The 2008 Toronto International Film Festival Interview with Guy Ritchie, Gerard Butler and Thandie Newton.
Wham, Bang, Thank You Maam!
RocknRolla director Guy Ritchie and co-stars explain the craziest sex scene caught on film
The constant hammering inside Brit writer/director Guy Ritchies head is real. It comes from the hallway outside his room at Torontos elegant Fairmont Royal York hotel. Just when he's about to speak about his newest film, the London-set, gangster thriller RocknRolla, the pounding resumes, this time downward from the ceiling.
"Are they just building this hotel?" Ritchie asks, flashing a wide smirk. Ritchies remark earns a chuckle from his producer Joel Silver, sitting alongside him.
More importantly, the banging is just another inconvenience for an established filmmaker who's learned to overcome obstacles every step of the way.
Ritchie knows firsthand the perils of fast success because of his own quick rise after his 1998 feature debut "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and his sophomore film, the Hollywood-financed "Snatch" starring Brad Pitt. He understands the burning spotlight of fame due to his 2000 marriage to Madonna and their two sons. Ritchie, at age 40, can also speak to the sinking feeling of falling out of critical and fan favor with his 2002 remake of the Italian comedy Swept Away starring of all people, Madonna.
RocknRolla, making its North American premiere the previous night at the Toronto International Film Festival, is a comeback for Ritchie. While set in familiar territory, the London crime world, Ritchie capitalizes on Tom Wilkinsons larger-than-life performance as vet crime boss Lenny Cole and his travails with the Russian mob, a local hustler (Gerard Butler), a dishonest accountant (Thandie Newton) and his son Johnny, an out-of-control rock star.
With RocknRolla Ritchie reaches into his trademark bag of tricks: zippy dialogue; plenty of laughs, double-cross thrills and colorful but unsavory characters. In one of the films biggest laughs, Butlers street hustler beds Newtons pretty accountant. Arguably the loudest zipper zip heard in movies is the comical payoff of a lightning quick sex scene of groans without one moment of visible sex.
Asked how he planned for the sequence, Ritchie once again credits his ability to handle all setbacks even the constant pounding drowning out his words. "I wasnt quite sure how I was going to shake up the original idea of a sex scene but Gerry took care of this for me," Ritchie says in a booming voice, trying to drown out the banging noise. "He turned up with a throat infection that day and it was going to be an insurance day, which essentially means come back and start all over again tomorrow. Thandie couldnt kiss this infectious throat of Gerrys so I tried to salvage something out of what was gong to be an eight-hour sex shoot by whittling it down to fifteen minutes. They werent even on the same bed together.At first, his actors did not quite understand what to do."
"I arrived on arrived on set and Guy said, what were going to do Thandie is film close ups of you having sex with yourself and climaxing," Newton recalls with laughter, speaking later that same day.
Gerard Butler, who earned his macho cred as Greek warrior Leonidas in the action film "300" and experienced more than his share of cuts and bruises throughout "RocknRolla," considers the solo sex scene his most challenging moment. Its the one scene that dropped him to his knees.
"It was amazing," says Butler, joining his co-star Newton. "I was literally running around the room jumping up and down going I cant do this, I cant do this. I was so embarrassed. But Thandie was incredible. I think she got a round of applause from the crew she was so bang on, well, not to use the word bang in that way."
Butler laughs about the sex scene now. It helps that Toronto festival audiences have responded with loud laughter.
"There were a few things I had to in this movie that were fun and funny but they were also embarrassing," Butler says with a shrug. Ritchie, whos sensing a career bounce due to audience and critical feedback to RocknRolla, explains the situation differently.
"That was another happy accident," he says. "The elements was conspiring against us and ended up transpiring for us."
And with those words, suddenly, the loud pounding noises stopped, although just for a second.
By Steve Ramos at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Starring: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges |
