Mr. Madonna, aka Guy Ritchie and his RocknRolla crew hit town on Thursday to premiere his new gangsta epic (read my review here).
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While not as strong as Snatch or Lock, Stock, it’s a return to form for the filmmaker, who seemed to have lost his way for awhile (I blame the Material Girl and her kaballah mumbo jumbo for nicking Ritchie’s movie mojo…).
During a series of mini-press conferences at the Royal York, a lot of topics were discussed by Ritchie and his cast. Most if it centred around how great it was to work on a Guy Ritchie movie (at one point I think they started a petition to erect a statue of the director in Trafalgar Square), but there were a few out-of-left-field moments.
For some reason a couple of American journalists kept asking everyone if they thought RocknRolla was too smart for audiences. WTF!? I mean, Ritchie will always throw you a few curveballs with his interweaving plots, but too smart? It’s still just a gangster movie. Or, as Ritchie put it, “You’re trying to get me to say that audiences are stupid and I’m not going to do it.”
Gerard Butler (Gerry as he likes to be called, and yes ladies, he is a handsome bugger in person), who plays a two-bit hood called One Two, joked he was glad to be able to use his native Scotish accent in a film for a change after a string of bad Irish accents (I’m thinking PS I Love You but I’ve only seen the trailer).
When asked about a possible return to maximum pumplitude in a 300 sequel (didn’t his King Leonidas die along with 298 or so other Spartans?), Butler said he doesn’t see the need for a sequel or prequel no matter how much the first film made.
Uber-producer Joel Silver wins the worst-dressed award: canary yellow shirt, robin’s egg blue leather jacket and sneakers to match. If you don’t know Silver, the Jerry Bruckheimer of the 80s/early 90s (Lethal Weapon, Predator, Die Hard, The Matrix), check out Steve Martin’s character in Lawrence Kasdan’s Grand Canyon, presumably inpired by Silver. (BTW, as a ridiculous side note, Silver invented Ultimate Frisbee. Seriously.)
Next on Silver’s slate is Sherlock Holmes, to be directed by Guy Ritchie. While Robert Downey Jr has been cast as the master sleuth, Ritchie said he’s still searching for his Dr. Watson. Recent rumours of Russell Crowe taking the part were debunked (although wouldn’t he make a cool Moriarty?).
Finally, Ritchie was asked the obligatory “will you ever work with your wife again?” question, to which he responded in the negative, saying he has no plans to direct her in film of music videos ever again.
