“A real RocknRolla wants it all.”
And Guy Ritchie is finally giving it to us. With the new RocknRolla trailer we got to see it appears that Guy Ritchie is getting his manhood back – the last vestiges of Swept Away are clearing, the dark girlish cloud covering his work is finally lifting.
The trailer was so fantastic, I figured I’d offer a description of it:
While some panels at Comic-Con are full of actors and actresses smiling blindly and claiming they “just totally had to do” a certain movie and that it’s “just so, so awesome” with as much enthusiasm as toilet bowl cleaner, Guy Ritchie and the rest of the gang of RocknRolla – Jeremy Piven, Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, and Ludacris – seemed genuinely electric about the whole thing.
“It was essentially born out of enthusiasm,” said Ritchie. “From Joel [Silver], myself and the cast.”
Joel Silver claimed he got the script, and called immediately after reading it saying, “Let’s just make this movie.”
Everyone on the panel echoed the sentiment, parroting similar stories about Ritchie calling them up personally, sending them a script, and everyone falling in love with his return to form. Gerard Butler was so excited, he had trouble staying in his seat and spent most of the panel gleefully throwing complimentary chocolates to the screaming ladies in the front area.
The rest of the cast had their fun too. In fact, after seeing the trailer and watching them interact together so organically, it gave me a newfound faith in the potential for RocknRolla to be as dark and gritty and hip as it seems.
I find myself at a loss for words about it though, after hearing the slew of adjectives that came from Guy Ritchie himself: crazy, cool, funky, and sexy to name a few.
But Idris Elba probably described RocknRolla the best:
“You lick your lips, sit back and say ‘entertain me’. It defines ‘cool’.”
Despite being ribbed by Gerard Butler for the lip-licking comment in much the same way I’ll be ribbed for writing the phrase “ribbed by Gerard Butler,” Elba stuck to his guns and went on the describe his experience on the film as similar to his work on “The Wire”. “Very tight. Very focused.”
Besides ribbing co-stars, Butler got in his share of jokes (When asked what genre he wants to work in next, he responded, “Halle Berry”) and almost launched a hot new sex scandal when he shared a story about Madonna giving him a B12 shot in his ass in the backseat of a car while Guy Ritchie watched. Apparently, a police officer was nearby – although I can’t tell if that makes the story more innocent or far weirder.
With the confidence back, it was clear that Ritchie and the entire cast are truly proud of what they’ve created. Fortunately, we only have to wait until October 3rd to see if Ritchie’s return to form is complete or whether the bumps in the road continue.
Ritchie is already looking ahead to his next project, though. Calling his upcoming Sherlock Holmes project, “James Bond in 1891” he remained vague about the details except to say he hoped they’d be successful in giving the classic tale a “contemporary spin.”
Stay tuned all this week as we bring you coverage from Comic-Con International. Not only will we be roaming the floor in search of love, but we will have the latest news Live from Hall H, great interviews with some of Hollywood’s hottest stars and random convention shenanigans, courtesy of our Comic-Con Attack Squad! To keep tabs on all of the happenings, just head over to our Comic-Con 2008 Homepage.
Related Topics: Conventions, Trailers
