Chick-flick maven Nora Ephron attempts to shift gears with the criminal comedy Lucky Numbers. Whether you like the film or not (and we didn't), the tonal shift warrants further investigation, as it affects the very fabric of the entertainment industry as a whole. Daily Radar sought out the makers of the film to inquire about their intentions with the dark comedy. Fortunately, all of them were at the same hotel at the same day for a publicity junket.
First was the director. Ephron is the reason many men can't get dates. The writer of When Harry Met Sally and director of Sleepless in Seattle set romantic standards for women so high that lots of women are ruined for normal men. So, why did she decide to go with a murder comedy? And why did she execute it more tamely than directors before her?
Daily Radar: Did you set out to make dark comedy?
Nora Ephron: Well, that was the script. I mean it was on the page, so yes. Absolutely. Dark-ish. I would say "ish" is the operative word. [Note: We looked in the dictionary and could not find "ish."] This is not Fargo. We don't have people in woodchoppers or anything.
DR: Why did you want to make it less violent than those movies?
NE: Well, it wasn't written. It came as a script, and I didn't really think we should show it. I don't think you really have to show a huge amount of blood to get across the point that bad things happen in this movie.
DR: Did you change the original script in any way to make it more of a "Nora Ephron movie"?
NE: Well, you know, I mean we did a lot of things between the time I read the script and the time you saw the movie to make the characters funnier and try to get the balance working of the comedy and the darkness and all of that stuff. One of the first things I said to [screenwriter] Adam [Resnick] after I read the script was, "This movie has to start with our knowing that this is a big fish in a little pond." That whole opening of the movie [showing John Travolta as a local celebrity] wasn't there when I read the script.
DR: What scenes were intended to be the big comic set pieces?
NE: Oh, I don't know what we intended to be the biggest comic set pieces, but I knew when I read the script that the scene where he finds out on television that Jerry the bookie is dead was going to be a huge, huge laugh. We all knew that the scene where Crystal and Walter had their final scene together was going to be a huge set piece in the movie.
DR: How did you sell Michael Moore on the character of Walter?
NE: We didn't sell him on it. We sent him the script, and he came in and read for three parts, and he was good for all of them.
DR: Which other parts?
NE: I was just trying to remember because there were definitely three. He read for the cop [now played by Bill Pullman] definitely, and he read for Cousin Walter -- and I'm trying to think what the third part was. Oh, maybe the bookie [now played by Richard Schiff].
DR: How do you think fans of your lighthearted romances will respond to all the profanity in this film?
NE: Oh, I think they'll all shoot themselves. It's a big mistake to think that people really think about you that much. But, I hope they'll see it's a funny movie because that was my intention.
Ephron stopped taking questions and, in fact, ceased all eye contact with our correspondent at that point. Still seeking a feminist understanding of the film, we approached female lead Lisa Kudrow...
