#CATCH ME IF U CAN MOVIE#

to describe meeting his wife in France during the war ('Two hundred men, sitting in that tiny social hall, watching her dance. It's when Frank Jr., now successful in his line of work (con artist), meets his father in a restaurant. WALKEN IMPROVISED HIS CHARACTER'S BIG EMOTIONAL SCENE. And as anyone who's worked on a film set can tell you, even a move of a few blocks is a massive undertaking. Spielberg and his crew worked fast. That's an average of almost three locations a day, many of them in and around Los Angeles, but quite a few in New York City and Montreal. THEY SHOT IN MORE THAN 140 LOCATIONS IN JUST 52 DAYS. His wardrobe changes more than 100 times, though that includes minor alterations like removing a jacket. Isn't Frank in his fake pilot's uniform for most of the movie? Turns out, no. LEONARDO DICAPRIO HAD 100 WARDROBE CHANGES.Ĭostume designer Mary Zophres said, at first glance, she thought dressing DiCaprio would be easy.

De Palma did screen tests with several actresses, including Nathalie Baye, whom Spielberg recognized from the 1973 François Truffaut film Day for Night. Spielberg wanted an actual Frenchwoman to play Paula Abagnale, so he asked the Scarface and Carrie director, a longtime friend then living in France, to look around. FRANK'S MOTHER WAS RECOMMENDED BY BRIAN DE PALMA. (For what it's worth, the real Abagnale approved of these changes.) 5. continue to seek his father's approval, to show up in his Pan Am uniform to impress him and seek advice from him. In real life, Abagnale never saw his father again after he ran away. IF IT WERE TRUE-TO-LIFE, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN WOULD HARDLY BE IN IT. Spielberg finally decided, in August 2001, to direct it himself. (Verbinski cast James Gandolfini in the Tom Hanks role, Ed Harris in the Christopher Walken part, and Chloë Sevigny in the role Amy Adams would eventually play.) But DiCaprio's commitment to make Gangs of New York first led Verbinski to drop out (that's when he made The Ring). Lasse Hallström was in negotiations next, followed by Spielberg (in his role as producer) offering it to Milos Forman and almost Cameron Crowe. Gore Verbinski was next in line, with Leonardo DiCaprio attached as the star. A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE ALMOST DIRECTED IT BEFORE STEVEN SPIELBERG DID.Īs of 2000, David Fincher was going to make the film, but dropped out to make Panic Room instead.

#CATCH ME IF U CAN MOVIE#

not a biographical documentary.' Still, he later told an interviewer that the movie and subsequent stage musical based on it were 'about 80 percent accurate.' 3. Abagnale wrote that he was 'honored' to have Spielberg, DiCaprio, and Hanks make a film inspired by his life, but added, 'It is important to understand that it is just a movie. ' 'He was just telling a story and not writing my biography,' Abagnale said, and the book had a disclaimer indicating as much. The memoir's co-author, Stan Redding, interviewed Abagnale 'about four times' and 'did a great job of telling the story, but he also over-dramatized and exaggerated some of. When the film came out, Abagnale posted a message on his website acknowledging that it would probably have some exaggerations-because so did the book it was based on. FRANK ABAGNALE ADMITS THAT THE STORY WAS EXAGGERATED. The film was released on Christmas Day 2002. Finally, in 2001, Kemp, Shane, and Shane's partner Anthony Romano accepted 'executive producer' credits so that DreamWorks could bring in its own producer/director: Steven Spielberg. published his memoir (co-written by Stan Redding) in 1980, and sold the film rights the same year. (It was Johnny Carson who encouraged him to write a book, by the way.) A decade later, producer Michel Shane optioned the book again, then sold the rights in 1997 to another producer, Paramount's Barry Kemp, who hired Jeff Nathanson to write the script. IT TOOK 22 YEARS FOR THE BOOK TO BE TURNED INTO A MOVIE. Put on your fake Pan Am uniform and dive into the behind-the-scenes story of the film, which made its debut 15 years ago today. The result? A hit with critics and audiences alike, with a 96 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a worldwide box office haul of $352 million. Catch Me If You Can was Spielberg's first (and so far only) collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, his fourth with Tom Hanks, and the first time those two mega-stars worked together. What fun! OK, he also steals more than $2 million-but at least nobody gets hurt. One of Steven Spielberg's funniest, breeziest movies is the one about a teenage con artist who pretends to be a pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer.

Catch me if u can