Based on the novel by David Ignatius, Body of Lies - the fourth film Crowe and Scott have done together - finds Crowe and DiCaprio playing CIA agents. While Ed Hoffman (Crowe) stays safe in the United States plotting moves over the cell phone, Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) must rely on Hoffman's information in order to stay alive while searching for a terrorist leader operating out of Jordan. But as Ferris becomes involved in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, he comes to question just how much he can trust the info that's being supplied to him by Hoffman.
Body of Lies Press Conference
Russell Crowe: "So far, day one's always feels easy. They kind of fool you like that. Who wants to play the role of Leonardo DiCaprio? (looking at one of the journalists) Sorry, no. Young man, there you go. Leo would wear that color. Leo and Bill, where's Leo and Bill [Monahan]. (Using an announcer voice) Hello, Leo and Bill, hello. Could Leo and Bill come to the press conference please? Actually, if we're quick, just ask us a couple of questions. We'll piss off and then you can have the rest of the time with Leo and Bill. Bargain?"
What was it like working with Leo again after so many years?
Russell Crowe: "Oh yeah, have I got some stories for you. It was the same as it was working with Leo in 1993, easy, easy and fun."
A lot of your scenes in this film are you and your cell phone, essentially. Was that like doing a voice on a cartoon?
Russell Crowe: "I don't know, I've never done a voice on a cartoon. It's the same as if you're doing a CGI film and you're supposed to be floating in a flock of black ravens. In fact, most of the time when you're on a film set, what you see in the audience has nothing to do with the experience of the actor. So you've always got to be shutting off things that are going to affect your focus and all that sort of stuff. So it's the same sort of thing where you just zero in on the phone call. Some guys try to attempt to do that thing of having both people on the phone at the same time, which is just utterly a waste of time. It's a waste of time. It's better off that you just do the groove by yourself. And then the next person, if you shot it first, the next person gets to hear where you were and so they will fold into that. Or if you're doing it second, it's the same thing. You listen to what they said and then you have a think about it."
Ridley Scott: "If you're the director, you got to go out and if somebody's done it first, and I run it, then the other actor will say, 'Christ, he's taking forever to say his dialogue.' So it's always better on your own."
Russell Crowe: "What was that?" (Leonardo DiCaprio shows up. To DiCaprio…) "You did a costume change too. You went more formal, I went less formal."
Leonardo DiCaprio: "You did?"
Russell Crowe: "It's the afternoon, man. Let's chill out. They've all been drinking now."
David, how did you describe the two characters, Ferris and Hoffman, in your book? Were they named Ferris and Hoffman? And for Russell and Leo, how did you see these characters? What was it about them that made you both say yes?
David Ignatius: "They were called Ferris and Hoffman in the book, and something I'm really happy about is how faithful the movie is to the book, both in the interaction of the characters, in its picture of the CIA struggling around the world against a very difficult adversary, and in the way in which these characters, Ferris in his way and Hoffman in his way, rebel against the situation they find themselves in. So I thought it was captured well. There's more I can say about the book, but the basic feeling I have as a writer is the story I wanted to tell, the feeling that I hope people have at the end of the book, is the same feeling I had at the end of the movie."
When you describe them in the book, was it anything like the people we see in the movie?
David Ignatius: "The first time I talked to Russell he ask me, 'Where's Hoffman from?' And I said, 'I don't know.' I said, 'Maybe he's from Massachusetts. I kind of can imagine Wooster or some working class town in Massachusetts.' And Russell said, 'No he's not. He's from Arkansas.' And he had decided that that was where this character was from and that's how this character was going to talk. They obviously re-imagined the characters in a hundred different ways, and that's now who these people are. I'll never be able to read the book and read about Hoffman and not think about Russell, and the same thing with Ferris and Leo."
Leonardo DiCaprio: "To put it simply, I saw my character as an operator in the Middle East that was trying to operate and do his job in the higher moral context that his boss wanted him to. There was this great conflict that was set up in the book, and adapted by Bill into this script, of this dilemma that this character has where he's asked consistently to do things that he doesn't believe in for the betterment of his country and this war on terror. And he simultaneously is accustomed to the Middle East and their cultures. He meets up with this Jordanian intelligence officer who he grows to respect, and wants to do the best job he possibly can, but he's being manipulated by both sides. And besides this being a great political piece that's pertinent to this time, it was this fantastic cat-and-mouse espionage thriller that works on its own."
Russell Crowe: "Fantastic answer, Leo. Thank you."
Leonardo DiCaprio: "Thank you, thank you."
Page 2: Reuniting with Ridley Scott, Stunts, and Special Effects
