Domino (film)
Encyclopedia : D : DO : DOM : Domino (film)
Domino is a 2005 action thriller film starring Keira Knightley as Domino Harvey, a former model who abandoned her career at the Ford Agency to become a bounty hunter. It was directed by Tony Scott and written by Richard Kelly, and was released on October 14, 2005.
Tagline: I Am a Bounty Hunter.
Synopsis
Although Domino Harvey is the main character in the film, she is only a peripheral character in the story line.
The film's storyline begins with Frances Cigliutti, son of local mob boss Anthony Cigliutti. Frances, his brother Chuckie and two of their friends want fake ID's and after talking to their friend Kee Kee Rodriguez, go to the DMV office where Kee Kee's mother Lateesha Rodriguez works, since Lateesha has a business in fake ID's. However, the Cigliutti boys' every move has been carefully watched by the FBI. So, shortly before Frances contacts Lateesha, Lateesha is contacted by the FBI who want to know why Frances needs fake ID's. Lateesha, afraid of going to jail because of her fake ID-business decides to give the FBI a spectacular lie in order to get them off her back. So she tells the FBI that Frances and his friends are planning to rob an armored truck transporting 10 million dollars belonging to casino owner Drake Bishop. However, this is not the Cigliutti boys' plan but Lateesha's own. Lateesha, 28, is already a grandmother and her grandchild has a rare disease for which she has to undergo expensive surgery. Since Lateesha doesn't have the money for the surgery, her lover Claremont Williams has thought up a plan. Claremont, owner of a company that supplies armored trucks and bounty hunters, had planned to let Lateesha, her friend Raul and her two nieces Lashandra and Lashindra steal the money from his own truck, disguised as First Ladies. He would then contact Bishop to offer Bishop his bounty hunters in order to get the money back and he would also ask Bishop to pay a $300,000 fee for the bounty hunters. Bishop would pay the money, the bounty hunters would bring the money back and Lateesha would have the money for the surgery. But, now that Lateesha has gotten the Cigliutti boys and the FBI involved, things get difficult.
At first, Claremont decides to go through with the plan anyway. So, Lateesha, Raul, Lashandra and Lashindra steal the money and load it into their own car which is being driven by Locus Fender. Halfway through their escape, Claremont suddenly realises that not only the Cigliutti boys and the FBI are involved but also the entire mob, seeing as how the Cigliutti boys are mob sons and because of the fact that Bishop is also a mob associate, making the 10 million dollars mob money. Claremont orders the First Ladies to abort the mission and leave the money. This of course leaves Locus, completely unaware of what is going on, with the money, which he subsequently hides in his mother Edna's safe.
In the meantime, Mr. Bishop is being told that his money has been stolen by the Cigliutti boys. Bishop then orders Claremont's bounty hunters Ed, Choco and Domino to catch the Cigliutti boys and their two friends and bring them to him. The bounty hunters, also completely unaware of what's going on but being followed by a TV crew because they're the subject of a reality show, go after the four boys and deliver them to Bishop who at first plans to kill them but, after it turns out that they know nothing of the heist, just abandons them in the desert. However, the FBI, keen on arresting the Cigliutti boys' father Anthony, decide to tell Anthony that his two sons have been killed by Bishop, hoping that this will prompt a reaction from Anthony for which they can arrest him.
Meanwhile, Claremont has ordered his bounty hunters Ed, Choco and Domino to get the 10 million dollars back. The bounty hunters get instructions to capture Locus Fender and make him lead them to the money, seeing as how the combination to Locus' mother Edna's vault is tatooed on Locus' right arm. The bounty hunters then go to Edna, retrieve the money (in the process, severing Locus's arm with a shotgun because they misinterpreted their orders) and contact Claremont who sets up a meeting between the bounty hunters and Mr. Bishop in the tower of a Las Vegas casino. However, Anthony Cigliutti, still furious about his sons' alleged deaths, finds out about the meeting between Bishop and the bounty hunters and sends his men to the same tower in order to kill Bishop.
The film concludes with a big shoot-out in the tower after which Domino is captured by the FBI and interrogated by a psychologist (the whole movie is actually a flashback as Domino is telling the events to psychologist Taryn Mills).
Apart from this main story line, the film has a lot of smaller story lines. We see how Domino started bounty hunting, how the TV show about the bounty hunters' lives is made, Domino's relation with her mentor Ed, her lover Choco and her mother Paulene, Lateesha's visit to The Jerry Springer Show to talk about people of mixed backgrounds, etc.
Background
While Harvey had sold the rights to her life story for £26,000 in 1997 [#endnote_HarveySellsFilmRights], Tony Scott had already optioned those rights in 1993 [#endnote_ScottOptionsRights]. Scott developed the project for many years with several different writers [#endnote_DevelopedWithManyWriters], including Steve Barancik [#endnote_SteveBarancikEarlyWriter] and Roger Avary [#endnote_RogerAvaryEarlyWriter]. At one point in the nineties, actress Sharon Stone was attached to play the lead, but production was postponed, leading to her departure from the project [#endnote_SharonStoneAttached]. In late 2002, Scott met up with Richard Kelly, who was reportedly the fifth writer to have been attached to the film. Scott was impressed by the take on the story that Kelly had proposed [#endnote_SuccessfulScottKellyMeeting], and in October of that year, an official announcement was made that the film was going ahead, with 20th Century Fox producing [#endnote_Announcement20thCenturyFox]. However, Scott had also been given the opportunity to helm Man on Fire, another project that he had been gestating for years [#endnote_ScottDirectsManOnFire], which left Domino stuck in development once more.
During post-production on Man on Fire in late 2003/early 2004, Richard Kelly confirmed that Tony Scott was considering making Domino his next feature film [#endnote_ScottConsidersAsNextFilm]. The following August, New Line Cinema issued a press release stating that the studio had acquired the North American distribution rights to the film, and that Keira Knightley had been cast in the lead role [#endnote_NewLinePressReleaseKnightley]. Further casting announcements regarding supporting performers were made in late September and early October [#endnote_SuvariCastingAnnouncement] [#endnote_WalkenLiuRourkeCastingAnnouncement]. Filming began on October 4, 2004, took place in Los Angeles and Las Vegas [#endnote_FilmingStartDateLocations], and concluded on December 21, 2004 [#endnote_FilmingEndDate], a day over schedule [#endnote_FilmingOverSchedule]. The film was made on a production budget of £30 million [#endnote_ProductionBudgetGBP], or $57 million. [#endnote_ProductionBudgetUSD].
The film's subject, Domino Harvey, was arrested on May 4, 2005, for allegedly dealing drugs. She died of an accidental overdose on June 27 while awaiting trial.
The release date of the film was announced and delayed several times. The original release date was August 19, 2005 (announced on April 7). On May 22, the release date was changed to November 4. On June 28, the release date was changed to November 23. On July 11, it was moved to October 14, 2005, which was the date the film was released on.
Reception
Domino received mostly poor reviews from the press when it saw theatrical release, though like any movie did have a good share of positive reviews, notably from both Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper who gave the film two thumbs up. Popular movie site Rotten Tomatoes lists the film as "Rotten" with a rating of only [17] and Metacritic's score isn't much better at [36], which described the compiled list of reviews as "generally negative". The estimated $50,000,000 budget was not made back as the film grossed only $20,351,133 worldwide, easily labeling the film as a flop.Cast
- Keira Knightley as Domino Harvey, a fashion model who became a bounty hunter.
- Mickey Rourke as Ed Mosbey, Domino's boss and mentor.
- Edgar Ramirez as Choco, one of her colleagues and her love interest.
- Lucy Liu as Taryn Mills, a psychologist working for the FBI.
- Christopher Walken as Mark Heiss, a reality television producer who produces the TV show that follows the life of Domino.
- Mena Suvari as Kimmie, assistant to Mr. Heiss.
- Mo'Nique as Lateesha Rodriguez, grandmother at 28, whose grandchild is very sick and has to undergo expensive surgery
- Macy Gray as Lashandra Davis, niece of Lateesha.
- Shondrella Avery as Lashindra Davis, twin sister of Lashandra, niece of Lateesha
- Joe Nunez as Raul, colleague and friend of Lateesha, Lashandra and Lashindra
- Ashley Monique Clark as Kee Kee Rodriguez, daugther of Lateesha, mother of Lateesha's very sick grandchild
- Jacqueline Bisset as Paulene Stone, mother of Domino and ex-Vogue cover girl.
- Dabney Coleman as casino owner Drake Bishop.
- Peter Jacobson as Burke Beckett, Bishop's lawyer.
- Delroy Lindo as Claremont Williams III, bail bondsman, father of Kee Kee Rodriguez.
- Brian Austin Green as himself, serving as co-[host] of the TV show that follows the life of Domino.
- Ian Ziering as himself, serving as co-host of the TV show that follows the life of Domino.
- Stanley Kamel as Anthony Cigliuti, local mob boss.
- Kel O'Neill as Frances Cigliuti, son of Anthony Cigliuti.
- Lew Temple as Locus Fender, truck driver in an out-of-control heist.
- Dale Dickey as Edna Fender, devoted mother of Locus Fender.
- Adam Clark as Ag. Eric Cosgrove, agent at the FBI.
- Donna W. Scott as Ag. Dina Wilson, agent at the FBI.
- Tom Waits as the Wanderer.
Promotional details
In late February 2005, New Line Cinema released the official logo artwork for the film, which featured Keira Knightley's name perched above the film's title in yellow capital letters against a black background [#endnote_OfficialLogoArtwork]. Approximately one month later, the film's trailer received its internet premiere at Yahoo! Movies [#endnote_TrailerInternetPremiere]. The reception to it was mixed; internet movie guru Harry Knowles called it "just a hint, a taste...a bit of sauce on the end of gourmet chef's spoon to tantalize and savor" [#endnote_HarryKnowlesPraisesTrailer], but the British newspaper The Independent said that it "rapidly descends into a crass series of montages" [#endnote_IndependentCriticisesTrailer], while Joshua Tyler of the website Cinema Blend commented, "I’m not sure they [New Line] actually want anyone to see it [the film], if that godawful, seizure inducing trailer is any indication." [#endnote_JoshuaTylerCriticisesTrailer] The official website for the film launched a few days later, and contained only a streaming version of the trailer [#endnote_WebsiteLaunchesStreamingTrailer], but in late June, it was modified to include statements made by Tony Scott and Samuel Hadida in response to the death of Domino Harvey on June 27, 2005 [#endnote_WebsiteStatementsOnHarveyDeath].
On July 15, 2005, Tony Scott premiered a new trailer for Domino in front of an audience at the annual San Diego Comic Con[#endnote_ComicConNewTrailerPremiere].
Trivia
- The real Domino Harvey was found unresponsive in the bathtub of her Los Angeles home on June 27th, 2005. She died in a hospital from accidental overdose of the painkiller Fentanyl. She was 35 years old.
- Mickey Rourke's character, Ed Mosbey, is based on real-life bounty hunter Zeke Unger, while Delroy Lindo's character, Claremont Williams III, is based on real-life bail-bondsman Celes King III, Domino Harvey's real boss. Both men were used as technical advisors on the film.
- Mickey Rourke initially turned down the role of Ed as he felt the script was weak and wanted to take part in Guy Ritchie's Revolver, which was shooting at the same time. He gave in when director Tony Scott re-wrote the part with Rourke specifically in mind.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.