The Color of Money
Short description
Eddie Felson, once a celebrated pool hustler, long ago left the game behind and now makes his living selling liquor. When he notices a young player named Vincent Lauria beating everyone in sight, he sees a chance to return to the world he knows and proposes a partnership. Vincent's girlfriend Carmen handles the betting, and Eddie takes the pair on the road, teaching Vincent how to use his opponent's assumptions to his advantage. Vincent's flashy style and refusal to listen eventually strain the arrangement, and Eddie, frustrated, goes back to playing for himself, which sets up a confrontation between teacher and pupil.
Martin Scorsese directed the film, the twelfth of the thirty-eight features listed for him in chronological order, arriving after After Hours and before Bad. Richard Price wrote the screenplay, Barbara De Fina and Irving Axelrad produced, and the large credited cast of fifty is led by Paul Newman as Eddie, Tom Cruise as Vincent, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Carmen, Helen Shaver, John Turturro and Bill Cobbs.
Made for about 10 million dollars, the film returned roughly 52 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from around 101,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.9 from about 1,600. A critics' rating of 7.1 from 46 reviews places it close to the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on Walter Tevis's novel "The Color of Money" (1984).
- In "The Color of Money," a J19 cue produced by Joss, visually similar to one of the cues from the 600 series, was used to play the "ki-balabushka" style.
- Many well-known professional players, as well as director Martin Scorsese himself (in a cameo role), appeared in supporting roles.
- The characters in the film play "nine-ball," the American variation of pool.
- It is clear that Tom Cruise and Paul Newman perform most of the shots themselves, without stunt doubles. Only in one episode did Mike Siegel execute a difficult jump-shot for Cruise.
- The title hints that the color of the billiard table cloth is the same as that of American dollars.
- During filming, Tom struggled to focus in the scene where the girl hugs Vincent. The actor later admitted he is simply terrified of being tickled.
- Tom Cruise performed all the billiards tricks himself with one exception – when the cue ball jumps over two balls and pockets a third. According to the film's director, Martin Scorsese, Cruise could have learned the trick, but it would have taken two weeks and several thousand dollars. Professional billiards players Andrew Giacobidis and Michael Siegel performed the shot instead of Cruise.
- According to Martin Scorsese, this is his only film that he shot over schedule while still staying within the allocated budget.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
