CHARACTER IN FOCUS: Catherine Banning, "Thomas Crown Affair" (1999)

Rene Russo in a Michael Kors dress, 1999. The dress is part of her character's
wardrobe in Thomas Crown Affair. (photo credits: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

As I said on last post, Rene Russo's character on Thomas Crown Affair, Catherine Banning, is her best character done in her entire acting career... In comparison to Faye Dunaway's character in the 1968 original (in the 1968 original, Faye was Vicki, and in the 1999, she was the psychiatrist), I prefer Rene's character better, and there're a lot of reasons... Ms. Banning has lots of sex appeal and makes the audience (specially men) very "all eyes on her", and also the wardrobe (created by Michael Kors specially for Ms. Russo for the movie), in general, is sexy, stylish and it fits her like a glove, in my opinion!

Rene Russo: sexiness and class in scene! (photo credits:
MGM Pictures)

Catherine, in TCA, besides being a dedicated and a sexy insurance investigator, is also smart, driven and alone. She is brought by the NYPD in finding a Monet painting (the cost is US$ 100 million), stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City, and the masterpiece is stolen by Thomas Crown (portrayed by the talented actor Pierce Brosnan). She suspects of Thomas, but unexpectedly Ms. Banning falls in love with him. 

Rene Russo: eye to eye on Pierce Brosnan. Show us some seduction, Rene!
(photo credits: MGM Pictures)

Although Catherine is very seductive and smart... she also has some weak links. Ms. Banning's emotional fragility shows when Thomas has also a "lover" besides Banning. I'm talking about Anna (played by Esther Cañadas). But between Anna and Catherine... Thomas has better chemistry with Catherine. According to Rene (Russo), in 2014: "Many women ask of him (Pierce Brosnan)... what was he like? Is he cute? Is he dreamy? Yes he is. He's a good kisser. (...) For the love scenes, are always really hard! (laughs)"

Rene's character Catherine Banning, holding a coffee in her hands.
And concentrated! (photo credits: MGM Pictures)

And talking about love scenes... the love scenes in Thomas Crown makes the audience entranced. In one of my conversations on Twitter (it happened this week), one of my fans praised TCA and specially Catherine Banning:

"@sscalise88: I love #ThomasCrownAffair! Better than #FiftyShadesofGrey"

"@sscalise88: I Love #ReneRusso in The Thomas Crown Affair & I Agree with You @mariaemma16 ! Rene Russo was Truly #Chic ! #Fashion was Great In the #Film & Her #Style was Impeccable! Such an Artistic Film! Hey All YOU Twitter Friends... Who Else Loved #TheThomasCrownAffair #ThomasCrownAffair " (source: Twitter, 26/6/18).  

Hope u loved it!
loveuguys.

xoxoxo 

ME

Thomas Crown Affair (MOVIE REVIEW)

Thomas Crown Affair poster, featuring Pierce Brosnan & Rene Russo.
(photo credits: MGM Pictures)

Director: John McTiernan (known by Die Hard & The Hunt for Red October).

Producers: Michael Tadross, Pierce Brosnan & Beau St. Clair.

Written by: Alan Trustman, Leslie Dixon & Kurt Wimmer.

Main Cast: 

Pierce Brosnan -------- Thomas Crown 

Rene Russo ----------- Catherine Olds Banning

Denis Leary ------------ Detective Michael McCann

Faye Dunaway ------- Thomas' psychiatrist

Esther Cañadas ------ Anna Tyrol Knutzhorn

Fritz Weaver ---------- John Reynolds

Frankie Faison ------- Detective Parretti

Ben Gazzara -------- Andrew Wallace

Pierce Brosnan, all eyes on Rene Russo: "Do you wanna dance or DO YOU WANNA DANCE?"
(photo credits: MGM Pictures)

Release Date: August 6, 1999 (USA) / September 3, 1999 (Brazil)

Running Time: 113 min. 

Budget / Box office: $48 million / $124.3 million (box office success).

Plot summary: Based on the 1968 movie of the same name. In the remake, Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan, great in Mrs. Doubtfire & 007 movies), a self-made billionaire, is bored of everything he desires, but he's irresistible to women. Therefore, Thomas has a hobby - stealing art masterpieces.
After the theft of a Monet painting (stolen by Thomas Crown), the only person who suspects Crown is Catherine Olds Banning (Rene Russo), a sexy insurance investigator, but smart, driven and alone. Her job: get the painting back to the MET Museum, in New York City.
 But in the middle of the investigation, Catherine falls in love with Thomas in an unexpected way. The romance happens in three moments: a black and white ball, a gliding flight and two days in Martinique (France).
Back in Manhattan, Catherine thinks she has reason to be jealous, so when he suggests they go off together, she hesitates... because the insurance investigator also suspects that there's another woman in Thomas' life, Anna (Esther Cañadas), which makes Ms. Banning very unsure to trust Crown. 

The ending is when Catherine, shaken and fallen apart, is on plane to Britain. A hand reaches through the seats from behind her and gives her a handkerchief while using a voice that doesn't quite sound right. She looks in the seat behind her to find Crown. She leaps at him, furious at his actions. "Did you set this up?" shouts Catherine to Thomas, and her screams were listened by the stewardess.

And both kissed each other. While Ms.Banning hugs Mr. Crown, she whispers, in a seductive way, in his ear: "If you pull a stunt like that again... I'll break both your arms!"

Rene Russo in scene of Thomas Crown Affair... so sexy and seductive!!!
(photo credits: MGM Pictures)

Fun Facts about the movie:

• There are several changes comparing the remake from the 1968 original (directed by Norman Jewison), most notable for the amount of intimacy and nudity scenes between Catherine (Rene Russo) & Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan).
• Rene Russo's clothes were entirely done by Michael Kors for the Celine collection. Along with her hairdo used in the movie, Rene's Catherine Banning was her best character done in her entire acting career.
• Rene Russo did her first nude scenes of her career in Thomas Crown Affair.  
• First of two remakes John McTiernan did from Norman Jewison movies. The other movie was Rollerball (2002), starring Rebecca Romjin, Jean Reno & rapper LL Cool J.
• When Catherine (Rene Russo) is at Martinique (France), she drapes a white towel around her breasts... and when she "lassos" her towel around Thomas' neck took sixteen takes to get it just right. Weights were added to the towel to get it to work correctly.
• And in Rene's recent interviews on TV, many of the interviewers ask of... Thomas Crown Affair. According to Rene (Russo): "Many women ask of him (Pierce Brosnan)... what was he like? Is he cute? Is he dreamy? Yes he is. He's a good kisser. (...) For the love scenes, are always really hard! (laughs)" (see "Rene's Valentine's Day Special" post)

Rene Russo: concentration in scene. (photo credits: MGM Pictures)

Critical Reception:

• IMDB: 6,8/10 
• Rotten Tomatoes: 70% (100 reviews, fresh).
• Metascore: 72/100
• AdoroCinema (Brazil): 4/5

Next week, I'll talk about Rene's character in Thomas Crown Affair, Catherine Banning... !!!  

Hope u like it.

Loveuguys.

xoxoxo 

ME