Meet Domino Harvey
By Simon Bacal

Studio: New Line Cinema

Director: Tony Scott

Stars: Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramirez, Delroy Lindo, Jacqueline Bisset, Brian Austin Green and Ian Ziering

Screenwriter: Richard Kelly

Producers: Samuel Hadida and Tony Scott

Executive Producers: Toby Emmerich, Victor Hadida and Skip Chaisson

Rating: R

Release Date: October 14

Keira Knightley stars as model-turned-bounty-hunter Domino Harvey. Photo credit: ©2005 Daniela Scaramuzza

©2005 New Line Productions

Domino, director Tony Scott’s new actioner, is loosely based on British model turned LA bounty hunter Domino Harvey – the daughter of late actor Lawrence Harvey and socialite Sophie Wynn. The real Domino Harvey died in her Los Angeles home in late June at the age of 35.

“When I met Domino she was living in Beverly Hills with her mum and stepfather Peter Morton,” Scott recalls. “She’d leave guns in the garage and pick them up when she went on these bounty hunter missions. She was living too distinctively different lives.”

Scott – the helmer of action hits such as Man on Fire, Enemy of the State, Crimson Tide, The Fan and True Romance - had almost become a surrogate father to Domino.

“I kept telling her ‘You can’t go shooting your way through doors. One of these days, someone on the other side is going to have a bigger gun.’ But she said storming though those doors with a shotgun was the biggest adrenalin rush she’d ever had. Before she died, she saw part of the film as it was being put together and she was the happiest I’d seen her in about twelve years. Her life was on track; she was doing Yoga and was planning on hearing to Louisiana to track down a guy who had a $10 million bounty on his head. Then she passed away.”

Scott first met Domino after his business manager sent him an article about a young woman who had decided to become a bail recovery agent. Scott was amazed to learn that Domino was the daughter of Lawrence Harvey and hailed from a very privileged background. Domino, who was then 20 years old, met with Scott and the two were in discussions to put a version of her life story onto the big screen.

“Initially I read a couple of screenplays,” he recalls. “They were both from great screenwriters, but they were biopics which chartered Domino’s life in boarding school to model to bounty hunter. A straight bio-pic seemed boring to me – I wanted to do something a little bit different and more edgy.

Scott eventually gave the assignment to screenwriter Richard Kelly and loved the writer’s comedic and dark approach to the storyline.

(left to right) Mickey Rourke as Ed Moseby, Keira Knightley as Domino Harvey and Edgar Ramirez as Choco. Photo Credit: ©2005 Daniela Scaramuzza/New Line

©2005 New Line Productions

“Richard takes an unusual and very imaginative approach,” says Scott about the writer, who won four awards for scripting 2001’s Donnie Darko. “He manufactured the story, but left the characters as real breathing people.”

In this cinematic and fictionalized version of her life, Domino (Keira Knightley) mourns the death of her father at age eight and ends up in boarding school. However, boarding school life, high society and a brief stint at modeling can’t control Domino’s fiery personality. It isn’t until she stumbles upon a job seminar for wannabe bounty hunters that her thirst for excitement can be finally quenched. To the horror of her mother (Jacqueline Bisset), she hooks up with reprobates Ed Mosby (Mickey Rourke) and Choco (Edgar Ramirez) and forms a new family. They promptly become LA’s best bounty hunters and catch the eye of TV reality show producer Mark Heiss, who promptly enlists the team to star in The Bounty Squad, a new reality TV show hoisted by Beverly Hills 90210’s Ian Zeiring and Brian Austin Greene (as themselves).

“We constantly want to change our lives,” says Knightley. “In fact I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t thought about changing things at some point. However, it’s rare that you meet someone who goes in the opposite direction to everything she knows. It’s a brave thing to do, but it’s also a very particular person who has the courage and strength to pull it off. This girl comes from the good life and she can have absolutely anything, but she turns her back on that life. That element was especially interesting. So I didn’t want this character to simply be a one dimensional bad ass – I wanted the character to have a real vulnerability and loneliness. So it was always important to show those sides of this young girl who is almost trying to prove to herself that she isn’t dying inside. I wanted that search for life.”

Mickey Rourke stars as bounty hunter Ed Moseby. Photo credit: ©2005 Daniela Scaramuzza

©2005 New Line Productions

From the get-go, Knightley – who kicked ass in action titles Pirates of the Caribbean - loved the script. In fact, she liked the story so much she jetted London to LA in 2004 for a special breakfast meeting with Scott.

“It’s got action, sexuality, violence and bad language,” she says, “but it’s also a very funny story.”

The project also called for Knightley to handle a cadre of weapons, embark on electric bull riding, lap dance and strut down a catwalk.

“The whole movie was pretty terrifying,” she recalls. I spent my whole life going ‘Oh my God, this is really scary,’ whether it was walking down the catwalk or doing a lap-dance. I really enjoy doing action movies, but the guns really freaked me out. I had initially shot off an air rifle, but the guns really freaked me out. In fact, when I first used them I just burst into tears. Tony called ‘action,’ but my knees blocked and I couldn’t stand up.” So Tony said ‘Next time I shout action, start screaming and I guarantee that you will be able to shoot the guns.’ Well, that’s exactly what happened. I screamed and shot the guns off, but they still freaked the hell out of me.”