Domino

[Gold Trumpet]

curious, why bring it up here and now?

[w/o horse]

Because I had just seen it and liked it so much that I couldn't even stand to have a conversation about Domino afterwards.

Is what drunk me was trying to say.

[cowboykurtis]

With the release of this weekend's Domino, Richard Kelly has gone from time-displaced teens to female bounty hunters. Here, he talks about how to adapt her "fragmented, drug-fueled odyssey" of a life "at a fever-dream pitch," as well as integrating her into the world of Beverly Hills, 90210, and rumors of Domino's lesbianism.

It's been almost exactly four years since Donnie Darko was quietly released to theaters, thus beginning its slow march to cult phenomenon status which, three years later, would spawn a successful Director's Cut re-release. Though fans of that film have been justly rewarded for their devotion, fans of Richard Kelly have gone more than a little wanting. Finally, after a tantalizing near miss with an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle (the script for which is titled Ice 9), that peculiar comedic/tragic sensibility is returning to theaters in the guise of Domino, directed by Tony Scott from a boldly original screenplay.

The story centers on the highly embellished real-life exploits of Domino Harvey (played by Keira Knightley), the daughter of British thesp Laurence Harvey who turned her back on a promising modeling career to become a wildly successful bounty hunter. That last sentence is the truth. What's made it into the film however...well, you'll have to figure it out for yourself because Kelly has no interest in clarifying matters.

Thankfully, however, he does have plenty of interest in discussing the process of crafting his "punk rock" biopic, which is also his first screenplay written for another director. As a narrative, it's got nothing on the life of Domino Harvey, but, as a screenwriting journey, it's certainly go its own unique twists.

When did you first get involved with Domino?
Probably a little over three years ago. [Scott Free] sent me the transcripts and an overview of the project. Tony had read an early script for Southland Tales and requested a meeting with me. I read the transcripts and thought, "There's definitely a movie here," and the opportunity to meet Tony Scott and to potentially write a project for him was exciting to me. I just went in for a meeting, came up with this big elaborate pitch, and Tony immediately jumped on it. And then we sold it to Fox 2000.

How much reading had you done on Domino Harvey up until that point?
It was just the outline that Scott Free had come up with about her life and how they were open to taking a lot of liberties with it. They didn't have all these parameters; it didn't have to be a traditional biopic. Clearly, there needed to be some fiction injected into the story simply because otherwise it would be a normal biopic. The nature of the project, this psychotic nature of bounty hunting, and her life being such a punk rock lifestyle...clearly, what Charlie Kaufman did with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind [autobiography of The Gong Show's Chuck Barris] was an inspiration in that that was obviously a fabrication on many levels, while the truth that was there was also sort of a fabrication -- the CIA hitman stuff -- was clearly a metaphor for his guilt for having to become this trash television host. That was definitely an inspiration piece.

That's an interesting comparison. How did Domino feel about having her story spun out in such a bizarre direction?
She was definitely cool with it. She liked the idea because she had been working with writers to develop her story for six or seven years at that point, and nothing had really worked to everyone's satisfaction. I basically said, "We're going to open the movie with a title card that says, 'Based on a true story...sort of," so right away, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, we acknowledge to the audience, "Listen, not everything you're going to see here is true, but the fun will be picking it apart and finding out where the truth begins and the lies end." Ultimately, there still is plenty of truth in the lie. It's a metaphor of the truth of her worldview and the way she looked at America -- the fundamental nature of who we are as a country.

And just to avoid any trappings of the traditional biopic.
Exactly.

Approximately, as much as you can say, how much fact were you drawing on?
There's quite a bit of fact. Her coming over from London and going to Beverly Hills High is all true. Jacqueline Bisset is a composite of her mother; Mickey Rourke is a composite of a guy named Ed Martinez; Edgar Ramirez is a composite of a guy named Choco; Delroy Lindo is a close composite of the real Celes King III, the bail bondsman; Rizwan Abbasi, who plays Alf, was a very close composite to their Afghani driver. Domino was and clearly did end up getting in a lot of trouble with the FBI, and was facing prison time. The reality television show could be a metaphor for Hollywood coming to tell her story, and are they going to tell it accurately. Beverly Hills 90210 was something that was a metaphor for everything she rejected in life. [In the film, Kelly created a reality show hosted by the now washed-up duo of Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green, which is intended to make Domino a star.] She could've had a very easy life -- she had money, she had looks. She could've had a very easy, Beverly Hills socialite life -- gotten married, had kids -- and she turned her back on all of that. 90210 represents the archetype, the mold in which she could not fit.

I thought that was an interesting thing to drop in there because that was a show that came too late to have an impact on her life.
Well, no. She was 35 when she died. She started bounty hunting in the early '90s, so that show would've been at its peak right around when she was bounty hunting, or right before she was bounty hunting. The dates of the film have been adjusted to a dream state because Keira Knightley is 19, and Tony didn't want to set the film in the early '90s; he wanted to make it present day. So, when you see the mom watching 90210 in the film, Domino is five or six years old, or something like that. The timeline is meant to be sort of screwy anyway in the film.

I think we're both around the same age, so we probably share a strange affinity for that show and what it represented. On one level, you knew you were watching trash, but it was really entertaining trash.
Yeah.

Bringing that show in, was that exciting for you?
It was definitely something I pushed for. I think I had to give Tony a bunch of tapes of the show and educate him on it, because I don't think he was aware how huge it was, and what a huge global, cultural phenomenon it was. I mean, in many, many countries that show is still on the air. And once he met Brian and Ian, and he saw how people would come to the set and not care about meeting anyone other than Brian or Ian [laughs]. Because I had to push him; for a while, he didn't get why it was significant to the themes of the story, and I had to keep pushing him to understand why it was an essential thematic element. And there's a great deal of comedy in seeing these two characters resurrected as "themselves," I guess.

One of the huge laughs in the script was that you actually wrote in the KEG House, which was the fake fraternity on the show.
Yeah, they didn't hold onto that [in the movie]. There are a lot of subtle 90210 things that I put in the script that, for whatever reason, maybe weren't cleared because Aaron Spelling owns that acronym or something. I know that they couldn't get the logo or any actual clips from the show because I don't think Aaron Spelling really cared for the script. [laughs]. So, they had to use a European talk show with the cast on it that Aaron Spelling didn't own. There was definitely no cooperation from Aaron Spelling's camp.

Were you on set much?
Oh, yeah. I was there probably half the time. I was doing a lot of last-minute rewrites per Tony's request, and I also just wanted to be there to see Tony work. I didn't want to be a nuisance. The last thing I wanted to do was be lurking around bothering Tony, but he was really open, and I just sat beside him and watched him work, which was awesome.

Was the film taking shape in a way that made sense to you?
I could see how he was going to cut it together. With all the monitors, you can sort of watch the editorial process on set because he's got three cameras going simultaneously usually in every scene. You can already see the coverage coming together.

As far as what made to the final cut, was it close to what you imagined?
Yeah. It definitely evolved, but I think the spirit of the original screenplay is absolutely intact. It went through a lot of different rewrites; Tony and I rewrote it many times. It's a very unorthodox film. I'm actually surprised that it even got made and is being released by a major studio, because it's not a traditional film on any level.

It's practically experimental.
I like to say it's "punk rock cinema."

That's a good way of putting it. Now, when you started writing, were you writing for a particular actress?
No, there was no actress attached. As things got into casting, it became clear that Keira was the closest physical and geographic specimen in that she's from London, and the whole model thing. She fit the mold of the character more perfectly than any other actress could've played it.

She's very athletic.
Yeah, she's very athletic and a bit of a tomboy. There's the glamorous side, but when she showed up with her hair chopped off, everyone was sort of taken aback. But then we realized it was right for the character. She wanted to deglamorize herself, but, at the same time, when Keira Knightley chops her hair off, she still looks pretty unbelievable.

I don't know how much rewriting you did after Mickey Rourke came on, but there's a personality that couldn't be more pronounced.
There was definitely rewriting done for Mickey. He likes to come up with a lot of his own dialogue, which I totally get. If actors want to create their own stuff, that's Tony's prerogative, too. You've got to leave that option open. Absolutely.

You're not so precious with your words that if someone comes up with a better line, you'll let it go?
Yeah.


At the end of her life, Domino was described as an out-of-the-closet lesbian. But in the film she's played as straight.
That was never an option. Her sexuality was never a discussion point at all for us. I was never aware that she was a full, out-of-the-closet lesbian. There was never a discussion point to portray her as straight.

First of all, I don't know if what you just said is true, because she actually denied that fact in a statement to the British tabloids. She said she wasn't a lesbian. I have no idea if she was or not. It's none of my business. I think the relationship between her and Choco was something that Tony decided to add the story. There was never a consummated relationship in the original script, but it evolved that he would be a romantic interest. That traditionally happens in movies, where you feel your heroine needs some sort of romantic interest.

But the lesbian thing was never an issue. There was never a conscious decision to hide or dismiss it in anyway. And I still don't know whether what you said is true or not. I know for a fact that she was thrilled with the film, and didn't take offense to a lack of lesbian activity within the film. I think that might be something that the British tabloid media has picked up on in some way.

That's interesting, because there have been murmurings that she wasn't happy with the film.
Yeah, and that's completely untrue. She was on set frequently, she saw the almost-finished film, she was at the wrap party, she has a cameo in the film -- she's the last image you see in it -- and in many different interviews, most notably in a recent Los Angeles Times article, all of her close friends are interviewed saying that she was thrilled with the film and she was very pissed off at people saying she wasn't. That's something I want to clarify, because that's something that's been fabricated. She was on set, she was very close to Tony, and issued a statement saying that she was thrilled with the way Tony Scott is handling her story. She actually issued a statement that said that.

I just don't understand why all these people still claim that she had problems with it. I think they just like to create artificial conflict that doesn't exist for some reason. So, it's important for me for those things to be corrected.

It's been interesting doing research for this interview, because there are so many contradicting stories online. Her life seemed like a contradiction. I guess you've done the best thing that you could, which is chop up her story and stay true to the spirit of her life without getting too particular about it, because no one seems to know who Domino Harvey really was.
Her life was such a fragmented, drug-fueled odyssey -- a violent odyssey and a tragic one -- that the movie intends to capture that odyssey at a fever-dream pitch.

After she died, was there any thought to rewriting or reshooting anything? [Domino Harvey was found dead in her bathtub on June 27. According to her attorney, the cause of death was a heart attack, and she had deadly levels of the painkiller fentanyl in her blood. She was 35.]
Tony didn't change a frame. I haven't seen the final, final, final mix with all the bells and whistles. I've only seen five or six cuts along the way, but I've already done my commentary for the DVD. I don't know if he's put a date bracket "1970 - 2005" card in there, but I know that not one piece of voiceover was added to the film after her death. It always ended that way. I actually think the film is now more bittersweet and haunting after what has happened. Strangely enough, it has the feeling of an epitaph or a eulogy for her. But as far as I know, nothing was changed.

Let's talk about your other projects. Where does Ice 9 stand at this point?
It's pretty much dead [laughs]. George DiCaprio, Leonard's father, is the producer on the project. It's a passion project for him, and he just wanted to go in a completely different direction. I'm very, very proud of the script that I wrote, and I would love for it to see the light of day at some point. But I think George had a different vision for it, and he hired two different screenwriters now to take the film in a different direction. My version will probably never see the light of day.

It's now going to have a reputation as one of those great unproduced scripts.
Maybe it'll end up online for people to read. I'm very proud of it.

Finally, with the experience of working with Tony on the screenplay for Domino, has that affected the way you're sculpting Southland Tales?
Listen, you would be foolish not to study the way Tony Scott works, because he's been doing this for over 20 years now. He's one of our great directors, one of our great visual stylists, and I absolutely learned a lot of things from him. I wouldn't say it's changed my approach to Southland Tales inasmuch as it gave me new ideas to think about, like how thoroughly he researches his subjects and how obsessed with accuracy he is in terms of bringing in real 18th Street Gang members. Also, how he likes to film on real locations and not rebuild a lot of things on sound stages. He really likes to get in there and shoot with more than one camera.

I wouldn't say it's affected my style, because I've already kind of defined my style, or am in the process of still doing it. It's more just looking at a great master work and the way he conducts himself; he's a real gentleman, he's really good to his crew, and he's clearly someone who is very detail-oriented, which is the way I am, too. It was a great learning experience.

And how has Southland Tales been going?
Great. It's crazy. It's gone really fast. I only have 30 days to make this movie, which is only two days longer than I had for Donnie Darko. We're shooting all over L.A. on a lot of expensive, real locations. It's a whirlwind, but it's exciting to be back in the saddle.

It's been a while.
Hopefully, it won't be this long between pictures again. Hopefully, I'll try to do one every 18 months.

[MacGuffin]

New Line will release a Domino: Platinum Edition on 2/14 (although the date may be changed to 2/21 - SRP $27.95). The DVD will include the film in anamorphic widescreen video (a separate full frame edition will also be available), with Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and DTS 6.1 ES audio. Extras will include audio commentary (with director Tony Scott and writer Richard Kelly), a second commentary with script notes and story development (with Scott, Kelly, executive producer Zach Schiff-Abrams and actor Tom Waits), the I am a Bounty Hunter featurette (with optional commentary by Kelly and the late Domino Harvey), the Bounty Hunting on Acid: Evolution of a Visual Style featurette, deleted and alternate scenes (with optional commentary by Scott) and the film's teaser and theatrical trailers.

[modage]

i'm a little surprised only 6 people here saw this.  i mean, i know nobody likes tony scott, but i would've thought that Richard Kelly's second produced script would've turned up a few more viewers around here.  i thought it was pretty good.

[NEON MERCURY]

i didnt know that two hottys from beverly hills 90210 are in this bitch: brian austin and ian zerring...this film deseves more attention...

[last days of gerry the elephant]

i'm a little surprised only 6 people here saw this.  i mean, i know nobody likes tony scott, but i would've thought that Richard Kelly's second produced script would've turned up a few more viewers around here.  i thought it was pretty good.

I saw it (and actually I am a Tony Scott fan myself)
I can say I liked it aside from some bad calls, for example, the intro music & the 90210 gag. However other than that, I enjoyed it alot and looking forward to picking it up on Tuesday.

[grand theft sparrow]

Blind bought this today.  It was everything I hoped it would be.  Pure trash of the most wonderful sort.  Tony Scott's best since Crimson Tide.  Definitely a worthy companion piece to True Romance, as has already been said a couple of times.  As far as self-plagiarizing post-modern remakes go, I only wish John Carpenter had had this much success when he did Escape From LA.  It's not quite True Romance but after one viewing, I'm thinking of it more fondly than I do Natural Born Killers, which kind of startles me to say. 

[The Red Vine]

I thought it was ok. Tony Scott's directing style is so aggressive that it eventually becomes tiresome (particularly with a running time of over 2 hours). "Man on Fire" had the same problem. Otherwise, I liked the cast and some of the over-the-top touches.

[polkablues]

I finally saw this today myself.  I liked it a lot more than I disliked it.  I'll admit, I'm sold on Tony Scott's current style; I think Man of Fire is a near-masterpiece.  Domino doesn't reach that level, but it's a good ride.

Looking back on it, there are a lot of parts that could (and should) have been cut right out, the Jerry Springer sequence in particular.  It was funny, in its way, but it was entirely irrelevant to the movie as a whole.  I was, however, surprised at how well the 90210 thing worked.  And the line: "I saved that girl, and when she gets older, a woman named Domino is going to tell her that there is only one conclusion to every story... we all fall down."  It's utterly meaningless, but its a powerful sort of meaninglessness.  Ditto with the Tom Waits cameo.

The important thing is, Tony Scott has me looking forward to new movies from him.  There's a weird ebb and flow between his and Ridley's careers; as one gets less interesting, the other gets more so.

[modage]

well put.  i'm surprised that this was like one of the 5 of 10 WORST reviewed movies of the year.  just universally hated.  i guess critics are just too old.

[last days of gerry the elephant]

I picked it up yesturday,
I enjoyed it in the theatres and even more so the second time watching it, I gotta say I fully agree with the previous posts. Some things in the movie could have been left out. I think the 90210 gag should have been one of those also. And yes, Man on Fire is a favorite of mine as well, had Domino kept more professional with consistent typefaces, visual graphics and less of that acidic look (it gets TOO much at times) I think it would have worked as well as Man on Fire did. Otherwise for the most part, it was fun & entertaining, would be interesting to see the direction of Deja Vu after something like this.

If anybody knows where I would be able to pick up the Soundtrack/Score for this (which is said to be available), please let me know & thanks.

[MacGuffin]

I loved the character of Domino, and agree with this...

i never had anything for or against keira knightley before (except against that she was cheaper portman) but she is pretty awesome in this (and i don't think natalie portman could've done this part as well.)

Keira's take on this character is what made (to use a cliche) 'guys wanna fuck her and women wanna be her'. Like the style (which felt like a midpoint between Natural Born Killers and U-Turn), she envokes much energy and freshness, captivating the screen when she's on...

Which is why I felt the film lost that excitement when it switched from being a 'biopic' (if you will) and bogged itself down and settled into a standard 'deal gone wrong' film.

[sheshothim]

Saw it tonight. Thrilled me.

women wanna be her

That's me. I wanna be her. Seriously.

I got excited. To tell the truth, I got confused as well. But I figured everything out and still liked it throughout. For some reason I was reminded of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a couple times(but that may be because I just finished reading that book). Plus I'm a sap when it comes to those love stories where they're too tough for each other, and then it all works out, and then someone dies.......haha. That just sounded weird. Nonetheless, I liked it mucho.

[SiliasRuby]

I borrowed this friend and absolutely loved it. Extremely fun and really "punk rock". A great cast too with fabulous production design. I wish more films were as crazy as this.