeks ago I got to speak with Joss Whedon about his movie Serenity.

Black: Yes, he’s a really talented guy.

DRE: Like you, not only is he a successful screenwriter turned director but he also was a big time rewriter on movies. I’m sure you guys even rewrote some of the same scripts at some point.

Black: We’ve never shared a rewrite, but probably.

DRE: Some of his scripts have been treated like hell by other rewriters, directors and producers. I asked Joss if after finally directing a feature did it make him understand why those directors and producers might have been so harsh on his screenplays. I’m asking you the same question.

Black: The answer is no. Sometimes what they did was better than what I had on paper. But in the instances where people really just went off in a new direction entirely and didn’t adhere to what I wanted, without mentioning names, I thought, “Well, that wasn’t a budgetary decision. That’s just temperament. That’s just sensibility.” My sensibility is different than some people’s. I think the tendency has been to buy my scripts because they have some wisecracks in them and say, “Yeah. It’s got some great, funny wisecracks. Let’s just keep those. Just get rid of the dark stuff.” That’s been the sin of omission that I have regretted through the years. It’s not like they say, “You can’t write.” But the minute they buy it, they go about sanitizing it to some extent. That’s okay because sometimes they even make it better than what I had intended. Other times it becomes worse. Now I’m just happy to take the blame, if it could’ve been better in the hands of a Tony Scott, but I managed to screw it up instead, then at least it’s my fault. Tony would’ve actually been a great director for this piece because I think his sensibility is very good. He’s also been the kindest to me in print about Last Boy Scout. He always talks about the script and he says that he likes the movie, but it could’ve been better. He’s a real sweet guy.

DRE: From what I read about you and the story behind writing Lethal Weapon, were you ever surprised that you’ve made it as far as you have?

Black: Yeah, back in 1996 I was really shocked. By that time, I had done Long Kiss Goodnight and I kept getting more and more money and all this stuff. Since then I’ve come to think that it’s not important to really get as far as you can go in terms of the business, I just would rather find a niche that makes me happy. I’m not pushing to do a $100 million picture. If I directed low budget movies that were constantly challenging to me and each one cost $15 to 20 million dollars I would be perfectly happy. I don’t have to push to get all the way to the top of the business heap because I’ll leave that for the people who are more ambitious. I’m ambitious but insofar as storytelling is concerned, not about acquiring more power.

DRE: In the past year I’ve gotten to speak to Zak Penn and hear a bit about what went down around The Last Action Hero and all that. He’s now become a big script rewriter and he tries to get in touch with the original writers of the screenplays he’s working on, did you ever do that?

Black: I tried with Zak and he was an asshole. I invited him into the office. I sat down and said, “I’ve got a new take on this, but I wanted to let you know because this is your script.” I changed a lot of things. The movie is not one I’m fond of. There’s a script that’s good that I liked a lot and Zak hated. I had a couple of choices. I could change the entire script back to the way Zak wanted it or I could do what my job was, which is writing as good a script as I was capable of writing.

Zak for years afterwards has been all over me in the press about what an asshole I am. I have no idea why he continues to badmouth me years later. He won’t leave it alone.

DRE: Do you rewrite scripts anymore?

Black: No, not anymore. I’m thinking more in terms of directing projects now. Discovering directing really was discovering dessert. Fuck the vegetables.

DRE: So you don’t think you’ll be writing screenplays for other people anymore?

Black: I don’t see it. There’s too little time. A screenplay is such an investment for me of effort and time. It’s not just six weeks I put in. I know people who do that. I know Joss has done that. He’s good at it. He can come in for six weeks and walk away and there will be a script that’s really better. But, for me, unless I take the whole thing apart and start over, it’s difficult for me to do polishes and things like that. I’d rather work on my own stuff.

DRE: What are you writing right now?

Black: I’m trying to write an elegant horror thriller. When I say elegant, I mean there’s no slasher or chainsaw or anything like that. I want to do something that’s a bit more freakish, but not in that kind of 80’s way. I’m trying to go back to my favorite horror films, which tended to be more in the 70’s like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby.

DRE: Are you going for a religious horror story?

Black: I’m not sure yet. There’s no character who’s a priest, but I may in fact end up looking at it and saying, “The message of this is almost religious.” I don’t know. Certainly good and evil.

DRE: Are you going to be breaking clichés again like you did with Kiss Kiss?

Black: I think if I did it the way that I did in Kiss Kiss, then it would be a cliché because I’d be doing it again. I’ve got to figure out a brand new way to get juice out of the horror genre. Not even new juice, just capture the things that I like and leave behind the things that I don’t. I’m curious to see how I would do a horror film because I love horror films so much, but I only like specific things. It would be like a banquet where you get to pick the stuff you like and leave the rest.

DRE: What do you do for fun now?

Black: I just travel for fun. I’m doing a vacation, which is also disguised as sort of a promotional tour for the film. I just got back for Turkey. I’ll be going to London and Madrid. That’s what I do for fun. I don’t like LA What do you do for fun here? I can’t find anything.

DRE: In LA? I’m in New York. I can’t stand LA.

Black: I used to go out in LA a lot and then it lost its luster. I can’t figure out what to do anymore here that seems remotely interesting.