Guy about town - interview with British filmmaker Guy Richie - Interview

Interview, March, 1999 by David Furnish

Guy Ritchie's caper movie Look, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was a smash in Europe. Will it caper in American box offices, too?

Slick and opportunistic, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is also a clever, energetic, and Infectious London low-life romp that's equal parts Tarantinoism, unapologetic laddishness, and explosive violence - although debutant writer-director Guy Ritchie seems as interested in shooting off his characters' mouths as the arsenal of guns that proliferate the movie. Thanks to the flick's box office success hack in Blighty, pop-video vet Ritchie and his producer-partner Matthew Vaughn have signed up to make their next film, the crime thriller Diamonds, for America's Sony Pictures - a leap of faith that may entail a leap to a $10 million budget for the duo. Interview caught up with man-of-the-moment Ritchie on his native patch.

DAVID FURNISH: What was going through your mind when you sat down to write the screenplay for Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels?

GUY RITCHIE: I wanted to include as many entertaining elements as I could think of - anything that seemed fun to me. Things like criminals robbing other criminals to stay out of trouble with the police. And criminals eavesdropping on the criminals next door - that's based on fact. And the debt collector who doesn't have a problem smashing someone in the face in front of his own small son, and the son going, "Well, he owes my dad money, so fair enough."

DF: Once you had the script, how did you go about getting it produced?

GR: A friend of mine knew Matthew [Vaughn] and lied to him, saying I had collaborated with Peter Shaffer - the only sort of famous name my friend knew.

DF: Peter Shaffer, the playwright?

GR: Yeah, so Vaughn was quite interested. He also gave me the impression that he had a wallet this fat, and that in two weeks time we'd go into preproduction. Of course, two years later, I'm somewhat wiser.

DF: What gave you the determination and strength to believe the movie would still happen after all that time?

GR: I had nothing better to do, so I kept carrying on with it. I certainly wasn't going to go back to directing pop videos. They're so transitory - you make one and a week later it's gone. The great thing about making a film is that it's there to haunt you.

DF: Lock, Stock cost $1.6 million. Was it a challenge working with such a small budget?

GR: I get extremely excited by this sort of guerrilla filmmaking. I understand what's important, what we need onscreen and what we don't. Do we need an explosion or would it be funnier to just have someone reacting to the explosion? I think you've got to know what a pound's worth, that it'll buy you two packets of crisps and a Mars bar.

DF: Why do you think the film has been such a roaring success in Britain?

GR: Because it's not up its own ass. It's meant to make the man on the street chuckle. I'm quite old-fashioned in my approach to filmmaking: I just want to ooh and ahh and cry and laugh and go the whole nine yards. And I'm big on tragedy. It's as important to me to have a good boo as it is to have a good giggle.

DF: There's something special about the way you put violence and humor together. You set up these frightening characters and situations and then get people to laugh at them.

GR: Sometimes it's just about finding that edge and staying on it, which is a tricky balance. If you can stay on that edge, you'll reap dividends.

DF: Are you working on another screenplay?

GR: Yes, it's about diamond dealers in Hatton Garden, and it's got bare-knuckle boxing, dogfights, and every swindler from here to Katmandu. It's slightly more villainish than Lock, Stock because these guys are all on the fiddle, doing illegal things from beginning to end.

DF: So you're mining the East End of London again.

GR: What I'm interested in is an underworld that could be in Rome or New York, anywhere in the world. It's not really about the East End. But the characters speak English, which gives them an identity, and films need identity.

DF: How has Lock, Stock changed your life? I mean, suddenly you're having lunch with Madonna, who's talking about picking up the soundtrack on her record label in America. . . .

GR: I've been inspired by a lot of people I've met recently, but I also find them quite intimidating. These people are incredibly famous and successful, and they have a work ethic that crashes mine. It makes me feel like I'm not doing enough. I'm thinking, My God, they're zillionaires and they don't give a toss. It's like [gasps], I've got so much to learn. Like art - I know nothing about art. All of a sudden the pressure for me to learn about art is enormous. So I've become a big sponge. For example, I'm learning about classical music now, and chess.

DF: What about the way the industry's treating you?

GR: Well, it's all very flattering, but I'm just pleased that it won't be as hard to make the next movie. And that even if I cock up on the next two films, I'll probably still make the third, so for the next five years my career is more or less guaranteed. I suppose that's most important. For the fast time since I left school I know what I'm doing. I'm in gear, foot down, and that's more rewarding to me than all the other things that have happened. Just knowing where I'm going . . .