"I liked it because it was such a dangerous script and showed just what human beings are capable of. Here was a movie in which Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, who always win in every movie they ever do, simply don't win. I felt that was outrageous for a commercial movie"
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There is something almost punk about praising a studio film for refusing to pay out. Spacey is talking about the rare mainstream thriller that denies audiences their favorite narcotic: the assurance that competence, charisma, and moral clarity will be rewarded by the closing credits. By framing Freeman and Pitt as guys who "always win", he’s not just describing their star personas; he’s naming the contract Hollywood signs with viewers. Stars function like insurance policies. You buy the ticket partly because their faces promise order.
Calling the script "dangerous" is a knowing compliment from an actor attuned to industry risk. The danger isn’t gore or shock; it’s reputational and economic. A commercial film that lets its heroes lose threatens the whole machinery of fantasy that keeps multiplex storytelling smooth and repeatable. Spacey’s admiration also smuggles in a bit of self-positioning: he’s aligning himself with material that feels bolder than the usual star vehicle, suggesting taste as much as insight.
The subtext is a quiet argument about what movies are allowed to admit. "Showed just what human beings are capable of" points to a grim view of human nature, but the sharper edge is structural: the world doesn’t bend to narrative justice, even when famous people demand it. In the mid-90s, when prestige thrillers could still masquerade as mass entertainment, that kind of bleakness read as "outrageous" precisely because it treated the audience like adults, not consumers to be soothed.
Calling the script "dangerous" is a knowing compliment from an actor attuned to industry risk. The danger isn’t gore or shock; it’s reputational and economic. A commercial film that lets its heroes lose threatens the whole machinery of fantasy that keeps multiplex storytelling smooth and repeatable. Spacey’s admiration also smuggles in a bit of self-positioning: he’s aligning himself with material that feels bolder than the usual star vehicle, suggesting taste as much as insight.
The subtext is a quiet argument about what movies are allowed to admit. "Showed just what human beings are capable of" points to a grim view of human nature, but the sharper edge is structural: the world doesn’t bend to narrative justice, even when famous people demand it. In the mid-90s, when prestige thrillers could still masquerade as mass entertainment, that kind of bleakness read as "outrageous" precisely because it treated the audience like adults, not consumers to be soothed.
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| Topic | Movie |
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