Director's Chair: Guy Ritchie - page 2

05-09-2008 12:47

Taking it to London, the diamond's thief and courier, Franky Four Fingers arrives in the city as a stopover en route to New York to deliver the huge diamond to his bigwig crime boss, Avi.

But because Franky can't resist temptation and London is a town with its share of illegal trade, a small crowd of miscreants and malefactors eventually ends up chasing each other and the whereabouts of the diamond.

These include: Doug the Head, a jeweller who pretends he's Jewish because it's good for business; Boris the Blade, a Russian gangster with a deserved reputation for being impossible to kill; Bullet Tooth Tony, a legendary hard guy and Brick Top, perhaps the scariest of the lot.

With an ensemble cast that once again included Jason Statham as well as Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro the film earned both critical and commercial acclaim grossed over $40 million, however it was criticised for the lack of prominent female characters by many reviewers.

After marrying pop star Madonna he moved away from the gangster genre he was so famous for to shoot romantic comedy Swept Away.

The film, which starred Ritchie's new wife, followed characters Amber Leighton who becomes stranded on a desert island after a storm whilst on a cruise with the ship's first mate.

The film was universally panned and went on to win five Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actress for Madonna and Worst Director for Ritchie.

In a bid to bounce back he returned to his gangster roots with his 2005 picture Revolver, which teamed him again with Jason Statham. But it was generally panned by the critics for it's over complicated plot and performed poorly at the box office.

His new movie sees him return to this genre as RocknRolla hits screens this weeks and stars Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson and Thandie Newton.

When a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, millions of dollars are up for grabs, and all of London's criminal underworld wants in on the action, everyone from a dangerous crimelord to a sexy accountant, a corrupt politician and down-on-their-luck petty thieves collude and collide with one another in an effort to get rich quick.

His new project sees him adapt the literary character Sherlock Holmes.

RocknRolla is released 5th September

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw