Veronica
Guerin
An Interview with Producer
Jerry Bruckheimer
I had
a chance to interview Hollywood mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer
in Toronto while covering the press junket for Veronica Guerin.
Bruckheimer has had the golden touch for years, delivering hit
after hit on a constant basis. This year is no different with
Pirates of the Caribbean and Bad Boys 2 to his credit. Veronica
Guerin, release date set for October 17th, could be Bruckheimer’s
chance to hold an Oscar over his head next year. He wasn’t
about to comment on his Oscar chances, but did reveal why he chose
to produce a smaller, more personable film. He also surprised
me by revealing a lot of fantastic information about his Antoine
Fuqua (Training Day) directed King Arthur epic coming out next
summer. I hadn’t heard much about it, but I am now very
excited about the scope and historical foundation of the story.
Keep your eyes open for a sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean.
It looks like he’s got Johnny Depp signed and ready.
 Veronica
Guerin is a very personal story. We’ve seen a lot of big
budget action films from you with a lot of stuff going on. What
led to the decision to make a smaller, more individual film like
Veronica Guerin?
Jerry: I felt
that her heroics and the fact that she gave her life for writing
the truth deserves to be remembered. I like to do movies about
people that change their society for the better. We’ve done
Dangerous Minds with Michelle Pfieffer about the schoolteacher
that changed her school in Northern California. We did Remember
the Titans with Denzel Washington about the coach that overcame
racism in his Virginia community. Veronica Guerin, on a much higher
level, changed the laws in Ireland because of what she wrote about
and her death.
How did the Veronica
Guerin story come to your attention?
Jerry: Susan
Lyons, one of our executives, had told me about an Esquire article.
We researched her and found there was a 60 Minutes piece about
her. Then we got all the books that were written about her. We
hired a writer, Carol Doyle, who was Irish; to go to Ireland and
interview the gangsters, the politicians, and the journalists
that worked with her. Her family didn’t cooperate, except
her brother very late in the process helped us out. The best accolades
we got were from her mother, who was very kind to us in the press.
We had a private screening for her when we finished the picture.
She was moved to tears and thanked us for the way we portrayed
her daughter. The best compliment Cate got was that, “You
walk like her and talk like her”. She went to Ireland a
month before the film started and interviewed a lot of people.
She watched a lot of video to get her mannerisms, the tone of
her voice, and accent right. A good performance doesn’t
just come from showing up on the set. There is an enormous amount
of hard work and preparation. She certainly did that.
Was their any other
actress considered to play Veronica Guerin?
Jerry: I’m
sure there are a lot of talented actors, but Cate is certainly
one of the most talented. She’s chameleon-like; she always
becomes the character. She’s not a glamour star. She becomes
the character. She’s not Cate Blanchett up there. She is
Veronica Guerin.
You said the family
did not cooperate, except for her brother. Was it a gratifying
feeling to show her mother the final product and have her moved
to tears?
Jerry: Yes, the
most frightening screening I’ve ever been to was the premiere
in Dublin. We had an enormous theatre packed with eight or nine
hundred people. In the audience was the mother, who had already
seen it, but her son and husband was there who hadn’t seen
it. They were also moved to tears and appreciated what we did.
Cate got a ten-minute standing ovation when she walked out on
stage. For a young Australian girl to fool the Irish, with the
accent also, is quite an accomplishment.
 I
have to ask you about Pirates of the Caribbean. You’ve single
handedly brought back the Pirate franchise. Do you have a sequel
planned? Do you have Johnny Depp already lined up?
Jerry: Yes, we
have Johnny Depp already lined up. We just made a deal with the
writer who did the re-write of the first Pirates. Let’s
hope we can do better than Bad Boys 2. It took me eight years
to get that to the screen. We’ll make this much quicker.
What can you tell
us about your new Antoine Fuqua film?
Jerry: It’s
King Arthur, a retelling of the tale the legends came from. We’ve
hired a number of historians that are working with us. They’ve
spent much of their lives researching the Arthur legend. The first
written word was written by a monk that called him the Duke of
Battles, a Roman named Arturius. There was a very famous battle
at the end of the fifth century where a Roman led the Britons
and the Roman legions against the Saxons, who were trying to invade
Britain. He beat them and kept beating them. He kept them pinned
on the coast. That’s why they became the Anglo-Saxon race
and not just the Saxon race. The Saxon’s were considered
barbarian invaders, but the Romans had conquered the world and
had their legions everywhere. We are basing it on the fact that
he was a Roman commander. The knights were Saramathean’s
(sp?). There were all these Saramathean communities in Britain
at the time. They had the great cavalry. They developed the stirrup.
They had much more control of their horses.
So you’re going
for a lot of historical accuracy. Are you going to have a lot
of epic, Braveheart-like battles filled with blood and gore?
Jerry: Well,
I don’t know about the blood and gore, there will be some
epic battles. The one battle at the end of the movie will be great.
We’re taking the legends White wrote about Camelot and developing
it. Camelot was a real town, very close to Hadrian’s wall,
that was built by one of the Roman emperor’s to separate
the barbarians. They were the Picts, the Scott’s that were
painted all blue, who invaded the southern part of Britain. So
he built this wall, some parts still standing, the entire length
of Great Britain. It took them ten years to build it. We’ve
recreated a portion of the wall, a small portion. (Laughs)
Who is the lead actor?
Jerry: Clive
Owen, did you ever see a movie called Croupier? It’s a really
interesting cast. Lancelot is Ewan Griffith, who played Horatio
Hornblower, a really handsome young man. Did you ever see Sexy
Beast? We have Ray Winstone, who is playing Boors, one of the
knights. Everything is based on fact. There is also the Saramathean
legend of pulling the sword from the stone. We’re going
to use that.
You’re using
the sword in the stone too?
Jerry: Yeah,
we’re doing the whole thing.
Are you going to have
Merlin too?
Jerry: Oh yeah,
he’s the leader of the Brit’s who want the Romans
out. He’s like the Viet Cong. He’s constantly fighting.
Is he going to have
any magical powers?
Jerry: His magical
powers will be based on reality. Like how they paint themselves
to blend into the trees. Like something our special forces do.
The Roman legions are like our special forces occupying Britain.
The Saramathen knights want to go home, back to Russia. Arthur
is torn because he wants to go back to Rome. The Romans at the
time believed in pre-destination. That was the only way they thought
they could control the masses. Arthur is a disciple of this. There
are a lot of religious echoes in this too. He wants to go back
to Rome, but he’s half Briton. His father was a Roman commander
that married a Briton. Arthur is a combination, half-and-half.
 You
have a late release for Veronica Guerin in October? Are trying
to build any Oscar buzz?
Jerry: (Laughs)
Depends on you. If you write about it there will be Oscar buzz,
if you don’t there won’t. I think she deserves one.
She’s an amazing actress and I hope she gets nominated.
Can you give us a
preview of what else you’ve got coming out?
Jerry: Well,
we’ve got two TV shows coming out, one called Skin and the
other called Cold Cases. We’ve got King Arthur filming and
another film with Nicolas Cage called National Treasure. It’s
a treasure hunt movie directed by John Turtletaub and that starts
in two weeks. King Arthur is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who did
Training Day. He’s a hard, tough and interesting director.
Here is the generic
question. What is the ideal project you want to work on, something
you really want to see on the screen?
Jerry: They’re
all that way, this one is one of them, King Arthur, National Treasure
is. You put your heart and soul in every one of these. They don't
always work, but the same amount of energy goes into the failures
and successes.
Veronica Guerin OPENS ON
OCT 17, 2003
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