Μύ Pierce Brosnan produced and stars in The Matador, a "fitfully engaging" caper about a hitman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. After lots of festival buzz, it scored the former 007 a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy. Still, its offbeat sensibility was a tricky pitch at the box office and it only made a small profit on a $10m budget. Perhaps it will gain more ground on DVD.
Double Dealing
There's a lot of talk about how this film allowed Brosnan to send up his suave image in a Making Of featurette. Co-star Greg Kinnear makes a special point of it and writer/director Richard Shepard explains, "Unless Pierce jumped off the cliff and really went for it, it wasn't going to work." There were other challenges too, like working on a tight schedule of 40 days on the streets of Mexico. Cameras follow them on location where Shepard begs the extras not to look at the camera, but sadly we don't get many more insights into the "hiccups" he refers to.
In his commentary for 11 deleted scenes, Shepard is at least forthcoming about the mistakes he made. A scene in an outdoor cafΓ© that's supposed to show Julian's (Brosnan) alertness was "not well executed by me," he says. Later on he reveals that the church scene between Mr Randy (Philip Baker Hall) and Lovell (Dylan Baker) was cut short because of negative reaction from test audiences. The footage also includes extended dialogue between Julian and Danny (Kinnear), which Shepard says was "wrong for the tone" of the movie.
Shepard perhaps says too much in his commentary for the main feature. He starts off by explaining that there were some 30 companies involved in getting this film made, spearheaded by producer Bob Yari "in a 'don't ask, don't tell,' sort of way." We're not sure if he's joking when he adds that, "We had drug laundering money." but that would certainly fit in with the tone of the movie...
The Hit List
The director is joined by Brosnan and Kinnear in an alternative commentary that's equally fun and revealing. Shepard makes it clear that the script was not written with Brosnan in mind even though casting him was ultimately pivotal to the success of the film. Meanwhile Brosnan reckons that he wouldn't have had a chance to read the script had he not formed his own production company. His agent, he says, probably would have ditched it. (Note to Pierce - get a new agent...)
Apparently it was a little trickier convincing Kinnear to get on board because, as the actor admits, he was worried about an increased spate of kidnappings in Mexico. "Don't worry, they're only kidnapping mid-level businessmen," Shepard told him. "But I'm playing a mid-level businessman," answers Kinnear. "I was really in character so it could have happened!"
This set of extras is infused with the cheeky personality that characterises the film as well as offering a good few bits of behind-the-scenes info. If you like a laugh and are game for something different, then this DVD should be on your list.
EXTRA FEATURES
The Matador is released on DVD on Monday 10th July
