Monday, August 10, 1998
Eye of the Storm
FILM: Brian De Palma weaves a tale of
conspiracy and cover-up amidst heated battles with the Hollywood
establishment
By Lonnie Harris
Daily Bruin Staff
As Detective Rick Santoro and his lady friend race out of the
crowded service elevator of the fictional Atlantic City Arena, an
enormous tidal wave crashes over the nearby Boardwalk and into the
small compartment, forcing the intrepid policeman under thousands
of gallons of rushing water.
Filming the sequence took a great deal of energy from Nicolas
Cage and Carla Gugino, and proved quite difficult for director
Brian De Palma to film.
However, when the film "Snake Eyes" comes to theaters, the tidal
wave scene will be gone. It’s one of many post-production debacles
the film has faced over the past few months, fighting De Palma’s
attempt to keep his vision intact on the screen.
Both Cage and De Palma have been having bad luck lately with
their recent projects. Cage’s star turn in "Superman" has been put
on indefinite hiatus, and De Palma’s now-infamous face-offs with
the media and the ratings board over "Snake Eyes" are still far
from over. Both men see this new film as a chance to redeem
themselves after these calamities.
The film itself centers around Detective Santoro, a crooked cop
attending a big boxing match in Atlantic City’s Arena. While
watching the fight, the secretary of defense is assassinated in the
arena, and Santoro is forced to detain the entire crowd while he
uncovers the conspiracy behind the murder.
The elimination of the climactic tidal wave scene was ultimately
De Palma’s choice. When watching the finished version of the
sequence, with visual effects provided by George Lucas’ Industrial
Light and Magic, De Palma decided the entire concept was
unnecessary and tossed it on the editing room floor.
"We did the sequence with a big wave, and it just took people
out of the movie," De Palma said. "It was too big for the
story."
De Palma consistently faces such problems with his films, as his
ideas are original and often peculiar. The first 12 minutes of
"Snake Eyes," for example, is a series of elongated single shots,
filmed in order without breaks. While this gives the movie a
tension that other thrillers may lack, it was quite trying for Cage
and his co-stars, who had to perform for 12 minutes without
mistakes.
"The fact that he wanted to do long takes at the beginning of
the movie was something I had never done before," Cage said. "It’s
what we call ‘no-net productions’ because we’re all on a high-wire.
I had mountains of dialogue and I knew I had to talk fast to get it
all out, and if I flubbed a line or a word, we’d have to start all
over again. Sometimes it was frustrating."
Possibly more frustrating for "Snake Eyes" as a whole was the
intense argument between De Palma and the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA), which assigns film ratings based on
content. While De Palma had promised the studio that "Snake Eyes"
would receive a PG-13, giving the film better access to the
lucrative teenage market, the MPAA assigned the film an R rating
because of some violent content and obscene language.
De Palma staunchly refused to make the necessary cuts to give
the film the PG-13 rating, so "Snake Eyes" arrives in theaters with
the more restrictive rating, a designation typical to the
director’s often explicit work.
It was De Palma’s impressive previous work, including such films
as "The Untouchables," "Scarface" and "Carrie," that initially drew
Cage to "Snake Eyes." While he admits to enjoying the original
screenplay by David Koepp, it was the knowledge of De Palma’s
abilities that brought the high-profile actor to the film.
"I was a fan of Brian’s movies obviously," Cage said. "When I
had dinner with (De Palma) and (Koepp), it became clear to me that
most of what was in (De Palma’s) mind wasn’t on the page in the
script. What (Koepp) had written was a structure to enable (De
Palma) to work his wizardry. It occurred to me that this would be
pure cinema."
The actor also saw "Snake Eyes" as an opportunity to work in a
suspense thriller, a genre in which he does not have much
experience. Switching between different types of films is how, Cage
says, he "keeps the work interesting."
Also, the actor found time to work on "Snake Eyes" after his
previous project, Tim Burton’s "Superman," fell through at Warner
Brothers. The much-hyped film had budget and script problems,
causing the entire production to shut down before any actual
filming started. Despite complications, Cage has not lost interest,
and he remains loyal to the project, should it ever actually come
to fruition.
"I’m not the classic concept of what Superman should look like,"
Cage said. "I’m more Everyman. We’ve done the classic Superman and
done it well, but if Everyman is Superman, then that means we are
all Superman."
Despite all the troubles plaguing his last several films, Cage
remains extremely optimistic about his acting career, and looks
forward to working both as an actor in several upcoming films and
as a producer in his new production company.
"It’s very important for me in everything I do that I give
people their money’s worth," Cage said. "I really want to do my job
well."
Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures
As Detective Rick Santoro, Nicolas Cage investigates conspiracy
in "Snake Eyes."
Brian De Palma (right) directs Nicolas Cage on the set of "Snake
Eyes."