Baby Brass Ring

[Tony]

Here is a URL for info about a short called "The Big Brass Ring" and it really is short: about 6 minutes long. It has Malcolm McDowell as Kim Menaker, and it was directed (in 1997) by George Hickenlooper, who directed the feature BBR.

Has anyone seen this Baby Brass Ring?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283261/

[RayKelly]

It was on a DVD collection called SHORTS a few years ago.
I believe it was made as a means of selling the film to potential investors. If my memory is correct, I read once that William Hurt did not want McDowell in the final film.
I like the short better than the full film. The scene is faithful to Welles script except Hickenlooper changed one of the Menaker dialogue bits. The reference to Harvard was replaced with Yale (Hickenlooper's alma mater).

[Terry]

Personally I would have preferred McDowell to Hurt. And the original screenplay.

[Tony]

But McDowell played Menaker in the short... ???

[F.X. Feeney]

I wrote the adaptation which eventually was filmed, and so know the story behind this.

George definitely produced that brief sample as a teaser to raise funds. Originally it was to be filmed costarring Julie Delpy opposite Malcolm in the role of Cela Brandini, but her grandmother -- to whom she was very close -- passed away a night or so before production and she had to be replaced last-minute.

Malcolm was committed to the role of Kim. It would have been an interesting reach for him at 55, but would have dictated a slightly younger Blake -- Aidan Quinn, say.

George, without telling Malcolm, had other Kims up his sleeve -- among these was Nigel Hawthorne. Another was Ian McKellan.

William Hurt had turned down earlier drafts of Big Brass, before George and I joined forces. (I'd written an adaptation independent of George, back when he and I were rivals for the rights.) After he and I got together, he showed my draft to Nigel, who'd mentioned in passing that he and William Hurt were friendly, and that they were trying to find something they could do together. Nigel liked what he saw, got William to read it and reconsider, and that is how Malcolm got dealt out.

Nigel and William were great together. George was rightly ruthless about doing whatever it takes to get a film made. He had to be. But Malcolm would have been a fantastic Kim.

[tonyw]

Yes, Definitely Malcolm.

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks for the fascinating info, F.X.. Just watched the short again, and I think MacDowell would have been fine in the role, but not any better then Hawthorne, who I think brought a nice Gore Vidal-ish quality to the part.

Losing Julie Delpy at the last minute was real bad luck, though. I wonder if the short would have gotten more attention if she had played the part. It reminds me of the scene in BEFORE SUNSET where she explains to Ethen Hawke's character that the reason she couldn't meet him for their scheduled reunion was that her grandmother passed away suddenly.