M&C recently had an opportunity to shoot the bull with Smokin’ Aces director Joe Carnahan about the film’s DVD debut as well as the nuts and bolts that went into crafting the film together.
Writer/director Joe Carnahan
The energetic, violent Smokin’ Aces boasts an ensemble cast that includes music superstar Alicia Keys in her feature film debut, Ben Affleck (Hollywoodland), Ryan Reynolds (Blade: Trinity), Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Twelve), Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”), Ray Liotta (Narc), Jason Bateman (The Kingdom), Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights), Taraji Henson (Hustle and Flow), Chris Pine (Just My Luck), Martin Henderson (The Ring II), and hip-hop singer Common in his first big-screen appearance. Carnahan (Narc) maintains a scorching narrative pace to create a “thrill-ride” of a movie that entertains as it hurtles non-stop toward a final explosive shoot-out.
In these interlocking tales of high stakes and low lifes, Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy “Aces” Israel (Piven)—a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state’s evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody-under the supervision of two agents (Reynolds and Liotta) at Aces' Lake Tahoe hideout. When word of the price on Aces’ head spreads into the community of ex-cons and cons-to-be, it entices bounty hunters, thugs-for-hire, smokin’ hot assassins and double-crossing mobsters to join in the hunt. With all eyes on Tahoe, this rogues' gallery collides in a comic race to hit the jackpot and rub out Aces.
Carnahan, who kicked in the Hollywood door in with his 2002 directorial debut Narc, brought his love of the “Vegas glitz” into Smokin’ Aces man-to-kill character Buddy “Aces” Israel.
M&C: As far as editing and cuts…what kind of cuts were made to the theatrical version of the film and what will be on the DVD?
Buddy “Aces” Israel is a sleazy Vegas magician
Carnahan: Well, the DVD will have what I call the “Cowboy Ending” which is the original scripted ending to the film, so that’ll be in there, in addition to a number of deleted scenes of stuff that I had taken out. There’s a conversation between Martin Henderson’s character and Ryan’s character at the end that didn’t make it into the movie. There’s a three and a half minute Tremor Brothers rampage that in the theatrical version there was only a minute of. So there’s a lot of special little gift wrapped surprises on the DVD that I think people will really dig.
M&C: Did you have the little “special features leprechauns” chasing you around the whole time?
Carnahan: Oh absolutely…either that or the electronic press. Lemme just say…Universal and these guys are just spectacular and have ideas way out. I mean, we wrapped the DVD stuff before the movie ever came out. DVD’s are becoming more and more the directors’ view of the film, because you get to show all the babies that you have to orphan. Nobody gets left behind.
M&C: In the action genre, character development usually takes a back seat to the action. Were you trying to change up the formula with Smokin’ Aces?
Carnahan: Absolutely…you know, Smokin’ Aces is really…and I know people are shocked when I say this, but it’s really an experimental film in a lot of ways. Someone said to me that they thought this was a lot more mainstream than Narc (2002), but I think that film was much more mainstream in the fact that in Smokin’ Aces the character stuff was kind of poignant and you’re trying to place weird heavy drama against dark humor and an almost screwball sensibility sometimes. In the way that I was trying to show the characters and give them some reality some voracity, but at the same time cut their knees out from under them and do some really bizarre things that normally don’t coexist in movies.
M&C: Was that a hard thing to do?
Carnahan: Yeah, it was hard. I’m very happy with the result, but I also knew that it would polarize (audiences) at some level and that some people would come away saying, “I don’t know what the f**k that was.” or “I hated it.” and others would say “I loved it because I got it.” In the same way I always felt that Narc would find its feet on DVD, and in a way it did. I think Smokin’ Aces will do the same thing.
It’s one of those things that kind of lends itself to repeated viewing and I think greater appreciation down the road. I mean if I knew nothing about the movie and just showed up in a theater to watch it, I’d probably leave fairly indifferent about it. [laughs] It’s such a whack-job of a movie that, I think, requires more attention than one viewing in a theater will give you.
"DVD’s are becoming more and more the directors’ view of the film"
M&C: Where did you pull the inspiration for Buddy’s character?
Carnahan: [Frank] Sinatra, really, and every kitschy, Doug Henning 1970’s Vegas type of act…and I think it’s funny ‘cause Vegas is kind of reasserting its gravitational pull on the entertainment world and you’re getting that much higher end entertainment there. Like, Prince is playing there every Friday and Saturday at the Rio.
So it’s kind of odd to see that this is happening…there’s this sort of renaissance that’s going on in Vegas and I wanted Buddy to be the kind of vanguard. A guy like that who would be considered kind of popular. Although, it’s funny…you go 20 feet outside Vegas and nobody knows who Danny Gans is, but in Vegas he’s a big star. He’s a composite of all those kinds of guys. Even his name, which runs close to Buddy Hackett, and I think he was just one of the consummate Vegas personalities, you know what I mean?
M&C: Any chance for a director’s cut of Smokin’ Aces?
Carnahan: You know, I think with the deleted scenes, maybe down the road. I mean, if there are more dollars to be pulled from the DVD…I love how companies always say, “It’s the Unrated version, and here’s the Director’s Cut!”
M&C: Are you happy with the final cut?
Carnahan: Absolutely, man. I’m really glad that people get a chance to see the other ending, because that’s really the ending that I wrote into the script and decided not to use. I think it’ll be a nice bit of controversy as far as this film is concerned…you know, is it a better ending? But ultimately you’ve got to live and die by those things.
You make the best decision at the moment and then you live with it, and I’m absolutely very happy with it. That’s the film as I intended it to be, warts and all. So yeah, I’d have to say I am.
M&C: I read somewhere that you and your brother (Matthew Michael Carnahan) have tag-teamed a few scripts. Do you guy have a similar writing style? Do you butt heads a lot?
Carnahan: We have exactly the same writing style. He wrote the script for White Jazz (unreleased) and I went in and wrote behind him. And he’s one of the only writers that I’m truly envious of because he’s just a goddamn good writer. He’s just really sharp in his observations.
Carnahan describes Smokin’ Aces as an experimental film
He writes some of the best scene breaks and just some of the action. He just wrote a script for Lions for Lambs which Robert Redford is directing, and Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise are in it. They’ve got a hell of a script…he describes these guys in a Chinook helicopter getting hit with aircraft fire from below, and one of the descriptions is “being trapped in a coffee can getting hit with shotgun blasts.” He’s really sharp, and the way he writes his dialogue is really good. But our sensibilities and styles are almost identical.
M&C: With such a large cast and a shorter amount of shooting time, 40 weeks compared to the usual 80, was filming frenetic?
Carnahan: It was a lot of fun. I mean, I planned it out as rigorously as I could, and we had $20 million which isn’t a lot of money compared to most films which are $60-65 million. But that was in the spirit of it. Universal’s not going to give you $40 million to do something like Smokin’ Aces.
It’s just not going to happen. I’m all for shorter schedules. It creates a greater emphasis on getting things done instead of dragging something out over 130 days or something. I don’t have the patience…but, it’s not that I don’t do it well…you want to do it to the best of your ability and the best quality, but at some point it becomes self-defeating.
M&C: What’s up next for you?
Carnahan: I’m going to do White Jazz with George Clooney, which is the last book in the “L.A. Quartet.” We start that in November of this year, and we start prepping in late July/early August. I’m pretty excited about that.
The DVD's deleted scenes feature more screen time for Ryan Reynolds and a “Cowboy Ending” to the film
Smokin’ Aces is now available for pre-order at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a May 14th release. Visit the DVD database for more information. Fans wanting to get in on the fun of Smokin’ Aces can click here to play an online game that shows clips from the film.
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