One
"high-level" executive at Warner Bros, fearful that the
film was too "provocative" and too critical of the United
States, tried to pull the plug on Three Kings
during pre-production. Clooney, who'd lobbied hard to
get a part in the movie, intervened. "He threw his weight
around," Russell revealed, and the executive quickly fell
into line.
Clooney
stonewalled when asked whether he might return to ER.
The projects he would discuss are his forth-coming version
of the 1963 Sidney Lumet film, Fail Safe,
which will be done on live TV, and the Steven Soderbergh
remake of rat-pack movie, Ocean 11.
While
Clooney and Russell waxed philosophical
about the Gulf War, Wahlberg had other matters on his
mind. He'd heard from a source that Tom Cruise (who appears
in Magnolia) "had a very small penis." He
also claimed that he'd recently been discussing Three
Kings with Saddam Hussein. "I was talking to Saddam
on the phone and he loved it... he got a cut, he got a
little commission."
The
Three Kings weren't at all sure they'd make
good soldiers in real life. "If we three were in the army,
we'd all be kicked out," suggested Ice Cube. "Thank God
David didn't put us through long gook camp."
Geoffrey
Macnab
