Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt" />Stax here with my reaction to the screenplay for! This 142-page draft dated April 16, 2001 is by Jesse Wigutow ( The Ride Down Mount Morgan Smack in the Puss ).is inspired by Anthony Bourdain 's bestseller Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Although I haven't read Bourdain's book (I want to now),doesn't present Bourdain's life but rather a fictional tale based on his racy account of what it's like to be a big city chef. Brad Pitt is attached to star in, which might reunite him with hisanddirector David Fincher . The New York Post recently reported that Pitt'sco-star Benicio Del Toro has also been cast. The project is set up at New Line Cinema with Fincher's Indelible Pictures producing. Variety reportswill begin filming in the fall of 2002 for a 2003 release.As a writer, critics have compared Bourdain to Jack Kerouac and Hunter Thompson. In their review of Kitchen Confidential, Amazon.com calls Bourdain's expose a "muscular view of the culinary trenches from one who's been groveling in them, with obvious sadomasochistic pleasure, for more than 20 years." Bourdain is the executive chef at Manhattan's acclaimed Les Halles. Besides Kitchen Confidential, he's also written two "culinary mysteries" as well as essays for The New Yorker.Amazon's review quotes Bourdain as calling the chefs who work New York's finest eateries "'wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths,' in all likelihood pierced or tattooed and incapable of uttering a sentence without an expletive or a foreign phrase." Although it fictionalizes Bourdain's memoir,employs this same blackly comic perspective of New York's "culinary underbelly."

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Benicio Del Toro" />

Benicio Del Toro Seared follows a few hectic days in the life of celebrated cook Luke Casdin (Pitt), the executive chef at Horatio (the Manhattan restaurant). Despite his fame, Luke still works like a slave in the Horatio¿s war zone of a kitchen and earns a meager wage. Nevertheless, the thirty-year-old Luke is, to paraphrase his admonishing doctor, a self-destructive playboy who's getting too old to lead such a wild lifestyle. Although his excessive drinking, eating, and sleeping around isn¿t affecting Luke physically yet, it¿s starting to professionally and in his relationships.Luke is the chef as rock star; a decadent young god blessed with an amazing gift (to make the most memorable meals you¿ll ever eat). Wigutow also likens him to a ship¿s captain and, in many ways, Luke is one; his crew depends on him to keep the ship afloat and on course. And his boss Damian relies on Luke more than anyone else because, after all, restaurants are about food and no one is better at that than Luke Casdin.Luke is dating Lexie, an underage art student (she¿s 17) who is pressuring him to get a place together. He¿s also having an affair with a renowned restaurant critic, the middle-aged Jocelyn Geller (a perfect comeback role for Kathleen Turner). Jocelyn¿s husband is shady entrepreneur Edwin Drew (I could see a 1970s icon like Ryan O¿Neal or Elliott Gould in this part). One of the Horatio¿s upcoming big gigs is hosting the wedding reception for Edwin¿s daughter (Jocelyn¿s step-daughter) Serena, and it¿s up to Luke to knock their socks off with his cooking. The man who always has Luke¿s back is his best friend and the Horatio¿s ¿sous chef¿ (second-in-command of the kitchen) Tommy McRyan, a behemoth with an even bigger coke problem. There is other supporting characters coasting in and out of the Horatio but these are the most important ones.While Seared had no real plot to it, Luke definitely has a character arc. He is one part Tom Cruise from Cocktail and one part Richard Gere in American Gigolo. Now just add in meals that are more sumptuous than the ones cooked up in Big Night and you have an idea of what Seared is like. Luke Casdin is cocky (he¿s earned it) and irresponsible in every part of his life except in the kitchen; that¿s where he¿s focused and productive. Outside of work, Luke can be unreliable, selfish, and deceitful. Luke needs to clean himself up and get his priorities straight. As the story unfolds, we learn that Luke is getting offers to run his own place. The question becomes whether Luke can pull himself together in order to realize his dream, or will he get his comeuppance instead?

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David Fincher" />

David Fincher Seared should become to ¿chef movies¿ what All the President¿s Men is to reporter flicks, Wall Street to business films, Any Given Sunday to football movies, and GoodFellas to mob flicks. (At worst it¿ll be what Cocktail was to bartender films.) In other words, Seared should become the definitive film about that particular vocation. Like GoodFellas, Seared presents an almost anthropological depiction of a unique sub-culture, exploring their degenerate way of life (they just don't behave like this after business hours, either). In a way, these famous big city chefs are rock stars. They live fast, have all the sex they want, and do lots of drugs. I once worked for a student loan company and if Seared is anywhere near the truth I now understand why so many people were applying for cooking school!I can imagine the reactions from some of my most faithful readers. ¿These aren¿t likable characters!¿ True, but a protagonist like Luke interests me because he keeps screwing up. He realizes he should know better but until there are consequences to his actions – until he loses something valuable because of his bad behavior – Luke will have to learn the hard way. That gives his character a point to begin and end at. It's a rather subtle change, yes, but a compelling one. Ultimately, there are moral consequences to his actions so Seared isn¿t merely a tribute to bad living.Seared also reminded me of another upcoming ¿New York movie¿ titled People I Know. Al Pacino¿s character in that story isn¿t too far removed from Luke; his burned-out, pill-popping PR flack is what Luke will be like after another twenty years of all-nighters and hard-living. Both stories have ¿loose¿ narratives and a kinetic pace, and they capture the energy of Manhattan¿s heady night life.

I enjoyed that this was a story about somebody who's the best there is at what they do (to swipe a line from Wolverine). ¿Specialist¿ protagonists, generally found in techno-thrillers, are fascinating because they do things the rest of us can¿t. (Luke¿s power to enchant people with his cooking is almost erotic.) You¿ll be convinced after seeing Seared – if you weren¿t before – that cooking is indeed an art, as much as painting or sculpting. You¿ll also likely leave the cinema and head straight to some trendy restaurant you can¿t afford and indulge in a huge meal of rich food that you¿d normally never even try.Seared was far more interesting than I ever figured it¿d be. Still, at least a good fifteen could be cut from this draft. Does this movie really need to be over two hours? There were a few scenes between Luke and Lexie that could be trimmed or excised, some speeches during the wedding reception could be nixed, and a few cooking sequences could be tightened up. Seared might be a tough sell for a mass audience but it¿s a worthwhile entr¿e if you¿re willing to try. Now in case some of you are eating out this Thanksgiving, consider yourselves forewarned about the shenanigans that might be happening back in the kitchen! – STAX

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