The Italian Job 偷天换日

The Italian Job(偷天换日) is a 2003 heist film, directed by F. Gary Gray. It is a remake of the 1969 British film of the same name. Most of the film was shot on location in Venice, Italy, and Los Angeles, where canals and streets, respectively, were temporarily shut down during principal photography. Produced by Paramount Pictures, The Italian Job was theatrically released in the United States on May 30, 2003, and grossed over $176 million worldwide. The prominence of the BMW Mini Cooper automobiles in the film has been seen as a contemporary example of product placement.

Directed by: F. Gary Gray

Produced by: Donald De Line

Written by: Donna Powers, Wayne Powers, Troy Kennedy Martin

Music by: John Powell

Cinematography: Wally Pfister

Editing by: Richard Francis-Bruce, Christopher Rouse

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Release dates:
May 11, 2003 (Tribeca Film Festival)
May 30, 2003 (United States)
August 21, 2003 (Australia, New Zealand)
September 19, 2003 (United Kingdom)

Running time: 110 min.

Country: United States France United Kingdom

Language: English Russian Italian

Genre: Action Crime Thriller

Mark Wahlberg as Charlie Croker

Charlize Theron as Stella Bridger

Edward Norton as Steve Frezelli

Seth Green as Lyle

Jason Statham as Handsome Rob

Mos Def as Left Ear

Franky G. as Mechanic

Donald Sutherland as John Bridger

Pete Gawtti as Skinny

Olek Krupa as Mashkov

Ryan Adams as Metro Conductor

Scott Adsit as Actor

John Alden as Motorcycle Guard

Thomas Alexander as Vance

Cristiano Bonora as Garbagemen/Thugs

Kelly Brook as Lyle's Girlfriend

Christina Cabot as Christina Griego

Fausto Callegarini as Italian Guard

Julie Costello as Becky

Tammy Cubilette as Detective

Gregory Scott Cummins as Ukranian

Erin Walker as Bully

Merritt Yohnka s Gold Truck Driver

In Venice, Italy, retired safecracker John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) calls his daughter Stella Bridger (Charlize Theron) and tells her that he is participating in what will be his final heist. John then meets up with Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) before setting the heist into motion. Their team consists of themselves and four others: Steve (Edward Norton) is the "inside man", Handsome Rob (Jason Statham) is a getaway driver, Left Ear (Mos Def) is an explosives expert, and Lyle (Seth Green) is a technical expert. The heist is a success, but Steve betrays them all by taking the gold for himself and kills John Bridger and leaves the rest of the team for dead.

A year later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Stella is using her safe cracking expertise to break into vaults as an assistant to law enforcement personnel. The team has tracked Steve down, and Charlie recruits Stella to participate with the team in stealing the gold from Steve since she has the required skill and motivation. The team travels to Los Angeles, California to begin their surveillance of Steve's house and plan the heist. Meanwhile, Steve attempts to sell his gold through a money launderer, but kills him when the launderer begins asking questions about the source of the gold. However, the money launderer is a cousin of a local Ukrainian Mafia boss, who subsequently seeks vengeance for his cousin's murder. The team's initial plan is to have Steve stood up on a date with Stella who posed as a cable repair woman to get into Steve's house and locate his safe. While the team would break into Steve's house, load the gold into three Mini Coopers modified by Rob's mechanical friend Wrench (Franky G), and use hacked traffic lights to make their escape. However, Charlie is forced to call it off because of a local party, which would witness the heist's execution. To maintain her cover, Stella goes on the date with Steve, but he figures out her real identity. Charlie then confronts Steve and promises that he will recover the stolen gold.

Now aware that Charlie and his team are alive, Steve makes preparations to move the gold. He obtains three armored trucks and a helicopter from which to monitor the trucks' transit. To counter the shell game, Charlie uses Lyle's control over the Los Angeles traffic system to isolate the one truck containing the gold, which Lyle manages to find, and gridlocks the entire city. The team activates hidden explosives that cause the truck to fall through the road and into an abandoned subway tunnel, and cause the side of an 18 wheelers trailer to fall off, covering the hole. Stella then finds that the door's lock has a fail safe function that will make it impossible to open the door if she drills in the wrong place. She manages to open the door and the team steals the gold from the truck and escape in their Mini Coopers. Steve and his hired security guards pursue them through Los Angeles, and the team manages to lose them all, except Steve. He follows Charlie, but falls into a trap. Charlie has already informed the Ukrainian that Steve is the man they want, and Charlie gives the Ukrainian a portion of the stolen gold. Steve is taken away by the gangsters, and the team split up the remaining gold and raise a toast to Stella's father as they leave Los Angeles on the Coast Starlight.

Gray had been interested in working with Mark Wahlberg since seeing his performance in "Boogie Nights". Seth Green was also attracted to the project because of the script. Charlize Theron was Gray's first choice for the character of Stella Bridger, and Wahlberg also recommended her for the role. She spent time with a safecracker in preparing for the role. Gray's casting director Sheila Jaffe suggested Statham for the role of getaway driver Handsome Rob, and Gray agreed with her choice. Edward Norton took the role of Steve Frazelli, due to a contractual obligation he had to fulfill. Wahlberg, Theron and Statham attended special driver's training sessions at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park for nearly a month during pre-production.

Neal Purvis and Robert Wade wrote a draft of a remake of the 1969 British crime comedy The Italian Job which was rejected by Paramount. Screenwriting team Donna and Wayne Powers were subsequently commissioned to write a remake. Over the course of two years and through 18 drafts, they developed a screenplay which was described by director F. Gary Gray as "inspired by the original." Gray, Powers and executive producer James Dyer identified the most prominent similarities as the trio of Mini Coopers used by the thieves, as well as the titular heist involving the theft of gold bullion.

Gray and cinematographer Wally Pfister worked together to develop a visual style for the film before production began. They viewed car commercials and magazine photographs, as well as chase sequences from The "French Connection", "Ronin" and "The Bourne Identity" as visual references. Pfister wanted dark textures and undertones and strong contrast. He collaborated with production designer Charlie Wood on the color palette, and the two would confer with Gray on their ideas. Paramount preferred that The Italian Job not be shot in anamorphic format, despite Pfister's wishes to do so. Gray wanted a widescreen aspect ratio, so they chose to shoot the film in Super 35(a motion picture film format), which has a 2.4:1 aspect ratio. Once principal photography began, Gray frequently utilized dollies, as well as Steadicams and a Technocrane, to keep the cameras almost constantly moving.

Most of The Italian Job was shot on location. The Venice building where the film's opening heist sequence takes place, the van from which the thieves survey Steve Frazelli's mansion, a hotel room, and the LACMTA Red Line subway tunnel were sets constructed at Downey Studios in California. For the scene in which an armored truck falls through Hollywood Boulevard and into the subway tunnel below, Pfister set up seven cameras to capture the vehicle's 30 foot (9.1 m) descent. Three hundred cars were used to simulate the traffic jam at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland, which was controlled by the production crew for a week. Three of the 32 custom-built Mini Coopers used during principal photography were fitted with electric motors since combustion engines were not allowed in the subway tunnels, where some scenes were shot. Other Mini Coopers were modified to allow for camera placement on and inside the vehicles.

Gray wanted the film to be as realistic as possible. The actors did most of their own stunts, and computer-generated imagery was used very sparingly. Filming on location posed some challenges. The opening heist sequence in Venice, Italy, was strictly monitored by the local authorities, due to the high speeds the boats were driven at. The frigid temperatures of the Italian Alps created problems during production. The guns would jam, and if you could imagine not being able to walk 40 feet with a bottle of water without it freezing, those are the conditions we had to work in. Pedestrians had to be allowed to use the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard between takes. Also, scenes which took place on freeways and city streets were only filmed on weekends.

The Italian Job premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on May 11, 2003, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 30, 2003. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $19,457,944, placing third in the box office. Paramount re-released the film on August 29, and by the time its theatrical release closed in November 2003, the film had grossed $106,128,601 in the United States and Canada and $69,941,570 overseas—$176,070,171 worldwide. It was the highest-grossing film produced by Paramount in 2003. The Italian Job was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment October 7, 2003. It was released on Blu-ray disc October 24, 2006, and on HD DVD August 8, 2006.

When the crew meet to get phones and IDs, Lyle rides up shakily on a yellow motorcycle and drops it to the right of the red Mini, with the front wheel pointed roughly at the right side of the Mini. In the shot showing them departing, however, the motorcycle is shown on the foreground to the left of the red Mini, and it is pointing away from the Mini.

When Lyle checks the armored trucks for their ride level, the number of the truck is clearly seen by the rear wheel. However when the truck drives past the minis later and there is no number in the corner. The number is clearly added on by a computer because the clarity is completely different.

When Charlie is being chased by Steve in the helicopter, he pulls a 180 when he sees the truck blocking his way. When he starts up again, and the shot shifts to ground level, you can see the reflection of the right front wheel in the safety shield that's in front of the door camera.

At the end of the movie, when Mark Wahlberg's character hands off the case of gold, he easily spins it around with one hand and lifts it off the ground very easily. Even if it's only half full of gold, the case would not be that easily to lift.

Charlie Croker: That's Lyle. He's my computer genius. You know he's who really invented Napster? At least that's how Lyle tells it. Said Shawn Fanning was his roommate in college and stole his idea. I think it's his first time riding that bike, though.
Lyle: Hey.
Charlie Croker: You okay?
Lyle: Yeah.
Charlie Croker: That's Left Ear. Demolition and explosives. When he was ten, he put one too many M-80s in the toilet bowl.
Kid On Left: Damn, that was cool. How did you do that?
Young Left Ear: What?
Kid On Right: How did you do that?
Young Left Ear: What?
Kid On Right: I said how did you do that?
Young Left Ear: What?
Charlie Croker: Lost the hearing in his right ear. He's been blowing stuff up ever since.
Charlie Croker: Handsome Rob. Premier wheel man. Once drove all the way from Los Angeles just so he could set the record for longest freeway chase. You know he got 110 love letters sent to his jail cell from women who saw him on the news?

John Bridger: Charlie, there are two kinds of thieves in this world: The ones who steal to enrich their lives, and those who steal to define their lives. Don't be the latter. Makes you miss out on what's really important in this life.
Charlie Croker: What are you talking about, John? You've been a good father.
John Bridger: Sending presents doesn't make you a good father. I've spent half my kid's life in prison. Don't get to be my age with nothing but this, Charlie. Find somebody you want to spend the rest of your life with, and hold onto her forever.

"two hours of mindless escapism on a relatively skilled professional level."

—Roger Ebert

"Gray had discovered the right recipe to do a heist movie: keep things moving, develop a nice rapport between the leads, toss in the occasional surprise, and top with a sprinkling of panache."

—Reviewer James Berardinelli

" the reinvention of the plot and the style and execution of the action sequences, specifically those involving the trio of Mini Coopers are the stars of the film."

—Stephanie Zacharek

A few years ago I saw this remake of the sixties classic with the Mini Coopers for the first time and I remember liking it a lot. Now, about two years later it was shown on television and I just wanted to know whether I would still like it as much as when I saw it in the cinema. Well, the answer is yes.

The story on itself is of course not very original, since this is a remake of the original 1969 movie, but it has plenty of goodies to offer to make you forget about that. This is a typical heist movie but it certainly is one of the better ones in its kind. The action is very nice, the landscapes and Venice are real eye-candy, the story is OK and the special effects are stunning. Even the acting is very good, something which you'll not often see in an action movie.

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film

Black Reel Awards
Best Supporting Actor, Mos Def
Best Theatrical

Casting Society of America, USA
Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama, Sheila Jaffe

Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards
Best Contemporary Hair Styling

Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
Best Sound Editing in Domestic Features

ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
Top Box Office Films

American Black Film Festival
Best Director, F. Gary Gray

Black Reel Awards
Best Director, F. Gary Gray

California on Location Awards
Production Company of the Year

World Stunt Awards
Best Specialty Stunt

The Italian Job