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 After the Sunset Production NotesWho will walk away?
Life should be easy after a sterling career as a master thief. Though he is now retired to an island paradise with his partner in crime (Salma Hayek), trouble comes looking for Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) when his former nemesis from the FBI (Woody Harrelson) shows up with news of a big score rumored to be on the horizon.
A new cat-and-mouse game of friendship, suspicion and thievery is afoot. Filmed on location in the Caribbean, After the Sunset is directed Brett Ratner (Red Dragon) and produced by Beau Flynn and executive produced by Tripp Vinson.
The high-stakes action comedy After The Sunset begins where most great heist movies end -- with a pair of master thieves escaping to a tropical paradise to enjoy the spoils of their labor. But when an FBI agent, who has pursued them for seven years, becomes convinced that they are actually plotting to pull off a million-dollar theft from a nearby “diamond cruise,” a riveting game of cat and mouse begins.
Max “The King of Alibis” Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) and his beautiful accomplice Lola (Salma Hayek) have come to Paradise Island in the Bahamas, fresh off their final big score in which they lifted the second of the three famous Napoleon diamonds. With their financial future set, the couple is ready to relax and enjoy their hard-earned riches.
But Stan (Woody Harrelson), the FBI agent who has spent years in dogged but failed pursuit of Max, refuses to believe that his nemesis is actually calling it quits. He thinks that Max and Lola are actually plotting to steal the third Napoleon diamond -- one of the three largest non-flawed diamonds in the world -- which is coincidentally scheduled to arrive on Paradise Island as part of a touring cruise ship exhibition. Since he has no jurisdiction in the Caribbean country, Stan teams with a local cop (Naomie Harris) and sets out to catch the sly Max and Lola in the act, while at the same time a local gangster (Don Cheadle) has his own plans for the diamond.
When the longtime adversaries meet up in paradise, Max quickly turns the tables and befriends the frustrated detective, showing him that Paradise Island has no shortage of pleasures to offer. But in order for Stan to figure out exactly what Max and Lola are up to, he will have to navigate all the twists and double-crosses of an action-packed story of friendship, suspicion and thievery.
About the Production
Paul Zybszewski’s original screenplay for After the Sunset was discovered by producers Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson, highly-respected for producing such critically-acclaimed movies as Tigerland and Requiem For A Dream. The script was purchased by New Line Cinema and the producers hired Australian screenwriter Craig Rosenberg for a re-write. Both the studio and the producers agreed from the start that their first choice for the role of master thief Max Burdett was none other than Pierce Brosnan, the actor best known around the world as ‘James Bond, Agent 007.’
Producer Beau Flynn remembers, “when we were visualizing the character of Max, we thought about Pierce, but figured it was a long shot, that we would never get him. When Pierce expressed interest, we went in with guns blazing and told him why he was the only actor to play Max Burdett. From that point on the whole film took shape.”
Recalls Pierce Brosnan, “when my agents sent me a bag of twelve scripts that fit a certain time period in my availability, After the Sunset was the one that really appealed to me. I love heist movies-- this is the third one I’ve done (following The Heist in 1989 and The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999), and I thought this had the possibility of being a solid ensemble piece.”
Salma Hayek, Oscar-nominated for her performance in Frida, was the next to join the cast. Producer Beau Flynn offers, “We wanted someone who could really give Max a hard time and see right through him. Salma Hayek is very direct, and it felt like the energy between her and Pierce would be something very special. When we talked with Pierce about who could play Lola, we brought up Salma’s name and he responded right away. We are fortunate that she loved the script and was really excited to work with Pierce as well.”
Hayek admits, “I’ve always been a fan of Pierce and wanted to work with him for a long time. He’s a very talented actor, and in this movie, his character is very relaxed, spontaneous, sometimes even goofy. You will see him with his messy hair, a little beard – he looks so handsome. It suits him!”
Brosnan returns the compliment. “Salma is one of cinema’s most beautiful women – an incredibly gifted woman,” he says. “We’ve not really seen her like this before – playing a leading lady in a ‘popcorn’ movie. That’s exciting for her and for all of us to watch.”
Next to join the project was director Brett Ratner, the young filmmaker whose five movies – the two highly successful Rush Hour films, Red Dragon, Family Man, and Money Talks – have grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide at the box office. Ratner acknowledges, “Pierce was on the movie before I came aboard, but I was excited because I had wanted to do a James Bond film with him. As a matter of fact, he was one of the people who called me and said ‘I want you to do this movie.’”
Regarding his attraction to the movie, Ratner offers “I love caper films. There are so many great films in this genre, but what makes After the Sunset different is that it’s a heist movie that has a combination of great relationships, heart and comedy.
There’s the adversarial buddy relationship between Max and Stan a la Midnight Run, the romantic relationship between Max and Lola, who are both thieves, and the relationship between Stan and Sophie (played by Naomie Harris), which all makes for a quite interesting and exciting mix of cat and mouse.”
Another reason behind Ratner’s decision to sign on was the new challenges it presented him. “I’ve never done a movie like this and that was my attraction,” he says. “It’s a mixture of many genres. You’re walking the line between action, drama,humor and heart. It’s a heist movie that delivers on every level.”
The director hopes that “audiences might even forget about the heist and be really concerned about the relationships at the core of these characters. I’m hoping that by the end of this film, people walk out smiling having been entertained, but that they’ll really fall in love with these characters.”
Pierce Brosnan reveals, “this was a project I really liked, so when Brett Ratner’s name came up, he is somebody I admired – someone I actually wanted to direct a James Bond movie. With him on board, suddenly we had a piece that just went up another ten flights!”
With director Ratner at the helm, After The Sunset moved forward into the next phase: casting the remaining roles. “One of Brett’s really strong points is casting,” says producer Beau Flynn. “He’ll watch fifty auditions and never settle until he’s found the perfect actor.”
Ratner explains, “in every role, no matter what the size, I try to make the characters important. Each character has to have something special or it’s not worth having. I like those roles where actors read the part and go, ‘I want to do this! I want to play this!’ I then shape the role with the writers for that particular actor.”
With leads Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek set, Woody Harrelson was cast in the key role of Max’s nemesis, FBI agent Stanley P. Lloyd. Regarding the casting of Harrelson, who as of late has been performing on the stage instead of in front of the camera, producer Flynn enthuses, “it’s real inspired casting to have Woody Harrelson in the role of Stan. He brings a style of organic comedy and plays it straight and real. You really will believe he is an FBI agent who has one quest in life, and that is to track down Max Burdett.”
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Pierce Brosnan as Max a master thief and Salma Hayek as Lola his girlfriend and accomplice in After the Sunset.