Taylor Made

by Stephen Rebello

Director Taylor Hackford is probably most celebrated for the palpable electricity he has generated between his leading players--think of Richard Gere and Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman; Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward in Against All Odds; Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange in Everybody's All American; and Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron in The Devil's Advocate. With his new film, Proof of Life, Hackford has, once again, cast major stars with major potential for chemistry. Meg Ryan (who received $15 million, her highest paycheck yet, for her efforts) plays the wife of an engineer (David Morse) taken hostage by South American insurgents, and Russell Crowe is the negotiator who falls in love with her as he tries to rescue her husband. While the drama on-screen unfolds against a panorama of war-ravaged Chechnya and a politically volatile South American country (modeled on Colombia), there was drama in Hollywood, too: Ryan and Crowe generated as much heat offscreen as they did on film, despite Ryan's nine-year marriage to Dennis Quaid. Their affair appears to be over but the tabloid coverage of the romance continues to heighten the film's pre-release buzz.

For Stephen Rebello's full interview with Taylor Hackford, pick up a copy of the November issue of Movieline magazine. It's on newsstands now.

Stephen Rebello: Was Proof of Life the movie you intended to do after The Devil's Advocate?
Taylor Hackford: There was a Patricia Highsmith project, Ripley Underground, that I was interested in doing and thought about. A young screenwriter had done an adaptation that I thought was really good. John Cusack and I were talking about doing it.

Rebello: Did Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley have any impact on your not going ahead with your Ripley movie?
Hackford: Frankly, when I was doing Blood In, Blood Out and Eddie Olmos was doing his Chicano gangster movie at the same time, I realized you never win in a situation like that. I never saw his film, nor would I compare them. I'm sure it was a worthy film, but anytime you have two [similar] films in the marketplace at the same time, both films lose. Critics can't discuss one without comparing it to the other. In reality, I thought the better of doing Ripley Underground. I regret it on one level because I've read most of Patricia Highsmith's books and have loved them for years. She's fantastic and very filmic, but in this particular instance, it was my choice to go out there and not force the issue when I'd much rather do Proof of Life.

Rebello: How quickly do you think a project this ambitious and grown-up would have been greenlit if there hadn't been a Castle Rock?

Hackford: Proof of Life is a tough sell in the sense [that] it's a big film, though not expensive in terms of what many films cost today in Hollywood. On the other hand, it is expensive and Hollywood tends to be squeamish about certain kinds of films. To Castle Rock's credit, they let me convince them and now they're reaping the benefits. They're a fabulous company and they give a filmmaker autonomy.

PAGE 1 | 2

Rebello: What was it like having two big stars in a very demanding, physical kind of movie?
Hackford: The most important thing for the director is to tell your actors the truth from the very outset, know what you're trying to achieve and tell them what they're trying to achieve. These are goals--intangible ones--but goals. The intent with Proof of Life was to make a kind of adventure/drama/romantic piece that's quite unusual and that sweeps people into a world that they've never seen before. The problem with the world publicity machine is that it churns up all kinds of expectations. I hope that whatever they come to this film expecting or having been conditioned by the personality press to expect, when the lights go down they're transported someplace else and can walk out at the end thinking they've seen an interesting film. You're frightened by perceptions that could be there, sure, but I want a large audience for this film. I want people to come and be aware of it and at least now [with all the press surrounding Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe] they are aware of it. America tends to mythologize these people but, in reality, it's about the work. We're here to do the work right.

Rebello: It's a change of pace for Meg Ryan.
Hackford: Yes, here's this fabulously talented comedienne who, in many things she's done, had shown me that she is a wonderful actress. But she doesn't just want to slough along doing comedic roles for which she could get huge amounts of money. Meg had a major effect on the character when she first met with Tony [Gilroy, the screenwriter] and me.

Rebello: And what attracted you to Russell Crowe?
Hackford: Movie stars become movie stars for a reason. In Gladiator and The Insider, there were other things going on. In Proof of Life, Russell's in the driver's seat and this is his first Ferrari. When I told him, "I want you to play this as an Australian," he said, "Listen, a lot of people have said that before and always backtracked at the last second when the studio insisted on it." We'd originally envisioned the character as an Englishman, but he evolved as an Australian. If an actor like Russell sees something and knows he can play it--especially an actor whose work is so exemplary--I want to see what he can do with it. My commitment is total. I'm trying to get the best performance an actor has ever given. Beyond that, an actor has to make a commitment.

Rebello: You live in England now where you also get a chance to see any number of wonderful actors who are underexposed in American movies.
Hackford: I have [in Proof of Life] Alan Armstrong and Michael Kitchen who aren't well known to American audiences but they're two of the very finest character actors working in England. They're fantastic in this film. Because we start the film in Poland, I was thrilled to be able to use someone of the stature and talent of Zbigniew Zamachowski from Kieslowski's White. He's a national treasure. I speak fluent Spanish--I produced La Bamba and I directed Blood In, Blood Out--and I know a lot about the Latin consciousness and the Latin spirit of the United States. Americans tend to think that anything south of the border, starting with Mexico, is the same and, of course, it's not.

PAGE 1 | 2