Snatch (2000)
Trivia
When Guy Ritchie told Brad Pitt that he would be playing a boxer, Pitt became concerned because he had just finished shooting Fight Club (1999) and did not want to play the same type of role again. Pitt took the role anyway because he wanted to work with Ritchie so badly.
Brad Pitt's character and indecipherable speech was inspired by many critics' complaints about the accents of the characters in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Guy Ritchie decided to counter the criticisms by creating a character that not only couldn't be understood by the audience but that also couldn't be understood by characters in the movie.
Brad Pitt, who was a big fan of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), approached director Guy Ritchie and asked for a role in this film. When Ritchie found Pitt couldn't master a London accent, he gave him the role of Mickey the Gypsy.
Every mistake that Sol, Vincent and Tyrone make were inspired by various late-night TV shows about real-life crimes gone horribly wrong.
When Vinny and Sol are sitting outside Brick-Top's Bookies, about to give him the diamond, the man that approaches the car is not really Bullet-Tooth Tony, it was a look-alike. Vinnie Jones didn't show up for shooting that day because he was in jail for fighting the night before.
The producers couldn't afford enough extras for the boxing match sequences. Whenever a camera angle changed, the extras had to move around to create an impression of a crowded house.
According to the DVD commentary, Bow, the dog was very difficult to work with. During the car scene with Vincent, Sol and Tyrone, the dog was actually attacking Lennie James, and James was actually bitten in the crotch by the dog but didn't suffer any serious injury. The dog was replaced after that incident.
Lennie James actually hit himself in his private parts with the shotgun while blasting a hole in the wall at the bookies, but continued the scene. That footage was used in the film.
The role of Brick Top was originally offered to Sean Connery. Connery liked the script and was curious to see Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), so producer Matthew Vaughn hastily arranged a screening for him at extreme short notice. Connery duly turned up and watched the film, before emerging with his judgment: "That is a good film", he said, "and (in a stage whisper) you're not going to be able to afford me." Cue Alan Ford.
To keep things in order during production, director Guy Ritchie introduced a system of fines on set. There were fines for mobile phones ringing, arriving late, taking naps during shooting, being "cheeky", being unfunny, and/or moaning and complaining. One staff member was even charged for letting the craft service table run out of coffee cups.
Brad Pitt contacted Guy Ritchie to see if the director had any part for him in his new movie, Ritchie responded "yes", but after the phone conversation was over, Ritchie realized that he offered Pitt a part in Snatch that did not exist. He rewrote the movie with a part for Pitt: Mickey O'Neil.
As he was playing a particularly scummy character, Brad Pitt made a point of rarely washing during the film's production.
Jason Flemyng joked that the working conditions on this film were so terrible that Brad Pitt's trailer was picketed by Amnesty International as not being fit for someone to live in.
In Guy Ritchie's previous film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), there is a scene in which Harry, Barry and Chris have a conversation. Barry says the line. "No, Harry, you can't," which is shortly repeated by Chris, then by both together. This joke is carried over to this movie when Alex and Susi do the same thing with the line, "Yeah, Dad, you told us."
When Vinnie Jones is introduced in the movie, he is slamming a man's head in a car door. It was the head of stunt co-coordinator and action director Tom Delmar, who volunteered for the job.
During the opening credits, the Hasidic-clad diamond thieves are discussing the Virgin Mary. This is a reference to Reservoir Dogs (1992), where during the opening scene the thieves are discussing the Madonna song "Like a Virgin".
Brad Pitt was initially thrown by the British cast and crew's predilection for using the word "cunt" with such abandon. He soon wore down his resistance and joined in.
On the DVD commentary, Guy Ritchie mentions meeting a Brazilian man who told him that the most hated people in his country are animal abusers (particularly dogs). Ritchie was inspired to add a scene of Brick Top prodding a dog to provoke to fight, highlighting what a monstrous individual he is.
Guy Ritchie reportedly paid US $1 million for the use of Madonna's song, "Lucky Star".
Brick Top is seen to be involved in dog fighting, at one point torturing a dog. In real life, Alan Ford is a vegetarian and animal rights activist.
Franky Four-Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) changes into four different outfits during the short telephone conversation to cousin Avi.
Tim Maurice-Jones, the cinematographer, plays the man who is repeatedly battered over the head at the beginning of the movie by Frankie Four-Fingers (Benicio Del Toro). In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), for which he was also the cinematographer, he was the man being drowned at the beginning of the film by Barry the Baptist (Lenny McLean).
Brad Pitt said that he based his accent off a guest character, Fred Rickwood, on the Irish TV show Father Ted (1995) who appeared in the episode Father Ted: A Song for Europe (1996).
When Bullettooth Tony and Avi are driving with Mullet's head stuck in the car window, Tony turns on the radio. Madonna's "Lucky Star" is playing, and Tony says "Oh, I love this track!" It's actually the same track that's playing when Tony is shot six times in a row, in the flashback scene a few minutes ago.
Vinnie Jones character goes after a dog with a knife to cut him open after swallowing a diamond. In Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), his character is stopped from cutting open a dog who has swallowed some car keys.
Boris the Blade pulls a large cleaver from his belt. Soap did the same thing in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), another Guy Ritchie movie.
One of the boxers is called Bomber Harris. "Bomber Harris" was the nickname of Arthur Harris, chief of RAF Bomber Command in World War II. The name later appeared in a German Monty Python special (Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (1972)) as the name of a man who wrestles himself - Colin "Bomber" Harris.
Throughout the movie, Turkish makes comments to Tommy about his getting a gun for protection from "Ze Germans". Stephen Graham also played Sgt. Myron 'Mike' Ranney in the series Band of Brothers (2001), although the film was released a year prior to the series.
Actor, Vinnie Jones, shows a ceratin signature fighting move that he displays in director, Guy Ritchie's movies. In "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels", one of his last scenes in the movie with his character, 'Big Chris', he is continuously slamming the character, 'Dog's' head in a car door. When Vinnie's character, 'Tony' in "Snatch" is first introduced, he is, again, slamming a poor victim's head in a car door.
The hardcore band "Cold War from Orange County, California" quotes this movie several times throughout their CD "From Russia With Love." Some of the lines quoted are: ("Quote" - Character / Song in which quote is used) "From Russia with love, ah?" - Doug The Head / Love Betrays "Heavy's good, heavy's reliable." - Boris the Blade / Painful Delight "Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible c*nt... me." - Brick Top / Retrace My Steps
The role of Brick Top Polford was originally offered to Dave Courtney.
Director Cameo
Guy Ritchie: In the back of the bar when we are first introduced to Doug The Head. Ritchie is the man reading the newspaper.
Spoilers
The film's title only appears once throughout the entire movie, where Vinny (Robbie Gee) tells the dog, "Don't Snatch!" as it takes the squeaky toy. It is said to the dog because it's the dog who eats the diamond.
When Mickey "wins" a new trailer van for his mother from Turkish, he specifically picks out "periwinkle blue" as the color. In Psycho (1960), we are told that Norman Bates helped to pick out a "periwinkle blue" dress for his dead mother. Mickey, just like Norman, is also responsible (albeit indirectly) for his own mother's death.
Just before Mickey and Bomber Harris begin their fight, Bomber Harris head-butts Mickey just after the bell rings. Mickey recoils checking for blood on his glove and then floors his opponent with one punch. This was a nod towards Lenny "The Guv'nor" McClean when he fought "Mad Gypsy" Bradshaw in an almost identical fight. Lenny McLean worked with Guy Ritchie on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and passed away in 1998.
