The Italian Job (2003 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Italian Job | |
|---|---|
 original film poster |
|
| Directed by | F. Gary Gray |
| Produced by | Tim Bevan Donald De Line Jim Dyer |
| Written by | Donna Powers (screenplay) Wayne Powers (screenplay) Troy Kennedy-Martin (1969 screenplay) |
| Starring | Mark Wahlberg Charlize Theron Donald Sutherland Edward Norton |
| Music by | John Powell |
| Cinematography | Wally Pfister |
| Editing by | Richard Francis-Bruce Christopher Rouse |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 30, 2003 |
| Running time | 111 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Followed by | The Brazilian Job |
| IMDb profile | |
The Italian Job is a 2003 action-adventure film, directed by F. Gary Gray. This film stars Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton and Donald Sutherland. This is a loose remake of the original 1969 classic film The Italian Job starring Michael Caine.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The film opens in Venice, Italy with the "leader" John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) on the phone giving his daughter Stella (Charlize Theron) the "this is my last job" speech. John then meets up with the "planner" Charlie (Mark Wahlberg) to discuss the job. Both John and Charlie are good friends, and the two have a great amount of respect for each other.
Charlie plans and executes a well crafted and swiftly executed robbery, involving the heist of gold bars. During this sequence, the rest of the ensemble comes into the fold. Steve (Edward Norton) is the "inside man", Handsome Rob (Jason Statham) is a very proficient "wheel man". Left Ear (Mos Def) is the explosives expert and Lyle (who later demands the handle "Napster") (Seth Green) is the technical expert. The heist is a success and the celebrating begins, but the euphoria doesn't last long. A traitor among the group (Steve) has his own plans, and doesn't waste time seizing the gold, killing Bridger, and leaving the rest of the team for dead. They survive, however, and they plan revenge.
The film continues back in the United States, with Stella (Charlize Theron) using her expertise to break into vaults, for legitimate reasons. Charlie recruits Stella, since she has the required expertise and motivation to participate in the payback heist of stealing the gold bars back from Steve. Once Stella agrees to join the team, the heist begins.
The last half of the film takes place in Los Angeles, California, and involves the payback heist. The actual heist at the end of the film is a chase sequence, involving a major traffic jam and the use of MINI Coopers.
[edit] Cast
- Mark Wahlberg as Charlie Croker
- Charlize Theron as Stella Bridger
- Edward Norton as Steve Frazelli
- Donald Sutherland as John Bridger
- Jason Statham as Handsome Rob
- Seth Green as Lyle, or, "The Real Napster"
- Mos Def as Left Ear
- Franky G as Wrench
[edit] Relatedness with the original The Italian Job
There are some materials in this movie related to the original movie. Some can be considered as homages to it.
- The red Mini Cooper driven by Stella at the beginning of the film is a nod to the Mini Coopers from the original The Italian Job.
- The name adoption. Both Charlie Croker and Bridger come from the original movie.
- The plot adoption. The main plot with three Minis from the original movie is reperformed with similar compositions such as traffic jam and chasing in a drain.
- The unachieved plan for the sequel to the original movie, which is taking back the same gold from bad guy, became the main subject of the remade movie.
- Mobs get involved in both movies, with both possessing machinery talents of destroying cars.
- Aston Martin Cars feature in both movie. Michael Caine, the original Charlie Croker drove a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 in the 1969 movie. Handsome Rob's wish was Aston Martin Vanquish in the 2003 movie but it's taken by Steve. Rob got an Aston Martin DB7 Volante at last.
- When Charlie is doing surveillance on Steve, the big TV Screen shows a movie of Michael Caine.
[edit] Trivia
- James Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade wrote the first draft of the screenplay, a fairly faithful translation of the original with a prologue set in World War II in which Charlie Croker's father tries and fails to recover the gold (tying the film in with Troy Kennedy Martin's other heist film Kelly's Heroes). A new story was commissioned from writing team the Powers that relocated the action to L.A.. Early posters and the trailer still credited Purvis and Wade as co-writers.
- In addition to the stunt driving course received, Jason Statham got two days' driving tuition from Damon Hill, the British former Formula 1 world champion.
- The NetCom Cable van shows the phone number 1-800-555-0199. This is the same number that Al Pacino in The Insider (1999) and Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (1999) have.
- Kings Island (Cincinnati, OH) and Canada's Wonderland (Toronto, ON) opened The Italian Job: Stunt Track attraction in May 2005. Kings Dominion (Doswell, VA) added the ride in summer 2006. The ride is based on the chase sequence of the 2003 film. The ride is a heavily themed rollercoaster, in which the coaster trains are scaled MINI Cooper S Convertible models.
- Originally the getaway was a much longer sequence in which a bullet-wounded Handsome Rob reluctantly hands over the driving to Left Ear, despite the fact that he can't drive “stick”. After narrowly avoiding pedestrians at the Staples Center, getting stuck in traffic in Downtown L.A. and driving into a shop window, Rob takes over the driving. Some footage from this sequence appear as deleted scenes on the DVD release.
- In the scene where the explosives are set off under the street, a man in a Spider-Man suit can briefly be seen fleeing from the explosion.
- The White MINI is actually a 'Pepper White' car with a pure white roof - this is not a colour combination that is made for the MINI. The 'Chili Red' and 'Indy Blue' MINI's both have black door mirrors and white roofs. In reality, MINI's come with door mirrors that match the roof colour.
- The principal actors in the movie did most of the stunt driving themselves. Whilst all of the principals needed stunt driving lessons - Mos Def needed a little more work because he didn't have a driving license at the outset of the production.
- A MINI with two steering wheels was used for some of the shooting in order that a stunt driver could drive the car whilst one of the actors performed in front of the camera. This unusual car is now a part of the MINI factory tour in Cowley, Oxford.
- For a brief moment, the letters that make up the Hollywood sign spell out "OHLLYWODO." This is actually an optical illusion, as the letters on the hillside are offset from each other, and the sign was photographed from the side.
- In the credits, the song "Money", originally performed by Pink Floyd, is played by Velvet Revolver.
- Steve's last name was Bendel before he changed it to Frazelli. It is revealed by Stella in the movie.
- In a new MINI (2007) commercial, the getaway scene from this movie is featured in "parallel timespace." As the MINI driver takes a joyride underground with a friend passenger, the three MINIs from this movie appear zooming in front of them at high speeds.
[edit] See also
- The Italian Job - The original 1969 film.
- The Brazilian Job - A sequel to the 2003 remake.
