Talk Today
01/21/2005 - Updated 07:27 PM ET

'Confidence' director James Foley

Monday, April 21, 4 p.m. ET

What Jake Vig (Edward Burns) doesn?t know just might get him killed. A sharp and polished grifter, Jake has just swindled thousands of dollars from the unsuspecting Lionel Dolby with the help of his crew: Insideman Gordo (Paul Giamatti) and Shills Miles (Brian Van Holt), Big Al, and two corrupt LAPD officers, Lloyd Whitworth (Donal Logue) and Omar Manzano (Luis Guzman). But when both Lionel and Big Al turn up dead, it becomes clear that Lionel wasn't just any mark; as Jake soon learns, he was an accountant for eccentric crime boss Winston King (Dustin Hoffman). Chat with director James Foley about the film.

James Foley's other film credits include Glengarry Glen Ross, At Close Range, The Corruptor, and The Chamber.

Missed the chat? Read the transcript below:

St. Simons Island, Ga: What drew you to this movie? What about it made you want to direct it? Also, what's next for you?

James Foley: The first time I read the script I had the unique experience of being touched in a pleasure center that hadn't been touched before. It offered up a lot of possibilities with the stuff I love most about film, which is subtext, what's going on behind a great actor's eyes. This offered great opportunities to explore that in a playful way. What's next? I don't have a clue. I have a pathetic inability to think about another movie while doing another one. As of Monday I'll be alone and unemployed in LA.

DC: You've done Confidence and Glengarry, Glen Ross. What is is it about the con genre that appeals to you?

James Foley: I honestly don't think of movies as being in a genre until the studio makes a poster! I'm really interested in exploring moral ambiguity, and I just feel as if there is a great need for the culture to confront the hypocrisy and denial of the true primal instincts of people. It's true in Glengarry, At Close Range, the Corruptor and Confidence.

I think of Confidence as a companion piece to Glengarry, because I think
Confidence deals with a more positive aspect of the cooperation of men in pursuit of a common goal. But it still contains a primal truth: That men are instinctively competitive and instinctively driven to achieve dominance over other men, and money is the modern symbol of that dominance.

New York, NY: This film sounds like a "small" film (at least compared to the Matrix or X-Men). So how do you convince an actor like Dustin Hoffman, for example, to appear in the movie?

James Foley: An actor like Dustin Hoffman is understandably interested in being in a project where what he does best, which is express emotion and ideas and complexity, is getting involvedin a project where he can do what he does best on screen. The most exciting thing in cinema is a great actor having a great complex moment. Films like X-Men and the Matrix, as much as I like them as a fan, are not films I'd care to make as a director.

NYC: Can you talk a bit about working with Ed Burns? Is it difficult to direct a director?

James Foley: No, not at all, certainly not in his case. His involvement was exclusively as an actor. I respect the films he's done as a director, but as an actor he surrenders the technical aspects to the director.


Marina Del Rey, CA: What made you pick "Confidence" to direct over the "The Recruit"?

James Foley: The Recruit was a great idea in search of a script, and it was going down a track of getting made before there was any kind of script I thought was good enough, so I jumped off the train.

Newark, NJ: How difficult is it to get the financial backing to do movies like this one, i.e., without special effects? Is it difficult to have a movie like Confidence released so soon after The Good Thief, which also deals with a conman theme?

James Foley: In this case it wasn't difficult to get financing, because luckily it was already set up at Lion's Gate before I got involved. Luckily there are a bunch of "independent" divisions, which are in the business of making character-driven films, and they've been successful at making them for lower budgets. Really good actors are willing to cut their salaries to be in a movie that is about ideas more than action.

Los Angeles, California: How hard was it to assemble such a large and talented cast for Confidence?

James Foley: I hate to sound spoiled, but it was pretty damned easy. Again, it's because opportunities are rare in Hollywood for actors to strut their stuff in a good way; to be really engaged with a project that demands the full range of their talents. Once Dustin Hoffman became involved, it made the project a hot property, and I say humbly that because of my past movies serious actors are aware that theat's what I'm most interested in as a director.

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