Based on the charismatic anti-hero of Kyril Bonfiglioli's popular trilogy (Don't Point That Thing at Me, Something Nasty in the Woodshed and After You with the Pistol), Charlie Mortdecai is a professional bon vivant and occasional art dealer perpetually at the end of his financial rope.
Upbeat, satirical and utterly British in style and tone, the novels featuring Charlie and his manservant Jock Strapp are often compared to PG Wodehouse's madcap creations, the Jeeves and Wooster stories. In Mortdecai, Charlie charms, schemes and blunders his way in and out of hilariously compromising situations as he attempts to beat out an array of international evil-doers on the trail of a priceless Goya masterpiece that could also be the key to claiming missing Nazi millions.
Depp had already read and fallen in love with Bonfiglioli's novels when the script found its way to him. "I'd read them years before and they made me laugh out loud," says Depp. "They are irreverent and insane in a way I thought would translate well to the screen."
The actor asked his friend and colleague David Koepp to take a look at the project with an eye toward directing. "I can't say enough good things about David Koepp," Depp says. "I have loved him since we did a film called Secret Window years ago. It was not a comedy, but we were able to incorporate a lot of humour into it, which is part and parcel of what David does as a writer and a director. He had a vision for this movie and he created an atmosphere where the actors could try anything."
A prolific Hollywood screenwriter (Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park, Spiderman) and director (Ghost Town, Premium Rush), Koepp discusses the Mortdecai trilogy: "I read the books and the character made an indelible impression. He just leapt off the page. I couldn't imagine anyone apart from Johnny playing Charlie from the moment I read it. Johnny is so gifted at playing that kind of louse, the cowardly but loveable sort of character. He seems to have patented it over the last 15 or 20 years."
The script Depp passed on to Koepp was written by Eric Aronson (On the Line), a screenwriter he felt clearly understood the rarefied world of Charlie Mortdecai and shared the actor's affection for the character. "Eric had actually given it to me as a writing sample," explains Depp. "It made me laugh out loud all over again. He got that thing, that magical thing that's in the book. I thought, this guy's really good-and we started pursuing it."
Aronson first discovered the Mortdecai trilogy in a bookstore near London's famous tourist landmark Trafalgar Square, while he was working for the British government. "On the back of the jacket, it was described as a cross between PG Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler," he recalls. "A light just went on in my head."
He learned that the stories had a cult following with fans that included actors Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, and writers Julian Barnes and Craig Brown. "They're the kind of books that get passed around, which is how Johnny Depp originally came by his very old, very worn copy," says Aronson.
His main character is motivated by necessity, Aronson points out. "Charlie Mortdecai inherited a vast mansion in the countryside, but he's run out of luck and funds. In order to supplement his income, he becomes a shady art dealer, living by his wits and making his money through backroom deals. In our film, Charlie and his manservant, Jock Strapp, come to America intending to steal some art."
Or as Koepp prefers to put it: "Charlie is trading in artwork of uncertain provenance."
Charlie Mortdecai is a connoisseur of good food, fine libations, beautiful women and the most elite trappings of wealth. He also frequently finds himself entangled in matters of an ambiguous legal nature.
Badly behaved, violently snobbish and completely self-interested, Charlie was also endlessly appealing to the actor. "He is a blatant narcissist who has no relationship with the truth, except as he sees it," says Depp. "What drew me to the character more than anything was the challenge of making this guy, who is a little bit shady and most definitely a con man, someone you can sympathise with."
Depp took his inspiration from classic English film comedians, including Peter Sellers, Sid James, Bernard Cribbins and especially Terry Thomas, the irrepressible, gap-toothed star who defined the term 'upper-class twit' for several generations.
"The movie is filled with witty, rapid-fire dialogue," says Depp. "It was hugely important to nail that down perfectly. On the other hand, there's a great deal of physical comedy, which is such a specialised skill. The combination of very smart, sometimes totally ridiculous dialogue and the physical comedy is something I really connected with."
Charlie's biggest weakness is his beloved wife Johanna, for whom he will do anything-except shave off his magnificent moustache.
Charlie's luscious blonde wife Johanna is played by Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow.
"Charlie is not virtuous or smart or heroic," notes Koepp. "He's a rogue and that's what his wife is drawn to. He makes her laugh and that goes a long way. They're intensely jealous of each other and, like any good marriage, it's kept alive with a little bit of spice."
"Gwyneth is perfection as Johanna," says Depp. "This a caper movie, teetering toward farce, and timing was everything. She had that down pat."
Coming between the couple is Charlie's latest attachment-his new moustache. "He's grown this moustache while she's been away," Paltrow explains. "She is appalled by it. She tries to get past the moustache, but she just can't. She finds it physically revolting and it almost makes her throw up. Filming those scenes was categorically the hardest thing I've ever had to do-to get through it without breaking was so hard!"
Paltrow believes the moustache is a metaphor for what's going on in the marriage. "Something on the surface seems off, but really there's much more underneath. However, their relationship is charming; they're cut from the same cloth. They have a lot of fun and there's a very strong chemistry that has kept them together all these years."
Everywhere Charlie Mortdecai goes, he is accompanied by his manservant and right-hand man Jock Strapp, a faithful but upbeat bruiser who dedicates his life to protecting his boss.
British actor Paul Bettany, who plays Jock, was introduced to the project by Johnny Depp while the two were filming Transcendence. "Johnny asked me if I'd ever read the Mortdecai books," remembers Bettany. "I hadn't and he gave me all of them. Afterwards Johnny mentioned he was going to make them into a film and asked if I wanted to play Jock."
Depp says that while Bettany is not known as a comedic actor, he is one of the funniest people around. "He was the only person who could play Jock in my eyes," he adds. "That fact that he's a big, tall, seemingly serious Nordic god of a man only makes it funnier."
Always present, Jock is an indispensable and sometimes seemingly invisible element in Charlie's life. "Charlie Mortdecai is Jock's cross to bear," says Bettany. "Charlie is a penniless aristocrat in need of a driver and a butler and, often, an enforcer. Jock has been shot several times in his service and even been run over by Charlie, but he still is focused on protecting him. Jock possesses this calm equanimity and Buddhist stoicism."
Scarred, brutish and sporting a glass eye from one of Charlie Mortdecai's many near misses, Jock is catnip to the ladies, which is a source of befuddlement for Mortdecai. "Mortdecai is going through a very hard time with his wife," says Bettany. "Johanna is refusing to sleep with him because he has grown a ridiculous moustache. Until he shaves it off, she won't allow him to enter the boudoir. It's particularly frustrating for Mortdecai that wherever they go, Jock manages to effortlessly attract an endless stream of women."
Jock's unique look comes courtesy of hair and make-up designer Sallie Jaye, who outfitted Bettany with a distinctive scar and an unusual glass eye. "I got Paul's input and had various Photoshop images created of him. We considered a shot-out eye, but we decided to go for an interesting pupil that was quite arresting rather than repulsive. It's a comedy after all and he's supposed to be attractive to the opposite sex. We needed to give him a scar, but since he's supposed to be irresistible to women, we had to make it a sexy scar."
Charlie's insecurities are reinforced by the arrival of Alistair Martland, an old friend from their college days who is still attracted to Johanna. A highly placed officer in MI5, the British Security Service, Martland is a sensitive, soft-hearted poetry-reading detective who loses his composure whenever Johanna is around. On the trail of the missing Goya masterpiece, he comes to Charlie for help.
"There's a lot of history between me, Charlie and Johanna," McGregor explains. "Martland is in love with her and has been since they were all at Oxford together. He thought they were going to get together, but Charlie always prevailed. That became the root of Martland's animosity towards Charlie. That rivalry carries on through everything."
Martland is in most ways a much better match for Johanna than Mortdecai, according to Koepp. "He's smart, he is heroic and he has a huge career," the director says. "He's all the things that are traditionally valued, but she doesn't love him. She is, however, not above flipping her hair in a certain way she knows he likes so that she can get information out of him."
McGregor was drawn to the film's combination of wit and broad physical comedy. "It reminds me a lot of the Pink Panther movies from the 1970s," he says. "There's a humour to it that I haven't seen on screen for a long time. It's very cleverly written."
"Charlie Mortdecai's an eccentric and he's got a very particular turn of phrase," McGregor continues. "He is wordy and he likes language a great deal. He's living in a different age, as if he's stepped out of the past. Johnny plays him hilariously well."
Mortdecai also marks a welcome reunion of McGregor and director David Koepp, who previously collaborated on Angels & Demons. "I was happy to be working with David again," says the actor. "He shoots very quickly and knows exactly what he wants. He's a smooth director who isn't afraid of movement and he's got a wonderful sense of humour."
McGregor also previously collaborated with Paltrow, on the 1996 period drama Emma. "It was nice to work with Gwyneth again after all this time," he says. "We have a couple of really fun scenes together."
If you are looking for fun with a capital F, surrender to the charm of this laugh-out-loud rollercoaster ride.
For more on this film and other new releases, go to www.writingstudio.co.za.
