Why is it called get shorty

Hackman initially turned down the movie due to his aversion to comedies. When Sonnenfeld said that was the point, to play the part with a straight face, Hackman eventually agreed. Additionally, Hackman based the part of Zimm on an agent from his past whom he deemed the phoniest person he ever met.

Rocco not only played Moe Green in The Godfather but also recreated his short scene from the gangster classic in this film.

Rocco appears briefly while receiving a massage, much like Green did prior to being whacked. Another Godfather connection is the casting of Vito Scotti in his final film role. The reason he disliked the final product so intensely was that he thought the film leaned too heavily on expositional dialogue and not enough action.

Once the movie garnered positive reactions from industry professionals, Sonnenfeld had a change of heart. By Jake Dee Published Jun 16, T he titular character in Get Shorty was based on a Hollywood icon.

Authenticity can make or break a movie about movies. And yes, Leonard reportedly based the character of Martin Weir on one such person, an actor by the name of Dustin Hoffman. There was even a real life Chili Palmer.

In the movie, John Travolta played a Miami-based loan shark who discovers he has what it takes to be a Hollywood producer. Ever since, there has been absolutely no news about the show.

Palmer's involvement with Get Shorty didn't stop there, though. According to the New York Daily News , when Leonard's book found itself getting the full-on Hollywood treatment a few years after its publication, the real "Chili" earned an invite to set, and he even landed a cameo in the film.

If you're wondering where you can see the man in the flesh, he turns up early in the action, standing at the side of Dennis Farina's fast-talking gangster, Ray "Bones," as one of his silent, intimidating tough guys. And we gotta say, Palmer more than carries the role with a fine bit of "look at me" staring that would put Martin Weir to shame. It's a well-known fact in Hollywood that casting a movie is as vital to the process as writing, directing, and shooting combined.

It's hardly a surprise then that great casting is a big part of what makes Get Shorty such a smashing success, with Danny DeVito, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, and John Travolta chewing up the scenery in their varied roles. It seems one of Travolta's prior costars was tabbed for a key role in the film, too, as Samuel L.

Jackson fresh off a breakout turn in Pulp Fiction was initially eyed for the role of gangster and wannabe producer Bo Catlett. That role was played to utter perfection in the film by the great Delroy Lindo , who spilled that Jackson casting nugget in an interview with The A. I was thrilled to be there.

And as much as the world would've loved to have seen Travolta and Jackson again trading barbs on the big screen for Get Shorty , Delroy Lindo absolutely owned the role in a legit tour-de-force performance.

For a movie to attain both the level of critical and commercial success that Get Shorty did, a lot of things have to work out. Perhaps most importantly, a crackerjack piece of screenwriting is essential in kicking a production off on the right foot.

And historically speaking, adapting the often wordy work of Elmore Leonard had proven difficult for most prior to Get Shorty. Tasked with translating the dialogue-heavy book to the screen, Scott Frank Out of Sight , The Queen's Gambit delivered the goods by doing what most screenwriters hadn't before — staying as faithful to Leonard's source material as possible.

What Frank delivered was a script steeped more in languid delights than plot-moving contrivance. Turns out Frank had some help in keeping his Get Shorty screenplay true to Leonard's vision, and that help came from none other than John Travolta.

The actor himself fell in love with the novel after being offered the role of Chili Palmer. As Travolta told Time in , he was so impressed with Leonard's verbiage that he agreed to do the movie on the condition that much of the book's dialogue be faithfully restored in the screenplay, which even Frank had changed up in places.

As Travolta to put it, "I said I'd do the movie, but they had to put back everything they paraphrased. Get Shorty 's history is spotted with Tinseltown talent who picked up Elmore Leonard's book purely because they wanted to work on the adaptation. Dennis Farina wasn't among them.

In fact, the legendary character actor told The A. Club in that he'd read Get Shorty purely for pleasure before being called in for an audition. And as it turns out, Farina was actually brought in by the Get Shorty team to read for his favorite character in the book. I remember saying to myself, 'Boy, I would sure like to play Ray Bones. I don't know how long afterwards, I got a call to go to a table reading. You better find it. You don't, you owe me three seventy-nine. You get the coat back or you give me the three seventy-nine my wife paid for it at Alexander's.

Semi-retired P. Leonard and Palmer got to know each other over the years when Leonard kept going back to him for research. One day, Leonard sought Palmer's permission to use his name as the protagonist in one of his books. The director cast himself as the Las Vegas "beefeater" hotel doorman.