The Way of the Gun
Short description
Two drifters who make their living from small-time crime decide to aim higher. Parker and Longbaugh learn that a wealthy couple, the Chidducks, are due to pay a large sum to the surrogate mother carrying their child, so they seize the woman and demand a ransom instead. What looks like a straightforward plan goes wrong, because the money behind the Chidducks comes from dealings that are not entirely legal, and the men protecting those interests have plans of their own. The kidnapping sets off a widening trail of pursuit and violence.
Christopher McQuarrie wrote and directed the film, his first turn behind the camera, arriving after his screenplay work on earlier crime pictures. Ryan Phillippe plays Parker and Benicio del Toro plays Longbaugh, with Juliette Lewis as the abducted Robin, and Taye Diggs, Nicky Katt and Geoffrey Lewis among the supporting cast. Kenneth Kokin produced.
Made for about 21 million dollars, the film took in roughly 13 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.6 out of 10 from around 37,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.4 from a much smaller base of 518. A critics' score of 5.9 from 134 reviews places it close to the audience figures, with neither group rating it highly. McQuarrie went on to direct Jack Reacher in 2012 and several Mission: Impossible installments after that.
What's left behind the scenes
- During the filming of the scene that opens the film, Ryan Phillippe accidentally hit Sarah Silverman for real. When the actress came to, Phillippe was almost in tears. The blood in the scene was fake, but the bump on the actress's cheek was very real.
- The main characters of the film bear the surnames of Butch Cassidy (1866-1908) and the Sundance Kid (1867-1906), famous bank robbers.
- Unlike many other action films, this production meticulously accounted for every shot fired, and the characters reloaded their weapons on time. The only exception was the shootout in the courtyard of the brothel, where Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro, playing the main characters, fire without reloading their weapons. This scene became a kind of tribute – with a touch of irony – to classic action films.
- The screenwriter and director wrote many lines for Benicio Del Toro's character, but the actor convinced him that the less his character spoke, the better.
- In all scenes, Nicky Katt, who played Obekks, drove the car himself.
- The American Film Association threatened to give the film an NC-17 rating (no one 17 and under admitted), so the filmmakers had to reduce the number of violent scenes.
- James Caan played the role of the heroine Juliette Lewis's father, while Jeffrey Lewis, the actress's father, played Ebner.
- The film owes its realistic gunfight scenes (referring to the coordination of character movements, the correct choice of cover, and the professional "clearing" of rooms) to a consultant. This role was played by the brother of director Christopher McQuarrie, a former member of the US Navy SEALs special forces unit.
- Benicio Del Toro suggested the unusual car chase during the kidnapping. He came up with this idea after watching "Police Academy 6: City Under Siege" (1989), where a similar stunt was pulled off by a pair of criminals.
- The final shootout took place in a brothel – the same location where George Roy Hill's Western "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) ends.
- All the actors in the film shoot from the "Weaver stance", named after its creator, Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff Jack Weaver (1928-2009). It was subsequently developed by US Marine Corps Colonel John Dean "Jeff" Cooper (1920-2006). The shooter holds the weapon with both hands. A more modern stance (one hand on the grip, the other supporting it) is often preferred in shooting competitions and in the military.
- Viewers had already seen the painting shown on the wall of the Mexican brothel in Uli Edel's TV film 'Purgatory' (1999).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
