Domino (film)

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Domino
Directed by Tony Scott
Produced by Samuel Hadida
Tony Scott
Written by Richard Kelly
Narrated by Keira Knightley
Starring Keira Knightley
Mickey Rourke
Edgar Ramirez
Lucy Liu
Jacqueline Bisset
Delroy Lindo
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams
Cinematography Dan Mindel
Editing by William Goldenberg
Christian Wagner
Distributed by New Line Cinema (US)
Paramount Pictures (non US)
Release date(s) October 14, 2005
Running time 127 min
Country U.S.
Language English
Budget $50,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue $22,904,376
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Domino is a 2005 Action film inspired by the story of Domino Harvey, the English daughter of stage and screen actor Laurence Harvey, who became a bounty hunter working in Los Angeles. The film is dedicated to Domino Harvey, who died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl on June 27, 2005, before the film was released.

The film stars Keira Knightley as Domino. Tony Scott directed the film and the screenplay was written by Richard Kelly. Kelly commented that "...Domino might be one of the most subversive films released by a major studio since Fight Club".[1]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Domino Harvey, a bounty hunter, has been arrested by the FBI, who are investigating the theft of $10 million from an armored truck, which happened 36 hours previously. Domino is interviewed by criminal psychologist Taryn Mills and agrees to tell her everything she knows about the case.

Domino, a former model living in Los Angeles, becomes a bounty hunter after seeing an advert in a newspaper. Her colleagues are Ed Moseby, Choco and their driver Alf. They are employed by Claremont Williams III, a bail bondsman who also runs an armored car business.

Edgar Ramirez as Choco, Keira Knightley as Domino and Mickey Rourke as Ed.
Edgar Ramirez as Choco, Keira Knightley as Domino and Mickey Rourke as Ed.

Claremont's mistress, Lateesha Rodriguez, works for the Los Angeles Department of Motor Vehicles. Lateesha has been running a counterfeit drivers licence racket. A teenager named Frances arrives at the DMV and asks Lateesha for fake drivers licences for himself, his brother, and two of their friends.

Lateesha's granddaughter Mica is suffering from a blood disease and needs an operation urgently. The operation that Mica needs costs $300,000 which Lateesha does not have. Claremont comes up with a plan to get the money by robbing Drake Bishop, a billionaire client of his armored car business, of $10 million.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation are tipped about Lateesha's counterfeit drivers licence racket. They threaten to send her to jail unless she gives them information about Frances, whom they have been surveilling. Lateesha tells the FBI that Frances, his brother and his two friends are going to commit the robbery that she and Claremont are going to carry out.

Lateesha carries out the robbery with the help of Lashandra, Lashindra and Raoul, three of her co-workers at the DMV. Claremont finds out that Frances and his brother, who Lateesha framed for the robbery, are the sons of Anthony Cigliutti, a mob boss. Claremont phones Lateesha and tells her to abort the plan. Lateesha, Lashandra and Lashindra and Raoul go, leaving the money with Locus Fender, the getaway driver. Unknown to Claremont, Drake Bishop has been working with Anthony Cigliutti. Bishop has been laundering money for Cigliutti, meaning that the money that Claremont and Lateesha have stolen belongs to the mob.

Claremont gets Domino, Ed and Choco to apprehend Frances, his brother and his two friends and then tells them to deliver them to men working for Drake Bishop. Claremont then phones Domino and tells Domino, Ed and Choco to retrieve the $10 million from Locus Fender and to deliver it to Drake Bishop at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Anthony Cigliutti is told about his sons arrest and is mistakenly led to believe that Drake Bishop has had his sons killed, when they have actually been released by Bishop's men on finding that they did not know anything about the robbery.

In Las Vegas, Domino gives $300,000 of the money to Lateesha for Mica's operation. Domino, Ed and Choco then go to meet Drake Bishop at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino. Domino and Bishop, who is with his men, discuss the money. Anthony Cigliutti then turns up with his men. Cigliutti believes Bishop has had his sons killed and shoots Bishop. A gunfight breaks out and everybody is killed except Domino who manages to escape.

After having told Taryn Mills everything, Domino is released by the FBI. Mills advises Domino to retire from bounty hunting.

[edit] Background

The real Domino Harvey
The real Domino Harvey

In 1994 director Tony Scott was sent an article from the British newspaper the Mail on Sunday by his business manager Neville Shulman. The article, written by Sacha Gervasi and titled My gun for hire: Why a movie star's rebel daughter turned into a bounty hunter, was about an English woman named Domino Harvey who was working as a bounty hunter, apprehending fugitives who had skipped bail for the Celes King Bail Bond agency in South Central Los Angeles. While Harvey was one of the few female bounty hunters,[2] what caught the attention of Shulman and Scott was that she was the daughter of the late actor Laurence Harvey.

Tony Scott tracked Domino to Beverly Hills where she was living at the time with her mother Paulene Stone and Stone's then husband Peter Morton. He invited Domino to his office where he proposed a film of her life. Domino agreed and sold the film rights to her life. According to The Los Angeles Times, Harvey was paid $360,000 for the rights.[3]

Tony Scott interviewed Harvey about her life and her work bounty hunting. Scott also met and interviewed Ed Martinez and Choco, who were Domino's bounty hunting colleagues. She took him to meet Celes King III, the bail bondsman who they worked for.

20th Century Fox, which had a first refusal deal on the project, turned it down[4] and in the end the film was financed by New Line Cinema.

[edit] Screenplay

Steve Barancik wrote the first draft of the screenplay[5] which Tony Scott rejected. Another writer was asked to write a screenplay but Scott also rejected this script. Scott described the two rejected screenplays as conventional biopics of Domino Harvey's life, which was not what he had in mind for the film. Finally, Richard Kelly was asked to write the screenplay after Scott read his script for Southland Tales.[6] Kelly was sent transcripts of Domino Harvey's interviews with Tony Scott, though he did not read the scripts that Scott had rejected.[7]

[edit] Cast

[edit] Release and box office

The release date of the film was announced and delayed several times. The original release date was August 19, 2005 (announced on April 7). On May 22, the release date was changed to November 4. On June 28, the release date was changed to November 23. On July 11, it was moved to October 14, 2005, which was the date the film was released on.[9]. The film was given a Premiere on 11 October 2005 in Los Angeles. The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an R rating.

The film was released on October 14 2005 in 2223 theaters across America and grossed $4,670,120 on it's opening weekend. The film stayed in release for 4 weeks and ended up with a domestic gross of $10,169,202. The foreign gross for the film was $12,775,300 which, added to the domestic gross, gave the film a total worldwide gross of $22,944,502. This was an overall loss compared to the film's estimated $50,000,000 budget[10].

While the film did receive some positive reviews, notably from both Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper who gave the film "two thumbs up", reviews were generally negative. Popular movie site Rotten Tomatoes lists the film as "Rotten" with a rating of only 17%; Metacritic scored the film at 36, and described the compiled list of reviews as "generally negative".

[edit] DVD

The film was released on DVD on 21 February 2006. The DVD contained several extra features including an audio commentary with Tony Scott and Richard Kelly, deleted scenes from the film, featurettes on Domino Harvey and the visual style of the film, the teaser trailer and the theatrical trailer. While the film was released in its original widescreen format in all DVD regions, the film was also released in a fullscreen format on Region 1.[11]

[edit] Domino Harvey's death

On June 27, 2005, Domino Harvey was found unresponsive in the bathtub of her Los Angeles home. She died in a hospital from accidental overdose of the painkiller Fentanyl.[12] At the time of her death she was under house arrest in her home in West Hollywood.[13] Tony Scott and Mickey Rourke were among the people who attended her funeral. She was buried in Santa Barbara cemetery next to her father.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Richard sets the record straight on Domino, richard-kelly.net, 30 June 2005, Retrieved 24 May 2007
  2. ^ Summers, Chris When hunting people is a career, BBC News Online, 12 October 2005, Retrieved 21 May 2007
  3. ^ Lee, Chris, The Fall of a Thrill Hunter, The Los Angeles Times, 22 July 2005, Retrieved 24 May 2007
  4. ^ Hart, Hugh, A rich, beautiful bounty hunter, sfgate.com, 9/10/2005, retrieved 9/6/2008
  5. ^ Audio commentary featuring Tony Scott and Richard Kelly on the DVD
  6. ^ Domino Production Notes keiraweb.com Retrieved 18 May 2007
  7. ^ Murray, Rebecca, Richard Kelly Discusses "Domino", "Working with Tony Scott, and "Southland Tales", About.com, 30 August 2005, Retrieved 24 May 2007
  8. ^ "Domino" Interviews:Mickey Rourke and Edgar Ramirez, Hollywood.com, retrieved 9/6/08
  9. ^ Domino promotions page, keiraweb.com, retrieved 4/10/07
  10. ^ Box office/business for Domino Internet Movie Database.
  11. ^ Domino DVD Comparison dvdcompare.net Retrieved 30/9/07
  12. ^ The Sad Fall Of Domino Harvey The Smoking Gun retrieved January 3, 2007
  13. ^ Hope Weiner, Allison, A Lust for Life and Danger, The New York Times, 9 October 2005, Retrieved 24 May 2007

[edit] External links