"It works because of the way Kevin carries the moment, the choice of music - how it shifts gear and takes a completely different rhythm from the rest of the film," says Singer. So in hindsight we hear from disembodied voices, with Spacey's saying: "It's all there, I'm telling it straight, I swear," as Kujan scans the board and finds references to some of the places and characters from Spacey's elaborate lie staring down from the board. But after that first screening, Singer introduced the visual flashbacks as Kujan scans the board and finally realises that he has been conned by Spacey's Kint - aka Keyser Soze - who is shuffling out of police headquarters after being released by Kujan. It had the crashing coffee cup falling out of Kujan's hand, the bulletin board and the fax with the face of Keyser Soze, which seems to take forever to come off the machine. Singer screened the first version for two friends - his agent and his lawyer - before realising that it was, "too flat?it was confusing and just kind of died".
The tale is told in flashback by Kevin Spacey's character, the crippled Verbal Kint - already granted immunity from prosecution - as he is interrogated by customs officer Dave Kujan, played by Chazz Palminteri.īut this revelation scene is not the original. He makes them an offer - work for the devil or die.
And they are then approached by the arch criminal Keyser Soze via his henchman, the lawyer Kobayashi, played by Pete Postlethwaite. Five criminals meet at a police line-up, plan and execute a successful robbery. It is a testament to how much people like to be tricked: if you trick them the right way, they will love you forever if you get it wrong, you will never work again." "The film won two Academy Awards but in a way this is more significant because then we were up against the best films of 1995, while this survey is comparing a moment in The Usual Suspects to all the great moments in film history." The nature of the list also appeals to Singer: "Films to me are great lines and great moments - it is amazing to me that we should come out top. That is how director Bryan Singer remembers the scene that tops the Observer poll. Reading on mobile? Click here to watch the scene from The Usual Suspects.