The Romero Files
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Romero Files |
| Original title | The Big Brass Ring |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1999 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | George Hickenlooper |
| script |
FX Feeney , George Hickenlooper |
| production |
Andrew Pepper , Donald Zuckerman |
| music | Thomas Morse |
| camera | Kramer Morgenthau |
| cut | Jim Makiej |
| occupation | |
| |
The Romero Files (alternative title: The Power of Lies ; Original Title: The Big Brass Ring ) is an American drama directed by George Hickenlooper from 1999 . It tells the story of an American politician (played by William Hurt ) with a dubious past, who is confronted with his former mentor ( Nigel Hawthorne ) shortly before the gubernatorial election . FX Feeney and George Hickenlooper wrote the script based on an earlier script by Orson Welles and Oja Kodar .
action
Missouri , 2000: Blake Pellarin is running for governor with financial help from his wealthy wife, Dinah. The marriage of the two is loveless and childless. For Dinah, who is devoted to alcohol, Blake's imminent election victory is the only stop. He competes as an independent candidate against the also non-party competitor Homer Dix. While Blake continues to campaign successfully and is being courted by Democrats and Republicans , TV journalist Cela Brandini travels to Cuba to learn more about the past of the mysterious candidate. She meets Kimball "Kim" Mennaker, a former US Senator and political heretic from the Kennedy - Nixon era, who took care of his upbringing after the death of Blake's parents. Mennaker provides the journalist with a name from the politician's past - Raymond Romero.
Shortly before the election, Mennaker travels from Havana to St. Louis , where Blake is confronted with old homosexual pornography recordings made by his brother Billy in the 1970s. The brothers looked very much alike. While the homosexual Mennaker sponsored Blake and sent him to Yale to study literature , he used Billy as a model for nude photography. He also seduced the weaker brother into swapping the birth certificates. As a result, the stronger Blake, whose real name was Raymond Romero (after the maiden name of the mother), did not have to take part in the Vietnam War . Instead, Billy pretended to be Raymond Romero and never returned from the war. On the advice of his wife, who knows the truth, Blake confides in Cela Brandini, but keeps silent about the exchange of identities.
A few days before the election, Blake visits Kim Mennaker, who lives in St. Louis on the Louis Quatorze , a pleasure boat for gay men. In exchange for a stolen diamond necklace from his wife, he tries to get hold of the compromising photos and negatives. Mennaker refuses, however. He hopes that Blake, who is already being traded as a future presidential candidate before the gubernatorial election, will resurrect his political career and dreams of the post of US Secretary of State , United States Secretary of State or just Secretary of State . He also lets Blake know that Billy is still alive and has returned from Vietnam crippled. When Blake does not respond, Mennaker gives Homer Dix information. Blake then loses his lead in the polls. Cela Brandini also finds out about the two brothers' identity fraud.
Blackmail can be used to silence Dix while Blake spends the night with Cela. With the help of Mennaker, the two brothers are reunited, who is to be settled with two million US dollars. However, the former senator is killed by Kinzel, a former employee of Blake, who acts on his own. Blake protects his brother Billy from Kinzel, who is also seriously injured. A day later, he wins the Missouri gubernatorial election. However, Billy leaves Blake while Cela destroys the evidence gathered against the politician.
History of origin
The screenplay for the film came from Orson Welles and his partner Oja Kodar, who set the story in Spain and Africa and planned it as an analogy to Citizen Kane (1941). It was about a presidential defeat in a gubernatorial election. Further elements of the plot were a scandal over an Asian lover and the devastating reunion with a long-lost brother. He completed work on the script in the early summer of 1982 and planned to film it with a budget of $ 8 million under the title The Big Brass Ring . Arnon Milchan ( Once Upon a Time in America , Brazil ) was to be the producer . However, a notable star for the lead stayed away after Jack Nicholson , Warren Beatty , Clint Eastwood , Paul Newman , Robert Redford and Burt Reynolds canceled the role of charismatic politician. Robert De Niro had been dismissed by Welles as "too primitive and urban". Welles, who had slated the role of homosexual politician Kim Mennaker for himself, passed away in October 1985.
Welles’s screenplay was published in 1987 in a limited edition of 1000 copies by the Santa Teresa Press in Santa Barbara , California , whereupon George Hickenlooper and the Los Angeles-based film critic FX Feeney took an independent interest in the film rights. Hickenlooper, who grew up in a family of politicians, was interested in "this enormous discrepancy between the appearance of a person in public and in private life [...]". Four years after the script was published, Hickenlooper secured the rights to a film version of the material. It would take seven more years, however, before he was able to realize the project together with Feeney. Hickenlooper later commented on the plot as "amusing and funny and very frightening", but also as a story that only Welles could have created because it was so "baroque". Both kept the four main characters Blake Pellarin, Kim Mennaker, Dinah Pellarin and Cela Brandini. They took over their network of relationships and moved the story to the United States or Cuba. “It was never my intention to make an Orson Welles film. I wanted to make this my own. I certainly showed awe in Welles, but only in awe of Welles as a writer. Welles is completely misunderstood as a writer. And so I treated it like I would treat any other piece of literature, ”says Hickenlooper. William Hurt was hired for the main role after names like Christopher Walken or Patrick Swayze had previously been traded. For the part of Kim Mennaker, Nigel Hawthorne prevailed against Ian McKellen and Malcolm McDowell . Both actors only worked for a fraction of their usual salary and recruited other colleagues like Miranda Richardson or Irène Jacob.
Filming began on 6 July 1998 in Alton ( Illinois ). Other locations were the Alhambra in California and St. Louis ( Missouri ). Its production amounted to an estimated 7 million US dollars . It had its world premiere on April 20, 1999 at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival . A regular theatrical release in the US was denied The Romero Files , whereupon the film was broadcast on August 15, 1999 by the US pay-TV channel Showtime at prime time. On September 14, 1999, he was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival .
Reviews
The US industry service Variety spoke of a "serious, emotionally distant study of political intrigue and personal betrayal" . The film, however, lacks "dramatic credibility and decipherable character motivation" . Orson Welles is missing as a director. The result would have some intellectual weight, but it could not convince either as a demanding art film or as a credible political melodrama. The main actors William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne and Miranda Richardson received praise.
The lexicon of international film wrote that the film was " top-class cast " and captivates with the " nested narrative " and the " magnificent setting ".
Christopher Null wrote on Filmcritic.com that the film was an " extremely complicated " and complex political thriller or political melodrama. The film was shot because Orson Welles wanted to shoot it before his death and should be a complement to Citizen Kane .
Awards
Miranda Richardson was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2000 for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie . William Hurt won an award at the Newport International Film Festival in 1999 , and George Hickenlooper was nominated for the jury award at the same festival. The screenwriters were nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 2000.
literature
- Welles, Orson; Kodar, Oja: The big brass ring: an original screenplay . Santa Barbara: Santa Teresa Press, 1987.- ISBN 978-0-944166-01-7
Web links
- The Big Brass Ring in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Big Brass at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c cf. Froehlich, Cliff: The Road to Welles-Ville . In: Riverfront Times (Missouri), October 27, 1999, Features (accessed via LexisNexis Wirtschaft )
- ↑ a b c d cf. The Orson Welles Legacy . Background information on the German DVD from EMS, release date: August 25, 2000
- ↑ cf. Cooper, Tom: Orson Welles revival - just as he predicted it would happen . In: Evening Standard , January 26, 1999, p. 11
- ↑ cf. Harmetz, Aljean: Orson Welles Still Fascinates . In: The New York Times, April 7, 1988, p. 19
- ↑ cf. Interview with Noah Adams (All Things Considered, Aug 13, 1999, 8:00 PM ET) via National Public Radio (NPR) (transcript accessed via LexisNexis Wirtschaft )
- ^ Filming locations for The Big Brass Ring, accessed June 1, 2007
- ^ Box office / business for The Big Brass Ring, accessed June 1, 2007
- ^ Opening dates for The Big Brass Ring, accessed June 1, 2007
- ↑ cf. McCarthy, Todd: The Big Brass Ring . In: Variety, May 3-9, 1999, p. 84
- ^ The Romero Files. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Critique by Christopher Null ( Memento from November 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )