Rewatchables Reference

• The opening 20-minute sequence from Frank White walking out of Sing Sing through the limo ride and the explosion of set pieces – 'announces the style we're going to be watching for the rest of the film.'
• Fishburne and Buscemi's first scene together – 'you played ball, T?' and 'yo man, you ever get the feeling you was being watched?'
• Walken and Fishburne's crew reunion – 'I must have been away too long because my feelings are dead. I feel no remorse.'
• Walken going to see Artie Clay and shooting him eight times – 'from here on, nothing goes down unless I'm involved. No blackjack, no dope deals, no nothing. A nickel bag gets sold in the park, I want in.'
• The fried chicken arrest scene – Fishburne buying chicken and then busting the dealers. 'Fuck you very much.'
• Caruso's wedding speech – 'the most Irish cop moment in the history of movies.'
• Caruso's bar monologue about having to kill Frank White – 'my job is to protect the people of this city and you won't let me.'
• The big nightclub shootout with the Schoolly D soundtrack.
• Fishburne killing Snipes in the rain.
• Walken assassinating Caruso at the police funeral – 'one of the great shotgun deaths of all time.'

• The whole hip hop gangster milieu – Fishburne invented the first hip hop gangster character in movie history, dressed like Run-DMC, and it set off a dozen movies after 'New Jack City' blew up.
• Catching all these actors at the coolest moment of their careers – Walken, Fishburne, Buscemi, Caruso, Snipes, Esposito, Calderon all before they exploded.
• The use of a limo as an action movie car – Fishburne popping out of the sunroof with two guns blazing.
• 1990 New York as a movie locale – high and low, the Plaza Hotel and under the bridge, glossy and gritty in the same film.
• Caruso's wedding performance – 'the test came back negative' and Roy Bishop's 'Afro Sheen' toast.
• The movie's structure as a precursor to The Wire – the whole cop vs. criminal dynamic with the bad guys being more compelling.

• Janet Julian as the lawyer girlfriend – 'if there's one person who doesn't belong in this magnificent cast of ball-biters, it's her.'
• Victor 'Argo' as Bishop – 'fine in the movie, but the part deserved more than fine.' The part called for a 2001 Harvey Keitel type.

• James Remar was originally set to play Frank White four years earlier, right after Cotton Club where he played Dutch Schultz.
• Harvey Keitel was going to play Frank White but backed out, saying 'I don't think this is the one for me.' He and Ferrara agreed to do Bad Lieutenant together instead.
• James Russo was cast as Jimmy Jump but turned it down because he refused to let David Caruso spit in his face – 'I will let Walken spit in my face, but I will never let that redheaded cocksucker spit in my fucking face.'
• Caruso was doing a TV pilot with Wesley Snipes and begged the director to give Snipes the old Fishburne part (Flanigan) after Fishburne switched to Jimmy Jump.
• Laurence Fishburne was offered Jules in 'Pulp Fiction' but his people told him to pass because it was a supporting role. The movie he did instead was Bad Company.

• Artie Clay (the pop-out red shoes gangster who gets shot eight times by Walken).
• Fishburne in his death scene – dialing it up, screaming, laughing.

• Paul Calderon – 'one of the fantastic actors of that era' who almost beat Sam Jackson for Jules. In 'King of New York' he's one of Frank's key guys.
• Victor 'Argo' – the rare figure connecting Abel Ferrara, Scorsese, and Woody Allen. 'Harvey Keitel's best friend.'
• Steve Buscemi as Test Tube – before 'Reservoir Dogs', he was popping up in Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Billy Bathgate. 'That guy before he was that guy.'

Teresa Randle – 'not positive what her job is, not positive what her motivation is. She owns everything she's in. Convinced she's dangerous, she can do drugs with whoever, she's hot, and for some reason I'm rooting for her to survive. And she barely has any lines.'

• Janet Julian's part (Jennifer the lawyer) – Kelly Lynch was the consensus pick. 'She plays the lawyer in Desperate Hours, she was Coughlin's girlfriend in 'Cocktail'.'
• Victor Argo's part (Bishop) – 'a part for 2001 Harvey Keitel' or Tony Lo Bianco or a '70s New York actor.'

• Christopher Walken allegedly called Biggie's hotel room and left a message: 'Hey, this is the real 'King of New York'. Call me.'
• At the second showing at the New York Film Festival, Laurence Fishburne and Nicholas St. John were booed off the stage.
• The first cut ran almost 2 hours and had to be edited down to 106 minutes to avoid an X rating.
• Donald Trump gave permission to film at the Plaza Hotel for free on condition Walken pose for a photo with Ivana Trump.
• The opening sequence was shot partially at Sing Sing Prison – the first time the prison was ever used in a movie.
• The word 'fuck' is used 190 times.
• Abel Ferrara directed a porn film titled '9 Lives of a Wet Pussy.'
• Abel claims Wesley Snipes was living in his car during production.

• Christopher Walken – Bill and Sean's pick. 'The best Walken part of all time.' He gets to be funny, scary, and weird – using 80% of his pitches plus the slider. 1990 was his comeback year with 'King of New York', Comfort of Strangers, and his iconic first SNL appearance.
• Laurence Fishburne – Tarantino's pick. 'The most exciting performance by an actor of his generation. I thought with this he could be the greatest actor of his generation.' Though Tarantino concedes What's Love Got to Do with It could also be his apex.
• The Plaza Hotel – 'King of New York' and 'Home Alone' in the same year. 'When was it better for the Plaza Hotel?'
• Movie limos.
• Schoolly D – 'the godfather of gangster rap.' His music is essential to the film's nightclub sequence.
• Freddie Jackson – still a dude in 1990, performing in the film's party scene.

• Walken punching Snipes multiple times when they arrest him – and Snipes just takes it with no consequences. 'In the world we now know really exists, that's an excuse to shoot Frank.'
• The Chinatown shootout is a little one-sided – 'they win the shootout 10 to 0.'
• Walken assassinating Caruso at a police funeral – 'police funerals are very protected, there's a lot of bodyguards, a lot of entries.'
• Snipes chasing Fishburne into a giant dark open area and calling him out – 'what's your game plan here? You're just going to die.'
• Why did Joey (Paul Calderon) set Frank and his crew up at the club? How much were the cops even offering for a sellout?

• Was the character of Omar in The Wire inspired by Frank White? Or was it Avon Barksdale? Or did David Simon split Frank White into five different characters?
• Did Walken's muggers from the subway ever come back to the Plaza for a job? (Answer: yes – Harold Perrineau shows up later in the Schoolly D nightclub scene.)

Maybe – all three agreed it could work. Tarantino said 'the Achilles heel of this movie is it's too short' – the third act is thin because they had to cut it down. A 10-episode version could explore the hospital, the cops, Frank's inner workings more fully. 'We just talked about The Wire – it would be fantastic.' Bill would set it in 2020; Tarantino and Sean would keep it in 1990.

Tarantino: Fishburne. Bill and Sean: Walken. 'It is always Walken's movie in my head.'