While the end of January can often be a slow time at the movies, director Guy Ritchie's next movie will soon arrive in theaters to kickstart the post-Holiday moviegoing season. I'm talking about The Gentlemen, the filmmaker's latest crime drama that is featuring a killer cast (pun intended). The movie follows Matthew McConaughey's Mickey Pearson, as he decides what to do with his marijuana selling empire in the U.K.. Plenty of characters want in on the action, and all types of backstabbing and murder ensues. The Gentlemen earns its R-rating due its violence and language, including the ample use of the C-word. And the cast had a hilarious reaction to using that particular word so often throughout the course of filming.
Since The Gentlemen is set across the pond, it has a unique relationship to the C-bomb. It's simply not as taboo of a word in the U.K., and as a result the word "cunt" is said and read consistently throughout the movie's runtime-- often to hilarious results. I had the chance to speak with the cast of The Gentlemen, when I asked the actors what their relationship was to the C-word during filming. They were charming and hilarious, so check out the comments from Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey, Henry Golding, Charlie Hunnam, and Michelle Dockery below.
Clearly this was a subject of conversation for the cast. While some of the Brits were phased by The Gentlemen's use of the C-word, it was definitely a shift in perspective for others. Especially considering that they'd be screaming that word with hate at each other throughout Guy Ritchie's newest blockbuster.
I asked both rooms of cast members about how The Gentlemen uses the C-word, got some unique perspectives on what it was like to curse for months straight while filming such a major blockbuster. Crazy Rich Asians actor Henry Golding has mostly been seen onscreen as charming nice guys, while his character Dry Eye is noticeably rougher around the edges. Golding actually found his character's speech pattern to be "therapeutic", as it was so different from the way Golding normally speaks. Michelle Dockery seemed to agree, which made the cursing in The Gentlemen a fun challenge of the movie.
But as Matthew McConaughey points out, The Gentlemen doesn't always use the c-word during conflicts. The movie also throws it away consistently as well. Because it's simply not that big of a deal in the U.K., Guy Ritchie includes said word in just about every scene.
Charlie Hunnam and Hugh Grant also answered the same question, with the latter actor joking that he used the C-word so much around his home that it's all his children are saying nowadays. Hunnam hammered down the fact that this movie starred proper English gentlemen, and as such the street slang had to be appropriate. Indeed, while the first "cunt" might be alarming, The Gentlemen holds nothing back regarding language, and it uses said curse consistently throughout its 113-minute runtime.
As the trailers have been teasing, The Gentlemen is an ultra-stylized movie by Guy Ritchie. The filmmaker is methodical about his approach, and that includes the film's dialogue, which he wrote. Curses and all.
The Gentlemen will arrive in theaters on January 24th. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
