The Director

Larry Charles & Masked & Anonymous - by Michael G Smith

The director most often cited by Larry Charles as an influence on M&A is the maverick independent American filmmaker John Cassavetes. Charles has described M&A as "Shakespeare meets Cassavetes". Info on Cassavetes' films can be found here:

- http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/cassfilms/cassfilmsmain.htm - Charles has also cited Pier Paolo Pasolini, Werner Herzog and Robert Altmanas influences.

Much has already been written about Dylan's character, the "taciturn" Jack Fate. Larry Charles has described him as a "post-apocalyptic Humphrey Bogart" and a "spaghetti western hero".


The spaghetti western hero is a reference to the "Man with No Name" character that Clint Eastwood played in Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Jack Fate, like Humphrey Bogart's film noir characters and Eastwood's spaghetti western heroes, is a quiet, world-weary and cynical loner. Perhaps you could include pictures of the characters that influenced Jack Fate.

Here is Humphrey Bogart in the quintessential film noir, The Big Sleep:

http://www.eskimo.com/~noir/ftitles/bigsleep/bigs12.jpg

Here is a Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:

http://www.reelartgallery.com/photographs/clint_eastwood/photo2.html