Sexy Beast (2000) with producer Jeremy Thomas and star Ben
Kingsley
Comments on the Film
On the location and opening scene
Jeremy Thomas This is the villa that Gal lives in, and
we had great difficulty finding this villa because we needed a swimming pool
next to a rock face – you'll see why we needed that a little bit later – but it
was very hard because people don't build swimming pools under rock faces that
are about to collapse. But after a lot of searching we found this villa, and
that's why we chose to shoot there. This is why we needed the rock face – ouch! In
fact, it was quite dangerous because while that rock was made of fibreglass it
would still do a lot of damage. We had a large net on the other side of the
pool to restrain the rock, which could have bounced off and destroyed the
village.
On the themes of the film
Ben Kingsley These are warnings that this group get of
some nemesis, some approaching day of reckoning. The rock first, then the
exploding barbecue, and later on you'll see a sequence involving guns, which is
actually very funny, but which shows them to be in a sense defenceless and
idyllic in this paradise they're in. I've done a lot of interviews for Sexy
Beast with the press, it's a wonderful film to talk about, and I try to reduce
the film to a sort of one-line myth. I came up with: "Once upon a time, there
was a man who thought he was very happy, so the Gods sent to him the unhappiest
man in the world." That image of the little boy with the gun – in fact every
image in this sequence – there is an equal and opposite image later in the film.
Even the rabbit turns into some haunting monster in Gal's dreams. The gun that
the little boy has later appears in the film. This whole sequence sets up how vulnerable
and innocent they are. They're like children.
On Jonathan Glazer and the script
JT Jonathan Glazer was very well-known in London for
music videos and television commercials and an assistant of mine had been
showing me his work for a number of years, and it was mighty impressive, it was
as good as it gets in that area. One day I got a draft of a screenplay written
by two playwrights, Louis Mellis and David Scinto, and it was to be directed by
Jonathan Glazer. It was presented to me on a Friday and I was told that it was
going to a number of producers that day. I read it over the weekend with a
group of people who work with me, we all thought it was absolutely fantastic,
and on Monday we put in an offer and got hold of the script. That was a very
lucky weekend. It's very unusual to get a screenplay that was so unusual to
read, and you could immediately see and smell a movie.
On the restaurant scene
JT The cinema is such a strange thing because this
scene was shot on the first day of filming, because of some irregularity with
the schedule, something to do with the weather or the availability of the restaurant.
So the first day we filmed with a director on his first feature, we had to
shoot this very complex four-handed scene, with high tension involved. It was
very, very impressive the way he started and I have to take my hat off to
Jonathan for getting such a tense scene going.
BK I had no idea that was the case. What I see here in
front of me on the screen is four people who know each other intimately, know
each other's rhythms, can read each other's faces. That's four people who have
spent years together, and to think that was the first day. It's amazing.
JT The suntans were very lucky. They became quite
intimate in getting those suntans because they had to come to Spain a week
earlier to get this deep tan.
On Don's arrival
BK This is great music behind this scene. All I'm
doing is walking across an airport lounge, but the audience knows it's like a
scud missile going across that lounge. I arrived two weeks after everybody else
because of horrible scheduling in America and it was a very anxious time for
everybody. If I had been delayed one day more I believe you would have all been
in serious trouble, thank God I got away. But also, you know you were talking
about them getting to know each other in the sunshine and doing these scenes
together, I wasn't there.
JT I think it was very good for the film the way that
worked out. Life imitating art.
BK I think you might be right. When I, as the actor
playing Don, appear in the film, because of the writing and these four beautiful,
flawless performances, all I need to do is get off the plane. I don't need to
play nemesis, rage, danger, anger, potential violence – I don't need to play
any of this because these chaps have done that for me. All I need to do is get
off the plane as Don.
On the vault
BK I think this is one of the greatest impressions of
massive wealth I've ever seen on the screen. Massive wealth and guarded
wealth.
JT Built in a shed in North London.
BK No, really? I've always thought it was the real
thing. That is astonishing.
JT It was raining a lot and we had a lot of difficulty
keeping all of that aluminium foil there and stopping the rain from dripping
through the roof. Then of course there was somebody behind each of these boxes
pushing it out with their hand.
On acting with Ray Winstone
BK This is the first scene that I had with Ray. It was
very early on after I arrived and after a couple of rehearsals with Ray, he
said to Jonathan and to me that the voice and mannerisms I was using were so
accurate they totally reminded him of somebody he knew. He told me who he was,
he told me where he lived, he told me what care he drove, he told me who he
worked for. He said, "Ben, you are doing this person so accurately." Having
huge respect for Ray and his great ear for that particular accent and dialogue,
I was just able to relax and accept that this was Don's voice. It was a very
generous thing for Ray to do on the first day of shooting.
On Don's character
JT Don's weakness, the only weakness he shows in the
piece, is admitting to Gal that he "quite likes" Jackie.
BK Don is a character who openly declares his love
twice. He says, "I love you, Gal" and he also says, "I love you, Jackie." It
adds a whole dimension to that tortured man.
JT Maybe the only two people he ever really liked, and
they didn't want to play with him. They didn't love him, they feared him.
BK He says things that all of us perhaps at one point
or another might have thought, but he actually says them. He has no governor,
no safety valve on, he's like an animal. When it's time for him to bark he will
bark. You and I have both seen this film several times with audiences, and the
laughs that this film gets are really quite surprising and gratifying.
JT It's two sort of laughs. There's a tense laugh, a
shocked laugh, because a lot of people have told me how frightened they felt
throughout the film. It's so close to exploding all the time. Don Logan really
could kill him at any moment.
Bits and Pieces
JT It was very good with so many first-time people
working on the film. The cameraman, Ivan Bird, this was his first film, it was
the designer's first film, and of course it was the first film for the
screenwriters and director. It has such a lot of energy and a lack of cynicism
about the film that was to be made.
BK I love the way the writers will split a word and
put some wonderful expletive in the middle of the word. Fan-dabbydozy-tastic.
It's an extraordinary device they use. Each character almost has his own
language, his own individual way of expressing his or her own self.
JT Very nice music in this scene by Roque Baños, who
is a Spanish composer. Music was split into two sections. One part was done by
a Spanish composer who had been working with Carlos Saura a lot, and the other
part was done by British musicians and had a much more London flavour to it, a
flavour of angst and strength against the lyrical side. I think it worked very
well.
BK Given the context of my work prior to Sexy Beast I
doubt I even crossed Jonathan's mind – maybe I did, I don't know – but I agreed
to meet Jonathan after I read it and loved it. Don Logan jumped off the page at
me and said "You are next." I met Jonathan, we clicked immediately, and within
seconds of meeting we were discussing character, we were discussing Don and the
film.
JT In this scene Ben was asked to pee about six times
in a row like that. It wasn't that he had incredible bladder power, he had a
sort of bulb and a syringe, and there was a lot of discussion about the colour
of the pee and how it would react with the film stock. Getting the right colour
was quite difficult. There are such silly little points that the prop
department have to do on a movie.
Final Thoughts
BK Wonderful. I've seen that film five or six times. I
am now beginning to really appreciate it on a purely technical level of
composition, focus, choice of music, rhythm. It's really something.
JT It's hard to explain what happens when there is an
alchemy on a film. This one was a difficult film for all of us to make, but out
of that difficulty this joyous 85 or 90-minute film was given birth to. I am
certainly absolutely thrilled with the movie and I hope that everybody who gets
to this place in the commentary will have had a great time. We'll leave you
with Dean Martin's Sway.
BK Dino. Again, the perfect choice.