Stealin’ Stones And Breakin’ Bones: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Snatch

After a few years of helming hit-and-miss blockbusters like Aladdin, Sherlock Holmes, and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Guy Ritchie has finally returned to the crime genre – the genre in which he made his name as a dynamic young filmmaker – with The Gentlemen. But while it’s a fun romp with some terrific comic performances, it didn’t match up to the director’s best work, like RocknRolla (whose sequel we’re still waiting for) and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

Arguably, the height of Ritchie’s powers is Snatch, a hilarious caper starring Ritchie regulars Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones. Here are 10 interesting details from behind the scenes of Snatch.

10 Brad Pitt Played Mickey Because He Couldn’t Do A London Accent

Having been a huge fan of Guy Ritchie’s breakthrough film Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Brad Pitt approached the director and asked for a part in his next project. Ritchie was more than happy to cast him in Snatch, and initially offered him the lead role of Turkish, which ended up being played by Ritchie’s frequent collaborator Jason Statham.

However, he found that Pitt couldn’t do a very convincing London accent, leaving him with few options for characters to play. Pitt could do a so-so Irish accent, so he ended up playing the role of “One Punch” Mickey.

9 Lennie James Sustained Two Crotch Injuries During Filming

Lennie James’ crotch sustained two injuries while he was shooting Snatch. In one instance, it was bitten by the dog, Bow, who was notoriously difficult to work with. While James was shooting the scene in the car, the dog attacked him and bit him in the crotch. He didn’t sustain a serious injury, but the dog was promptly replaced after the incident.

In the other instance, James hit himself in the crotch with the shotgun when he was blowing a hole in the wall of the bookies. He played it off and continued the scene, so the take was used in the final cut.

8 The Use Of Madonna’s “Lucky Star” Cost $1 Million

Guy Ritchie reportedly had to pay $1 million to license Madonna’s “Lucky Star” to be used in Snatch. Funnily enough, Ritchie married Madonna a couple of months after the movie came out (although this was unrelated; they already had a son together by the time the movie hit theaters).

The scene in which the thieves discuss the Virgin Mary is a nod to the opening scene of Reservoir Dogs, in which a similar bunch of crooks talk about the Madonna song “Like a Virgin.”

7 Sean Connery Was The First Choice To Play Brick Top

The role of Brick Top was offered to Sean Connery, who was interested enough to watch Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels to see if he liked Guy Ritchie’s filmmaking style. Producer Matthew Vaughn threw together an impromptu screening of the film for Connery, who showed up and watched it.

When the movie was over, Connery said that he enjoyed it, but that the producers wouldn’t be able to afford his fee to appear in Snatch. So, the role of Brick Top was up for grabs. Before it was handed over to Alan Ford, who knocked it out of the park, Ritchie considered casting real-life former gangster Dave Courtney.

6 Brad Pitt Based His Accent On A Father Ted Character

Brad Pitt’s Irish accent in Snatch was met with a mixed reception, with some critics calling it shaky or outright bizarre. As it turns out, Pitt based the accent on one particular Irish comedian: Jon Kenny.

Specifically, he based the voice on Kenny’s performance as Fred Rickwood, a guest character from the classic sitcom Father Ted who appeared in the season 2 episode “A Song for Europe.”

5 A Vinnie Jones Lookalike Was Used When Vinnie Jones Was In Jail

Vinnie Jones doesn’t actually appear in the scene in which Vinny and Sol are sitting outside the bookies, ready to hand over the diamond, and Bullet-Tooth Tony approaches them.

Jones was in jail after getting into a fight the night before, so he didn’t turn up to the set. Instead, a Vinnie Jones lookalike was brought on board to fill his role.

4 Mickey Was Intentionally Difficult To Understand

In response to some of the critics of his previous film, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, who complained that the characters’ thick Cockney accents were difficult to decipher, Guy Ritchie created the character of Mickey in Snatch to be intentionally hard to understand.

The joke is that, not only can the viewer not understand Mickey; a lot of the other characters struggle to comprehend him, too.

3 The Producers Couldn’t Afford A Full Crowd For The Boxing Scenes

For the scenes set at boxing matches, the producers couldn’t afford to hire enough extras to fill out the crowd, despite the fact that they could afford Brad Pitt’s salary.

So, they simply hired enough extras to fill the background of each frame. When the camera changed to a different angle, these extras all shuffled around the fill the new background.

2 American Distributors Considered Changing The Title To Snatch’d

When Guy Ritchie was initially working on the script for Snatch, it was going by the working title Diamonds. By the time it went into production, it had been retitled Snatch.

The American distributors weren’t sure about this name, however, and considered tweaking it slightly and releasing it as Snatched or Snatch’d. The former title would end up being taken by a 2017 action comedy starring Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer as a mother and daughter who run afoul of some criminals while they’re on vacation in Ecuador.

1 Brad Pitt Barely Washed During Filming

To get into character as Mickey, Brad Pitt decided not to wash himself very often while Snatch was in production. This helped to give him the kind of scummy, dirty appearance that the role required.

Pitt is certainly a dedicated actor. There aren’t many stars with his stature who would be willing to let their personal hygiene go drastically downhill for a role like that.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3473 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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