John Ottman

THE PHONE CALL

I think it was sometime in April 2007 that I got that call – the one from Bryan when I can tell from his tone there's a looming "editing jail" sentence around the corner. This time the call wasn't too many months after finishing up the long haul on Superman Returns. So I was a bit puzzled. "Please tell me you're just calling just to say hello," I asked. An uncomfortable giggle ensued, followed by, "Well..." At this point I'm sure I began pacing as I listened. He had a script for a little $17 million film that United Artists (Tom Cruise's resurrected movie studio) was interested in making. I lamented about losing scoring work, but, "Oh this is just a little thing – you'll be in and out in six months and then you can go score a bunch of films." Hearing this and then about the subject matter of the script (a 40s thriller about a little-known historical event), plus the fact that Usual Suspects screenwriter Chris McQuarrie was behind the screenplay, the filmmaker in me became intrigued. It would be nice to go back to "our roots" and have the same team (Bryan, me, Chris and DP Tom Sigel) making a little thriller. Plus it would be refreshing to work in a non-effects environment - no green screen and a straightforward linear story. (So I thought ....)