Russell Crowe was on “The Late Show with David Letterman” last night and his conversation was probably on TV just as I was writing my “The Deceptive Marketing of ‘Body of Lies’” article only to prove there was an additional sleight of hand during the filming and subsequently in the editing room.
In the film Crowe plays Ed Hoffman and he is Roger Ferris’ (Leonardo DiCarpio) superior at the CIA and he suddenly shows up in Jordan and in Roger’s apartment. Roger is visibly upset and the two of something of a volatile relationship as it is and they begin to make small talk. One of the things discussed is Ed’s flight in which Roger asks, “So how was your flight?” Ed replies, “Good, I watched that Poseidon.” CUT. That is where the line ends in the film. It seems a bit strange and you realize Body of Lies is a Warner Bros. movie and so is Poseidon, the awful remake of the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure, but for just a second I was wondering where it came from and why it was such an abrupt mention. Well, as it turns out it’s not all that was said as Crowe explains to David Letterman:
“… he asks me how the flight was, so I am just sort of jamming on how the flight was. At one point, after this one take, this executive ran over, Donald DeLine, actually one of the producers of the film and says, ‘You can’t mention that movie you just mentioned because it’s not a Warner Bros. movie. He gave me a list and said, ‘While you’re ad-libbing, ad-lib only from this list.'”
“Ridley came back and said, ‘What I’m really wanting you to do is to ad-lib about something taking a long amount of time.’ […] I swear to god I have no idea where this came from… but I’m standing there, and Leo says, ‘How was your flight?’ and I said, ‘I watched that Poseidon.’ And he said ‘How was it?’ and I said, ‘It was like watching a Greek girl get a bikini wax. I had no idea when it was going to end.'”
So, the mention of the movie gets in… she-bang, but the zinger gets ommitted. For shame… Where’s the sense of humor WB? Can’t you laugh at yourself for making a disastrous disaster film at least?
Watch the Letterman clip below.
