THE LOVE MISSILES - Revolution & Brad Pitts Never Girl

Brad Pitt sings this song in Johnny Suede his first lead roll
Cast
Brad Pitt as Johnny Suede; DiCillio had initially intended to play Suede himself.
Richard Boes as Man in Tuxedo
Cheryl Costa as Woman in Alley
Michael Luciano as Mr. Clepp
Calvin Levels as Deke; this role had originally been given to Steve Buscemi
Nick Cave as Freak Storm
Ralph Marrero as Bartender
Wilfredo Giovanni Clark as Slick
Alison Moir as Darlette
Peter McRobbie as Flip Doubt
Ron Vawter as Winston
Dennis Parlato as Dalton
Tina Louise as Mrs. Fontaine
Michael Mulheren as Fred Business
Wayne Maugans as Ned Business
Catherine Keener as Yvonne
Joseph Barry as The Cowboy
John David Barone as Bernard
Tom Jarmusch as Conan
Samuel L. Jackson as B-Bop
Evelyn Solann as Old Woman
Ashley Gardner as Ellen
Ahmed Ben Larby as Cab Driver
[edit] Background and production
Around 1985, while taking acting classes in New York City, DiCillo was impressed with the local punk movement and the resurgence of rockabilly led by acts like Elvis Costello, The Stray Cats and The Clash.[1] Spinning personal experiences into monologues, he created a character whose vulnerability is obscured by a superficial fifties era cool, exaggerated to the point of foolishness. DiCillo first wove what he had into a one hour one-man show, before setting the first draft of the screenplay to paper. Eight months later he had completed the fourth draft.[2] Having received positive feedback from his friend Jim Jarmusch, DiCillo approached German television, ZDF, who gave him eighty thousand dollars.[3] Additional funding came from the National Endowment for the Arts for twenty-five thousand dollars, as well as a Panavision package and help with the script from the Sundance Lab.[3] Around 1988 to 1989, while at the Cannes Film Festival, DiCillo stumbled into a deal with a South African producer wherein he sold worldwide rights to his film for three hundred thousand dollars; an arrangement he would later call, "A shaky thing but still I felt it was worth the risk so I decided to go ahead with it."[4]

Pre-production, early casting and the search for Johnny quickly followed. By August 1989, having not found what they were looking for in New York, DiCillo and his casting director, Marcia Shulman, went to Los Angeles, where Brad Pitt was the second to last guy seen. DiCillo recalls, "[He] didn't have much on his resume. In fact he only had two things; he'd done a small Canadian TV series and he'd just finished shooting what he'd listed as his only real film credit — something called Thelma and Louise that no one had heard about because it hadn't even been edited yet."[5] Convinced Pitt was Johnny Suede, DiCillo forced the casting on his South African producer, who was shortly thereafter replaced by Ruth Waldburger when the South African's option expired. The film was ultimately shot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 30 days, from November to December 1990.[5]

Original music for the film was performed by rockabilly guitar legend Link Wray.

• Category

  Film & Animation