Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Nice guys finish last. Meet the winners.
Country
Production
Budget
$6 500 000
Box office
$42 039 085
Director
Actors
Scenario
Dale Launer, Paul Henning
Producer
Bernard Williams, Charles Hirschhorn, Dale Launer
Camera operator
Composer
Miles Goodman
Artist
Roy Walker, Tony Rimmington
Audition
John S. Lyons, Donna Isaacson
Editing
William S. Scharf, Stephen A. Rotter
Whole Team (90)
Whole Team (90)
Short description
Con artist Lawrence Jamieson is a longtime resident of a luxurious coastal resort, where he enjoys the lavish fruits of his deceptions -- that is, until a competitor, Freddy Benson, shows up. When the new guy's lowbrow tactics impinge on his own sophisticated work and believing him to be the infamous conman 'The Jackal', Lawrence resolves to get rid of him. Confident of his own duplicitous talents, he challenges Freddy to a winner-takes-all competition: whoever swindles their latest mark, American heiress Janet Colgate, out of $50,000 first can stay, while the other must leave town.
What's left behind the scenes
- The scene in the prison, when Freddy tries to remember Lawrence’s name, was an improvisation conceived by Steve Martin.
- When director Frank Oz invited Michael Caine for a role in the film, he tempted him with a villa in the south of France, which would be at the actor’s complete disposal for the entire duration of filming. Caine agreed, discovering that this villa was conveniently located right between the villas of his friends, actor Roger Moore (1927-2017) and composer Leslie Bricusse.
- In the casino scene, Freddy, dressed in a US Army officer’s uniform, tries to wager one of his medals during a roulette game, but the dealer does not allow it. Medals in the US are made of low-grade brass, not precious metals, specifically to prevent them from being traded.
- Originally, the film was intended to star Mick Jagger and David Bowie (1947-2016) in the lead roles. Studio executives wanted to reunite them on screen after the success of the 1985 music video for “Dancing in the Street.” Following the success of the 1986 comedy “Ruthless People” (Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker), they turned to screenwriter Dale Launer for ideas. Jagger had previously written a song for “Ruthless People.” Launer suggested a remake of Ralph Levy’s 1964 comedy “A Hard Day’s Night,” which he had once seen on television. He even bought the remake rights from one of the original screenplay’s authors, Stanley Shapiro (1925-1990). Soon, Jagger and Bowie left the project, and Martin and Caine were invited to take their place.
- During filming, Keanu was 55 and Martin was 42, while director Frank Oz needed them to both appear to be roughly the same age – 45-50 years old.
- In the opening credits of the film, after the main actors, the word "are" appeared instead of "In" (in…), which can be translated as "Steve Martin and Michael Caine are outright swindlers."
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
