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Albert Finney
Albert Finney

Albert Finney

Albert Finney plays the Irish crime lord Leo, and demonstrates once again the enormous range that has marked his career. The actor who once, as a student, was reviewed by Kenneth Tynan as a "smouldering young Spencer Tracy...who will soon distrub the dreams of Messrs. Burton and Scofield" says that he was drawn to the film by the presence of the Coen brothers and the quality of the script. "I saw Raising Arizona when it opened in New York," he says. Soon thereafter a friend asked him who he thought were the most interesting filmmakers around, and when he answered "The Coen brothers," she offered to introduce them. "That's why I'm here," he says. "I like their films. I wanted to work with them." (The role of Leo was originally to be played by the late actor Trey Wilson, from Raising Arizona, Finney was then cast only two days before the start of shooting.)

Albert Finney

Albert Finney made his film debut in 1960 as Laurence Olivier's son in The Entertainer. Since Miller's Crossing, Finney has been in several TV-made movies and mini-series such as The Image, The Endless Game, and Nostromo.

Quotes from Albert Finney on Miller's Crossing:

  • "It seemed like a comic strip, in a sense, when I first read it," he recalls. "The casualness of the violence amused me a great deal. But it's extremely rich stuff. There's an awful lot of craftsmanship in there, and thinking through and chipping away at a piece of marble for some time to get this essence."

  • "Filmmaking can become an ordeal.." "What's great about these guys [the Coen brothers] is that they'll throw new things in on the fourth or sixth take. Then while they're editing they will play with form the same way that they played with words in preparing the script."



Gabriel Byrne Albert Finney Marcia Gay Harden Jon Polito J.E. Freeman John Turturro Ethan and Joel Coen
Deleted Scenes Tommy Gun Scene: Shot by Shot
Classic Lines Glossary
Washington Post review / poster Trivia
Production Notes Full Script

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