Friday, September 8, 2017

Bag Man comes to The White House: In 2016 De Niro denied ever being in any Red Granite-Riza Aziz production-"It Never Happened"

by Ganesh Sahathevan



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De Niro in Malaysia,23 July 2010


In August 2016 The Hollywood Report (THR) reported:

De Niro also confirms to THR he knew(Najib ) Razak and (Rosmah) Mansor, having met them "a couple of times," adding that there had been early talks for him to star in one of Aziz's films at Red Granite. "But it never happened."


This is strange, given his starring role in Red Granite and Riza's The Bag Man. As reported on this writer's related blog , the movie had a surprisingly low profile in the US,even in promotions, despite starring De Niro and John Cusack.

The LA Times review of the movie does reveal a hint of  art imitating life:


It begins with Dragna, De Niro's well-heeled mob type, cutting a bloody steak in a private jet while he proceeds to make Jack (Cusack) an offer he can't refuse: Pick up a bag, don't look inside, wait for Dragna to pick it up, get paid lots of bucks. Death, and dispensing it, seems to be the central theme of the film. It gives Cusack the chance to play a bad guy who is really good under all that short-tempered, punch-a-girl-if-I-have-to, kill-a-guy-if-I-must gruffness. Cusack makes Jack ever so slightly interesting.

(Rebecca) Da Costa plays Rivka, a long-tall Sally who is turning tricks until she figures out what she really wants to do with her life. At the moment she'd rather not die, and she's interested in the idea of being Jack's partner in crime.


De Niro visited Malaysia in July 2010, accepting a personal invitation from Rosmah Mansor.
Rosmah is expected to accompany Najib Razak when he visits the White House to meet with President Donald Trump on September 2012.

END


References


 

by Ganesh Sahathevan

The Bag Man is a Red Granite Movies production which is surprisingly excluded from its list of movies. This is surprising, given that the movie starred Robert De Niro and John Cusack.
Then again, it was a box office flop.Nevertheless, it did reasonably well in the UAE.






The Bag Man

Domestic Total Gross: $56,574
Distributor: Cinedigm EntertainmentRelease Date: February 28, 2014
Genre: Crime DramaRuntime: 1 hrs. 48 min.
MPAA Rating: RProduction Budget: N/A





Production Companies




The Bag Man
Domestic Release DateFeb 28, 2014
Production Budget
Opening Weekend Theaters2
Maximum Theaters15
Theatrical Engagements17
Domestic Opening Weekend$29,231
Domestic Box Office$56,574
Inflation Adjusted
Domestic Box Office
$59,893
International Box Office$80,697
Worldwide Box Office$137,271
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Note: A theatrical engagement is defined as the movie playing in a single theater for one week. So, for example, a film that plays in 3,000 theaters in its first week and 2,000 theaters in its second week will have had 5,000 theatrical engagements.


View: BY COUNTRY | BY WEEKEND

Country
(click to view weekend breakdown)
Dist.Release
Date
Opening
Wknd
% of
Total
Total Gross / As Of
FOREIGN TOTAL-N/An/a-n/aN/A
Brazil-4/24/14$49,64567.8%$73,2725/4/14
IcelandMyndform3/14/14$608100%$6083/16/14
Lebanon-5/22/14$13,307100%$13,3075/25/14
Slovenia-3/13/14$3,11359.6%$5,2273/23/14
SpainUPI6/27/14$35,33344.2%$80,0227/13/14
Turkey-7/11/14$21,44840.3%$53,1597/20/14
United Arab EmiratesGulf5/1/14$117,91265.6%$179,6115/18/14
Riza 

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