DOMINO (FILM)

'''Domino''' is a 2005 American film inspired by the story of Domino Harvey, the English daughter of stage and screen actor Laurence Harvey, who became a bounty hunter working in Los Angeles. The film is dedicated to Harvey, who died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl on June 27th 2005, before the film was released.
The film stars Keira Knightley as Domino. Tony Scott directed the film and the screenplay was written by Richard Kelly. Kelly commented that "...Domino might be one of the most subversive films released by a major studio since Fight Club"^[1].

Contents

Plot

Background

Screenplay

Cast

Critical and box office reception

Deleted scenes

The Death of Domino Harvey

References

External links

Plot

Domino Harvey, a bounty hunter, has been arrested by the FBI, who are investigating the theft of $10 million from an armored truck, which happened 36 hours previously. Domino is interviewed by criminal psychologist Taryn Mills and agrees to tell her everything she knows about the case.
Domino, a former model living in Los Angeles, becomes a bounty hunter after seeing an advert in a newspaper. Her colleagues are Ed Moseby, Choco and their driver Alf. They are employed by Claremont Williams III, a bail bondsman who also runs an armored car business.

Claremont's mistress, Lateesha Rodriguez, works for the Los Angeles Department of Motor Vehicles. Lateesha has been running a counterfeit drivers licence racket. A teenager named Frances arrives at the DMV and asks Lateesha for fake drivers licences for himself, his brother, and two of their friends.
Lateesha's granddaughter Mica is suffering from a blood disease and needs an operation urgently. The operation that Mica needs costs $300,000 which Lateesha does not have. Claremont comes up with a plan to get the money by robbing Drake Bishop, a billionaire client of his armored car business, of $10 million.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation are tipped about Lateesha's counterfeit drivers licence racket. They threaten to send her to jail unless she gives them information about Frances, whom they have been surveilling. Lateesha tells the FBI that Frances, his brother and his two friends are going to commit the robbery that she and Claremont are going to carry out.
Lateesha carries out the robbery with the help of Lashandra, Lashindra and Raoul, three of her co-workers at the DMV. Claremont finds out that Frances and his brother, who Lateesha framed for the robbery, are the sons of Anthony Cigliutti, a mob boss. Claremont phones Lateesha and tells her to abort the plan. Lateesha, Lashandra and Lashindra and Raoul go, leaving the money with Locus Fender, the getaway driver. Unknown to Claremont, Drake Bishop has been working with Anthony Cigliutti. Bishop has been laundering money for Cigliutti, meaning that the money that Claremont and Lateesha have stolen belongs to the mob.
Claremont gets Domino, Ed and Choco to apprehend Frances, his brother and his two friends and then tells them to deliver them to men working for Drake Bishop. Claremont then phones Domino and tells Domino, Ed and Choco to retrieve the $10 million from Locus Fender and to deliver it to Drake Bishop at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Anthony Cigliutti is told about his sons arrest and is mistakenly led to believe that Drake Bishop has had his sons killed, when they have actually been released by Bishop's men on finding that they did not know anything about the robbery.
In Las Vegas, Domino gives $300,000 of the money to Lateesha for Mica's operation. Domino, Ed and Choco then go to meet Drake Bishop at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino. Domino and Bishop, who is with his men, discuss the money. Anthony Cigliutti then turns up with his men. Cigliutti believes Bishop has had his sons killed and shoots Bishop. A gunfight breaks out and everybody is killed except Domino who manages to escape.
After having told Taryn Mills everything, Domino is released by the FBI. She retires from bounty hunting.

Background

In 1994 director Tony Scott was sent an article from the British newspaper the ''Mail on Sunday'' by his business manager Neville Shulman. The article, written by Sacha Gervasi and titled ''My gun for hire: Why a movie star's rebel daughter turned into a bounty hunter'', was about an English woman named Domino Harvey who was working as a bounty hunter, apprehending fugitives who had skipped bail for the Celes King Bail Bond agency in South Central Los Angeles. While Harvey was one of the few female bounty hunters^[2], what caught the attention of Shulman and Scott was that she was the daughter of the late actor Laurence Harvey.
Tony Scott tracked Domino to Beverly Hills where she was living at the time with her mother Paulene Stone and Stone's then husband Peter Morton. He invited Domino to his office where he proposed a film of her life. Domino agreed and sold the film rights to her life. According to The Los Angeles Times, Harvey was paid $360,000 for the rights^[3].
Tony Scott interviewed Harvey about her life and her work bounty hunting. Scott also met and interviewed Ed Martinez and Choco, who were Domino's bounty hunting colleagues. She took him to meet Celes King III, the bail bondsman who they worked for.

Screenplay

Steve Barancik wrote the first draft of the screenplay^[4] which Tony Scott rejected. Another writer was asked to write a screenplay but Scott also rejected this script. Scott described the two rejected screenplays as conventional biopics of Domino Harvey's life, which he found to be boring.^[5]. Finally, Richard Kelly was asked to write the screenplay after Scott read his script for ''Southland Tales''^[6]. Kelly was sent transcripts of Domino Harvey's interviews with Tony Scott, though he did not read the scripts that Scott had rejected^[7].

Cast

Actor	Role	Notes
Keira Knightley	Domino Harvey	A fashion model who became a bounty hunter
Mickey Rourke	Ed Moseby	Domino's colleague and boss
Edgar Ramirez	Choco	Domino's other colleague and her love interest
Riz Abbasi	Alf	The driver of their RV
Delroy Lindo	Claremont Williams III	Bail bondsman, father of Kee Kee Rodriguez
Mo'Nique	Lateesha Rodriguez	An employee at the Los Angeles Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), mother of Kee Kee Rodriguez.
Joseph Nunez	Raul	Employee at the LA DMV. Friend of Lateesha, Lashandra and Lashindra
Macy Gray	Lashandra Davis	Cousin of Lateesha and employee at the LA DMV
Shondrella Avery	Lashindra Davis	Twin sister of Lashandra, cousin of Lateesha and employee at the LA DMV
Ashley Monique Clark	Kee Kee Rodriguez	Daughter of Lateesha, mother of Lateesha's very sick grandchild
Dabney Coleman	Drake Bishop	Owner of the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino
Peter Jacobson	Burke Beckett	Bishop's lawyer
Lucy Liu	Taryn Mills	A criminal psychologist working for the FBI
Stanley Kamel	Anthony Cigliutti	Local mob boss
Kel O'Neill	Frances Cigliutti	Son of Anthony Cigliutti
Fred Koehler	Charles Cigliutti	Son of Anthony Cigliutti
Jacqueline Bisset	Sophie Wynn	Domino's mother.
Christopher Walken	Mark Heiss	The producer of ''Bounty Squad'', the reality television show which follows Domino and the rest of the team.
Mena Suvari	Kimmie	Mark Heiss' assistant
Ian Ziering	Himself	Co-host of ''Bounty Squad''
Brian Austin Green	Himself	Co-host of ''Bounty Squad''
Lew Temple	Locus Fender	Hired by Claremont Williams to drive the truck in the heist
Dale Dickey	Edna Fender	Locus' mother and an employee at the Needles DMV. Hired to store the money from the heist.
Tabitha Brownstone	Young Domino
Tom Waits	The Wanderer
Jerry Springer	Himself	Lateesha goes on ''The Jerry Springer Show'' to talk about mixed race categories
T. K. Carter	Lester Kincaid
Charles Paraventi	Howie Stein

Critical and box office reception

While the film did receive some positive reviews, notably from both Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper who gave the film "two thumbs up", reviews were generally negative. Popular movie site Rotten Tomatoes lists the film as "Rotten" with a rating of only 17%; Metacritic scored the film at 36, and described the compiled list of reviews as "generally negative". The estimated $50,000,000 budget was not made back, as the film grossed only $20,351,133 worldwide, making it, in many eyes, a financial failure, especially considering that a standard feature film's "official" budget can grow by up to 50% due to advertising and marketing costs.^[8]
Along with ''Sin City'' and ''The Devils Rejects'', Quentin Tarantino called this his favorite film of 2005.

Deleted scenes

The DVD of the film contains a number of deleted scenes.

★ 'Young Domino and Nanny'. A scene featuring the young 8 year old Domino (Tabitha Brownstone) which occurs after her father's funeral. Domino's mother, Sophie Wynn goes out on a date, leaving Domino with a nanny (Lora Witty). When Sophie comes home with her date, the nanny is found tied up and gagged.

★ 'Therapist's office'. A scene where Domino is in a meeting with the college therapist (Amanda Foreman), accompanied by her mother. Domino explains to the therapist why she hates sorority life.

★ 'Ian tells off Howie Stein'. A scene that takes place during Domino, Ed and Choco's journey to arrest the First Ladies. They have arrested Lester Kincaid and Howie Stein and are on their way to arrest Frances and Charles Cigliutti. Howie starts to taunt Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green, the presenters of ''Bounty Squad'', about their time on ''Beverly Hills 90210''. Ian responds by telling Howie how much money he earned from the show.

★ 'Ratchet down the violence- extended version'. Another scene that takes place while the bounty hunters are on their way to arrest Frances and Charles Cigliutti. Mark Heiss, the producer of ''Bounty Squad'', the reality TV show that is following the bounty hunters, has disliked the violent arrests of Lester Kincaid and Howie Stein and tells the bounty hunters to turn down the violence.

★ 'Explosion aftermath'. A conversation between Mark Heiss and his assistant Kimmie that takes place after Alf has blown up his RV. Heiss is angry, saying that Domino will never work in reality television again.

★ 'Love in the desert- alternate version'. A different cut of the sex scene between Domino and Choco. This cut of the scene features different music to the cut of the scene in the film. The music in this cut is "''All Along the Watchtower''" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

★ 'Mescaline tripping at the Stardust'. Domino, Ed, Choco, Alf, Brian and Ian at their room at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, where they are still tripping out from the mescaline Edna Fender put in their coffee.
In addition, the documentary ''"I Am a Bounty Hunter": Domino Harvey's Life'', which is featured on the DVD of the film, contains behind the scenes footage of a deleted scene that is not included on the DVD. In the scene Domino goes to a bar in disguise in order to capture a man. A shot from this scene can be seen in the opening credits of the film.

The Death of Domino Harvey

On June 27th 2005, Domino Harvey was found unresponsive in the bathtub of her Los Angeles home. She died in a hospital from accidental overdose of the painkiller Fentanyl.^[9].At the time of her death she was under house arrest in her home in West Hollywood^[10]. Tony Scott and Mickey Rourke were among the people who attended her funeral. She was buried in Santa Barbara cemetery next to her father.

References

1. ''Richard sets the record straight on Domino'', richard-kelly.net, 30 June 2005, Retrieved 24 May 2007
2. Summers, Chris ''When hunting people is a career'', BBC News Online, 12 October 2005, Retrieved 21 May 2007
3. Lee, Chris, ''The Fall of a Thrill Hunter'', The Los Angeles Times, 22 July 2005, Retrieved 24 May 2007
4. Audio commentary featuring Tony Scott and Richard Kelly on the DVD
5. ''Scott of the Kinetic: Tony Scott talks Domino'' empireonline.com Retrieved 18 May 2007
6. ''Domino Production Notes'' keiraweb.com Retrieved 18 May 2007
7. Murray, Rebecca, ''Richard Kelly Discusses "Domino", "Working with Tony Scott, and "Southland Tales"'', About.com, 30 August 2005, Retrieved 24 May 2007
8. ''Box office/business for Domino'' Internet Movie Database.
9. ''The Sad Fall Of Domino Harvey'' The Smoking Gun retrieved January 3 2007
10. Hope Weiner, Allison, ''A Lust for Life and Danger'', The New York Times, 9 October 2005, Retrieved 24 May 2007

External links

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