Three Guys ...and Jewel
Liv Tyler as the ever-changing Jewel: domesticity incarnate to Randy, sex on legs to Carl, angel of innocence to Detective Dehling.

Harald Zwart wasn’t particularly surprised to be asked to step into Michael Douglas’ office. After all, Zwart was working for Douglas’ production company, Furthur Films (named, apparently, after something from a Ken Kesey novel). He had recently been hired to direct a film for Furthur: a deliriously black comedy from a script by Stan Seidel called One Night at McCool’s.

It tells the story of three guys and Jewel. Jewel (played by Liv Tyler) is a beautiful drifter and each of the three guys - a barman called Randy, played by Matt Dillon; Randy’s lawyer cousin, Carl, played by Paul Reiser; and a cop called Dehling, played by John Goodman - is convinced that he is the only one for her. Part security seeker, part femme fatale, Jewel plays along with all this until things get a little out of hand. Like people keep ending up dead. Which is when Mr Burmeister arrives. But more of that in a minute.

Contrary to what is widely regarded as industry practice - but very much in line with Hollywood legend - Seidel’s script had arrived unsolicited at Furthur’s Los Angeles office. It was, in other words (would-be scriptwriters take heart), a spec script. What is more, it was Seidel’s first feature, although he has done a fair amount of half-hour television...

And - wouldn’t you know? - everyone fell in love with it. Douglas did; his partner, Allison Lyon Segan, did; so did a bunch of high-profile actors to whom they showed it, all of whom reportedly committed for well below their usual fee. When October first saw the package, they said yes in less than a week. After all, Liv Tyler, John Goodman and Matt Dillon tend to come more expensively wrapped. Plus, no doubt, they fell in love with the screenplay, too.

“It was just one of the most original voices I’d read in years and Michael felt the same way,” says Segan. “We’d like to sign Stan to be ours for the rest of his life.”

For his part, Zwart was initially quite surprised to be sent the screenplay. The commercials for which he is best known - like the one for Lynx deodorant, in which a guy is pursued like some kind of sexual Pied Piper by (literally) every woman in town - are basically comedic. The aforementioned commercial may help sell Lynx, for instance, but there is a distinct tongue-in-cheek feel about the suggestion that its fragrance makes men irresistible to women. Zwart, then, was surprised, but pleased; so was his wife, who thought One Night at McCool’s really had to be his debut feature.