Donnie Brasco
SUMMARY
This true story follows FBI agent Joe Pistone as he infiltrates the mafia of New York. Befriending Lefty Ruggiero, Pistone (under the name Donnie Brasco) is able to embed himself in a mafia faction lead by Sonny Black. Ruggiero and Pistone become tight as the group goes about collecting money for 'the bosses'. Eventually, the group become big time when Black himself becomes a boss, all the while Pistone collects evidence. However, the trials and tribulations of the undercover work become more than Pistone can bear. His marriage falls apart and to top it off, the mafia suspect a mole in the organization. The real dilemma is afforded to Pistone, who knows if he walks away from the mafia, Ruggiero will be the one punished. Internet Movie Database
STARRING: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Anne Heche, Bruno Kirby, Zeljko Ivanek, James Russo, Robert Miano
CAST /CREW
Directed by
Mike Newell
Writing credits (WGA)
Joseph D. Pistone (book) and
Richard Woodley (book) ...
Paul Attanasio (screenplay)
Cast Al Pacino .... Lefty Johnny Depp .... Donnie Michael Madsen .... Sonny Bruno Kirby .... Nicky James Russo .... Paulie Anne Heche .... Maggie Zeljko Ivanek .... Tim Curley Gerry Becker .... Dean Blandford Robert Miano .... Sonny Red Brian Tarantina .... Bruno Rocco Sisto .... Richie Gazzo Zach Grenier .... Dr. Berger Walt MacPherson .... Sheriff Ronnie Farer .... Annette Terry Serpico .... Strip Club Owner (more)
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QUOTES ABOUT THE FILM
AL PACINO
"Uh... I... I was pleased with Donnie Brasco. Yes I thought it was a really... ah... good script. And it was... Mike Newell had said right from the start that he wanted this to be a kind of a... a relationship movie... with these two guys and their feeling for each other. And uh, it was... what he set out to do I think he made that uh... come though I thought. It has some feeling in it. And uh... he took it in the direction that I didn't realize, since it was in the tradition of those kinds of movies.... uh, Mike Newell took it to that other place... where... to a DIFFERENT place, rather, to a place of a relationship. Which was interesting."Hollywood Online (you can hear this interview on Windows Media or Real Audio here.)
Johnny Depp was Mike Newell and [producer] Mark Johnson's choice for the part. I met with Johnny because I hadn't known him before. We had a cup of coffee and then they took him on. I think I've rarely enjoyed working with anyone as much as Johnny. We've become friends. I really, truly found working with him a joy. He made me laugh all the time. I don't know how his image is projected, but he's really fun to be around. Mr. Showbiz Interview
(on the decision to do yet another Mob film)
Of course, when you enter this genre, you're having to say, "This has been done. We've been around this territory, I've been around this territory myself." So, why would I want to embark on this kind of thing again? It took some time. I remember passing it over at one point years ago. What happened is, as time went on, the relevance of the piece became a little bit more in the distance. The fact that it was in 1979, I sort of appreciated that aspect. That made it a little more interesting for me and that's why I did it. Mr. Showbiz Interview(On finding something new in his Donnie Brasco character)
I've been involved in that genre before, but I saw something [in Brasco] that was different. [Ruggiero] had some different interests. I've played different cops and different lawyers and they were different. He was as different as that. I think the guy from Serpico and the guy from Sea of Love are in the same sort of world, but they're different. I think that was sort of the difference between the character I played in Donnie Brasco and the other characters I've played, say Michael Corleone.
I think there are things in this guy's struggle that, hopefully, people who are civilians outside of the underworld will relate to. There's aspects of this human being, that when we pay attention to it, are in ourselves. They are not violent aspects, but his needs, his frustrations. I think that's the kind of character that we tried to express and draw. Mr. Showbiz Interview(On working with director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), a Mob-
film rookie)
Mike Newell was from another world, really, in terms of this environment of the film. But he educated me, actually. He did a lot of research, a lot of work with the people. He was very well versed with all the aspects of this world. He was quite involved with these people, in a way. He knew what he wanted and he went after it that way. Mr. Showbiz Interview(On the movies and actors that influenced him, and the origins of his fascination with the Mob)
The movies that my mother took me to when I was young were very diverse. The memory I've had was of Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and then on to Marlon Brando and James Dean. Which were more or less characters who played all kinds of roles. I remember hearing about a movie that Paul Muni made called Scarface. The only time I ever saw Scarface, I was doing this Bertolt Brecht play on tour. Bertolt Brecht was enamored with the gangster movies of the thirties. I think there were many of these films in the thirties, Little Caesar and Public Enemy and James Cagney. And that was a period that was interesting. Brecht wrote this play called "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" which was a parallel of the rise of Hitler and the rise of a Chicago gangster in the thirties. When I was working on the play, I remember hearing about Scarface and saw that later on in life. When I saw it, because of Paul Muni's performance, I wanted to copy it. I put the idea forth to someone about making it. . . . I don't know why we're talking about Scarface. What happened to Donnie Brasco? Sorry, I went off. Someone has to control me. Mr. Showbiz Interview(On Hollywood's tendency to depict Italian-
Americans as cold- blooded killers)
I, as an Italian-American, think about [this issue]. I want to avoid it. I think that we are used to that kind of thing, in a way. It's one of the tentacles in our culture that we have come to know and have feelings about. I don't know what the solution to that is. Mr. Showbiz Interview
To me, I go to the material. I go to the story and the entertainment value of something and say, "This film doesn't seem to me to be pushed by violence." It doesn't seem to be saying that as much as it's talking about a relationship, with this certain kind of character that has his dreams, and his aspirations. I think if [Donnie Brasco] communicates anything, it will communicate the relationship. This character I play becomes a prototype for other people who are in the same sort of predicament.(About the decision to do yet another Mob film (Donnie Brasco)
"Of course, when you enter this genre, you're having to say, "This has been done. We've been around this territory, I've been around this territory myself." So, why would I want to embark on this kind of thing again? It took some time. I remember passing it over at one point years ago. What happened is, as time went on, the relevance of the piece became a little bit more in the distance. The fact that it was in 1979, I sort of appreciated that aspect. That made it a little more interesting for me and that's why I did it." (from Mr. Showbiz) (694k - hear a wav of this quote)(Finding something new in his "Donnie Brasco" character.)
"I've played different cops I've played different lawyers, and they were different. I think he was as much different as that. I think the fact it existed in the same genre... I think the guy from Serpico and the guy from Sea of Love are in the same sort of world, but they're different. I think that was sort of the difference between the character I played in Donnie Brasco and the other characters I've played, say Michael Corleone and this guy. So I saw a difference." (from Mr. Showbiz) (449k - hear a wav of this quote)
JOE PISTONE (THE REAL DONNIE BRASCO)
"It feels good because I've spent so many years working undercover, and then when the undercover days were over I never actually went back to being Joseph Pistone because of the [US$500,000] contract the Mafia had put on my life, so I had to assume another identity and move several times and I met new people and they'd never know my background or who I was, and now, with the movie it feels good and I feel I should help promote it and come out of the shadows, so to speak." (read the whole interview at "Celluloid In Camera")
The images that [the public] have [of the FBI] are false. They see the movie The Godfather - great movie but not a true portrait of the everyday Mafia individual or what occurs within the family - and they see a lot of cop shows on television where agents are portrayed as glamorous, in-and-out, and they never show how tedious is really is and the sacrifices that the undercover agent makes when he infiltrates a group.
You give up your whole personal life because your life becomes the same as the group you're infiltrating. You cut yourself off from your family, from your friends, and that's never shown on television. But with the film Donnie Brasco it shows the family conflicts and hanging out the way it really was, the daily routines of discussing crimes, what crimes they're gonna commit, how much money they're gonna make and there's always friction between different Mafia groups and within the families, and you always live with the fact that this may be your last day. Y'know, maybe you're gonna get killed or gonna have to kill them first. This is basically what the film depicts and I think it does it from both sides.
It shows how the Mafia people live, how the undercover agent lives and operates, and it also shows the undercover agent doing his job, gathering evidence and dealing with the personalities of the gangsters because after all they are people and they have personalities. Everybody doesn't like everybody, so, in order to maintain friendliness you have to deal with every personality. (read the whole interview at "Celluloid In Camera")
(about the film) There were moments when it was 100% on the money," he says. "A lot of the dialogue was taken from the actual dialogue that happened, because the screenwriter listened to the original tapes. But, what was really tough was watching the family scenes because that was the way it actually occurred. (read the whole interview at "Celluloid In Camera")
I have to give a lot of credit to Johnny because he was very, very concerned about portraying me with sensitivity and I don't know any other actors that would care. Just watching him was like hitting home and although I'm the kind of individual who is sensitive, I don't show it, but I think he put that across in the movie. (read the whole interview at "Celluloid In Camera")
JOHNNY DEPP
"Donnie Brasco was a motherfucker of a movie and I spent a lot of time with Pistone. He's got an interesting rhythm to his speech. I did my best to get that. I put great pressure on myself to make it fucking right for the guy. He lived it. I was just pretending." (Vanity Fair Magazine)
TRIVIA
GOOFS
The shaving cream on the man who gives Donnie the thumbs up.IMD
BEHIND THE SCENES
Lefty wasn't really killed by the mob, although a contract was put out on his life for the same reason Sonny Black was killed: they allowed Joe Pistone (Donnie Brasco) to infiltrate the mob. Lefty was picked up by federal agents before the contract was carried out. He was tried and convicted and sentenced to 20 years. He got out a few years ago and died of natural causes. LOCATIONS USED FOR FILMING
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
New York City, New York, USA
south, Florida, USA
Clifton, New Jersey, USA
DVD INFO
(208k) Nobody can touch you, because I represent you. Keep your nose clean. Follow the rules, be a good earner and maybe one day when they open the books you become a wiseguy.
(93k) Who am I? I'm a spoke on a wheel. And so are you.
(694k) (AL INTERVIEW: About the decision to do yet another Mob film) "Of course, when you enter this genre, you're having to say, "This has been done. We've been around this territory, I've been around this territory myself." So, why would I want to embark on this kind of thing again? It took some time. I remember passing it over at one point years ago. What happened is, as time went on, the relevance of the piece became a little bit more in the distance. The fact that it was in 1979, I sort of appreciated that aspect. That made it a little more interesting for me and that's why I did it." (from Mr. Showbiz)
(449k) (INTERVIEW: Finding something new in his "Donnie Brasco" character.) "I've played different cops I've played different lawyers, and they were different. I think he was as much different as that. I think the fact it existed in the same genre... I think the guy from Serpico and the guy from Sea of Love are in the same sort of world, but they're different. I think that was sort of the difference between the character I played in Donnie Brasco and the other characters I've played, say Michael Corleone and this guy. So I saw a difference." (from Mr. Showbiz)
DONNIE BRASCO INTERVIEW
From The Canadian Press, http://www3.cjad.com/content/cja...d=e042033A
Retired FBI agent known as Donnie Brasco to visit
Ontario, Updated at 15:30 on April 20, 2004, EST.
TORONTO (CP) - Made famous after being portrayed by Johnny
Depp in the movie named after his alias Donnie Brasco and based on his novel,
retired FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone is back with a nonfiction tale titled The
Way of the Wiseguy.
"I was always asked different questions about wiseguys
and made a mental note of a lot of that," says Pistone in an interview.
"I figured I should answer all these questions in a book. It's a how and
why book. Why wiseguys will kill you? How wiseguys get made and how they get
straightened out."
Pistone was an FBI agent for 17 years from 1969 to 1986 and
retired in 1996. During this period he was nearly made by the mob and
miraculously managed to escape.
There came a period when there was a shooting war going on
within the family, for control of the family, he explains.
"At the time the side that I was on was winning the
war, but the FBI felt it was getting too dangerous in that there were too many
people being killed. So they pulled me out."
Brasco, who now lives under a secret identity in an
undisclosed location, will be appearing at Chapters in Woodbridge, Ont., on
May 1.
© The Canadian Press, 2004
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