By Kofi Outlaw
If you’re a fan of British director and crime-film auteur Guy Ritchie like I am, then your list of movie quotes includes snarky lines from 1998’s LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELLS, or maybe a few garbled-sounds (Brick Top’s infamous “Eh.”) from 2000’s break out hit, SNATCH. And you know nothing of 2002’s abysmal SWEPT AWAY—that is, if you’re a truly a Guy Ritchie fan.
Well rejoice, oh ye faithful! Because
MTV news recently caught up with a cadre of stars —including one history-making starlet—who will all be taking on roles in the director’s next film, a return to the gritty London underworld entitled ROCKNROLLA.
Expect to see the likes of Ludacris (HUSTLE & FLOW), Jeremy Piven (ENTOURAGE), Tom Wilkinson (BATMAN BEGINS) and Gerard Butler (300) filling out ROCKNROLLA’s criminal lineup, alongside side one lovely lady—the first ever leading lady in a Ritchie crook-flick—CRASH’s Thandie Newton. Newton will play an accountant of dubious morals, who gets mixed up in a scheme involving Russian billionaires buying up property all over London. When the Russian’s broker (Wilkinson) is robbed of a painting given to him by his Slavic friends a cat-and-mouse chase ensues, drawing out the usual suspects, namely crooks and thought-to-be-dead rock stars. Well, that last bit is new, but you get the gist of it.
One iconic London landmark will be crucial to the film’s plot: the Battersea Power Station, an electrical power plant first built in 1939 and abandoned in 1983. Battersea has been included dozens of films before and will most likely serve as the backdrop for the film’s climax (better termed ‘convergence point’ in the case of a Ritchie film.) If you want an idea of what Battersea Power Station looks like, just glance at the cover art on your copy of Pink Floyd’s “Animals.”
So far the cast of ROCKNROLLA is all too happy to be onboard for the sordid bit of fun that is a Guy Ritchie outing:
“Guy puts so much work into his scripts,” Piven said. “It’s a world that he knows about and loves, and that comes across in the writing. It’s one of those things where you read it and you are kind of transported to that world.”
“I call it ‘gangsta.’” [Added Ludacris.]
When asked what it was like to be the only femme fatale thrown into the midst of some very bad boys, Newton said:
“I was the only girl for miles around. I thought I’d have to struggle to be a woman in that scenario… [But] guy was so open to me having ideas… He’s very articulate and precise and yet very free at the same time… Whatever he’s spiking his coffee with is good stuff.”
Goons, guns and now hot girls? ROCKNROLLA seems to be shaping into the kind of Guy Ritchie flick I want—nay, NEED—to see. With a bigger cast, bigger budget and a director who has had so much time between flicks to recharge his juices, I’m betting ROCKNROLLA will deliver the mix of humor, action, and demented characters Guy Ritchie fans have been craving. Will the director’s wife, Madonna, be making an appearance this time out? Well, if Guy has learned anything from SWEPT AWAY, he’ll leave the wife at home, shopping for their adopted baby.