Imagine, if you will, a made-for-cable movie that brings together Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott - to giant acting talents.
How about throwing in the likes of Hume Cronyn, Edward James Olmos and Ossie Davis?If that's not enough talent for you, imagine casting Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mykelti Williamson, James Gandolfini, William Petersen and Courtney B. Vance. Oh, and for variety, toss in Tony Danza.
All those men - as well as Oscar-nominee Mary McDonnell - appear in director William Friedkin's remake of "Twelve Angry Men," which airs Sunday at 10 p.m. on Showtime. But exactly how do you bring together a cast with this much talent?
"It's a great script," Friedkin said. "And that's what usually attracts great actors. Nothing more, nothing less. They don't write them like this anymore."
Scriptwriter Reginald Rose first penned "Twelve Angry Men" as an hourlong production of CBS's "Studio One" in 1954, based on his own experience on a jury. Three years later, he rewrote it as a feature film, directed by Sidney Lumet and featuring a cast that included Henry Fonda (who also produced), Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, Jack Klugman, Martin Balsam and Ed Begley.
And, while the casting has changed, the script hasn't changed much for this remake.
"We didn't rewrite the play. We sort of tried to bring it more in keeping with the '90s in terms of the law, which has changed since then," Friedkin said.
(There's also a few strong words that weren't in the original film, including one use of R-rated language.)
And that script is "what drew everyone to want to take part in this. It just happens to be a classic American script," Friedkin said. "It's up there with `Death of a Salesman' and `Streetcar Named Desire.' "
With the exception of a brief opening segment in which the judge (McDonnell) is instructing the panel, "Twelve Angry Men" takes place entirely inside a jury room. The all-male group is charged with deciding the guilt or innocence of a young man accused of stabbing his father to death.
Eleven of the 12 immediately conclude the young man is guilty, leaving Juror No. 8 (Jack Lemmon) standing alone. That's the part played by Fonda in the 1957 film.
It's a powerful, dramatic movie with some truly great actors delivering exceptional performances.
"The most rewarding thing about the making of this film, as far as I was concerned, was the performances of the other actors," said the venerable Cronyn. "I've made a lot of films and I've enjoyed watching a lot of performances in the making. But never so much as in this one. That was one of the real treats."
"I have done a lot of pictures, too," Scott added. "Television. Stage. Whatever. Never have I worked with a finer group of men. Never have I had a better experience. Never have I enjoyed so much cooperation and cam-ara-derie."
Bringing together different generations of actors also made the project unique. Williamson, for example, called Scott "one of my heroes of all time."
"I have learned a lot of what I know as a young actor from this man," said Williamson, who's perhaps best known for his role as Bubba in "Forrest Gump." "And it was very stressful to be in his presence all day because he's so far ahead of me."
(Of course, not all the actors were quite so eloquent. Danza's attempt at explaining the experience of making "Twelve Angry Men" included this appraisal: "It really was a bunch of guys hanging out . . . trying to remember all the lines. It's a good group. And a lot of fun. . . . It was cool." He was similarly overmatched as an actor in the production.)
The most obvious change, however, is in the racial makeup of the cast. Whereas the 1957 film featured 12 white men, the jury in the remake includes seven whites, four blacks and one Hispanic.
"I was very conscious of not having an all-white jury," said Friedkin, whose credits include everything from "The Exorcist" to "The French Connection."
The biggest surprise in the casting is that Williamson, an African-American, takes on the role of the racist, the role played by Ed Begley in the original. And it was not an easy task for him.
"I had this cast and our director to keep me from going into a depression, because it was very difficult to do," he said. "I had headaches every single day, but I also had the support of these men. . . . That's what got me through."
The one thing Friedkin refused to do was to add women to the jury pool. "It's an all-male jury because that's the way the guy wrote it," he said, adding that "Twelve Angry People" would be a "lousy title."
He also insists that research shows that, first, an all-male jury wasn't all that common in 1957, either - but that all-male juries do sometimes listen to cases in New York, where "Twelve Angry Men" is set, even today.
"Yes, I gave consideration to trying to put some women in. . . . But it's about what happens when a group of men get together and disagree violently about very basic principles," he said. "And to just put women in there so as to add a little spice or whatever - or to be politically correct - would be to absolutely ruin this classic."
And this remake is no ruined classic. If you're a Showtime subscriber, this is something you won't want to miss.