'Narc' campaign pins hopes on thesp noms
SAG voters traditionally show preference for performance-driven dramas
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The gritty drama, starring Jason Patric and Ray Liotta as narcotics detectives, has managed to survive over the past two years thanks largely to extraordinary efforts by thespians.
As major nominations begin to proliferate, the strategy for "Narc" is actually fairly simple -- aim Patric and Liotta's performances toward voters who are actors. Whether that strategy works will become clear on Jan. 28, when nominations for the SAG Awards are announced.
SAG voters traditionally show a clear preference for vivid performance-driven dramas. They tapped a quartet of seeming darkhorse candidates last year: Kevin Kline and Hayden Christensen in "Life as a House" and Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning in "I Am Sam;" Penn subsequently received an Oscar nom.
It's not far-fetched to believe that "Narc" -- shot on a shoestring budget over 28 wintry days last year in Toronto -- could generate the same reaction. It has already been aided by strong support among veteran A-listers, including Warren Beatty, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman and executive producer Tom Cruise.
"We got a ton of help from the Bel Air circuit even though the movie wasn't completely finished," admits Liotta. "We didn't plan it that way and I still don't know how it happened, but somehow a tape of it got out and started getting shown at places like Larry David's house."
After watching "Narc," written and directed by up-and-comer Joe Carnahan, Cruise and partner Paula Wagner prevailed on Paramount to make a deal with Lions Gate to jointly distribute in the U.S. It was a most-unexpected conclusion to a film that had been on death watch for much of its history.
Liotta had come off successive mainstream roles in "Blow," "Heartbreakers" and "Hannibal" and decided to learn the ropes as an indie actor and producer after reading Carnahan's script, which had been turned down all over Hollywood.
The duo managed to convince Cutting Edge Entertainment to commit to a budget of under $5 million. But funds were so scarce that filmmakers didn't even see dailies for the first 18 days, the actors deferred their salaries to keep the crew on board and Carnahan often ran out of film stock near the end of each day's shooting.
After spending his days shooting in freezing rain and snow, Liotta spent nights on the phone trying to raise funds so "Narc" could stay alive.
"It was one crisis after another," he recalls. "But I actually think that the chaos of what we were doing benefited the film, because it made us really focus on getting it right."
The pic has elicited favorable comparisons to 1970s thrillers like "Serpico" and "The French Connection" for its sense of authenticity in capturing the edgy feel of life as narcotics detectives, underscored through a mix of handheld shots, flashbacks, split-screen images and jarring sound.
"I was never really worried about the basic idea of the film because that's all I had when we were grasping at straws," Carnahan notes. "I would never do it this way again on purpose, but the various crisis that we went through actually created a sense of dread and tension that hangs over the film."
For Carnahan, the most gratifying moments came in the fall of 2001 when "Narc" was invited to Sundance and then earlier this year when Paramount came on board to distribute. "It was such a contrast -- getting a commitment from a major studio -- after filming this under the worst possible conditions," he adds.
"Narc" opened to $66,000 at a half-dozen L.A. and Gotham theaters and will move into wide release Jan. 10 with up to 1,200 playdates.
