FilmSkool — a free film school
The Color of Money (1986)
Directed by Martin Scorsese.
Directed by Martin Scorsese · Shot by Michael Ballhaus · Cut by Thelma Schoonmaker · Music by Robbie Robertson · 119 min
How it was made
- Scorsese shot the film in 49 days for $14.5 million, a million and a half under budget, working largely in real Chicago pool halls such as FitzGerald's Nightclub rather than on built sets.
- Tom Cruise performed nearly all of his own pool shots after buying a table for his apartment and practising for hours; the one exception, a jump shot over two balls, was executed by professional player Mike Sigel standing in for him.
- Editor Thelma Schoonmaker cut between close-ups of balls in motion and wider shots of the players to build the visual rhythm of the pool games.
- Scorsese considered shooting in black and white, citing the lighting of Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus as a direct influence on the extreme close-ups used on Cruise around the table.
Own the film
FilmSkool earns a small commission from qualifying Amazon purchases, at no cost to you.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Martin Scorsese
This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.