Writer/director Joe Carnahan (Narc) loaded the cast of his dark comedy/action film Smokin’ Aces with an interesting mix of big screen veterans (including Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven, Peter Berg and Ben Affleck), up-and-coming actors (like Ryan Reynolds and Chris Pine), and feature film newbies (Alicia Keys and Common).
A true ensemble piece, Smokin' Aces centers around a sleazy magician/gangster wannabe named Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel (Piven). After Aces figures out it’s not easy to be a mob boss, he decides to turn state’s evidence rather than go to jail. The FBI moves in to protect Aces but not before Primo Sparazza, a much larger player in the world of organized crime, offers up $1 million to whoever kills Aces. Enter a motley assortment of hired assassins, each out to collect that huge bounty by forcing Aces to play his last hand.
Jeremy Piven on His On and Off-Screen Relationship with Common: Hip hop artist Common makes his feature film debut in Smokin’ Aces playing Aces’ second-in-command. While they were filming, Piven and Common got very close. So close in fact that Piven joked that’s now actually stalking Common. “It's actually awkward for him,” laughed Piven. “No. The synchronicity is pretty heavy. I mean, literally the other day I pulled up to a stop light and I looked next to me and there he was and that doesn't even happen. I can't find anyone in this town ever.
I met him backstage before his show - yet again me stalking him - and he had an energy on stage that was… He has this kind of poetic energy that's very soulful and peaceful, and yet I saw like this element of danger. He would kind of kick the stool, like he had this moment, and he was so theatrical in his presence and his cadence as a rapper is so similar to human speech when you're in front of the camera. It was almost there anyway, and then the duality that he has as an artist. I felt something that you couldn't direct or teach someone to do. I knew and thought that he could do it probably before he even had it confirmed himself. I just called Joe [Carnahan] immediately and said, 'This guy is just so perfect.'”
Piven continued, “He had already auditioned and was the front runner and was killing it. I saw the auditions and it was really clear there, anyway. So the synchronicity was kind of amazing and then we had this Gap campaign together. This is one of those things where they didn't know about our movie, and suddenly we're on the sides of buildings together, which is kind of ridiculous anyway.
…We just kind of connected. We're both from Chicago and are kind of kindred spirits. Immediately I felt very comfortable with him. It was almost as if we went to high school together or something. There was a kind of shorthand that we had. I think that both [Alicia Keys and Common] are superstars in this arena and then they come to a new arena. Yet they're kind of students and were very open to the whole process, which says a lot about them as human beings. This is a reason why they're such great artists because it's a collaborative medium and they kind of get that. It's so fun to do this process because [Common’s] kind of doing this for the first time and so I kind of get renewed about it as well. This is kind of an exciting time for all of us. The cast is so completely eclectic and everyone is so strong, except for Ryan [Reynolds]. God bless him…”
Ryan Reynolds on Tackling a Completely Different Type of Character: “I've certainly never been in a movie that's had this unique brand of unblinking violence before, so that's sort of new for me. But it's like any other role. You tackle it in the same way and you try to find the truth to it. I was really caught up with this guy who was trapped in this bureaucratic FBI cluster-f**k, for lack of a better word, and because of that loses someone that is very dear to him. So for me it was just playing the truth of that the whole time.
I was sort of alone throughout the movie because my character is sort of a rogue player. He kind of arrives to the party a little late and in doing so I didn't establish the special friendships that people seem to have made [laughing]. But when all is said and done, it was great. I'm also just a huge fan of Joe Carnahan. He's such a charismatic individual and someone that just applies every part of himself to the project that he's in. It was great for me.”
Nestor Carbonell Explains the Appeal of Smokin’ Aces: “Well, for me, like Ryan said, Joe is such an enormous talent. If you watch Narc, it's amazing to see how incredibly talented he is in that particular genre, which was just a drama. And then to come around and do a follow up, second picture that is such a tonally different kind of movie – this being a dark action comedy – and every character, as Jeremy said, has a moment, has a sort of epiphany. Even though it's incredibly violent, there's a real moment of clarity for characters. As dark and as depraved as some of the characters are, which mine certainly is, we all have a sort of moment of lightness.
I think that the reason the movie works so well is because the violence is so well balanced with the comedy. On my first day I got to take a blow torch to a man's genitals, which was only funny when I saw it onscreen. But I mean, how often do you get to play something as dark as that and still make it funny? So, for me, it was just a dream to get this job and to be able to work with this phenomenal cast.”
Playing the Only Guy Really Affected by the Violence: Everyone seems to be getting into it in Smokin' Aces, with the exception of Reynolds' character. "That was just part of the story," said Reynolds. "I mean, he was the guy that was deeply affected emotionally by it, deeply and through the wringer by the end of this adventure. It was the focal point for me as the character. The climax for the character of Messner was the reason to do this movie, to really get inside of that guy and find out what made him tick.
For me, I haven't done a lot of films where I had to jump into something in this way. It was the least amount of 'me' that I usually put in and oddly enough the most. It was the most effort and a departure from anything that I've been comfortable in, any sort of wheelhouse that I've established."
