gangster special

w o r d s nick de semlyen

Nick Cave and reveal Lawless: their ultra-violent, rule-breaking “gangster- Western” which scared off half of Hollywood

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t’s fair to say that , (score by Cave) and the former has singer, songwriter and latterly penned a couple of books, including screenwriter, did not have The Death Of Bunny Munro, the story an average childhood. As a of a sex-addicted salesman. Both saw 12-year-old living in Victoria, Wettest County as the perfect starting Australia, he and one of his point for their second team-up. But the mates would occasionally path from page to screen wouldn’t be easy. be driven miles out into the “The period it’s set in was the end of bush by the mate’s dad, the West and the beginning of the gangster given a six-pack of beer period,” considers Hillcoat. “So for me, this and a pair of shotguns and told to kill film is the intersection of the two great as many living creatures as they could. American genres: the Western and the At a similar age, the budding Bad gangster movie. A ‘Wangster’, if you will! ISeed dabbled in brewing his own liquor. But it’s not conventional: the gangsters here “It’s easy,” says Cave, reclining near don’t all die so we can feel good at the end. Briefing a bar in Cannes’ Hotel Martinez, midway And that was just one of the reasons why through the film festival where his film studio people had a tough time with it.” lawless is in competition. “You can do it with The film’s complicated pre-production a rubber tube. I had this friend who had includes four title changes: it began as a little still out in the country. We’d boil up The Wettest County In The World, Released: September 7 potato peel, then blow air so it’d go down changed briefly to The Promised Land, Director: John Hillcoat the tube, through some sugar and drip out reverted to The Wettest County, then the other end. You’d drink a bit of it... finally settled on Lawless. Ryan Gosling, Writer: Nick Cave and then throw up all over the gum trees.” Michael Shannon, Scarlett Johansson ‘If you set this in a city, we’ll greenlight Starring: Shia LaBeouf, It’s likely that these icky experiments in and several other stars expressed interest it.’ But the things that made the story , , mixology played out again in Cave’s mind before passing. In 2009, meanwhile, the unfamiliar were what I loved about it.” , Jason a few years back, when he sat down with a whole endeavour looked doomed when “They want to make happy films Clarke, , copy of ’s 2008 novel, The Sony dropped the film from its schedule. and this is not a happy film,” adds Cave. Wettest County In The World. The based- “At least Sony and other studios were “But it feels relevant now as Western Based on: The Wettest on-fact tale of three brothers who earned very upfront,” says Hillcoat. “They were civilisation is in rapid decline and slipping County In The World, by Matt Bondurant. notoriety home-brewing and bootlegging very straightforward with us: ‘We can’t into the icy water like that character at moonshine in the forests of Prohibition- make these films anymore. We can do the end of Lawless. It’s not long now ’til Story: Three bootlegging era , it’s a bleak, brutal, witty a franchise, we can do comedy at a price, it crawls out and dies of pneumonia...” brothers (Hardy, LaBeouf, Clarke) in Prohibition-era yarn. Perfect bedtime reading, then, for with the right ingredients, and that’s it.’ Franklin County, Virginia, the man who once jotted down the lyrics, Plus, this was before True Grit, when or almost two years, Lawless find their operation under “I’m marked by darkness and by blood/ everyone was saying, ‘Westerns are box- remained cashless. But finally extreme threat when a And one thousand powder-burns.” office poison.’ At one point we were told, it leapt back into life as an indie freaky Special Agent from Chicago (Pearce) sets “It’s beautifully written, an picture, financed by three small himself against them. absolute stone-cold American classic,” production outfits: Annapurna Cave enthuses of the book, which was Pictures, Red Wagon Entertainment and Is Tom Hardy wearing F what I think he is? Yes. penned by the grandson of one of the Benaroya Pictures. Shia LaBeouf was the That is a cardigan. protagonists. “Matt, being a Bondurant, “studios want only actor who had remained on board must be very happy that his bloodline from the beginning; along the way Hillcoat is the coolest three motherfuckers on had recruited a roster of rising stars, the planet. I just wonder why someone including Tom Hardy, Mia Wasikowska didn’t have a go at adapting it before us.” to make happy and Jessica Chastain. “We lost some and “Us” being Cave and Australian • Here: Gary Oldman gained some along the way,” the director as slick Chicago director John Hillcoat. In 2005, the pair gangster Floyd reflects, “but I was absolutely blessed collaborated on Outback Western The films. this is Banner. Above right: because I ended up with a perfect combo.” Proposition, with Cave on Good girl Bertha The bootleggin’ Bondurant boys are a (Mia Wasikowska) writing duties and Hillcoat meets-cute with study in differences. The eldest, Howard, as behind the camera. Since then, bad boy Jack played by Australian actor Jason Clarke, the latter has released Cormac not happy.” (Shia LaBeouf). is a war-scarred ruin who frequently McCarthy adaptation The Road nick cave gets high on his own supply. The > the tom cardie effect Big man Hardy rocks the cardigan look in Lawless. We see how it works for dwayne johnson! arnold schwarzenegger! hugh jackman! brad pitt! the hulk! other movie beefcakes... Verdict: We can smell what The Rock is knitting. Verdict: It’s Crochet The Barbarian! Verdict: From Wolverine to Wool-verine. Verdict: The curious cashmere of Benjamin Button. Verdict: You won’t like him when he’s Angora.

78 empire august 2012 empireonline.com subscribe at www.empireonline.com/sub august 2012 empire 79 gangster special youngest, Jack, portrayed by LaBeouf, is an ambitious whippersnapper who falls for a Quaker’s daughter (Wasikowska). And the middle brother, Forrest, is the driving force of the family business — a fearsome, brooding slab of a man. Considering he’s played by Hardy, it’s tempting to think of the character as a backwoods Bane. But according to the star, who meets Empire clad in a pro-war-veterans T-shirt and is later sighted shadowboxing a hotel-lobby pillar, it’s the gentlest role he’s played. “Bottom line, Forrest is a mum,” he says. “Even though I’m physically the most dangerous of the three, Forrest is there to clean, cook, wear the apron, stash the land of money, look after his brothers. None of this stuff is tough-guy shit, y’know? I’ve got my brass knuckles and a cigar in my the spree hat and a Clint Eastwood beard, plus Coast to coast: how organised crime I’ve got the muscles growing from Batman, ’cause I’m working on another job at the spread across the United States same time — instead of moonshine I’m w o r d s kim newman illustration cath levett moonlighting. But I’ve also got a cardigan. I’m not ashamed to wear that. It’s soft. 1. Chicago, Illinois from the 19th century on, corruption of LA was 4. Franklin County, had their own film biopics 7. Phenix City, Alabama Many films have followed, The cardigan is a flag of maternal instinct.” During The Roaring Twenties, with Irish (Gangs Of New there from the city’s Virginia in 1959 and 2008. When the The 1955 ripped-from-the- often mixing in drug Despite the cardie — and Hardy models the hub of Al Capone’s York), Jewish (Once Upon A founding, as demonstrated The illicit, still paradise city became famous for car headlines movie The Phenix smuggling: Borderline, The a natty range throughout — this is one mum bootlegging operation and Time In America), Italian- by the 1920s water-rights of Lawless — where the manufacture, it also became City Story blew the lid off Border, The Three Burials you wouldn’t want a ticking off from. the site of gang wars — the Sicilian (The Godfather swindles of Chinatown moonshine distributed known for its corrupt, a small city run by Mob Of Melquiades Estrada, No most famous incident being Part II), African-American and the 1940s demolition by Chicago gangsters Mob-run unions — as interests who operated Country For Old Men. Forrest is capable not only of inflicting a the Capone Mob’s hit on (Hoodlum) and underage of public transport in originates. Other backwoods featured in Blue Collar. brothels and clip joints world of hurt, but of surviving injuries that Bugs Moran on Valentine’s (Bugsy Malone) factions Who Framed Roger Rabbit. bootlegging outfits, from and murdered any solid 9. Las Vegas, Nevada would put most people in the ground. It all Day, 1929. See: Al Capone, getting a foothold in general The entertainment industry the ’20s on, feature in The 6. San Francisco, citizen who complained. As seen in Bugsy and Casino, The Untouchables, The St. crookery, then establishing also made it a prime Moonshine War, Thunder California a city essentially created by feeds into the self-perpetuated Bondurant Valentine’s Day Massacre permanent bases during location for smut-peddlers Road, Moonshine County At the turn of the 20th 8. The Mexican border organised crime in a state legend: that the brothers cannot be killed. and Road To Perdition. Prohibition. When booze was and stag filmmakers (The Express and White Lightning. century, one of the most Border Incident (1949) was where gambling — and “I loved that part of the book,” says legalised they turned to drugs. Big Sleep, Inserts). L. A. lawless areas in the US was one of the first films to deal prostitution — were legal. 2. New York, New York Confidential and Gangster 5. Detroit, Michigan Frisco’s Barbary Coast. In with the smuggling of illegal 1950s and ’60s films about Hillcoat. “Nations are built on the myth As the entry point to the US, 3. Los Angeles, Squad also see the rise During the 1920s, Motown San Francisco, Clark Gable migrant workers into the US robbing casinos (5 Against of invincibility, particularly America. And the Big Apple was the centre California of organised crime in the crime was run by the runs the rackets until the to provide essentially slave The House, Ocean’s Eleven) this film is essentially about people who of immigrant crime syndicates The political and criminal 1940s and ’50s. notorious Purple Gang, who 1906 earthquake hits. labour in Southern California. tend not to mention this. think they’re immortal and the eventual horrifying realisation that we all die.” In Lawless, the brothers might meet all the way through. It’s one thing to read they murder some people, but to me Nelson to sing over it. They were kind of their maker courtesy of all-powerful “Forrest is a mum. Even though i’m it in the script, and very different when the real crime there is the crime of like, ‘What the fuck is this shit?’, but they Chicago gangster Floyd Banner, a small you finally see it.” Prohibition. And that is being perpetuated sang anyway. It created a weird tension role that sees Gary Oldman committing Neither Hillcoat nor Cave see it as today. Seventy-five per cent of people between these amazing singers and this scene larceny armed with a Tommy gun. a big deal (“A lot of people flinch. I just in American prisons are in there for strange mongrel music.” But the prime threat is Charlie Rakes, a physically the most dangerous.” try to make it very matter-of-fact — fast, getting high, or drug-related crimes.” So ends the strange saga of Lawless, Chicago lawman determined to put an tom hardy chaotic, messy,” shrugs the director when If all this makes Lawless sound stuffed formerly The Wettest County. And if you end to the Bondurants’ party. In the book the subject’s brought up), but perhaps with subtext, be assured that it works were wondering about the title change, and first draft of the script, Rakes was a was trying to cover up a stag-do gone tips. But where it stands alone is in its they want to be sure they’re getting just fine as a thriller. It also, as you wonder no more. generic corrupt cop. But once the role was wrong, he actually had a good reason unflinching portrayal of violence. Throats people’s attention. After all, this isn’t just might expect from a film penned by Nick “There was a problem with it sounding offered to Guy Pearce, a fellow Australian for getting out the clippers. “It was a are slit. Genitals are separated from bodies another gangster flick; it’s designed to Cave, has a killer soundtrack, featuring like The Wettest Cunt,” explains Cave, who took top billing in The Proposition, representation of Rakes’ vanity — vanity and gift-wrapped. One poor chap is tarred get us thinking about modern-day issues. bluegrass cover versions of tunes you matter-of-factly. “There was already an the character took an abrupt turn into gone wrong,” the actor explains. “There and feathered in a way that makes it look “There are a lot of parallels today, really wouldn’t expect to inspire bluegrass internet virus — or viral, whatever — Weirdsville. There’s his attitude towards were some things that we filmed that had a lot more painful than it did in Little with the economic crisis, the political cover versions. The swampy take on about dropping the ‘o’, and all of that sort women: at one point, Rakes sneers at to do with cleanliness which didn’t end up Big Man. The cut which Empire watches crisis, the war on drugs,” Hillcoat points Velvet Underground’s White Light/White of stuff, and it ended up sounding like a lady, “I’m not the type to drink from in the final cut. This guy has an issue with • Above left: Tom at Cannes will likely be snipped at by out. “At one point we even had a montage Heat that plays over the closing credits a porn title. A kind of rural porn movie.” a greasy cup!” There’s his super-croaky hair and filth. Plus, Tom needed the extra does his mum bit censors, but even so, certain scenes could at the start with what was happening is a particular bizarro stand-out. “But there could have been some with Shia — he’ll be voice. And then there’s his hair. hair to stick on his face for Mad Max...” dabbing his face with prove too rich for some’s blood. now with the Mexican cartels, which “What we didn’t want to do was have advantages to that,” muses Hillcoat, “Guy sent us this photo attached to a hankie in a minute. And that includes the cast. Dane wound back to the ’80s cocaine wars a worthy soundtrack of old bluegrass possibly tweaking the definition of a text message, saying, ‘This is how I want awless shares common ground Top right: Brothers DeHaan, who plays sidekick Cricket, and heroin in New York... until we songs done by top-range American ‘Wangster’ in his head. “We have Tom not-so-grim Howard to look,’” laughs Cave. “He’d got that with HBO’s Prohibition serial (Jason Clarke) and is enthusiastic about the carnage: “One landed on Prohibition.” session musicians,” says Cave. “We and Shia and Jessica. I think that’s a rural weird fucking haircut, which was actually Boardwalk Empire — one can Forrest (Tom Hardy). thing about John is how beautiful he can Cave agrees that the film’s real wanted something that was punk-rock porn movie people would pay to see!” a style back then — a failed style. And only dream of a spin-off in Bottom right: Special make violence. He makes blood and criminals are the authorities trying to and fucked-up. So we created this kind [email protected] he’d shaved his eyebrows off. John and which Rakes and Michael Agent Charlie Rakes’ really horrific things look mesmerising.” shut the Bondurants down. “What is of vibrant noise, then brought in great (Guy Pearce) own me just sort of looked at each other.” LShannon’s Agent Van Alden team up version of a Do Not But Wasikowska admits she finds it the crime these guys are committing? legends of country music like Ralph Lawless is out on September 7 and will be If you’re wondering whether Pearce to bust bootleggers and swap grooming Disturb sign. tough to sit through. “I was squirming The crime of drinking alcohol? Okay, Stanley, and Willie reviewed in a future issue.

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