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Lucky Number Slevin features
two warring gangs, one headed by
"the Rabbi."
Robert David Jaffee
Jewish Journal of Greater
Los Angeles
T
hough it's been more than
a decade since Quentin
Tarantino burst onto the film
scene with Reservoir Dogs, his influ-
ence remains, and not just in terms of
film content or style.
Like Tarantino, Jason Smilovic, a
33-year-old first-time screenwriter,
whose Lucky Number Slevin opens
in Detroit area theaters on April 7,
didn't learn his craft from going to
film school: "It had a lot to do with
going to the local video stores:' says
Smilovic by phone.
In fact, Smilovic's father owned
a video store in Long Island. When
he was unemployed for about a year,
Smilovic would routinely watch two
movies a day.
Even over the phone, Smilovic
reveals an engaging personality and
is quick with a quip. Of getting kicked
out of SUNY-Buffalo, he-says, "It was
hard to get to class with all the snow."
Of his time at the University of
Maryland, he says, "I couldn't even tell
you if-I got a B.A. or a B.S."
Not surprisingly, he finds writing
a screenplay to be "a lot like telling a
joke. It has more to do with the deliv-
ery and the telling than any required
structure'
And he delivers a unique riff on
the fabled gangland picture in Lucky
Number Slevin, a film produced by
the Weinstein Company, whose two
chieftains also first spotted Tarantino.
The film features two warring gangs,
one headed by "the Rabbi" (Sir Ben
Kingsley) and the other by "the Boss"
(Morgan Freeman), who battle from
towering edifices across the street
from each other in New York City's
West Village.
ell
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Jewish Gangsters
The Rabbi is indeed a rabbi, but he
is also a gangster. Smilovic says that
he was intrigued by that dichotomy
within a single character.
"Let's face it. Jews lack the coordina-
tion to be gangsters:' he says, though
he is aware of the history of Jewish
gangsters going back to the first half
of the last century.
"We had a different level of manual
dexterity back then. When you take
a minority group like Jewish culture, .
which is wholly predicated on intellec-
tualism, we always look up to physical
prowess, to guys who know how to
use their hands:'
The films director, Paul McGuigan,
a Scotsman perhaps best known for
directing Gangster Number 1, had
never before directed a film with a
JOE AND HELMA BERNARDI
AND FAMILY
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Lunch: Mon - Fri 11:00-4:00, Sat 12:00 - 4:00 • Dinner: Mon - Thurs 4:00 - 10:00, Fri & Sat: 4:00 - 11:00, Sun: 3:00 - 8:30
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■ BBQ Grill on the Table
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Sitting Rooms Available
Screenwriter Jason Smilovic with
Bruce Willis on the set of Lucky
Number Slevin
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