The Cotton Club
Short description
The Cotton Club is set in Jazz Age Harlem, where the famous nightclub of the title draws in musicians, gangsters and politicians alike. Trumpeter Dixie Dwyer saves the life of mob boss Dutch Schultz and is rewarded with steady work, including a job looking after Schultz's companion, Vera Cicero. Dixie and Vera fall for each other, putting them both in danger. Meanwhile, tap dancer Sandman Williams pursues his own ambitions at the club, which showcases Black performers but admits only white patrons. The film follows these intertwined lives as romance and ambition collide with the criminal world that surrounds the venue.
Francis Ford Coppola directed and co-wrote the screenplay with William Kennedy and Jim Haskins. It was the tenth of the twenty-six films he has directed, arriving between Rumble Fish and Peggy Sue Got Married, and was produced by Robert Evans and Coppola. Richard Gere plays Dixie, with Gregory Hines as Sandman, Diane Lane as Vera, and Bob Hoskins and James Remar as the club owner Owney Madden and Schultz. The large production carried a budget of 58 million dollars and returned 26 million worldwide.
Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb it holds 6.6 out of 10 from around 21,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.5 from roughly 454 votes. A critics' rating of 6.5 from 33 reviews places it close to those audience figures.
What's left behind the scenes
- Richard Gere plays the trumpet beautifully and performed his parts in the film himself.
- The storyline of the relationship between the characters played by Gregory Hines and Maurice Hines is partially based on real events.
- According to producer Robert Evans, Richard Pryor (1940-2005) was initially cast as Sandman Williams, but they had to part ways due to the size of the fee the actor demanded.
- It is claimed that over 600 people were involved in the construction of the sets, the creation of costumes, and the arrangement of the music, and that their daily wages totaled $250,000.
- The role of Vera Cicero was initially offered to Brooke Shields, but she declined it, preferring to study French literature at Princeton University.
- Francis Ford Coppola's passion for improvisation during filming led to the script being constantly rewritten. There were days when actors spent the entire day on set without appearing in a single scene.
- The character of Bomby, played by Laurence Fishburne, is based on Ellsworth Raymond “Bumpy” Johnson (1905-1968), a gangster who ruled Harlem in the 20th century. In 1997, Fishburne again played Johnson in Bill Duke’s film “Gangster”.
- One of three films in which Diane Lane and Richard Gere play a loving couple. The other such films are Adrian Lyne’s dramatic thriller “Unfaithful” (2002) and George C. Wolfe’s drama “Nights in Rodanthe” (2008).
- The character of Vincent “Mad Dog” Dwyer, played by Nicolas Cage, is based on the real-life gangster Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll (1908-1932).
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
