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Two bit hits >> Saul Rubinek's Jerry & Tom deglamourizes the mafia by MATTHEW HAYS Veteran Canadian actor Saul Rubinek says the best thing about directing his first feature film was the casting. After all, in most cases all he had to do was pick up a phone. "An agent's worst nightmare is an actor doing his first film," explains Rubinek, who's appeared in well over 50 features. "An agent's role is is to protect their actors from doing roles for no money; but actors can call each other at home and bypass the gatekeepers." Rubinek managed a good deal of bypassing for Jerry & Tom, his dark comedy about the lives of a couple of two-bit hit men (Joe Mantegna and Sam Rockwell). The cast is impressive; Ted Danson, William H. Macy, Maury Chaykin and Charles Durning all make appearances. The film has its two anti-heroes attempting to make the big time in the rather slimy business of knocking people off for a fee. For Rubinek, the main challenge was making a film about the issue of violence without glorifying it. He's called this his anti-mafia movie, one which sets out to debunk the myths of the hit man. "The hit man subgenre has always glamourized the hit men themselves. They wear Hugo Boss outfits, they're cute, they have this sense of humour, they're romantic, they kill with impunity, they have these very attractive weapons, their coldness is seen as a romantic turn-on. With Jerry & Tom, we've got some working class dudes who sell cars. They're not winners." In order to create his universe, Rubinek recalled the experiences of making True Romance and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, two films he had supporting roles in. "Both these films tackle violence from opposite ends of the cinematic scale, but both of them deal with the subject of violence. I was influenced by the way in which Unforgiven was a movie about the consequences of violence without actually showing the violence. True Romance was really having a discussion about the glorification and romanticization of violence." Rubinek describes much of his directorial style as coming from Eastwood; aside from technical instruction, he leaves his actors alone to tend to their roles. "I got such a great group of actors that I didn't really have to do a lot of talking to them. Very often directors are autocrats and want to have their hands in every part of the filmmaking process, want to own every part of it. From the speed of a dolly to the way a shot is framed, to the performances of the actor. "That could lead to brilliant work, but it's not my style, and frankly, it's not a style that a lot of people enjoy working with. If you allow a certain amount of freedom, your vision can be surpassed. It can get better."
Jerry & Tom opens Friday, February 5
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