The Fifth Element (1997)


Tricky as 'Right Arm'

 
Gary Oldman and 
Tricky in the movie
Gary Oldman and Tricky 
a few seconds later
Gary Oldman and Tricky in 
real life (left: David Bowie)

 
 
 
    what Tricky says about the movie    
   
>> Tricky's celebrity seems to escalate, even as his commercial status remains static. In America, in particular, he is recognised in the streets, more for his magazine cover appearances than for his music, and particularly for his part in Luc Besson's preposterous sci-fi campathon, The Fifth Element, in which theWest Country rapper played Right Hand to Gary Oldman's future dictator. While Tricky admits he didn't take enough care in learning his handful of lines, it was still an eye-opening experience for him.
      "To a certain extent, in the music business, you're sometimes hke a Muppet in a puppet show," he muses, "but as an actor, you're a constant Muppet. I didn't make it good for myself 'cause I was learning the lines before I was going on set and thinking it was never gonna come. You don't get asked to do movies every day, so I was thinking, This is never gonna happen. The next thing I know, I'm in the dressing room.
      Were you wandering the set in your usual stoned state?
      "That's what was crazy. Someone always had spliff on the set, so I was walking around stoned basically. Funny things used to happen, like I was eating a Twix just before this scene with Gary Oldman and I've got my back to the camera, so I didn't think nothing of it. So I'm eating this Twix and he's looking at me as he's doing his part and his eye strays to my mouth and he just stops in the middle of his line and he says, (inmockney) He's facking eatin' a Twix! I couldn't get the perception that I was there, kind of... I didn'take it very seriously. But Gary Oldman took me in, used to make me cups of tea and shit like that. He's got a real deep soul. Y'know, he permitted me to hang out with him and he's up there.
      It wasn't a very good film, though, was it?
      "I watched it for two minutes and I had to turn it off. Everything looked like props to me. I'd love to be in another film if I could have a different energy. It don't suit me being on a space craft, saying, Damn you! or something I'd never say in real life. I had to say Damn you! so many times. I was saying to them, Look that don't sound right coming out my mouth. I need something more where I can be myself." <<  

Q Magazine, June 1998
 

   
 

 


    videos    
    _
 
  • "I am Korben Dallas" scene on You Tube
  •  
  • "If you want something done, do it yourself" scene on You Tub
  •  
  • "Takeoff" scene on You Tube
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        links    
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  • the Internet movie database
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  • read the original script

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