Sidney Lumet keeps up the pace
The filmmaker, 80, takes no time to deliberate on the set of his latest courtroom drama, 'Find Me Guilty.' He'll pause for an honorary Oscar. Source: Los Angeles Times
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BAYONNE, N.J. — As an action star, Vin Diesel has raced cars, jumped motorcycles, and outrun space aliens. But even with such testosterone-fueled credentials, Diesel on a recent morning can barely keep up with 80-year-old director Sidney Lumet.
Technically, Diesel isn't due on the set of Lumet's courtroom story "Find Me Guilty" until 9:30 a.m. But by 9 a.m., Lumet already has filmed multiple takes of the day's first scene, and is looking for his leading man, eager to move on.
The director of such cinematic landmarks as "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon," "Network," "12 Angry Men" and "The Verdict" starts sizing up the set that will be used as a judge's chambers in the next scene on the day's already busy schedule. "It may not look like I am working, but I'm working," Lumet tells his crew, mulling over some options before he promptly makes up his mind. "Put one camera right here."
Dressed casually in jeans, a sweater, sneakers and a baseball cap, Lumet then speedily tells them what lenses he wants, and precisely how many feet of dolly track should be laid under each of the two cameras.
Where other directors would repair to their cantilevered trailers and a soy latte while the scenery is moved and lights rearranged, Lumet paces around his set like a real estate agent about to hold an open house, making sure every prop and piece of furniture is in just the right place.
"OK. Where's Vin?" the director asks when he is satisfied.
Fact is, Diesel hasn't yet completed the two hours of daily makeup required to transform his 37-year-old self into the 48-year-old mobster Giacomo "Fat Jack" DiNorscio, upon whose epic criminal trial the movie is based. Diesel soon arrives on the set to rehearse the scene, although he hasn't had time to put on his DiNorscio-styled hairpiece.
Spotting the actor in his familiar baldness, Lumet says of Diesel, "Ahh, there's the Vin we know."
The run-through begins immediately.
At a point when most filmmakers his age are content to hang out with the grandkids and collect residuals, Lumet, whose career is so long he worked with (and helped protect the identity of) blacklisted TV screenwriters in the 1950s, wasn't just working. Rather, he was filming at a pace many directors a third his age couldn't match.
Scheduled for a breakneck 30 days of filming, "Find Me Guilty" was completed two days ahead of schedule.
Lumet can now use the extra time to polish his acceptance speech for the honorary Academy Award he will receive in next month's ceremonies. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected Lumet for the award, the director's first Oscar, to recognize his "brilliant services to screenwriters, performers and the art of the motion picture."
With more than 40 movies on his curriculum vitae, what Lumet lacks in youth he more than compensates for with experience, especially when it involves his preferred genre, the legal drama.
To observe Lumet on a movie set is to be reminded of how movies used to be made, before special effects and post-production tricks rendered the principal photography of actors a minor component of a film's final construction. With "Find Me Guilty," the movie is nothing more — or less — than what Lumet can capture from his performers on a New Jersey soundstage.
Working with versatile digital video cameras, Lumet made much of "Find Me Guilty" as if it were one of his 1950s live television dramas, which included "Playhouse 90" and "The Alcoa Hour." With no need to change film magazines, scenes could run for several screenplay pages at a time. In taking yet another tip from the "get-it-fast" book of TV production, Lumet employed two cameras at the same time, so that he could simultaneously record both participants in a dialogue.
Instead of donning headphones and sitting behind a bank of video monitors while his actors performed their scenes, as almost all directors do, Lumet stood between his cameras, walking up as close to the cast as he could without being caught in the frame.
"He is able to act as a constant reminder that we as actors are protected, because he is in the trenches with us. So it allows us to do things we might not normally do as actors," Diesel said after completing the film.
Although it's not a written condition of employment, Lumet's actors know their dialogue cold, and spent two weeks rehearsing the movie before production commenced. Filming can (and does) move a lot faster when actors are not calling for lines every 15 seconds.
"I've always worked at great speed," Lumet said a few days after "Find Me Guilty's" principal photography had been completed. " '12 Angry Men' took me 19 days. I think the longest I've ever shot — 'Prince of the City' — was 51 days, but that had 135 locations."
Gangland trial
DiNorscio's life story reads like typical Lumet fare: an intriguing mix of crime, character and courtroom theatrics. In some ways, "Find Me Guilty" is reminiscent of some of Lumet's earlier legal dramas, particularly "The Verdict," "Q & A," "Guilty as Sin" and his feature debut, "12 Angry Men."
Unlike those films, though, "Find Me Guilty" is being made outside of the studio system. Financed by producer Bob Yari, the $13-million production does not yet have a domestic distributor or a release date.
"I've never done it before," Lumet says of working without a distributor. "But I don't worry about it at all. The one thing I know about money is they always get it back somehow."
"Find Me Guilty's" script, by Lumet and screenwriters T.J. Mancini and Robert McCrea, focuses on the real-life 1987-88 racketeering trial of DiNorscio and 19 other reputed members of the Lucchese crime family.
The court case lasted 21 mind-boggling months. At the time, it was the longest criminal case in U.S. District Court history.
DiNorscio said during his trial that he was a "comedian, not a gangster," was allowed to represent himself, and his legal tactics and profane rebuttals helped turn the trial into a circus.
An ailing DiNorscio visited the set of "Find Me Guilty" at Lumet's invitation, and died a few days later, in November 2004.
When Lumet began work on the script, Joe Pesci was being courted to play the lead role. When negotiations with the "GoodFellas" star came to an impasse, Lumet lobbied for Diesel, having seen him in "Boiler Room" and "Multi-Facial."
"Find Me Guilty" isn't exactly the first time Lumet and Diesel have collaborated. Diesel says that when he wrote, directed and starred in his 1997 breakout Sundance Film Festival movie, "Strays," he used Lumet's 1996 filmmaking book, "Making Movies," as his guide.
"His book gave me a sense of empowerment, a place to start, a blueprint on how to follow the process that these masters used," Diesel said.
The education continued on the set of "Find Me Guilty," with its bustling courtroom scenes and extended monologues.
"Every day on this movie was like opening night in the theater," Diesel said. "That's the challenging aspect, but also the rewarding aspect. You are going to be called on, in a roomful of 200 New York actors, to do a 10-minute speech."
Lumet said that while he doesn't know what his next project might be, he wants to continue spending his days on a movie set.
No matter how deep his résumé, however, he could use a hit.
His last project was 2004's HBO movie "Strip Search," a post-9/11 national security drama which the cable channel pulled after only a few showings. His last film to earn a wide theatrical release was 1999's poorly reviewed "Gloria," a remake of a movie about a gangster's mistress, starring Sharon Stone.
"For whatever reason, I have just kept working and working and things turn up that I want to do," Lumet said. "I don't know if it's a compulsion. It's certainly a lovely way of life. If you're in movies, there is no job better than mine. So why stop until nature makes you or the studios make you?"
Producer Yari said he's happy to keep Lumet busy, and hopes others do the same.
"In Hollywood, there is so much reluctance to hire older directors," Yari said. "But working with somebody like Sidney, well, it's a shame he's not doing more."
Director Lumet, Vin Diesel pair up for court drama
Nearly 50 years after his feature film debut "Twelve Angry Men," veteran U.S. director Sidney Lumet is back with another courtroom drama, this time with action star Vin Diesel as the unlikely lead.
"Find Me Guilty" is based on the true story of the longest mob trial in U.S. criminal history. For 21 months, 20 members of the notorious Lucchese family were together in court to hear 76 charges against them.
Vin Diesel, better known for his car chases and stunt scenes than character roles, plays Giacomo "Fat Jack" DiNorscio, who represents himself in court and comes to dominate the celebrated case with wit, honesty and unbending loyalty to the clan.
Through personal charm and force of conviction, he seeks to prove the prosecution's biggest fear -- that a laughing jury is not a hanging jury.
Lumet, 81, played down the inevitable comparison with Twelve Angry Men, the 1957 black-and-white classic starring Henry Fonda as the man who seeks to win over his fellow jurors.
"I don't see any connection between the two movies at all other than the fact that they are both about the justice system," Lumet said on Thursday in Berlin, where the picture is in competition at the annual film festival.
"I'm automatically interested whenever authority is wrong," he told Reuters in an interview ahead of the world premiere.
"In this case, clearly after two years, the longest trial in American history, 20 men, 76 charges and the jury throws it out in 14 hours of deliberation ... clearly somebody made a big mistake."
DIESEL
He cautioned audiences not to jump to conclusions about Vin Diesel, who had to undergo two hours of makeup each morning to transform the thick-set shaven-headed actor into DiNorscio.
"People make the great mistake with action heroes. They think that because generally the plots are simpler and their behavior is one-note that they can't act. But most of the time they can."
For Vin Diesel, best known for movies like the comedy "The Pacifier" or action thriller "xXx," working with Lumet was an opportunity he jumped at.
"You look at this movie and you go, 'Is Vin hoping that people see another side of him?'," he told Reuters.
"I look at the picture and say Sidney Lumet is directing this movie and it's a courtroom drama. You mean to tell me I can be in 'Twelve Angry Men'? I jump on it," added the 38-year-old.
"As an actor, that was a form of confirmation and validation, that this incredible director would believe in me enough to be the central character in a film like this."
Lumet won the Berlin Film Festival's highest honor, the Golden Bear, for Twelve Angry Men, although he did not come to the city to collect his prize as he deemed it a depressing reminder of the war.
"It was a very different city. It broke your heart," he told a news conference, speaking about a visit in 1954. "It was one of the reasons I didn't want to come back; it was so deeply depressing. History was very much present."
Lumet, who won an honorary Oscar in 2005 having failed to turn any of five previous nominations into awards, said he was surprised that Find Me Guilty was entered into the Berlin competition, known for its gritty, hard-hitting films.
"It's not a festival story because it's not boring," he joked.
Trailer here. (http://progressive.stream.aol.com/aol/us/moviefone/movies/2006/findmeguilty_024287/findmeguilty_trlr_01_dl.mov)
Release Date: March 17th, 2006 (limited)
Cast: Vin Diesel. Joe Pesci, Peter Dinklage, Annabella Sciorra, Richard Portnow
Director: Sidney Lumet
Writers: Sidney Lumet, T.J. Mancini, Robert J. McCrea
Premise: Sent to prison on a drug charge, Jackie Dinorsio refuses to turn government witness against his former associates in the New Jersey Lucchesi crime family. However, prosecutor Sean Casey mounts a huge case under the RICO statutes involving dozens of defendants and their attorneys, including Nick Calabrese. For Casey, it looks like an open and shut case, until Jackie, who is already serving 30 years, decides to defend himself. Initially dismissed as a lunatic, Jackie has a forceful personality and an intrinsic understanding of the legal process that gradually change the course of the trial.
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Worst poster ever? Discuss.
Bad poster. Not a bad trailer. If done right, this movie could be a really good satire. Anyone interesting write the script?
Quote from: JimmyGator on February 16, 2006, 08:12:25 PM
Anyone interesting write the script?
read three posts up. the one showing the trailer which you saw. it also tells you the release date, cast, director, writers and premise.
and if you really give a shit, read the whole thread. an earth-shattering idea, i know.
right, i saw that. i was wondering if any of the writers (other than Lumet of course) were responsible for some obscure movie I haven't seen. I even went to IMDB to see if the writers did anything I recognized. One of the guys did a lot of movies i haven't heard of.
Anyways, thoughts on the trailer?
I'm at work and can't watch the trailer but do they have the clip they showed in the Sidney Lumet Oscar tribute?
"HE WAS AN ALCOHOLIC!!!!!"
my cousin vinny diesel.
Quote from: hacksparrow on February 17, 2006, 07:58:51 AM
"HE WAS AN ALCOHOLIC!!!!!"
That was a great scene.
First review. I'm dying to know what you guys thought of this. :shock:
I chose this over Vendetta or Thank You For Smoking on Friday night 'cause despite my anticipation for those two projects, a new film from one of my top-5 favourite filmmakers is automatically top priority. And man I love Lumet. He's one of the directors whose work, specifically Dog Day and Network, turned me into a cinephile.
minor spoilsI am impressed by Vin Diesel, his performance in this movie, his appearance on The Daily Show, his interview on Shootout this morning. He's got a genuine respect for Lumet and his work. At first I was wondering if he was gonna sustain that same tone and attitude throughout the whole film but to my surprise he played this role with spirit and emotion and it was damn good. This is just a fascinating story, straight-up. I'm waiting for someone to criticize the whole 'loyalty and love' angle of this story as being contrived and cheesy, but fuck it, I ate it up, I totally bought it. I was rootin' for Dinorscio and I'm always fascinated by the idea of a portrayal envoking sympathy for a criminal.
What did you guys think?
Quote from: Hedwig on March 19, 2006, 01:58:15 PM
What did you guys think?
best sarcastic review ever.
I love Sidney Lumet, but Vin Diesel.....ehhh....I just can't see them working together on a good movie.
Quote from: RedVines on March 20, 2006, 10:19:06 AM
I just can't see them working together on a good movie.
Good for you. Lumet is famous for getting great performances from his actors. He could probably direct
Rob Schneider into a tolerable performance.
Please let that never, ever happen. Ever.