An Original Director Jordan Discusses ëGood Thief,í Remake of ëBob le Flambeurí by Ky N. Nguyen At the Four Seasons in Georgetown, Irish writer-director Neil Jordan (ìThe End of the Affair,î ìInterview With a Vampire,î ìThe Crying Gameî) simmers with nervous energy as he discusses ìThe Good Thiefîóa remake of Jean-Pierre Melvilleís ìBob le Flambeur,î a major influence on the French New Wave. American Nick Nolte (whom Jordan wanted after seeing ìAfflictionî) stars as an addictóto gambling and drugsóseeking one last big score by robbing a Monte Carlo casino. This screenplay took Jordan quite a long time to write. ìI was wrestling with the original Ö with the idea of doing something that was a version of an original. That crept into the script, too, with the fake paintings and the real paintings [in the casino, inspired by the Las Vegas Bellagioís Picasso collection]. The idea of what is an original and what is a copy? And what is the value of a copy of an original? All heist movies are copies.î Although observers have commented on the filmís perceived stylistic nod to the French New Wave, Jordan wasnít thinking that at all when he directed ìThe Good Thief.î ìThe only films I watched were films that were shot in cities at night with almost totally available lightóa lot of Hong Kong movies. A Wong Kar-Wai production uses the city almost like a light box. Those kinds of films free up the camera a lot. You get a very glamorous image. At the same time, you get this handheld kind of thing. You get a sense that the camera can move everywhere.î The director continued, ìChris Menges is one of the best cameramen in the world. Weíve done three movies together. Heís wonderful to work with because heís willing to rethink his whole approach to photography from the ground up for each movie that he makes. In this case, we decided to have a really mobile camera actually act as a separate character to approximate being messed-up, hung over with drugs. The lights are too bright. We used all sorts of weird camera techniques to basically give the impression of ferociousness.î For Jordan, this stylistic technique was necessary to reflect the protagonist. ìHe lives by night. He was in this fractured state of mind. He approaches some state of redemptionóbeing what he used to be. By the end, the image is more lush and warm Ö sedate.î Reflecting todayís France, the cast is considerably more multicultural. ìAmerica is kind of a melting pot of many different races, but once people come here, they become Americans. In Europe, they donít say now theyíre European because nobody knows what that means. You have all these different communities that exist side by side with everything from the communities they come from absolutely intact. Itís more a mixture than a melting pot.î Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.