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Clive Owen was pretty much meant to pick up the mantle of Sam Spade, the private investigator famously played by Humphrey Bogart in 1941\u2019s “The Maltese Falcon.”<\/p>\n
Owen stars and executive produces the new AMC series “Monsieur Spade,” which follows Sam Spade in the South of France in the 1960s as he investigates the murder of several nuns.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s one of my favorite things I\u2019ve ever done,” the “Children of Men” star told the Los Angeles Times. “I\u2019m a crazy Bogart fan. I have an original poster from \u2018The Maltese Falcon.\u2019 When Scott [Frank, the series co-creator] called me, I sent him a picture of my poster and said, \u2018You\u2019ve come to the right guy.\u2019”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Frank, the series co-creator, told the outlet, “Clive was pretty much the only person we could see playing him.<\/p>\n
HUMPHREY BOGART, LAUREN BACALL\u2019S SON RECALLS GROWING UP WITH HOLLYWOOD ICONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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Clive Owen as Sam Spade in “Monsieur Spade” and Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in “The Maltese Falcon.”<\/span> (Jean-Claude Lother\/AMC\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n“When you start writing, you always say, \u2018Well, let\u2019s make a list.\u2019 As I recall, our list never went beyond Clive.”<\/p>\n
On “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Owen explained his unique approach to getting into character and giving due respect to Bogart.<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER<\/strong><\/p>\n“I\u2019m supposed to go in and go, \u2018I\u2019m going to do my interpretation.\u2019 But because we were shooting in France with a lot of French actors, I needed a grounding. And although we\u2019re playing a later Sam Spade, he has to come \u2026 from that ’40s private detective. So, I kinda drowned in Bogart. I went and watched everything again.”<\/p>\n
Owen ended up pulling all of Bogart\u2019s dialogue from “The Maltese Falcon” and the actor\u2019s other classic movie, “Casablanca,” and listened to it to “get into his cadence, his rhythm.”<\/p>\n
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Owen revealed he listened to Bogart’s dialogue from “The Maltese Falcon” and “Casablanca” over and over to get into character.<\/span> (Jean-Claude Lother\/AMC)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n“It\u2019s surprising because what you learn is you think he\u2019s laconic, laid back. When you actually listen to him, he\u2019s super fast with his dialogue. He just makes it look easy and breezy. But, actually, he\u2019s super nimble, super quick,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The thing about Humphrey Bogart and that style of acting is they didn\u2019t overindulge. They didn\u2019t over explain. It was all about trusting the rhythm of the piece, letting the words do the work.”<\/p>\n
LAUREN BACALL, HUMPHREY BOGART HAD ‘EMOTIONAL AFFAIRS’ BUT REMAINED ‘DEVOTED TO EACH OTHER’: AUTHOR<\/strong><\/p>\nOwen also told the LA Times he had a meal with Frank while he was writing the scripts and informed him he was listening and listening again to Bogart\u2019s dialogue.<\/p>\n
“And I said to him, \u2018Don\u2019t freak out. But I\u2019m listening a lot to Bogart, and I want to base my voice on him. I\u2019m not going to do a bad impersonation of Bogart. It\u2019s just the rhythm, the intonation.\u2019 And he said, \u2018That\u2019s so weird because as I\u2019ve been writing this, I have to hear Bogart say the dialogue.\u2019”<\/p>\n
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Series co-creator Scott Frank, right, said Owen was his first choice for the role of Sam Spade in “Monsieur Spade.”<\/span> (Jean-Claude Lother\/AMC)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBogart played Sam Spade in the noir classic “The Maltese Falcon,” directed by John Huston and based on Dashiell Hammett\u2019s novel of the same name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The movie co-stars Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, who were all in pursuit of the bejeweled falcon statuette as Bogart\u2019s private investigator deals with the twists and turns of their intentions and identities.<\/p>\n
According to the American Film Institute, Bogart was not the first choice for the role. It was originally offered to actor George Raft. Raft reportedly turned it down over hesitancy working with first-time director Huston and an unwillingness to star in remakes. “The Maltese Falcon” had been adapted twice in the 1930s.<\/p>\n
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Bogart with “The Maltese Falcon” co-stars Peter Lorre, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet. The film is widely considered one of the best examples of film noir.\u00a0<\/span> (John Springer Collection\/CORBIS\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBogart\u2019s interpretation of the character was an instant classic, set the standard for the noir private detective archetype and helped launched him to stardom. According to Jeffrey Meyers’ book, “Bogart: A Life in Hollywood,” the actor said of the movie, “It is practically a masterpiece. I don’t have many things I’m proud of\u00a0… but that’s one.”<\/p>\n
LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\nThe film was one of the first 25 movies selected by the Library of Congress to be included in the National Film Registry as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”<\/p>\n
For “Monsieur Spade,” the goal was to both honor and update Bogart\u2019s character at the same time.<\/p>\n
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“It is practically a masterpiece. I don’t have many things I’m proud of\u00a0… but that’s one,” Bogart reportedly said of “The Maltese Falcon.”<\/span> (John Springer Collection\/CORBIS\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n“We\u2019ve taken Sam Spade, we\u2019ve jumped 20 years ahead. He\u2019s now living in the South of France, trying to live a quiet life,” Owen explained to “CBS Mornings.”<\/p>\n
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Owen said “Monsieur Spade” takes Sam Spade to a new time and location but “still has that kind of ’40s P.I. vibe.”<\/span> (Jean-Claude Lother\/AMC)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n“The thing about noir is everyone feels like they\u2019ve seen it before. As soon as you do all those tropes, like we go, \u2018Oh we know what that is, we know what noir is.\u2019 But I think it\u2019s a very clever idea to take an iconic, \u201840s private detective, throw him 20 years later in the south of France. Already it\u2019s a new version of it, but still, the heart of it, the essence of it, it still has that kind of \u201940s P.I. vibe.”<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/p>\n“Monsieur Spade” is now streaming on AMC+.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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