Merin Interviews Shepherd

Ask writer/director Richard Shepherd how and why The Matador got made and he offers a two-word answer: Pierce Brosnan.

Brosnan, who stars in and produced the film, says, "Richard came bearing gifts. I loved playing Julian in this movie." Shepherd's first big budget film is helping to release Brosnan from his not-too-uncomfortable image trap of James Bond.

"Richard sent me the script as a writing sample?It was twisted and dark, had an undeniable humanity. I never knew where it would turn. Julian's a man who's having a rough time-he just happens to be a killer. I thought we could make a cool, slick, hip independent movie and get away with it," says Brosnan, whose performance as a quirkily demented assassin has netted him a Golden Globe Best Actor nomination. "There're jokes that audiences get in abundance because of my past performances-or, a particular performance.

They've seen Brosnan wake up in bed with a broad-but now he's overweight, out of shape, thinks he's having a heart attack. Then he paints his toe nails.

MERIN: Were you concerned that Julian's outrageousness might alienate audiences?

SHEPHERD: That's a bit of a crap shoot. It's a particular type of humor-most people get it. One great thing about Pierce is that he's got such warmth as an actor on film. That's why he's so perfect for Julian-because not only does he subvert his own image in a way that makes the movie fun, but you can't help but like him even when he's that rude and lewd.

And it was the perfect situation because Pierce came to me to make this movie and not the other way around-which could have been a nightmare if it'd been that a big star was saying I want to do your movie, but was wrong for the role. What's so smart is that Pierce saw that this role could push his image-that he could say, "Hey, I can do other things."

People say it's the first time they've seen him look like that. To me, it's the first time anyone's seen him vulnerable and kind of pathetic.

It's so different from Bond. And also it's just kind of fun for people to see him walking around in his underwear.

MERIN: Does Matador have Bond references?

SHEPHERD: We didn't discuss Bond on the set...There are references made musically, but they're limited. Had the movie been wink-wink-look-at-us, it would've been a disaster. If I'd written this part for Pierce to mock his image, it would've been a disaster. Pierce wanted to play Julian in this movie. It so happens, his Bond baggage helps the movie. Sometimes that doesn't work, but here it helped.

MERIN: How'd you know the humor would work?

SHEPHERD: The actors got it?But, the first cut of the movie wasn't funny. We had to figure out why it was funny on the page, funny when we shot it, but not funny on screen. That's part of the editing process. We tested things-not for box office, but just trying to find the best movie. Some people were like, "Oh, Pierce shouldn't paint his toe nails." Well, I thought that was the whole movie. And, since it was my movie, that's what ended up in it.

MERIN: What changed from first cut to funny cut?

SHEPHERD: Thanks for calling it the funny cut. Initially, I thought it was a thriller with laughs-but Greg (Kinear) and Hope (Davis) are both very funny actors. The script played funnier with them-until we cut the film. Fortunately, we were independently financed and weren't rushed. Before, I'd only made little million dollar movies, but this was a ten million dollar movie, so I had seventeen weeks to edit-not six.

And, I found many of the funniest moments-like when Pierce walks through the hotel lobby in his underwear, then jumps into the swimming pool. When we tested the first cut, people laughed at him walking through the lobby but not jumping into the pool. I thought it would be funny if he saw something-so I added the shark shot. I rented Jaws, cut in a shot from it. People laughed. To me, the shark was happening in his imagination. But, oddly, sometimes people think he really jumped into a shark pool.

It's funny to watch audiences react. Audiences at first don't know if they can laugh at Pierce-Is he really being mean to children? Did he really say "cock"? Did that just happen? It's funny to see them slowly realize it's okay to laugh. Once Greg comes in, they really get it. And then Hope comes back in the picture in a major way. My favorite parts of the movie are with the three of them together-you're just not expecting to her to be turned on that there's a killer in the house. I love when a third character is introduced half way through, just when you think you've got the movie figured out, but something new happens.

MERIN: What dialogue did you drop to avoid an X rating? Will you give a sample?

SHEPHERD: No! But I could tell you a lot of fascinating things about the ratings board-off the record.