In Be Cool, John Travolta is back as Chili Palmer, the streetwise mobster-turnedmovie-producer from Get Shorty. But this time Chili has abandoned the fickle movie industry and veered into the music business, tangling with Russian mobsters and gangsta rappers and taking a talented, young singer named Linda Moon under wing.
The smash hit comedy Get Shorty was a huge success on many fronts. It introduced a hip new kind of gangster, revising pre-existing stereotypes; it was a major breakthrough for John Travolta, introducing audiences to one of the most memorable characters of his career; and it encouraged a broader readership to take notice of novelist Elmore Leonard’s impressive body of fiction.
In Hollywood, when you hit that big, a sequel isn’t far behind. It took almost 10 years for production to get underway, but in early 2004, filming finally began on Be Cool entirely in Hollywood, California. What you see on the screen begins on the page. For esteemed novelist Elmore Leonard, it took a while to feel confident he could write a sequel to Get Shorty. “But when I thought about it, and about John Travolta as Chili Palmer because he was so good in Get Shorty,” says Leonard, “it wasn’t difficult to see him in the role again. I also had firmly in my mind that it was a sequel – and a sequel has to be better than the original – so I had to think of another idea and another arena in which to set the story. I thought Chili, still in the motion picture business, would now be looking for something fresh. I decided he could find his way into the music business, and suddenly there was so much good material, perhaps because it’s a rougher business than the movies and there are many more scoundrels in it.”
Once the novel was completed, screenwriter Peter Steinfeld was brought on to turn the story into a screenplay; he first heard of Be Cool from his wife and agent. “I read the book in about three hours and I flipped over it. Then I had to go to Jersey Films and pitch myself to producers Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, and Stacey Sher. One of the things I do when rehearsing a pitch as I’m driving is that I talk out loud in the car by myself. I’m driving through Beverly Hills, and as I stop at a light I’m in the car talking to myself and I realize the guy in the car to my left is staring at me. I look over in mid-pitch, and it turns out it’s Delroy Lindo, who played Bo Catlett in Get Shorty.
I actually had a copy of the books Get Shorty and Be Cool in the seat next to me, so I grabbed Get Shorty and held it up, and he gave me the thumbs up. Right then I thought, ‘This is a sign. This was meant to be.‘” Steinfeld got the job. When you read his books, Leonard’s style of writing makes it feel almost like you’re watching a movie because his dialogue is so crisp and well paced.
“Adapting Leonard is sort of a blessing and a curse,” says Steinfeld, “because his writing is so cinematic and tight. He’s like the Shakespeare of crime fiction. He cuts right to the heart of a situation. The most terrifying thing was sending him the first draft of the script, but when the phone rang, he said, ‘Peter, this is Elmore Leonard.’ I said, ‘Mr. Leonard, how are you? It’s a pleasure to talk to you.’ And he said, ‘I loved it, loved the script.’ He was so supportive.”
Leonard’s researcher, Gregg Sutter, echoes Leonard’s praise for Steinfeld. “Peter took it to a whole new level, much like Scott Frank did with Get Shorty,” says Sutter. “Elmore had confidence in Peter because the basic road map of Be Cool was followed, the dialogue and the spirit of it, but there was so much Peter was able to expand upon.
“And the casting, of course, is brilliant,” he continues. “John and Uma together again! Some of their magical moments – the scene of them dancing with the Black Eyed Peas playing ‘Sexy’ in the background – that’s a scene that people will want to see. They want that reunion because it was such a magical moment in Pulp Fiction.”
Director F. Gary Gray signed on to helm the picture partly because he’s such a big fan of two other films made from Leonard’s novels: Get Shorty and Out of Sight. Gray loves the world Leonard creates and how the attention paid to detail in his books translates so well to film.
Everyone who knows Gray speaks of his extraordinary vision, saying he approaches every scene with a unique sense of where he’s going to take it, and he always comes up with something surprising and unexpected. “When I heard about Be Cool and learned it was written by Elmore, I immediately thought, ‘This has to be funny. I have to read it,’” says Gray. “And when I read Peter Steinfeld’s screenplay, I thought it was amazingly funny.”
Working with John Travolta was an amazing experience for director Gray.“When you work with someone who’s doing a character for the first time, it takes some time to kind of mold it,” Gray says. “You can find yourself halfway though the shoot before it clicks.” He knew this time would be different. “The first day of shooting,” he continues, “John stepped on the set and instantly became Chili Palmer. That’s what I love about him. He’s extremely prepared. He totally understands his character. I wasn’t sure after ten years how long it would take John to jump back into it, but it clicked immediately. That’s why he’s a brilliant actor. Even though I know how difficult it is to create such an indelible character, he makes it look easy. He’s a perfect Chili Palmer, and he does an amazing job.
There are many extraordinary elements in a Leonard novel, but perhaps the most enjoyable aspect is the cast of characters he creates – and what characters they are!
Be Cool is the kind of comedy that likes to push the edge of the envelope, and the characters are really vivid and distinctive. Each one is unique in his or her own way, each has their own agenda, and each is unusual, endearing, and unforgettable. In addition to Travolta’s Chili Palmer, you have Uma Thurman as Edie, a sexy Angelenowith a top-notch tan, great style, and a failing indie record label. Vince Vaughn is Raji, a white guy with urban affectations who desperately wants to be respected on “da street,” and The Rock plays Raji’s bodyguard, a brawny tough-guy who really wants to be an actor and also happens to be gay.
Cedric the Entertainer plays Sin LaSalle, a Whartoneducated music producer who’s not afraid to use muscle or metal to further his aims, and André Benjamin (otherwise known as André 3000 of OutKast) is Dabu, a member of Sin’s hit rap group posse the DubMD’s with a whacked sense of humor and an itchy trigger finger. Harvey Keitel is the menacing head of a management company, Steven Tyler plays himself with a wink and a nod to Rock God-dom, and Get Shorty returnee (and producer of both films) Danny DeVito is back as wacky director Martin Weir, this time with Anna Nicole Smith on his arm – the list goes on and on. You never really know what the characters are going to do next, and the unpredictability makes for edgy and hilarious entertainment.
Production notes provided by Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Be Cool
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Dwayne Johnson, Danny DeVito, Cedric the Entertainer, Vihce Vaughn, Christina Milian, Debi Mazar
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Screenplay by: Peter Steinfeld
Release Date: March 4th, 2005
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence, sensuality, and language including sexual references.
Studio: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $56,046,979 (58.9%)
Foreign: $39,179,137 (41.1%)
Total: $95,226,116 (Worldwide)