Tagline: Ever feel like you’re being played?
Gregory Jacobs, who has served as an assistant director to some of the most respected motion picture directors in the entertainment industry, makes his directorial debut with “Criminal,” a retelling of the Argentine film, “Nueve Reinas” (“Nine Queens”).
Criminal movie storyline. Filled with off-beat characters, menacing situations, unexpected plot twists and an edgy, mordant humor, the film stars John C. Reilly (“Chicago”), Diego Luna (“Y Tu Mama Tambien”), Maggie Gyllenhaal (“Mona Lisa Smile”) Peter Mullan (“My Name is Joe”) and Jonathan Tucker (“The Deep End”).
Set in Los Angeles over the course of 24 hours, “Criminal” follows a day in the life of two small-time bunco artists who stumble upon a foolproof, and extremely lucrative, scam. The story begins in a casino when Rodrigo (Diego Luna) is caught pulling a “change-for-a-hundred” swindle on two different cocktail waitresses. The escapade is witnessed by Richard Gaddis (John C. Reilly) an older, more experi-enced con artist who intervenes. Posing as a policeman he escorts Rodrigo away.
Richard explains that he is temporarily in need of a partner and invites the younger man to help him pull a few jobs. Rodrigo is suspicious, but desperate to help his father who is in serious trouble over gambling debts. He agrees to try out a partnership.
The two men are taking a break from a series of “nickel and dime” schemes when Richard is summoned to the luxury hotel where his sister Valerie (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who hates him for swindling her and their younger brother Michael (Jonathan Tucker) out of their inheritance, works as the concierge.
Valerie explains that an older Spanish man named Ochoa had been making a scene in the lobby trying to see VIP guest William Hannigan (Peter Mullan). While being escorted out, he had collapsed, but not before calling out Richard’s name and begging Valerie to call him. Incensed that Richard and his low-life friends might endanger her job, she tells her brother to make sure both he and Ochoa never set foot in the hotel again.
As Richard and Rodrigo enter the room where the old time con man is waiting for the paramedics, they have no idea that a once in a lifetime opportunity is about to fall into their laps.
Ochoa explains the sting. An expert forger, he has made a copy of an extremely rare, one-of-a-kind 1878 Monroe Silver Certificate. Due to U.S. tax concerns Hannigan, an Irish multi-millionaire who collects antique currency, must leave the country the next day. If Richard can get to Hannigan, Ochoa knows he will not be able to resist adding the Certificate to his collection. Because lab tests would take a week, there is virtually no chance that he will discover the fraud. The payoff? At least $500,000.
As the deceptions and duplicity mount, Richard and Rodrigo must negotiate a succession of swindlers, thieves and grifters to pull off the biggest caper of their lives.
Criminal is a 2004 US film based upon the Argentine film Nine Queens. Directed by Gregory Jacobs, it stars John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Maeve Quinlan and is a production of Section Eight, the production company of Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.
About the Film
Director Gregory Jacobs first collaborated with Steven Soderbergh in 1992 when he became his first assistant director on “King of the Hill.” In an industry not noted for loyalty, theirs became a solid working relationship with Jacobs continuing to work with the director on nine additional films. For the past several years, Soderbergh had encouraged Jacobs to find a project to direct himself.
“Executive producer Jennifer Fox, George and Steven had seen “Nueve Reinas” (“Nine Queens”) and thought it would be a perfect movie to remake,” recalls Jacobs.
“They suggested that I watch it and I thought it was a wonderful movie with a great framework from which an American version could be made. Fabian Bielinsky, who directed it from his original screenplay did an incredible job.”
Says Soderbergh, ” It’s a performance piece, which made it very interesting to me and George. At the same time, we had very consciously been looking for a project that Greg could direct but we wanted it to be the right project. We both sensed that you only get your first time once and it better be good and it better be something you can defend, so it was great when we saw ‘Nine Queens’ when we did.“
“To me, good directing is about making very specific and consistent choices about things. You have to stick to the idea of the movie that you have in your head and not concern yourself with outside forces. Having worked alongside Greg for so many years, I knew what his taste was and I knew that he had the ability to direct a film and be secure enough not to overwhelm it with too much unnecessary directing.”
From the beginning, Jacobs and Soderbergh not only loved “Nine Queens” but felt that in transporting it to the United States they could find ways to add elements to the story instead of having to dilute the story. Says the producer “It had all the food groups as far as we were concerned so we were very aggressive about pursuing it.”
Continues Jacobs, “I knew from the first moment how I wanted to structure it. I wanted it to be set in Los Angeles with a younger Latino man and the older character a Caucasian because I wanted to bring issues of race and class into the story. Steven agreed and once Jennifer secured the rights, Steven and I sat down and wrote out a first draft.”
“Criminal” takes place during twenty-four hours, a conceit that Jacobs says for him was part of the fun of making the movie. “And not just because in a film that takes place in one day, you only need one costume per actor so we saved money on wardrobe,” he laughs.
Throughout the “Criminal” screenplay there is a build up of dramatic tension offset by plenty of quirky neo-noir humor which was exactly the feeling that Jacobs wanted for the film.
“Even though there are subtle issues of race and class and segregation, all of which exist in Los Angeles, I didn’t want this to be a ‘heavy’ film,” he explains. “On the surface Richard is almost an unlikable character, but what interested me was showing how nobody is completely black or completely white. There are things about Richard that are unlikable but he is also charming and seductive.
“The same is true of Rodrigo. He’s not necessarily all ‘goody two-shoes’. I liked the idea of instilling the script with humor so there is clearly something funny as well as pathetic about the actions of these two guys.”
Criminal (2004)
Directed by: Gregory Jacobs
Starring: John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jonathan Tucker, Maeve Quinlan, Laura Cerón, Soledad St. Hilaire, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Malik Yoba, Zitto Kazann
Screenplay by: Gregory Jacobs
Production Design by: Philip Messina
Cinematography by: Chris Menges
Film Editing by: Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
Costume Design by: Jeffrey Kurland
Set Decoration by: Kristen Toscano Messina
Music by: Alex Wurman
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Distributed by: Warner Independent
Release Date: September 10, 2004
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