|
Frank W. Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio) worked
as a doctor, a lawyer and as a co-pilot for a major airline—all
before his 21st birthday. A master of deception, he was also
a brilliant forger, whose skill at check fraud had netted
him millions of dollars in stolen funds. FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
(Tom Hanks) had made it his prime mission to capture Frank
and bring him to justice, but Frank is always one step ahead
of him, baiting him to continue the chase.
“Catch Me If You Can” also stars
Academy Award® winner Christopher Walken (“The Deer
Hunter”), Golden Globe Award winner Martin Sheen (TV’s
“The West Wing”), Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, James
Brolin, Brian Howe, Frank John Hughes and Golden Globe winner
Jennifer Garner (TV’s “Alias”).
Steven Spielberg directed “Catch Me
If You Can” from a screenplay by Jeff Nathanson, based
on the autobiographical book of the same name by Frank W.
Abagnale with Stan Redding. The film was produced by Steven
Spielberg and Walter F. Parkes (“The Ring,” “Men
in Black II”), with Barry Kemp, Laurie MacDonald, Michel
Shane and Tony Romano executive producing.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
COLOURFUL CHARACTERS
The plot of “Catch Me If You Can”
might have seemed a bit far-fetched even by Hollywood standards…were
it not for the fact that it is based on a true story.
“Things that happen in real life are
sometimes a hundred times more fascinating than anything a
person could make up off the top of his head,” remarks
Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor who portrays the subject of the
story, Frank W. Abagnale, Jr.
“Catch Me If You Can” is based on Abagnale’s
autobiography of the same name, which chronicles how he—as
a runaway teenager, without so much as a high school diploma—managed
to pass himself off as an airline pilot, a doctor, a lawyer,
and a college professor, all while cashing millions of dollars
in fraudulent checks.
Frank Abagnale offers, “It begins with my parents’
divorce and its dramatic effect on me. I ran away and suddenly
found myself a teenager alone in the world. I had to grow
up very quickly and become very creative in order to survive.
But what started out as survival became more and more of a
game. I was an opportunist, so when I saw an opening I asked
myself, ‘Could I get away with that?’ Then there
was the satisfaction of actually getting away with it. The
more I got away with, the more of a game it became—a
game I knew I would ultimately lose, but a game I was going
to have fun playing until I did.”
A bestseller, Abagnale’s autobiography
has fascinated millions of readers, including director/producer
Steven Spielberg. “I was like the many people who fell
under the seductive influence of the real Frank William Abagnale,
Jr., just through his book. And when you meet him, you understand
in a second how he could pull the wool over your eyes and
convince you that he was a doctor or a lawyer. I was fascinated
by the unique way he came of age. I really believe he was
very strongly affected by the divorce of his parents. There
are all sorts of ways kids act out against divorce, and Frank
just happened to act out in a way that was so original, it
was worth making a movie about. Personally, I have always
loved movies about sensational rogues, like the Newman/Redford
classics ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ and
‘The Sting.’ They were breaking the law, but you
had to love them for their moxie.”
Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson first learned
of Abagnale’s story when co-producer Devorah Moos-Hankin,
who serves as president of executive producer Barry Kemp’s
production company, sent him a tape of Abagnale talking about
his life. Nathanson recalls that, like Spielberg, the story
reminded him of one of his favorite film genres. “It
was the kind of feeling I got watching films like ‘Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ or ‘One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest’—films that focus on people
who are working on the wrong side of the law or going against
society; yet you can’t help but root for them because
they’re so incredibly charming. That’s what I got
out of just this 20-minute tape, so I thought it might make
a good movie.”
Producer Walter F. Parkes was also instantly taken with Abagnale’s
escapades, saying, “Any one aspect of Frank’s story
seems so extraordinary that you could hang an entire movie
on it. But then you cap it off with the fact that it is true,
and it becomes irresistible.”
Others had agreed with that opinion in the
years since the book Catch Me If You Can was first published
in 1980. Although the book had been previously optioned, Abagnale
admits, “I never dreamed it would ever really be a movie.
How do you condense five eventful years of a life into a two-hour
movie?”
Parkes acknowledges that the answer to that question did not
come without challenges. “What was both exciting and
tricky about ‘Catch Me If You Can’ was that it falls
between several genres. There are times of searing drama,
but at its heart, it is more of a comedy. So it was a challenge,
both in the writing and in the execution of the movie, to
somehow encompass all of those facets.”
“As a writer, that made it all the
more interesting,” Nathanson says. “It’s a
cat-and-mouse thriller, but at the same time it’s a coming-of-age
story, and then very much a family drama. I like stories that
cover different parts of life: there’s laughter, there’s
heartbreak… ‘Catch Me If You Can’ gave me the
chance to explore all of that through one remarkable period
of Frank Abagnale’s life.”
The period during which Abagnale was able
to pull off such elaborate scams was the decade of the 1960s,
and both Parkes and Spielberg attribute at least some of Abagnale’s
success to the innocence of the times. “I think it was
the naiveté of those days that allowed Frank to get
away with what he did for so long,” Parkes states. “It
was a time before the counterculture, a time when we actually
believed that the clothes made the man, that a uniform connoted
a certain stature in the world. Frank intuitively understood
that and was able to exploit it. It provided him the way to
become this exceptional imposter.”
Spielberg adds, “It was a time of tremendous
trust, when you never locked your doors, but felt safe.”
Interestingly, the director was coming off a film set in a
future ruled by mistrust, the sci-fi thriller “Minority
Report.” The about-face was one of the aspects of directing
“Catch Me If You Can” that appealed to Spielberg.
“I had just finished shooting ‘Minority Report’
and was in something of a dark place. I thought this would
be a breath of fresh air for me. I enjoy that whiplash sensation
of going from a film like ‘Jurassic Park’ to a ‘Schindler’s
List,’ and now from ‘Minority Report’ to ‘Catch
Me If You Can.’ Selfishly, it was also an opportunity
to work with a young actor I’ve always admired.”
That young actor is Leonardo DiCaprio, who had already been
set to star as Frank Abagnale. “I have been a huge fan
of Leo’s, dating back to his work in ‘This Boy’s
Life’ and then ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,’
which was a phenomenal performance,” Spielberg says.
“Leo is a very inventive actor and has a lot of ideas.
He is also his own best critic. There were times I’d
accept a certain take, and Leo would say, ‘No, no. I
think there’s something I haven’t found yet; let
me do it again.’ And he would invariably come up with
something that was just brilliant.”
DiCaprio appreciated that Spielberg not
only accepted, but encouraged his contributions. “That’s
the wonderful thing about working with Steven Spielberg. He
is so open-minded—not just to me as an actor, but to
people in every department. I think that is part of what makes
him such a great director; he brings out the best in you,
and gets everybody working like a well-oiled machine towards
a common goal.”
Long before he was cast in the role of Frank
Abagnale, DiCaprio was a self-described “huge fan”
of the book Catch Me If You Can. Years later, when he was
sent Jeff Nathanson’s script, he jumped at the chance
to portray the quintessential con man. “For an actor,
it’s all about the art of misdirection…how, for
example, Frank is able to make somebody concentrate on being
asked out to dinner as opposed to the phony check he’s
about to pass. I think those are fantastic elements for an
actor to play,” DiCaprio states.
The actor did have an opportunity to meet with the real Frank
Abagnale and relates that he still caught glimpses of the
one-time con man’s innate ability to disarm you. “To
look at him, you wouldn’t think he could steal a postage
stamp. But he has an almost unconscious way of engaging you
with his eyes, with his energy and with his intelligence.”
While DiCaprio offers that those subtle
traits were something he tried to bring to his portrayal,
he was intent on not trying to create an imitation of the
real-life Abagnale. “At a certain point you draw enough
information from the person, and then you have to go off on
your own and create that character and let the character have
a life of its own. I didn’t want to take away from the
spontaneity of the young Frank going out in the world. I wanted
the audience to be carried along with him on his journey of
self-discovery, to see the sparkle in his eye the first time
he sees a pilot looking like a movie star and being treated
like royalty, or to watch his first mistakes as a pilot or
as a lawyer… I didn’t want to be too perfect, because
I believe Frank gets by more on his personality and charm
and his ability to misdirect, rather than on being perfect
at impersonating people. I think that has a lot to do with
the ego of this cocky kid who thinks he can defy everyone,
including the F.B.I….and, in fact, does.” Read
On
|
