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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. Can you describe your character in Revolver for us?
A. I play Jake Green who is a condemned gambler. He’s
many, many things. He’s essentially a conman that gets wronged
by the legendary Dorothy Macha, serves a large sentence for him
in prison, comes out, spends two years making a load of money
and decides to go and make a bit more out of the man who put him
in jail.
Q. So he pays a visit to Macha’s casino simply
for revenge?
A. Obviously, there’s a bit of revenge. There must
be a few emotions going through his head. To humiliate somebody
like Dorothy Macha is probably the biggest motivation especially
among people he’d like to look the man in front of. Personal
revenge and to shove a bit of humiliation down Macha’s throat
are probably Jake’s prime motivations.
Q. Who is Dorothy Macha?
A. He’s a crook, a “crim” that runs
a big casino and disposes of people very quickly without the bat
of an eyelid. There’s a line that describes him pretty succinctly,
“He’ll pass the death sentence faster than you’ll
pass the salt.” He’s driven by greed and lots of money.
That is the character of Dorothy Macha.
Q. Coming out of the casino, Jakes makes the acquaintance
of a strange character, played by Vinnie Pastore…
A. Yes, Zack is a little bit of a mystery and it’s
only towards the end of the movie that we learn where and how
he came to be who he is. I don’t want to give too much away
about Zack but it’s a bit of a head-spinner for Jake when
he appears.
Zack works very closely with his partner Avi, played by André
3000 or André Benjamin, however you like to call him. They
are two of the pivotal characters in the movie, a bit of a mystery
but all will be revealed…
Q. And who is Sam Gold, the Mr. Big we never get to see?
A. Everybody wants to get in business with Sam Gold,
the man that Dorothy Macha’s driven by getting in bed with.
That’s the summit of the mountain. Do business with Mr.
Gold and you can go no higher.
Jake might like to get in business with him, too. Jake’s
driven by all things nice and flashy. Money’s a very big
part of his life and Sam Gold controls all the money. I’m
sure Jake’s been working for Sam Gold longer than he realizes.
I think we’re all working for him.
Q. When did Guy Ritchie first mention the film to you?
A. The first time he mentioned it was a couple of years
ago and then he gave me 90 pages to read, then a different 90
pages. The script’s been spun on its head so many times
but that’s the way Guy works. He’s got such an engaged
mind. He had so many amazing, colorful characters, it’s
a real shame some of them had to go.
What Guy writes is so good but there’s so much of it that
consequently you have to let some things go. It’s like a
constant work in progress with him but that’s what’s
interesting because everything’s always being improved.
That’s what makes Guy unique. Some things go in the bin
that other people wouldn’t consider putting there.
Q. This is your third film with him, why do you get on
so well?
A. Our whole relationship exists on competition, whether
we’re playing chess or trying beat each other up, we’re
always trying to get one up on each other, but never in a serious
way, always in a jokey kind of way.
We’ve spent a lot of time together over the past few years.
He isn’t proud and he hasn’t got an ego about what
he writes. If you say something’s no good, he’ll listen
to you.
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Q. Would you say Revolver
is a new direction for him?
A. It takes time to approach a movie like this. It takes
two years to even write it. I think the fun and games of Snatch
and Lock, Stock… are great but now it’s fun to do
something different. It’s such a radical movie.
You haven’t seen or you won’t see one like this forever
and a day. You’ve got to be wide awake. It takes a lot of
balls to get this going, without taking anything away from his
previous movies.
People come up to me in the street and say that Snatch is their
favorite ever movie. I heard that Dr. Dre has two copies, he likes
it so much. One’s in the DVD player itself but just in case
it gets scratched, the other’s still there in the cellophane.
People love those movies. They like the characters and dialogue
that Guy creates, and they like the mad stories.
Q. How did you prepare for the role?
A. With Guy, we’d have a bit of a wrestle to burn
off some energy and then go and sit in the pub and talk about
it, peeling away layers and layers. You can talk about it for
hours but you have to have a really open mind to even go there.
It was enlightening.
When you’re trying to create a scene like in the elevator,
allowing that battle to take place, it’s a tough nut to
crack. That was a scene we shot three or four times because we’d
keep saying, “What about this? That should really go in.”
You’d be at home and you’d think about something,
so next day it would be, “Guy, how about…” It
really affects you. It’s deep stuff.
Q. Jake lives in a violent world but he doesn’t
use violence to resolve his problems…
A. It’s like the perceived enemy is not the real
enemy. You can fight without putting your fists up, it’s
just a question of knowing how to or knowing that there is a fight
there. The hardest battle you’ll ever fight is with yourself.
Q. But others resort to violence very easily, especially
Macha…
A. I think the violence is very dark. The torture scenes
are pretty in-your-face. I don’t know if there can be any
pink and fluffy violence, but I think it’s shown the way
violence should be. It’s very unembellished, you don’t
need to dress it up in any way. When you’re on the receiving
end of Dorothy Macha’s violence, you know it’s going
to be bad.
Q. Given the contrast between Jake and Macha, is their
final confrontation inevitable?
A. Jake knows what’s going to happen. He doesn’t
need to goad Macha or anything. He can foresee the self-destruction
of Mr. Macha and he just lets it happen.
Q. There are clues and symbols of Jake’s evolution
throughout the film. Is it symbolic for example, that he always
plays chess with the black pieces?
A. I don’t think that’s symbolic but chess
itself is very symbolic to the movie, to the game. We’re
in a game, the con of chess, the con of life. Chess is like the
art of war on 64 squares. It’s a killer game. You’re
only as good as your opponent. It’s got lots of subliminal
messages in the rules and the approach to the game, and how that
relates to Jake’s formula because the formula is applicable
to many things besides chess.
Q. If Jake were a piece on the chess board, which one
would he be?
A. At the beginning he’s just a pawn. At the end,
he’s the king. He’s learned everything there is to
learn about yourself. He learns that perceived knowledge is worthless.
Everything we think we know about ourselves means nothing.
Q. Physically, you’re almost unrecognisable in
the movie…
A. You mean the 70’s pornstar look. Guy created
the whole thing. He had an idea and there it was, even down to
the lairy shoes. They were something else, two-tone snakeskin
and Cuban heels. Everybody should wear those shoes once. They’re
winners.
Q. What’s the most enjoyable thing about working
with Guy?
A. Just the sheer lack of confidence he has in all the
people around him. He makes you feel so incompetent and useless
that it’s hilarious. He makes it fun. He doesn’t seem
to take you seriously, but really he does. There’s a great
balance there.
When you need to do something important, he’ll make it what
it needs to be. His environment is so serious, but then it’s
not. It’s like “Let’s make a movie and let’s
have some fun.” You make a movie with Guy and you don’t
forget it.
Related stories: Read
our Guy Ritchie interview
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