Brooklyn's Finest
Michael Martin began working with Antoine Fuqua and together they spent several weeks developing the screenplay. Fuqua knew instantly he wanted Ethan Hawke to be a part of this movie. The director and actor had collaborated on Training Day and they had always been looking for something to do together.
Hawke wasted no time committing to the project and signed on as soon as he read the screenplay. "I knew straight away I really wanted this job," he recalls. "I have very peculiar tastes, so when I heard Antoine was sending me a script all I thought to myself was, ‘I hope I like it’ because I really wanted to work with him again.
"I’ve always been drawn to dramas, in particular old school New York dramas starring De Niro, Pacino or Hackman."
Hawke saw this film in that same genre, and describes his character as 'a man at war with his pride. Life has been profoundly disappointing for Sal. He’s worked really hard and done all the right things, but nothing has turned out like it’s meant to be.'
"Sal’s not just a person running around stealing money," adds Fuqua. "His character is more about a family man than a corrupt cop who went too far. He’s trying to save his family, and the pursuit of this goal blinds him to other options, rather than taking the path of corruption.
"It’s a tough position to be in when you walk into a room full of money and your wife and children are suffering."
Hawke admits he was surprised that the script was from a first-time screenwriter and was particularly drawn to the three-character structure. "This movie is about a time and a place, not about some isolated individual. It makes you feel like you are making a portrait of humanity and there’s something thrilling in that."
With Hawke attached, the rest of the cast fell quickly into place. The script landed on RICHARD GERE’s desk at a time when he desperately wanted some time off, but his agent, a friend of Fuqua’s, convinced him to read it.
Gere thought, ‘here’s an original, very well written and emotional screenplay that allows for explorations I haven’t seen in a script in this genre since I did Internal Affairs.
He also appreciated the film’s narrative, adding, "It’s a very skilled and terrific movie structure. Paul Schrader is a master of how to tell a story in film, creating structures in which characters can express themselves in a two-hour timeframe.
"Here, Michael has been able to tell three basic short stories which are tangentially connected, overlapping and working together."
Gere recalls that at the time he read the script he wasn’t sure how he would play Eddie, who, he says, "struggles to understand a universe that can allow so much pain and suffering. His character really evolved during the making of the film; I knew there was something here I wanted to explore and I wasn’t sure exactly what it was until I started shooting the scenes. There was a lot of self-loathing, anger and rage in Eddie, but also a lot of tenderness."
"Richard plays a tortured soul who represents a lot of these guys. They see the worst, become emotionally numb and try to find other ways to deal with their situation", says Fuqua.
Don Cheadle had met Antoine Fuqua when he visited Denzel Washington on the set of Training Day, and was an already an admirer of his work.
When he first read Brooklyn’s Finest he found it had a real authenticity to it and responded to the stories of the three police officers and how they deal with their individual situations.
He particularly connected with his character, Tango, a hard working cop who has spent the last three years working undercover, who finds himself in a morally compromising position when his best friend Caz (Wesley Snipes), a high-profile drug dealer, becomes the main target of a police investigation. Turning Caz in will give Tango the promotion he has been waiting for, and a chance of winning his wife back.
Fuqua talks about the inner torments his characters suffer, adding, "all three are doomed, men who at some time in their lives stopped liking themselves and forgot who they were. It has nothing to do with them being corrupt. It’s also about the lack of support they receive; most people don’t like police, they don’t trust them."
With Cheadle on board, the film’s lead cast was now in place; shortly afterwards Fuqua attached Wesley Snipes to play the role of Caz. Michael Martin remembers being surprised at how quickly the cast came together. Producer John Thompson adds, "We didn’t need to go to anyone twice. All the cast are the actors we first went to; they all wanted to do it."
Brooklyn’s Finest also attracted a stalwart and big-name supporting cast. "It seemed every actor in town wanted to work on this project," recalls Thompson. Within a few weeks Lili Taylor (Angela) signed on to play Hawke’s wife and Vince D’Onofrio joined the cast in the role of Carlo.
Soon after that, Michael K. Williams and Hassan Iniko Johnson, two of the lead cast from the hit television series The Wire, joined the cast in the roles of Red and Beamer.
During the casting of Tango’s superiors, Lt. Bill Hobards (Will Patton) and Agent Smith, Fuqua decided to change the role of Smith from a man to a woman. Ellen Barkin had heard about the project and was a big admirer of Training Day.
After a chance meeting in New York, Fuqua made the decision to make the agent a woman. Thompson says, "Ellen could play this role as tough as any man, even down to the fist fight with Don’s character. It also added a new dynamic to the story making Tango’s nemesis a woman".
One of the last roles to be cast in the film was Chantel, the prostitute who plays opposite Gere’s character. After weeks of auditions, Fuqua cast a newcomer, Shannon Kane, in the role. Gere recalls "I was in the middle of other movies and kept flying back to test with actresses.
"Shannon stayed in the race down to the very end, when it was down to two actresses. There was definitely a certain quality Shannon had a blend of being uninformed and girlish but still very secure in her own skin; that’s a wonderful thing to have as an actor."
Thompson admits that the producers were uncertain about casting someone with little experience but "Antoine proved us wrong and it was one of the major surprises and accomplishments of the shoot. It reminds me of when he brought Eva Mendes to the world’s attention in Training Day."
Gere says, "I kept telling Antoine every day how extraordinary this cast is, especially the young actors in the film. I wasn’t familiar with Jesse’s (Quinlan) or Logan’s (Melvin) work and found them both very kinetic, immediate actors who just knew how to flow.
"We changed things a lot and went off script and changed things but they never lost their cool and we all really trusted each other."
Brooklyn's Finest is out now.
Michael Martin began working with Antoine Fuqua and together they spent several weeks developing the screenplay. Fuqua knew instantly he wanted Ethan Hawke to be a part of this movie. The director and actor had collaborated on Training Day and they had always been looking for something to do together.
Hawke wasted no time committing to the project and signed on as soon as he read the screenplay. "I knew straight away I really wanted this job," he recalls. "I have very peculiar tastes, so when I heard Antoine was sending me a script all I thought to myself was, ‘I hope I like it’ because I really wanted to work with him again.
"I’ve always been drawn to dramas, in particular old school New York dramas starring De Niro, Pacino or Hackman."
Hawke saw this film in that same genre, and describes his character as 'a man at war with his pride. Life has been profoundly disappointing for Sal. He’s worked really hard and done all the right things, but nothing has turned out like it’s meant to be.'
"Sal’s not just a person running around stealing money," adds Fuqua. "His character is more about a family man than a corrupt cop who went too far. He’s trying to save his family, and the pursuit of this goal blinds him to other options, rather than taking the path of corruption.
"It’s a tough position to be in when you walk into a room full of money and your wife and children are suffering."
Hawke admits he was surprised that the script was from a first-time screenwriter and was particularly drawn to the three-character structure. "This movie is about a time and a place, not about some isolated individual. It makes you feel like you are making a portrait of humanity and there’s something thrilling in that."
With Hawke attached, the rest of the cast fell quickly into place. The script landed on RICHARD GERE’s desk at a time when he desperately wanted some time off, but his agent, a friend of Fuqua’s, convinced him to read it.
Gere thought, ‘here’s an original, very well written and emotional screenplay that allows for explorations I haven’t seen in a script in this genre since I did Internal Affairs.
He also appreciated the film’s narrative, adding, "It’s a very skilled and terrific movie structure. Paul Schrader is a master of how to tell a story in film, creating structures in which characters can express themselves in a two-hour timeframe.
"Here, Michael has been able to tell three basic short stories which are tangentially connected, overlapping and working together."
Gere recalls that at the time he read the script he wasn’t sure how he would play Eddie, who, he says, "struggles to understand a universe that can allow so much pain and suffering. His character really evolved during the making of the film; I knew there was something here I wanted to explore and I wasn’t sure exactly what it was until I started shooting the scenes. There was a lot of self-loathing, anger and rage in Eddie, but also a lot of tenderness."
"Richard plays a tortured soul who represents a lot of these guys. They see the worst, become emotionally numb and try to find other ways to deal with their situation", says Fuqua.
Don Cheadle had met Antoine Fuqua when he visited Denzel Washington on the set of Training Day, and was an already an admirer of his work.
When he first read Brooklyn’s Finest he found it had a real authenticity to it and responded to the stories of the three police officers and how they deal with their individual situations.
He particularly connected with his character, Tango, a hard working cop who has spent the last three years working undercover, who finds himself in a morally compromising position when his best friend Caz (Wesley Snipes), a high-profile drug dealer, becomes the main target of a police investigation. Turning Caz in will give Tango the promotion he has been waiting for, and a chance of winning his wife back.