Martin Scorsese and his cast come alive for ‘Bringing out the Dead’

Bob Strauss

Monday, Oct. 25, 1999 | 9:35 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- Martin Scorsese has developed a top-signature ensemble in his films over the years, represented by such pyrotechnic New York types as Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel.

But for his latest feature, "Bringing Out the Dead," the legendary director opted to work with a set of different faces. Some, such as intense and unpredictable Nicolas Cage and Harlem-bred tough guy Ving Rhames, seem as if they should have been making Scorsese films for years instead of for the first time. Others, including the very California Patricia Arquette, affable and easygoing John Goodman and salsa/pop superstar Marc Anthony, you wouldn't immediately connect with the director's edgy nightmare vision.

And "Bringing Out the Dead" is certainly that. Based on Joe Connelly's fact-based novel of his early '90s stint as a Manhattan paramedic, the film is already being called "Ambulance Driver" in reference to Scorsese's and screenwriter Paul Schrader's '70s classic of urban dysfunction, "Taxi Driver."

Cage plays another one of the artist's cracked Christ figures, Frank, a Hell's Kitchen emergency medical technician who learns it's hard to be a saint in the city. Too many of his charges have died, and the guilt is driving him over the edge during a weekend of all-night runs. Goodman and Rhames are fellow ambulance attendants who deal with their own near-breakdowns by, respectively, hiding behind cynicism and exuberantly embracing faith and the nearest available female.

Arquette's Mary, the daughter of a dying man, is a former drug addict who could slip back into oblivion if she can't be saved by -- or save -- somebody, hopefully Frank. Or, perhaps, Anthony's Noel, a brain-damaged street casualty whom Mary grew up with and Frank constantly tries to help, but whose near-hopeless dementia is symbolized by a mop of unruly dreadlocks and the bizarre coat of cables he wears for protection.

For all of these actors, working for the man generally considered the best director of his time was more heavenly than hellish. And Scorsese, too, seems to have been charged by the experience, as proven by the energetic, funny, outrageous and even transcendent takes on his favorite themes that breathe exciting life into "Bringing Out the Dead."

In the following conversations, Scorsese and the actors discuss the happy collaboration.

Nicolas Cage

"Nic was the first person I thought of to do the piece, because of his face and his eyes," Scorsese reveals, "and the chances that he takes and the sense that he could give me of the feeling of the world being weighed on his shoulders -- though it shouldn't be, but he's doing it."

"He was somebody to really learn from, I felt, because I admire so many of his films, and I recognize him as a master of cinema," says Cage, himself the nephew of master filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. "But he's also got, very much, the spirit of a student. He's passionate about film in every aspect and will be happy to talk to you, on any level, about every kind of movie.

"The actual director-actor experience was interesting, because I discovered that he really allows the actors to create, and if it's working, he will not call attention to it. If it isn't, then he'll say something, but he doesn't want you to become self-conscious. He'll say, 'Action,' and we'll try it six times in a row before a cut. He did that because -- and, I guess, what I really learned from him is that -- you don't want to overthink things. You don't want the thought process to constipate the flow of the acting.

"It was like this rapid-fire, spontaneous run, and I think that's one of the reasons why his performances have that electricity to them that seems so fresh."

Patricia Arquette

"She had just gone through medical crises with her parents, so we had all that there to touch upon," Scorsese says. "It was very delicate and a little upsetting. The way she delivers lines was very interesting to me, because she knew what was going on -- you didn't have to tell her much."

"In moments like that, I go into the rescuer mode," explains Arquette, whose mother died six months before production started, and whose father was hospitalized through the early part of the shoot. "I go into the control, take-care-of-business mode. So it's not easy for me to feel my feelings in emergency situations in my life. But this was like a gift for me to express the way I was really feeling -- how trapped and powerless and frustrated I felt -- a luxury I don't give myself in real life.

"Even so, I didn't want to leave my dressing room. I was terrified, like performance anxiety. There are certain people in life that you think maybe won't notice you're a big fraud, but you think somebody great like Marty is going to see through you. It was like trying to make a painting in front of Van Gogh, but he was very kind and generous. When I'd get frustrated, he'd say, 'You know what? We're here, we're ready, we have all day. If you want to go walk around for an hour ... whatever you need to do.' That's what he gives to his actors -- whatever you need to do."

Ving Rhames

"Ving told me that he saw this guy as kind of being retro," Scorsese recalls. "I said OK, and then he sent me some pictures of guys like Joe Louis, Nat King Cole, the Ink Spots. I said, 'Hey, Joe Louis!' And he says, 'Yeah, that's what I was thinking. But I also see him with a little paunch.' So I said, 'Go ahead, put it on, don't worry about it.' And I think he patterned the accent after some old person he knew from a barbershop."

"Marty is an actor's dream," says Rhames, known for memorable turns in "Pulp Fiction," "Rosewood" and as Don King on HBO. "He sets up a very creative environment, but I call it a structured freedom that he gives you. He allowed me to flesh out the character, add nuances and a lot of things that were not in the script.

"I came up with this whole church kind of healing thing that happens in a Goth club. The scene was written that they go and revive this guy who OD'd, but all the, well, whatever I said, that definitely wasn't in there. Anything religious-related was put in by me."

John Goodman

"John just comes on the set and lights it up, people love him," Scorsese says, slightly awestruck. "He's just one of those people, I don't know what it is -- has a great sense of humor. Perfect to pair with Nic in the scenes, improvising with Nic but lightening it up while they're both getting a little cabin fever. It was so funny."

"He's got a talent for judging people, knows who to blend together, who is going to work together and how to push their buttons to get the performances that he needs," confirms Goodman, whose film appearances have been nonstop since the hit "Roseanne" sitcom ran its course. "He's an artist. It was a career goal to work for him, and it was great.

"Plus, he knows everything. He knows everything, rock 'n' roll stuff, everything. He has such a joy and passion for what he does that he brings it to everyone else. Just enthusiasm. And he's one of the lucky people who can visualize what they want and then capture it exactly."

Marc Anthony

"His character was originally written as an African-American, but my casting director brought this guy in," Scorsese reveals. "He had a great face, eyes beautiful, very small build, vulnerable ... The guy started reading, and he was great. He had never done anything quite like that before, so it was really physically demanding for him."

"It was, physically, the most challenging thing I've ever done," says the hit recording artist, whose acting experience includes small roles in the films "Big Night" and "The Substitute," and the lead in Paul Simon's aborted Broadway musical "The Capeman." "Think about it; the character walked around in body armor he made of electrical cable, and it weighs 40 pounds. I don't weigh that much!

"But I was up for the challenge. One thing that Marty told me that stood out was that Noel was the soul of the movie. So I knew that he had to be quirky but harmless. He was scary, but there was a soft side to him. I was aware the whole time of how important the character was supposed to be. It was scary, but Marty has a way of making you feel that you wouldn't be there if you weren't capable of doing it. He had just this soft touch about him that banished all doubt."

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