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The Pink Panther Begins
Production
MGM
held a press conference at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel
to kick off the start of production for their remake of The Pink
Panther. The film stars Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, who
also co-wrote the screenplay with director Shawn Levy. Martin
and Levy worked together on last year’s comedy hit Cheaper
by the Dozen. The press conference included all of the principal
cast members and the film’s producer. In attendance were
Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Beyonce, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer,
Kristen Chenoweth, and producer Robert Simmonds. The Pink Panther
is set for US release on July 22, 2005.
How should this film
be referred to? Is it a remake, a sequel, an update, a reinterpretation?
What are we working on here?
Steve Martin:
I don’t know? Who wants to answer that question?
Robert Simmonds:
I can take that one.
Steve Martin:
Sure, it’s a new story…
Shawn Levy: It’s
a reinterpretation, I think.
Steve Martin:
That’s very important. That’s R-E-I-N…
Robert Simmonds:
It’s not a sequel, prequel, or remake. What Steve has done,
is taken the essence of different characters, come up with his
own story, his own reinterpretation of these characters. We’re
trying to do something that’s very contemporary, very fresh,
essentially very original.
Steve, with Bringing
Down the House Eleven coming up, Cheaper by the Three Dozen…
Steve Martin:
None of those are in the works.
How many Pink Panthers
are you going to be doing? Can one man have so many franchises?
Steve Martin:
I was thinking it’s not quite the 21st century, it’s
sort of just edged into it, you know in four or five years then
I’ll be dead. All I can tell you is we are having a lot
of fun right now. We’re working on the script, rehearsing,
and we’re laughing. You know, that’s a good sign.
Aren’t we laughing?
Shawn Levy: I
would add to that part of what makes Steve so interesting in this
role is that, this is the flattery part of the morning, is that
Steve is playing the role and written the screenplay. The whole
tone of this reinvention is distinctly Steve’s.
This is for Beyonce.
How was it for you to decide to take time out of your music and
do this movie?
Beyonce: Well,
I think it was especially a no brainer. I’m absolutely a
huge fan of Steve Martin and this has been a wonderful experience
already. Just in rehearsals, I know we’ve been laughing.
I don’t know how I’m going to say my lines because
it’s hilarious. I’ve been having a great time. I’m
really excited to be here.
You said it was going
to be a contemporary story. Will there be a reference to the recent
diplomatic tensions between France and the US? Will it be shot
here in New York and Paris? Also, is there a cameo by David Beckham?
Shawn Levy: The
film will be shot, half in New York, Half in Paris. We’re
shooting in various locations around Manhattan. Among them, Times
Square, Fifth Avenue, very kind of out of the way, conspicuous
locations. The movie is very much of this moment. The sense of
humor, the things that it references, the whole context of this
new Pink Panther is very much now. That said, we won’t be
delving into particularly complex, salient, recent political issues,
because this is above all, a very funny movie. Finally, Beckham
will not be in the film. Ultimately there were scheduling hiccups
that couldn’t be overcome.
 Clouseau’s
character has never been to New York City?
Shawn Levy: That
is one of the…
Steve Martin:
Yes, that’s a big first. That’s your angle! Go with
that! Clouseau in Manhattan! You could say that off mic (referring
to Kevin Kline) He said, frog out of water.
Kevin Kline:
I don’t say that in the movie.
Steve Martin:
Actually, MGM thinks we’re doing a comedy, but we’re
doing a highly political film. We have two scripts. There’s
the script they see and the script we shoot.
Steve, what do you
think Peter Sellers would make of your involvement in this?
Steve Martin:
Well, all I know is that I met him once and he was very nice to
me. I think that says it all. He spoke to me, comedian to comedian.
He was very friendly. He was, you know, under a lot of critical
pressure and health pressure at the time too. I don’t know.
I often here that people are going to remake The Jerk. I have
no qualms about that.
Do you find the Sellers
legacy at all intimidating, to live up to that?
Steve Martin:
Well, I did for a long, long time. Once I found my own voice in
it, I felt more comfortable. I feel really good now. Until you
asked that question, now I feel sick.
What’s the plan
as far as the rating? Is it going to be more of a PG-rating? Or
is it more risqué humor?
Robert Simmonds:
I’ll take that. Our goal is to make a PG-13 movie. Try to
make the funniest movie we possibly can . PG, PG-13 movie in there
depending on how funny funny, the trade-off to funny.
Shawn Levy: One
other thing, I would add that this film is rife with a lot of
the double entendres and innuendo humor that is built into the
franchise and is very much at work.
Steve Martin:
You know in that whole rating thing that says language, L for
Language, N for Nudity. This will have DJ, for Dick Jokes.
Question for Jean
Reno, will you try to get rid of your French accent when your
playing in an American movie? Or does it matter for you?
Jean Reno: I
have my accent. If it’s a French accent, but I’m not
trying to have a special French accent. I’m trying to be
honest with the role as usual, for my companion, who I like very
much, Steve.
Steve Martin:
I love this guy. This is a major star. We got him. Nice guy too.
It makes me sick.
Have the Americans
in the cast been working on French accents?
Steve Martin:
You know we’re going to drop that. No, I’m kidding.
I’m working on mine. (with French accent) Don’t be
ridiculous, that’s absurd. Kevin has done a French accent.
Problem is that they were American movies.
Beyonce, will you
have an accent?
Beyonce: No,
I won’t a French have an accent.
Steve Martin:
But she will be singing a song.
Shawn Levy: Several
actually, two.
Steve Martin:
Is that allowed in my contract?
Are you writing them
for the movie?
Beyonce: Right,
I’m co-writing and producing the songs for the movie. Some
are for the soundtrack as well.
Steve, you’ve
got three very lovely ladies up there. Being the screenwriter,
did you write love scenes for yourself?
Steve Martin:
Oh yes, I always put those in my screenplays. And he touched her
breasts or boobies. You know, Inspector Clouseau seducing Beyonce,
that’s in. Emily and I have a…
Emily Mortimer:
A gymnastics scene…
Steve Martin:
By the way, Kristen [Chenoweth] got a great review in the New
York Times for Candide. She’s in our movie.
Kristin Chenoweth:
Thank you.
Beyonce, do you feel
you have big shoes to fill considering Queen Latifah’s success
with Steve Martin?
Beyonce: Absolutely
not, I’m so happy for Queen Latifah and I feel she’s
helping open the doors for young, black female actresses. I’m
just honored, like I said earlier, to be here. Another reason
why I did the film was I knew I would be around all this talent.
I’ve learned so much. This was a great experience for me.
Mr. Martin, did you
see the Benini interpretation of Clouseau and was it at all an
inspiration?
Steve Martin:
I didn’t see Benini. Fortunately I grew up with the Pink
Panther movies and laughing and laughing and laughing. The thought
of making other people have those kind of twenty-year memories
about a comedy or about a scene in a movie is, you know, what
I king of do it for…and money.
Did you study them?
Steve Martin:
I didn’t study them, no, but I knew them pretty well. They’d
come up on TV and you see little things. You find yourself watching,
that’s a good note, that’s a good beat, to remember
the Clouseau character. I was thinking. They have different James
Bond’s. The end. I was expecting a standing ovation for
something like that.
How do you intend
to update this for today’s audience and make it contemporary?
Steve Martin:
Basically adding filth, no, I don’t know. I think the idea
of Clouseau is timeless and classic. I don’t know, what
is the update?
Shawn Levy: I
think the update is in some part due, you know Clouseau is this
absurdist, bumbling character, but he’s also at the mercy
of today’s technology and the things that exist in the world
today that weren’t around thirty, forty years ago. There’s
a lot of new playthings for Clouseau to screw up. Beyond that
I think the sense of humor is very much loyal to the broadly physical
originals. It has, again largely due to Steve’s screenwriting,
a level of wit and just kind of very clever, sharp observations
about the way the world is now. So, unknowingly stumbling through
that world, it just feels fresh.
Because it’s
a madcap comedy, what are you guys doing to stay in shape?
Steve Martin:
I’ve actually been doing, question the others too, a lot
of yoga, walking and biking. You do need to kind of be in shape
to do it.
Beyonce: I actually
just got off tour. That’s a huge workout every day.
Kevin Kline:
Ahhhhh….just the usual, you know…
Steve Martin:
Nothing.
Kevin Kline:
It’s high cal, high carbohydrate, high fat, I don’t
want to give anything away. So I’ll stop now. No, I just
do a lot of falling down and that’s the best exercise.
Steve Martin:
So you wake up in the morning and you fall out bed.
Kevin Kline: I
fall out of the shower. Fall into the press conference. Fall out
of the movie. Hearing all these wonderful actors, directors, producers,
moderators, journalists, wonderful people from all over the world.
It just makes me want to live. Thank you. I’m very excited
to be part of this film. I had a wonderful time shooting it. I
look forward to the next movie.
Kevin, you and Steve
strike me as birds of a feather. Have you maintained a friendship
over the last decade or so?
Kevin Kline:
Oh yes, we’re very close. We’ve managed to maintain
a friendship by never working together. Putting our friendship
to the ultimate test. Wouldn’t you say? We did work together
on Grand Canyon. But that’s a more serious film. Although
you were very funny, inappropriately so. That’s all water
under the bridge. I guess we’ve been friends for years.
Good, good, good friends, I know I have a friend in Steve. I at
least return phone calls and remember his birthday. Steve doesn’t
always do that.
Steve Martin:
Keep going.
Kevin Kline:
Nuff said.
What political office
would you like to hold?
Steve Martin:
I think I’d be a very good president, because of my comedy
background. I think we could go over there, be kind of amusing,
hearts would soften, make them laugh.
Beyonce: I’m
not sure. Ask me that again in a couple years.
Kevin Kline:
Minister of culture, minister of high culture…
Steve Martin:
Because he’s always high.
Kevin Kline:
Because I think culture in this country’s at an all time
low. I would try to lift it up.
Beyonce, you’re
playing a pop star. How is it to play something you are in real
life?
Beyonce: Actually,
I’m playing Xania and she’s a bit different from me.
It’s exciting because I’m able to sing in it and I’m
very comfortable doing that. Like I said, it’s great to
work with other actors and comedians. Every time I do another
film, I feel like I get more and more experience. I’m excited
about that.
For Kristen and Emily,
the female roles in this film are like Bond girls with a sense
of humor. Is that what got the two of you interested?
Emily Mortimer:
Yes, I love the part I play in this film. Far from being a sort
of token girl. I feel like she’s definitely one of the most
adorable characters I’ve had the opportunity to play. Whether
or not I’ll be adorable remains to be seen, but she’s
wonderful.
I would imagine after
doing some tough, dramatic, sexual scenes in Young Adam, you must
be excited to do something that’s a little bit more light?
Emily Mortimer:
There are tough, dramatic, sexual scenes in this movie.
What about you Kristen?
Kristen Chenoweth:
I guess what attracted me to this project has always been the
men. This is my first feature film. It’s a great opportunity.
My scenes are with these two guys.
Shawn and Steve, this
is your second movie together. Who signed on first and brought
in the other one?
Steve Martin:
Well, the genesis of the movie is not that interesting. I actually
ran into Shawn at a parking lot. I was doing some looping for
Cheaper by the Dozen and he said, I hear you were offered Pink
Panther. I said, I don’t know, it’s a tough thing.
I wrote a few scenes just to see, but I don’t think I’m
going to do it.
Shawn Levy: I
actually remember standing in that parking lot and you pitched
me right there.
Steve Martin:
I said I wrote this. I said, do you think it’s funny? He
said, yeah I think it’s funny. H e said, well are you interested
in it? And it sort of escalated and here we are.
Shawn Levy: You
know it’s been a treat for this. We’ve had a process
over a bunch of months now, working on the screenplay together.
Its got the benefit of having spent much of the last year together
on Cheaper by the Dozen. So, hopefully he streak will continue.
What happened to Kato?
Steve Martin:
I don’t know. He’s not in it. We kind of combined
Kato into Jean Reno’s part. That’s really what we
did.
Shawn Levy: Clouseau
has a partner now named Ponton, played by Jean Reno. What we’ve
done is, without giving too much away, we’ve taken some
of the classic and most beloved aspects of the Kato and Clouseau
relationship, i.e. spontaneous attacks. The spontaneous attacks
are reinterpreted through the Ponton character.
Steve Martin:
When I got the script, the Kato character was already out. There
might have been a politically correct influence in the script.
Shawn Levy: It
pre-dated our involvement.
Beyonce, what was
your reaction when you were first approached about the Pink Panther?
Was it a franchise you were familiar with and who was the first
person you told?
Beyonce: I was
honored. The first thing I wanted to do was read the script. I
thought it was hilarious. I knew Steve Martin was playing Inspector
Clouseau. I was just honored to work with him. I’m a huge
fan and actually, Sean and I worked together maybe six years ago.
I spoke with him and it seemed like everything was perfect. It
was a perfect opportunity for me. My mother was the first person
I told.
Were you familiar
with the franchise growing up?
Beyonce: Actually,
I was familiar but I’d never seen the original. I was more
familiar with the cartoon.
What was the time
you worked with Shawn?
Shawn Levy: This
was back when both of us were closer to having started out. Five
years ago, I was working in kids television producing and directing
a show for Disney call The Famous Jett Jackson. I actually think
this is before Goldmember or any of your films. It was Beyonce’s
first acting role. I wrote and directed and produced the show.
Beyonce was the guest star. We have that history together.
Kristen, how tough
is it going to be to juggle this with your theater obligations?
Kristen Chenoweth:
Well, I’ll shoot this during the day and do Wicked at night.
I’m doing Wicked at the Gershwin theatre. You know, get
lots of sleep. Get as much as I can.
Do you have your soccer
player and will you use the Pink Panther theme music?
Shawn Levy: We
are going to use the theme music. Both in its original form and
in several, reinterpreted, rearranged forms. Do we have our soccer
player? We’re not finalized there yet, but within a day
or two we’ll be able to answer that question. I assume you’re
referring to the soccer coach that gets murdered in the beginning
of the film, and the investigation that triggers the film. The
actor is British.
When do you expect
the movie to come out?
Robert Simmonds:
Mid-summer 2005.
Steve Martin:
This movie is most like getting ready for a sporting event, like
an athlete. I feel like I’m training, we’re building
up. It’s almost like opening night at a show. We’re
building up, we’re rehearsing, I can feel the energy building
up. We’re starting to have sleepless nights. Which is a
little different from an ordinary movie. There’s a real
energy going into this movie, a real confidence and feeling of
fun. I remember Frank Oz, he was the director of Dirty Rotten
Scoundrels, and he came to us before we were shooting with Michael
Caine. And said, it’s very important that these two characters
look like they’re having fun. But it’s more important
that it looks like Steve and Michael are having fun. I kind of
feel that way about this movie. We are going to have fun making
this movie. And we are laughing a lot.
When does your production
start in New York?
Shawn Levy: Monday
Where are you shooting?
Steve Martin:
Whoa, actually we might change because it’s supposed to
rain. So we don’t know.
Shawn Levy: It’s
not yet totally set.
Beyonce, can you describe
your worst moment on the road?
Steve Martin:
Work in the Pink Panther somewhere.
Beyonce: I have
lots of crazy moments. It’ll take me a second to think of
something. Probably, I'm real clumsy, falling down the stairs.
My stiletto broke and I had to somehow play-off, you know, tiptoe
off the stage. It was pretty embarrassing.
Beyonce, what do you
think was challenging for this film and can you respond to the
reports that you’re married?
Beyonce: I’m
married? No, I’m not married. I think what attracted me
to this role was how funny it was going to be. The challenging
part is over. Now it’s time to have fun.
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