OUT 66 (FLICK-BITZ)

JAMIE FOXX AND COLIN FARRELL GO DEEP UNDERCOVER IN MIAMI VICE


Miami's Casablanca allure, the undercover cops and the appeal of Michael Mann’s culturally influential television series have been enhanced by time with Miami Vice, a large-scale feature film, starring Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx as Ricardo Tubbs and Colin Farrell as Sonny Crockett. Universal Pictures will release Miami Vice nationwide on July 28th.

Miami Vice liberates what is adult, dangerous and seductive about working deep undercover, especially when Crockett and Tubbs go on their own with no backup. They find themselves with a case that pushes them to the edge where identity and fabrication become blurred, where cop and player become one.

Being an undercover agent is a dangerous game. Whatever character they believe you to be, you must be. You have to remember everything you tell them. You’re really are out there all by yourself and that’s what’s so dangerous about it,” Foxx says.

Mann shares, “The story is about what happens when you go deep undercover working on an operation in a foreign country where your badge doesn’t count. To give Foxx and Farrell a sense of that danger, Mann brought in real undercover agents to put them through the paces, including what appeared to be a real drug buy.”

“It was very, very, scary because, for all intents and purposes, this was the real deal. It was such a good set-up. And as it was happening, the energy was right up there. It was way out of hand. It was on the razor’s edge and let us see first-hand what these guys face,” Colin remembers.

In Miami Vice, Foxx’s Ricardo Tubbs is suave and dead smart. He lives with a gorgeous Bronx-born intel-analyst Trudy, played by British actress Naomie Harris, currently starring in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Tubbs and Crockett are working undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida trying to identify a group responsible for three murders.

Ms. Harris talks about working with Foxx, “The first time I had a big scene in this film was the love scene with Jamie. You can imagine how nervous I was. He was so supportive and was always trying to make me laugh, so I could relax. He’s an amazing actor and so much fun to work with.”

Farrell’s Sonny Crockett seems to the untrained eye to be unorthodox. But procedurally he is sound, charismatic and flirtatious. However, he finds himself in dangerous territory when he gets romantically entangled with Isabella, the beautiful Chinese-Cuban business partner of the arms and drugs trafficker he is investigating. Isabella is played by the Chinese actress Gong Li, best known for her starring role in Memoirs of a Geisha.

Farrell talks about Crockett’s attraction to Isabella, “He is captivated by her and his demeanor shifts. He falls hard for this woman and he’s gone. He finds himself too far gone, he’s in too deep. He’s in danger of losing his focus and taking his eye off the prize.”

Jamie elaborates, “When you’re out there, somebody has to bring you back from that side. It’s like being married and you’re having an affair.”

For Crockett and Tubbs the task at hand is transporting drug loads into South Florida, while they race to identify the group responsible for their friends’ killings and jointly investigating the New Underworld Order. To break the case, they fly to a seedy, dangerous locale in Dominica where they are interrogated by a drug middleman, José Yero (John Ortiz), who surrounds himself with intimidating henchmen carrying automatic weapons. They remain cool and focused. After getting passed that hurdle, they began to put the high level, million-dollar drug deal in motion. The deeper undercover they go, the more intense and dangerous the mission becomes. The partners start forgetting not only which way is up, but on which side of the law they suppose to be.

Supplementing the five-star cast, supporting players who join Mann in Miami Vice include Ciaran Hinds (Munich) as FBI Special Agent Fujima, Justin Theroux (Mulholland Dr.) as fellow vice cop Zito, Barry Shabaka Henley (Collateral) as Lieutenant Castillo, Elizabeth Rodriguez (Dead Presidents) as Detective Gina Calabrese, John Ortiz (Narc) as drug middleman José Yero and Luis Tosar (Cargo) as the stateless plutocrat (and Isabella’s pygmalion) Montoya.

Joining the writer/director/producer behind the camera are an elite group of filmmakers that include director of photography Dion Beebe (Collateral) and Mann’s returning editors William Goldenberg (Heat, Ali, The Insider) and Paull Rubell (The Insider, Collateral). John Murphy (28 Days Later) composes music for the film; Janty Yates (Hannibal) and Michael Kaplan (Fight Club) serve as Vice’s costume designers. The production designer is Victor Kempster (JFK); Miami Vice is based on the television series created by Anthony Yerkovich (Hill Street Blues), who also executive produces the film. Joining Mann in his production duties for the film is Pieter Jan Brugge (Heat, The Insider).

Copy was provided by Roz Stevenson PR (http://www.rozstevensonpr.com/)



OK, here are more tidbitz about the movie according to www.imdb.com


Filming in Dominican Republic was suspended during October 2005 due to raucous behavior from the public and a shooting where the aggressor was injured.

Edward James Olmos was given a chance to reprise his role as Castillo, but turned it down.
Jan Hammer was asked to do a different type of score, but turned it down.

The quotes in the theatrical trailer, "We get down, if the play calls for it bud" [Crockett], and "We can close each others eyes real fast, but then nobody's gonna make any money" [Tubbs], were both lines from the 'Smugglers Blues' episode of the original series.

Gunshots heard outside of the film's Dominican Republic set on 24 October 2005 caused the crew to delay filming for three days.

The RZA was hired to do the films score, but was later replaced with Organized Noize.

The sunglasses worn by Colin Farrell are the "Slam" model made by Sama Eyewear

There was one author/reviewer on imdb.com who saw the movie already named alucard69 from London and they wrote: “By far one of the best movies of the summer, Miami Vice is all any action movie fan could wish to hope for. It's got some seriously violent set pieces, amazing locations, and two really cool guys in the lead roles. I do think that a lot of old school fans of the 80's TV show may come away a little disappointed though, as it very little in common with it (apart from the title and the character names obviously). No, this Miami Vice is a serious, sweary - and ADULT - crime movie. And while it isn't quite as gripping or epic as Heat was, it's certainly more accessible to a mainstream audience (and thankfully much shorter). Highly Recommended. "

OK here is my take.

I haven’t seen the flick yet, but from what I have been hearing, this movie is definitely action-packed and very adult from the TV show( I wonder why Miami Vice Tv stars Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas wasn't asked to be in the film ala Richard Roundtree in the 2000 remake of "Shaft"? Hmmmm) and the love scene with Jamie Foxx and sexy actress Naomie Harris (who used a body double form what I heard) is very very steamy). This flick took 125 million dollars to make (GULP) and according to www.panachereport.com, Foxx hounded director Michael Mann for two years on the idea of making this movie. I’m sure the film will get fans of both Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx in the seats the first weekend out, but it’s going to No. 1 is doubtful (It will definitely be in the Top Five) especially with the reigning clad fist now being the sequel to “Pirates of the Carribbean.” Yet in still, it could be Top Three because there are no big movie opening this weekend either (“Little Miss Sunshine” Woody Allen’s “Scoop” and “John Tucker Must Die.” )

Also, I found it interesting that when Foxx is asked about the movie away from the press junket circuit (e.g. The BET Awards Post Show and a recent Today show appearance) that he plays down the movie and focus his attention on his role in the upcoming “Dreamgirls” movie (as well as hype up Eddie Murphy who is getting Oscar buzz for his role in the film). Is Foxx trying to tell us something? Only the public will find out when it opens nationwide this weekend.


VICE UPDATE: I guess people really wanted to check this flick out its first week out, As of Julky 31, the flick took the No. 1 spot at the US Box Office taking in 25 million bones and dethroning teh sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean which took the 2nd spot at 20.5 million bones (grossing over 358 mill in three weeks.) . This will be Foxx's third consecutive flick joining Collateral in 2004, Jarhead in 2005 and now Vice (and just to mention his double platinum CD, Unpredictable hititng No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums earlier this spring.). Many critics and reporters across the country have said that Foxx was miscast in his role as Tubbs(mainly because of his Oscar winning Ray Charles role almost turning him into an iconic personality), but I'm sure it was about box office appeal and lo and behold. I was almost right in predicting where it will land at the Box Office (I did say Top Three). I didnt predict No. 1 but even geniuses can be wrong. LOL. (Well let me be thr first to predict that Foxx will have another hit on his hands when the long-awaited Dreamgirls will run beginning X-mas 2006.)