The Thomas Crown Affair
Short description
Thomas Crown is a wealthy financier who has grown tired of a life in which everything comes easily to him. Looking for a challenge, he sets his sights on a Monet painting held in a heavily guarded New York museum and takes it in the middle of the day. Catherine Banning, an investigator working for the museum's insurance company, is assigned to recover the work and quickly fixes on Crown as her prime suspect. What follows is a contest of nerve and intelligence between the two, complicated by the mutual attraction that develops as each tries to outmaneuver the other.
John McTiernan directed the film, which sits between Die Hard: With a Vengeance and The 13th Warrior in his filmography. Leslie Dixon and Kurt Wimmer wrote the screenplay, and Pierce Brosnan, who also produced, stars opposite Rene Russo, with Denis Leary, Frankie Faison, Faye Dunaway and Esther Cañadas in supporting roles. It is a remake of the 1968 film of the same name.
Made for about 48 million dollars, the film took in roughly 124 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 6.9 rating from around 108,000 votes, and on TMDB a 6.8 from about 1,400 votes, while the critics' score stands at 6.5 from 100 reviews, so audiences and critics were broadly in agreement on it.
What's left behind the scenes
- When viewers first see Thomas Crown's bedroom on screen, a black and white autographed photograph of the famous supermodel Cindy Crawford can be seen on the dresser with a mirror.
- This film is the first of two remakes by John McTiernan based on the original films by director Norman Jewison. The second film was "Rollerball" (2002).
- One of the last scenes (with a countless number of men in helmets with briefcases) is very similar to a scene from the painting “The Looting” (1989), in which Pierce Brosnan also participated. However, in that painting, the men were dressed in Hawaiian shirts and wore straw hats.
- The film suggests that insurance agents photograph the edges of paintings hidden behind the frames to prevent forgery. This explanation is quite far from the truth. No reputable museum would ever hide even the smallest piece of such famous paintings from visitors.
- In the film, Thomas Crown wears a 'Jaeger-leCoultre — Reverso Duo Classique Gold' watch. Moreover, when the watch is shown in a close-up, it is visible that all the markings on it are missing. This was because Pierce Brosnan, as the actor playing James Bond, was under contract with Omega and therefore was not allowed to advertise any other watches. In addition to the watches, the film contains much other product placement: J.M. WESTON shoes, Bulgari jewelry, Lucent Technologies electronics, and other brands.
- Pierce Brosnan decided to perform some of the stunts in the film himself, without the help of professional stunt doubles.
- Faye Dunaway, who plays the psychologist in the film, played the role of a detective in the original 1968 film.
- One of the clauses in Pierce Brosnan's contract for the role of James Bond stipulated that the actor was not allowed to wear a tuxedo while filming any movies not related to the Bond franchise. In 'The Heist,' Brosnan's character dances at a ball. However, upon closer inspection, we can see that the top button of his shirt is undone and his white bow tie is not tied. This was done specifically to avoid a huge penalty. Formally, this appearance is not formal wear, and therefore, technically, Pierce's character is not wearing a tuxedo.
- Rene Russo performed in a nude scene for the first time in her acting career.
- Naturally, the Monet paintings used during filming were merely reproductions. They were borrowed from the Trubetskoy Gallery located in New York.
- Before filming, Pierce Brosnan had never played golf in his life. However, two weeks of preparatory lessons helped the actor play the required scene with dignity and great convincingly.
- The fire safety system shown in the film differs significantly from the systems actually used in real art museums.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
