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The mysterious casting surrounding the Oscar-winning film "The English Patient." Was that legendary actor supposed to appear?
2019.06.04
Casting of legendary actor
It's not just young actors. In fact, at this time, Minghella was exposed to the possibility of directing an actor who is said to be a legend in the film industry. Talk of Sean Connery appearing in the film was starting to take shape. Connery, who was recommended this project by his agent, was so impressed by the script that he read it and said that he seriously wanted to appear in the film. It seems that he also wanted to play the role of Caravaggio.
Of course, since he is a legend in the acting world, his performance fee is quite high. However, he was willing to be flexible in terms of pay if it was a work that he really wanted to appear in. In fact, he was willing to negotiate for this project, which took a lot of effort to raise funds to finally get to the starting line.
However, just when it seemed like the conditions were finally settled, a problem arose. The original four-week shooting schedule was doubled, which proved to be detrimental to Connery's next film. When I checked his appearances and filming period, I found that filming for `` The Rock '' (1996) began at the end of October 1995, and it was probably because of this contract that a final agreement could not be reached. right. It seems that Connery himself regretted this, and when he met with the producer later, he passionately said, ``' The English Patient' was a wonderful movie. How much I wanted to be in it.'' He said he gave it to me.
In the end, talk of Minghella and Connery working together disappeared.
However, Connery later worked with Ralph Fiennes, the main character in this film, in The Avengers (1998) (not the Marvel movie, but the popular TV series in the 1960s, The Secret Detective). They co-starred in the movie version of ``.
In this film, Fiennes dresses up as an old-fashioned British gentleman and takes on an evil boss alongside Uma Thurman. The villain was played by none other than Connery. Ironically, this movie was so harshly criticized by everyone involved that it was called "black history," but Connery's appearance in a series of poorly rated movies in the 1990s, including this one, It is said that this was a contributing factor to his retirement from acting.
If he had appeared in ``The English Patient,'' I wonder if he would have wanted to continue acting a little longer. Or perhaps he hastened his retirement, seeing his Oscar win as a finale.
Needless to say, Willem Dafoe did a fantastic job as Caravaggio. However, when I heard this anecdote, I felt like I wanted to see the version starring Connery. More than anything, I wanted to see Anthony Minghella directing Connery, and see the chemistry between the two of them that would go down in history. I think there are a surprising number of movie fans who think that way.
<Reference materials/URL>
“ The British Patient ” by Michael Ondaatje (translated by Masao Tsuchiya, Shinchosha, 1996)
" The English Patient " Anthony Minghella (translated by Junko Asami, Aoyama Publishing, 1997)
“ The English Patient ” (Blu-ray) Making, Interview, Audio Commentary
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/rome-film-fest-english-patient-940700
Text: USHIZU ATSUNOBU
Born in Nagasaki in 1977. When he was 3 years old, he saw ``Superman II'' with his father and became fascinated with movies. After The Graduate from Meiji University, he worked for a movie broadcasting channel and then became a movie writer. Currently, in addition to writing for Eiga.com, EYESCREAM, Real Sound Movie Club, etc., he also contributes to media press and theater programs.
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