FLIGHT CLUB
GOOD GUY POE ASIDE, GET REACQUAINTED WITH CON AIR’S MOST COLOURFUL CONS
1. SWAMP THING*
(M.C. Gainey) Brought into the fold by the cons to fly the plane. It was Gainey’s idea that the character should be joyfully obsessed with flying, and the army helmet he wears was a tribute to Donald Sutherland in Kelly’s Heroes.
2. SALLY CAN’T DANCE*
(Renoly Santiago) The flamboyant, cross-dressing Sally Can’t Dance hasn’t aged so well. The role was initially bigger and more fleshed out, says Rosenberg, but it got cut down. Cage improvised the slap Poe gives Sally.
5. CYRUS THE VIRUS
(John Malkovich) Larkin: “This one’s done it all. Kidnapping, robbery, murder, extortion… Likes to brag that he killed more men than cancer. Cyrus is a poster child for the criminally insane.”
3. BABY-O
(Mykelti Williamson) Poe’s diabetic buddy, in need of insulin, created to give Poe a reason to stay on the plane. “It was a bit of a Macguffin, a bit of bullshit,” says Rosenberg. “Schmuckbait. But it did the trick.”
6. PINBALL PARKER
(Dave Chappelle) In Pinball’s own words: “Armed robber, arsonist, dope fiend. I’m a nice guy — I just got caught.” Chappelle improvised most of his dialogue, although “some of his jokes were too disgusting to ever get in the film,” says West.
4. JOHNNY 23
(Danny Trejo) Locked up for 23 counts of rape. A former con himself, Trejo had the best time on set. “He said, ‘Listen, I’m just glad to be here,’” says West. “’I could be digging trenches or pouring concrete, so you won’t get any trouble out of me.’”
7. GARLAND GREENE*
(Steve Buscemi) Poe: The Marietta Mangler.” Mass murderer Greene butchered 30 people and drove through three states wearing a woman’s head as a hat. Buscemi loved the character, especially the sequence with the little girl.
8. DIAMOND DOG
(Ving Rhames) Larkin: “Former general of the Black Guerillas... He wrote a book in prison called ‘Reflections In A Diamond Eye’. New York
Times called it ‘a wake up for the black community’. They’re talking to Denzel for the movie.”