Interview: Review By Brokaw

This story pits the narcissistic world of today's celebrity against the troubles of the political environment when a tough, head strong, political journalist (Steve Buscemi) is given the assignment of interviewing a popular celebrity (Sienna Miller) who loves to party, drink, and do drugs. Needless to say, Pierre Peders (Buscemi) is put off by having to spend his time doing a "fluff" piece when he should be in Washington covering the latest scandal in the government. But Katya (Miller) is the big star of the day and he is supposed to get an interview with her, so, being a good journalist, he waits in the restaurant for her arrival. And he waits. She is late, which frustrates him to no end, but soon she arrives and they start the cat and mouse word play that lasts the entire film.

After a brief verbal encounter, they leave the restaurant and Pierre gets in a cab, however he doesn't get very far. The cabbie is too interested in looking at Katya and ends up running into a truck, injuring Pierre. Taking pity on the man, Katya brings him up to her loft for some booze, bandages, and an interesting night of verbal sparring where truths about both of these people are revealed. Or are they?

One by one they reveal things about themselves, all the while Pierre keeps his journalistic instincts in tact and Katya keeps her self-preservation instincts on guard. Their verbal punches lead to sexual tension and each one is on the alert as they play a kind of chess game, each wanting to impress the other with their lives.

This is an intense drama driven not by effects or lush sets, but by the characters themselves. Buscemi wrote and directed this film which is based on the original film by Theo van Gogh. Bucemi says, "I love characters that are unpredictable. Pierre and Katya both have plenty of flaws, but they're both injured beings, and they sense that pain in common. That's how they get so intimate so quickly."