Bilge Ebiri at Vulture recently interviewed James Mangold about his experience directing Cop Land for Miramax. Mangold details the behind-the-scenes action to get the script sold and the film made.
It’s interesting to note that Cop Land went from being a script that didn’t sell to one of the hotest scripts on the market. Companies wanted just the script, actors wanted to star in it and Mangold wasn’t about to sell it without him at the helm.
The amazing cast – Stallone, DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Michael Rappaport, Annabella Sciorra, Robert Patrick, and Janeane Garofalo – also may have actually overscaled the film. Also, despite the amazing performance by Stallone, his Rocky/Rambo fans didn’t get what they were used to and non-Stallone fans thought it would be another typical Sly action film so they avoided it!
Check out what Mangold has to say in Behind the Fantasy of the 1997 Movie Cop Land.