Tango & Cash

Adam Frisch FSF · March 27, 2005

This is a comment from an interview with the late actor Brion James:

"LP: Konchalavsky lost that picture, didn't he?

BJ: He did a great job, but Sly got him fired. Sly is very protective about his film. He got his own DP in, and the film went twenty million dollars over budget. So the studio had to justify it, and fired him, saying it was the director's fault. It wasn't his fault. They didn't have a script. I was even re-writing at the end of the day, over and over. They only had three weeks left and they bought in Albert Magnoli. He did rock videos and a Prince movie (PURPLE RAIN). They gave this guy three quarters of a million dollars to do three weeks. By the time he got there, I was like don't talk to me, stay back. I knew this character for weeks, I know what I'm doing. It wound up being a great film, that eventually made a lot of money. Its one of the biggest pirated video in the history of Russia. There were 80,000 pirated copies. Warner Bros. was crazy not to market it properly, but that film was huge. I went to the Ukraine when I was shooting another film, and I was mobbed. I was in the Black Sea and I had no idea that people even knew who I was."

Does anybody know who was replaced? The film is credited to Don Thorin, ASC.

Just curious, since it used to be one of those movies we kept renting over and over again for good action when I was a teenager. Haven't seen it in years and I'd probably get pretty disappointed if I did.

Alessandro Machi · March 27, 2005

Phillip Tan did some amazing stuntwork in that film. (He's the guy who jumps through the second story window and lands on the hood of the car down below).

David Mullen ASC · March 28, 2005

Thorin shot Stallone's previous movie, "Lock Up", so maybe he was the one Stallone brought in, but you could read that statement as meaning that Stallone brought Thorin in from the beginning, not when the director was replaced.

Looking at Konchalavsky's credits on the imdb, I cannot see any consistency in terms of who shot his American features. His previous film was shot by Lajos Koltai but I doubt Koltai was the original DP on "Tango & Cash." Julio Macat is listed as the 2nd Unit DP but I don't think that means he was the original DP (usually that would get an "additional photography" credit.) Besides, I doubt that Thorin would get the only DP credit if he only shot the last three weeks of the production. He probably shot the whole movie.

Eric Steelberg ASC · March 28, 2005

Barry Sonnenfeld was the original DP. He talked about it on David Letterman when he was being interviewed for his direction of MIB 2. Apparenty Stallone didn't like the way he looked and got Sonnenfeld replaced.

Adam Frisch FSF · March 28, 2005

Barry Sonnenfeld was the original DP. He talked about it on David Letterman when he was being interviewed for his direction of MIB 2. Apparenty Stallone didn't like the way he looked and got Sonnenfeld replaced.

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Stallone didn't like the way Barry looked? :blink:

Thanks, Eric.

Konchalovsky is/was a talented director - his Runaway Train is a favorite (great last scene), but I haven't heard much since.

Saul Pincus · March 28, 2005

Stallone didn't like the way Barry looked? :blink:

Thanks, Eric.

Konchalovsky is/was a talented director - his Runaway Train is a favorite (great last scene), but I haven't heard much since.

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Wouldn't this have been Sonnenfeld's only anamorphic picture?

Saul.

March 29, 2005

This movie had a TON of problems.

On an interesting note, this was the first time in his US career that Konchalovsky DIDN'T go with a British DP- Alan Hume, Alex Thomson and Chris Menges had shot his previous films, RUNAWAY TRAIN, DUET FOR ONE and SHY PEOPLE respectively.

Alan Hume's lensing of RUNAWAY train is probably the cinematographer's finest moment on a genuinely fine movie. The film doesn't even look a thing like Hume; no old fashioned hard key and fill- looks more like it was shot by Chris Menges than Shy People does!