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Freeman, Kingsley not here for the money

Director Paul McGuigan has to have 'a big scene' for iconic actors

Scottish director Paul McGuigan is still a little astonished that he got to make a film with Oscar winners Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman, but he knows that it was the script of Lucky Number Slevin that attracted them, not the opportunity to work with him.

"I wish I could take all the credit and say it was me that they came to work for, but I don't actually think Morgan Freeman has actually seen one of my films," he says with a self-effacing laugh.

Diane Bondareff/Associated Press (enlarge photo) Director Paul McGuigan, left, poses with actors Ben Kingsley, second left, Lucy Liu, second right, and Josh Hartnett, right, at the premiere of their new movie, 'Lucky Number Slevin,' Tuesday, March 21, 2006, in New York. Reviews of "Lucky Number Slevin"

"When you get phone calls from Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley saying they want to be in your movie, you kind of know you've got something special straight away. It's a film of language. It's like a piece of music," McGuigan, 42, says. "That's why I got such a good cast, because of the script. You either pay for them or you have a good script. And we certainly didn't have that kind of money."

He has heard Lucky Number Slevin compared to Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects and is resigned to it. "Well, it's much better that they're likening it to something that's good," he figures. "Do a gangster movie and you're bound to be called Tarantino-esque."

The centerpiece of the movie is the showdown between his stars, playing reclusive mob bosses, tied to chairs, back-to back. "It was pretty tense, but there was like a great event happening. It was almost like two heavyweights were going to have a brawl. I just wanted to be there and just savor it," says the director of Gangster No. 1, The Reckoning and Wicker Park.

"Jason (Smilovic, the screenwriter) and I wrote the scene just for them. Once we had them, we knew we had to have a big scene between them," McGuigan says. Filming that scene was like holding a master class for the rest of the cast. "I turned around and there was Bruce Willis on the floor behind the camera, just watching and clapping. And Lucy (Liu) was there and everybody just appeared because they wanted to see this event happening, y'know."

So was the scene McGuigan's idea?

"Everything that works well is my idea," he says with a laugh. "Like any director, I surround myself with really talented people and take all the credit."