Mikey and Nicky
Short description
Elaine May's Mikey and Nicky follows two small-time gangsters through a single long night in Philadelphia. Nicky, convinced that a mob boss has ordered him killed, is hiding in a cheap hotel room, ill and increasingly panicked. He calls Mikey, a friend from childhood who is still working in the same world. Mikey comes to him, gets him out of the hotel, and the two drift through the city while Nicky wavers between plans to run and demands for answers. As the night wears on, questions of loyalty and betrayal hang over the friendship.
May wrote and directed the film, her third feature after A New Leaf and The Heartbreak Kid and before Ishtar. Peter Falk plays Mikey opposite John Cassavetes as Nicky, with Ned Beatty, Rose Arrick, Carol Grace and William Hickey in supporting roles; twenty-one cast members are credited. The Paramount production had a budget of four million dollars.
On IMDb the film holds a 7.3 rating from around 9,100 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.9 from roughly 210 votes. A film critics' rating of 7.9 from 25 reviews places critical appraisal higher than the audience scores on both sites.
What's left behind the scenes
- Elaine May used 1.4 million feet of film (approximately 0.5 km) during filming.
- Peter Falk (1927-2011) was convinced that Ned Beatty (1937-2021) was the brother of Warren Beatty.
- Director Elaine May viewed this project as personal, as she herself grew up in a family somehow connected to the criminal world, and she depicted the petty criminals she once knew in the film's characters.
- The film's editing took a year and took place in a room at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood (a city within the Los Angeles metropolitan area). The film's release was delayed for another year due to lawsuits and counter-suits regarding ownership rights. When Paramount Pictures attempted to take ownership of the film, it was alleged that May and Falk—who by that time were financially invested in the project's success—had deliberately hidden two boxes of film to delay its release. May did not direct another film for almost 10 years, and then directed the unsuccessful comedy 'Ishtar' (1987).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
