Related Directory Categories
- Film (5983)
- Titel (4700)
- Films (669)
- S (538)
- M (427)
- Film Festivals (388)
- F (386)
- Film (383)
- Video and Film (378)
- A (373)
Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
The Saint (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Saint | |
|---|---|
 The Saint promotional poster |
|
| Directed by | Phillip Noyce |
| Produced by | David Brown Robert Evans William J. MacDonald Mace Neufeld |
| Written by | Leslie Charteris (character) Jonathan Hensleigh Wesley Strick |
| Starring | Val Kilmer Elisabeth Shue |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 4, 1997 (USA) |
| Running time | 116 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70,000,000 (est.) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Saint is a 1997 film based on the character of Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in 1928 for a series of books published as "The Saint". Besides the book series which ran until 1983, the character was also featured in a series of Hollywood movies made between 1938 and 1954, a 1940s radio series starring Vincent Price as Templar, and a popular British television series of the 1960s which starred Roger Moore.
The film stars Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue, and Rade Serbedzija. It was directed by Phillip Noyce and written by Jonathan Hensleigh and Wesley Strick.
In this version, Kilmer's character does not claim to be the Simon Templar created by Charteris. He is, in fact, an orphan who chooses his name "Simon Templar": the first name from a saint, and the last name from his childhood heroes, the Knights Templar. He refers to himself as Templar only during a flashback sequence at the start of the film.
Contents |
Simon Templar is a professional thief nicknamed "The Saint." To throw off law enforcement, he assumes the names of saints, people canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Templar's usual modus operandi is mentioning that he was named after a saint.
Templar is hired by Ivan Tretiak, a Russian ex-communist-turned-billionaire oligarch who once again has his eye on the presidency of the Russian Federation, to steal the formula for cold fusion being developed by the eccentric Dr. Emma Russell. Theoretically, cold fusion could create heat and energy from open air, and it would be cleaner than petroleum and safer than nuclear power. And it would be much less expensive.
The deal would put Templar at the $50 million mark in his Swiss bank accounts, the amount he wants to retire with from the life of thievery. (This plot point comes from the Charteris novella "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal" in the collection The Holy Terror, in which Templar strives to top up his bank account and retire at 100,000 pounds sterling.)
However, Tretiak wants the formula solely to prevent Dr. Russell's theoretical design from becoming reality, and to aid this, he has engineered a heating oil shortage during the harsh Russian winter to force the Russian people to side against the nation's honest president.
Templar, in the guise of St. Thomas More, has become attracted to Dr. Russell, but he reluctantly steals her formula in order to stop Tretiak from killing her, a threat that arose when Simon said he wouldn't do it. So he ultimately ends up turning it over to Tretiak. However, the formula is incomplete, and Tretiak becomes intent on capturing both Templar and Russell in order to force her to complete it. However, Templar, normally a loner, and Dr. Russell have fallen in love with each other. Templar then has to save both of them while simultaneously exposing Tretiak as a criminal.
As Dr. Russell works to complete the formula, Templar confronts the president in his home and tells him to admit to Tretiak's accusations publicly. However, it is Tretiak who is exposed as the fraud as the failed cold fusion reactor Tretiak presents as evidence begins working. He later goes to a presentation by Emma and the Police notice him. He is in a disguise, but quickly flees and eventually they catch someone who they think he is, but it's just a civilian. He drives by, smiling and waves at them. Not long after, a Halo is shined over his head.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Val Kilmer | Simon Templar |
| Elisabeth Shue | Dr. Emma Russell |
| Rade Serbedzija | Ivan Tretiak |
| Valeri Nikolayev | Ilya Tretiak |
| Henry Goodman | Dr. Lev Botvin |
| Alun Armstrong | Inspector Teal |
| Michael Byrne | Vereshagin |
| Yevgeni Lazarev | President Karpov |
| Irina Apeksimova | Frankie |
| Lev Prygunov | General Sklarov |
| Charlotte Cornwell | Inspector Rabineau |
| Roger Moore | Radio Announcer Voice |
Film adaptations of Leslie Charteris' anti-hero Simon Templar (The Saint) date back to the late 1930s when RKO Radio Pictures launched a popular series of B-movies with a succession of different actors playing the lead role. After that, save for two unsuccessful French attempts at launching new film series, the character was confined mostly to television.
In the mid-1980s, tabloid gossip newspapers such as the National Enquirer reported that Roger Moore, the actor who had played The Saint on television in the 1960s, was planning to produce a new Saint movie, with Pierce Brosnan (then known for playing the Templar-influenced character Remington Steele on TV) being considered for the role. Nothing came of this project (though Brosnan later inherited another role that Moore played).
The reference work The Saint: A Complete History by Burl Barer (McFarland 1992) was written at a time when another set of plans were under way to launch a new Saint film series, which would have been faithful to the original writings of Leslie Charteris and feature characters from the original books. This project also failed.
A few years later, Paramount Pictures' attempt to make a film of The Saint started with the powerhouse above-the-line team of Robert Evans as producer, Steven Zaillian as writer and Sydney Pollack as director. Ralph Fiennes - hot from Schindler's List and Quiz Show - was offered $1 million for the lead, but eventually passed. In a 1994 interview for Premiere magazine, Fiennes said the screenplay - racing fast cars, breaking into Swiss banks - was nothing he hadn't seen before.
Robert Evans left the project - although, contractually, his name remains on the final film's credits - and David Brown (Jaws, Driving Miss Daisy) took over. A new story was commissioned from Jonathan Hensleigh (Die Hard With a Vengeance) which cast Simon Templar as a mercenary hired by a billionaire Russian oil and gas tycoon to steal the secret of cold fusion from an eccentric but beautiful American scientist. The story would take place in Washington, D.C., Upstate New York, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Setpieces included Dr. Russell skydiving while strapped into a wheelchair and a plane landing in Red Square. Darwin Mayflower described it as one of the top unproduced screenplays. [1] Phillip Noyce was hired to direct.
Providing a link to both the 1960s The Saint TV series and the later Return of the Saint revival of the 1970s, Robert S. Baker, the producer of both series, was brought in an executive producer of the film.
In a 1997 interview with Des O'Connor for his ITV show, Hugh Grant says he passed on the role after a meeting with Noyce because he didn't like the director's approach to the character. Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Costner and Johnny Depp all said no to the role. Schwarzenegger later said he was sorry he didn't do it. Val Kilmer was cast and the script was rewritten by Wesley Strick to suit his style.
Strick's rewrite relocated the action to London and Oxford and merged two villains together by having Tretiak running for president himself rather than endorsing a puppet candidate. Kilmer was constantly pressing for more disguises in the film, although Paramount wanted to keep that idea for their Mission: Impossible franchise.
The name Leslie Charteris is noticeably absent from the opening credits of the film, upsetting fans of the writer.
When the final film was test screened, audiences reacted badly to the death of Dr. Emma Russell.
In the original version of the film - as in the original Jonathan Hensleigh script - Dr. Russell, having escaped Russia via the American embassy, collapses while giving a lecture and dies in The Saint's arms. Watching the videotape back, he sees Tretiak, Jr. stabbing her in the leg with the tip of his cane. The final half-hour has the Saint returning to Moscow to destroy the villains' plans and avenge her death. With Dr. Botvin's help, he switches the formulas around and humiliates Tretiak during his show trial of the Russian president. The Tretiaks shoot their way out of the crowd and escape back to their mansion, with The Saint and the Russian army in pursuit. Tretiak shoots the treacherous Dr. Botvin. The Saint arrives and finds the bodies of Botvin and Tretiak, killed by his own son. The Saint battles Dr. Russell's killer on the stairwell as Russian tanks pound the mansion walls, exposing and setting fire to the vast stockpile of heating oil in the basement. With the stairwell disintegrating around them, the fight spills out on to the chandelier, suspended above the blazing oil. The Saint teases Treatiak, Jr. with the disc containing the formula for cold fusion. As he reaches out for it, The Saint cuts the rope and Tretiak, Jr. plummets to a fiery death. Returning to Dr. Russell's home, the Saint finds a letter from her, a tear fills his eye and he vows from now on to use his skills only for good.
Test audiences didn't like the way Dr. Russell died three-quarters of the way into the film; it was a little confusing as to what had happened to her. The novelization features an alternate version in which Dr. Russell lives and The Saint and Tretiak, Jr. still battle on the chandelier. In the end, however, the producers decided to cut Dr. Russell's death scene, chopped off the action-packed climax, inserted footage of the Tretiak's being arrested and filmed a new epilogue at Oxford. (Footage from the original ending features prominently in the film's trailer.) Director Phillip Noyce hopes one day to be able to restore the original version for DVD.
- The Saint tells Tretiak that, at $3 million, the Cold Fusion formula will cost him “a nickel for every million (he makes).” Taken literally, this would make the formula worth six hundred billion dollars.
- The technical consultant in cold fusion was Dr Eugene Mallove.
- Main article - The Saint (novel)
A novelization based upon the film script was written by Burl Barer, a noted expert on the history of Simon Templar and Leslie Charteris.
The songs "Out Of My Mind" by Duran Duran and "6 Underground" by the Sneaker Pimps were played during the credits, and released as singles to promote the movie.
The soundtrack album, The Saint: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack included many songs from the electronica genre. Aside from Duran Duran and the Sneaker Pimps, recording artists included Orbital, Moby, Fluke, Luscious Jackson, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Superior, Dreadzone, Duncan Sheik, and Everything but the Girl.