Tagline: Big Man, Big Plan, Big Mistake.
King’s Ransom movie storyline. Anthony Anderson stars as Malcolm King, a wealthy and arrogant businessman whose ex-wife to be has plans to take him for everything he’s worth in their divorce settlement. Determined to avoid losing his fortune to her, Malcolm plans his own kidnapping with the help of his dim-witted mistress and her ex-con brother. Unfortunately for Malcolm, he is not the only one with a kidnapping plot. King’s Ransom is directed by Jeff Byrd and scheduled for a 2005 release.
Everybody wants a piece of Malcolm King… A successful and wealthy businessmen, with plenty of attitude to spare, Malcolm (Anthony Anderson) has made more than his share of enemies over the years, including his soon-to-be ex-wife (Kellita Smith) and his overworked, under-appreciated employees. Not wanting to go through a messy and expensive divorce played out in the media, Malcolm devises a plan to save his money from his wife’s eager hands. Along with the help of his mistress, Peaches (Regina Hall), Malcolm plots his own kidnapping in order to secure a fictitious ransom so extremely high that, once paid, the public will think he’s broke and unable to meet his wife’s financial demands.
But unbeknownst to Malcolm, he’s not the only one with a kidnapping plan. Not only his wife, but one of his long-suffering employees (Nicole Parker) and a dim-witted local bumpkin (Jay Mohr), have all cooked up separate schemes of their own, each more ridiculous than the next. What results is a wild, comedic ride for Malcolm that will change his life forever.
About the Production
The story behind King’s Ransom begins with its talented star, Anthony Anderson, who makes his feature film starring debut. The project, which in its early stages of development was known as The Untitled Anthony Anderson Project, was specifically created with the actor in mind.
A gifted comedic actor who had built a strong fanbase thanks to scene-stealing supporting turns in films such as Barbershop, Malibu’s Most Wanted and Scary Movie 3, Anderson was thrilled to have the opportunity to make his starring debut on a project that was being produced by New Line Cinema.
“New Line aggressively came after me, and knowing how they promote and get behind the people and films that they believe in, that’s definitely a place where I wanted to be in business,” says Anderson. “And they gave me the freedom to bring things to this character – I sat in on producer sessions, weighed in on some of the casting – having that input really attracted me to the project.”
Anderson was also excited at the opportunity to portray the character of Malcolm King, a self-made millionaire with a healthy dose of arrogance and ego. “Malcolm is an entrepreneur who started with the last dollar in his pocket and turned that last dollar into a $15 million marketing firm that he owns,” says Anderson. “Because of that success, he’s become a bit arrogant and has a very solid sense of self-worth. He’s not really a ruthless type of employer or businessman, but he is very demanding and self-centered.”
Anderson admits that his character can be “a bit of a jerk,” but adds that it was one of the things that made Malcolm King such a fun character to play. “I get to wear his arrogance as a badge of honor,” says Anderson. “It’s what Malcolm King is all about.”
While the character was one of the main elements that attracted Anderson to the project, it was the actor’s involvement that proved to be one of the biggest draws for the film’s director and other cast members.
“I think Anthony Anderson is hilariously funny, and knowing that he was involved really boosted my desire to do this movie,” says director Jeff Byrd, who makes his feature debut on the film. “I love working with Anthony, he’s always good and always there with another level of something funny. He’s also always ready to challenge himself and I’m always ready to challenge him, so that’s a good thing. He’s one of those actors who is open to trying things different ways – it’s a pleasure to work with a guy as flexible.”
Anderson’s fellow actors also sing the praises of the film’s star. “I was attracted to this project because of Anthony Anderson, who has been making me laugh for a long time,” says co-star Jay Mohr, who plays the bumbling Corey. “And then I read the script and realized that it was something I could do that’s really funny, but it also provided me with an opportunity to make the character even funnier than he was on the page.”
The script for King’s Ransom, written by Wayne Conley, provided a solid mix of comedic action, dialogue and set pieces for the director and actors to explore. “When I first read the script, what brought me on board was the sheer majesty of it all, the bigness,” says director Jeff Byrd. “It was written in a very big way, which is great since I hadn’t done anything of this scope.”
Byrd also liked the way the script managed to address cultural issues and was more than just a series of jokes strung together. “It really reminded me of some movies that I love, like Boomerang, films that are contemporary African American films but have a bigger theme,” says the director. “They have a bigger meaning and more universal implications.”
In order to bring the tone of the script to life on screen and to maximize the humor in the film, Byrd created a competitive environment in which he challenged his actors to come up with funnier takes than even he could envision.
“I always try to bring things off the page and make them a little bit funnier than the way they were originally written,” says Byrd. “I always challenge the actors and let them challenge me. Who’s funnier? Whose idea is funnier? You get into this nice little tennis match with them over what works better and then they try it all.”
Anderson and his fellow cast members thrived from this environment and jumped at the freedom they had to improvise on set while maintaining a focus on what the movie is meant to be.
“I don’t find it hard to reel anything in with regards to my ad-libs or improvisation because I know what the rating of this film is, I know where I can and can’t go,” says Anderson. “I know where our producers, the studio and the director want this film to go and I know what ground we can and cannot tread upon. First and foremost I’m a professional, and everything comes from a place of honesty – everything comes from the character itself.”
While Byrd ran a very collaborative set and encouraged input and feedback from his cast, he was also careful to stay true to his own vision for the film. “My philosophy on directing is that you really need to listen to your gut,” says Byrd. “One of the biggest problems I think directors have is that sometimes we don’t follow our gut because there are so many circumstances swirling around us and there’s so many questions that you have to answer and so many people that need your time and attention. Your gut is a powerful thing and if it’s moving you to do something, you should probably do it.”
Byrd also says that his faith in his own instincts is what allows him to keep a very calm demeanor when he’s on set, no matter what ups and downs of production he may face.
“Being calm and relaxed on a set all boils down to preparation,” he says. “I’m usually very un-calm during prep and preproduction, but during production everything kind of falls into place the way we had discussed, and I am calmer. It’s really not the time to be nervous because at that point it is a system barreling forward at full speed. I have a tendency to focus on moving forward as opposed to focusing on the problem.”
Despite being a first-time feature director, producers had the utmost confidence in Byrd’s ability to bring King’s Ransom to life. “The more you work, the more you’re going to learn, but I’m a firm believer that no matter how old you are or how many films you’ve made, you’ll never know everything,” says executive producer Mike Drake. “I just worked with a director who is 78 years old and directed 70 films – the guy’s got like six Emmy’s and it was no different than what I experienced with Jeff. It’s never the same because you are dealing with different personalities, but there is nobody that knows everything.”
One of the major advantages Byrd had in helping him to overcome any obstacles during his first studio film was that he had assembled an amazing ensemble cast to work with. While Anthony Anderson headlines the film, he is ably supported by an impressive ensemble of actors who have extensive backgrounds in comedy.
For the role of Corey, a bumbling fast-food worker turned kidnapper, the producers cast popular comedian and actor Jay Mohr. A veteran of such comedies as Are We There Yet? and Jerry Maguire, in addition to hosting television’s “Last Comic Standing,” Mohr found himself in an increasingly familiar role – as one of a few white characters amid a largely African-American cast.
“This is my second studio picture in a row where it’s a predominantly black cast and I get to play the dumb white guy,” says Mohr. “But these guys are actually really fun, great characters – who happen to be sort of dumb. And I know plenty of dumb white people, so I have no problem with it.”
Taking on the role of a parking valet who assumes Malcolm King’s identity is Donald Faison, a talented actor who showcases his comedic abilities every week on the hit NBC television series “Scrubs.” For Faison, it was the opportunity to improvise on set that proved one of the most exciting elements of the production.
“We get to improv a lot and Jeff Byrd is really good at controlling which way the improv goes and what you say, which is a great quality to have as a director,” says Faison. “He gives us enough rope, but he’s able to hold on to it and pull us back in when we’ve gone too far away from the boat.”
The King’s Ransom cast also features an accomplished group of female actors including Nicole Parker, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine, Leila Arcieri and Brooke D’Orsay, who lend a women’s perspective to the film’s madness.
“There’s a lot of women in this movie and the beauty of them is that they are all challenging, they all have their own separate personalities that really work well for the picture,” says Byrd.
Playing the role of Peaches, Malcolm King’s ditzy mistress, is Regina Hall, who had worked opposite Anthony Anderson previously in Malibu’s Most Wanted and the Scary Movie franchise. Hall enjoyed playing the role, but was quick to point out the differences between herself and her character.
“Peaches and I are really different,” says Hall. “I don’t think Peaches can spell Sunday and if she does, she probably would spell it ‘sundae’ like the dessert, not the day. I think she lives in a reality that allows her to always see the innocence in people, which is kind of nice. But I like to think I’m a lot smarter than she is. I’m optimistic too, but certainly not naïve like Peaches.”
One thing that every member of the ensemble cast shared was the belief that the film was a fun project and that the fun they had on set will translate to the final results on screen. However, that’s not to say that the production didn’t involve its share of hard work.
Faced with a modest budget, the production team had to make the most of what it had to work with. Their success in doing so is a credit to the film’s hard-working cast and crew.
“What we’ve done is we’ve taken a $16 million movie and made it look like a $30 million movie thanks to Jeff Byrd and his whole team,” says producer Darryl Taja.
“They’ve really knocked themselves out and as far as the production design goes, we’ve done a lot of stuff with what people would consider a very modest sum in terms of a studio film.”
In the end, the combination of the hard-working production crew, collaborative filmmaker and talented cast came together to create a film that is full of laughs and represents a true collaborative effort. “Jeff Byrd and the writers have given us a great path to walk down and a great blueprint to work with so we are all on the same page,” says Anthony Anderson.
“We all know what we want this movie to be and we want it to be a huge crossover success. That’s why we have assembled the cast we have, that’s why the subject matter is so accessible. We set out to make the best possible film we could and then we just leave it up to the people and how they receive it. We had fun and hope that when people spend their hard-earned money to see this movie they can appreciate and enjoy what we did.”
King’s Ransom (2005)
Directed by: Jeff Byrd
Starring: Anthony Anderson, Brooke D’Orsay, Leila Arcieri, Jay Mohr, Donald Faison, Regina Hall, Kellita Smith, Donald Faison, Loretta Devine, Jackie Burroughs, Lisa Marcos
Screenplay by: Kevin Bisch, Wayne Conley
Production Design by: Kalina Ivanov
Cinematography by: Robert McLachlan
Film Editing by: Jeffrey Cooper
Costume Design by: Rita McGee, Rita McGhee
Set Decoration by: Paul Hotte
Art Direction by: Jean Kazemirchuk
Music by: Luce Gordon, Marcus Miller
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor and language.
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: February 25, 2005
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