City of Ghosts
A lobby card for the Thailand theatrical release in 2004. Screenings were limited to the Lido cinemas in Bangkok.
Directed by	Matt Dillon
Produced by	Willi Baer, Michael Cerenzie, Deepak Nayar
Written by	Matt Dillon, Barry Gifford, Mike Jones
Starring	Matt Dillon, James Caan, Natascha McElhone, Gérard Depardieu, Kem Sereyvuth, Stellan Skarsgård
Music by	Tyler Bates
Cinematography	Jim Denault
Editing by	Howard E. Smith
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	25 April 2003 (limited)
Running time	116 min.
Country	USA
Language	English, French, Khmer, Russian
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

City of Ghosts is a 2002 drama film co-written, directed by and starring Matt Dillon, about a con artist who must go to Cambodia to collect his share in money collected from an insurance scam. The film was made in Cambodia, in locations that include Phnom Penh and the Bokor Hill Station. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... The Scala theater in Siam Square. ... Matthew Raymond Matt Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Barry Gifford (1946- ) is an author, poet, and screenwriter known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes, film noir, and beat generation-influenced literary madness. ... James Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Gérard Depardieu. ... Stellan Skarsgård (help· info) (born June 13, 1951, Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish actor. ... Tyler Bates is a music producer for films. ... The current United Artists logo (a variant was used during the 1980s). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (116th in leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Khmer (ភាសាខ្មែរ) is one of the main Austroasiatic languages. ... A drama film is a film that depends mostly on in-depth character development, interaction, and highly emotional themes. ... Matthew Raymond Matt Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... A confidence trick, confidence game, or con for short, (also known as a scam) is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... City motto: No motto City proper Province Phnom Penh Mayor Kep Chuktema ( ) Area 376 km² Population 2,009,264(2006) Density 5343. ... An abandoned French town built high upon Bokor Hill, just outside the town of Kampot, southern Cambodia. ...

Plot

Jimmy is a conman who's been working for a fake insurance company in New York City that is being investigated by the FBI after it cannot pay claims that have poured in after a hurricane. Discovering that Jimmy's mentor and the mastermind of the scheme, Marvin, has skipped the country and gone to Thailand, Jimmy boards a plane with the intention of trying to collect his money. Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... This article is about weather phenomena. ...

Once in Bangkok, Jimmy meets Joseph Kaspar, a partner in the scheme who's living with his Thai katoey companion Rocky. Joseph informs Jimmy that Marvin has moved on to Cambodia, where he's planning an even greater scam. So Jimmy sneaks across the border and makes his way to Phnom Penh. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Kathoey working as go-go dancers in Bangkoks Nana Plaza A kathoey or katoey (in Thai กะเทย) is a male-to-female transgendered person in Thailand. ... City motto: No motto City proper Province Phnom Penh Mayor Kep Chuktema ( ) Area 376 km² Population 2,009,264(2006) Density 5343. ...

He checks into a seedy hotel run by a Frenchman named Emile and has his passport stolen by a macaque. // The French people (French: les Français), etymologically derives from the word Franks (which means free[]), a Germanic tribe which overran Roman Gaul at the end times of the Roman Empire. ... Type Species Simia inuus Linnaeus, 1758 = Simia sylvanus Linnaeus, 1758 Species See text. ...

Needing to travel around, he hires a cyclo driver named Sok, who becomes the only person Jimmy can trust. He also meets an NGO worker named Sophie and dabbles in romance with her while attending a rave party at an ancient temple. A velotaxi, also known as a pedicab, cycle rickshaw or trishaw (from tricycle rickshaw), is a human-powered vehicle for hire, usually with one or two seats for carrying passengers in addition to the driver. ... NGO is an abbreviation or code for: Non-governmental organization Nagoya Airport (IATA code) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up rave in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Eventually, Marvin turns up, but the scam he's trying to get together – involving corrupt Cambodian government officials, high-ranking military and the Russian mafia – turns out to be more risky and dangerous than anyone ever imagined, taking Jimmy on a surreal odyssey.

Cast

• Matt Dillon as Jimmy
• James Caan as Marvin
• Natascha McElhone as Sophie
• Gérard Depardieu as Emile
• Kem Sereyvuth as Sok
• Stellan Skarsgård as Joseph Kaspar
• Rose Byrne as Sabrina
• Kyoza as Rocky
• Suon Bou Loto as Red Tuxedo Man

Matthew Raymond Matt Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... James Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Gérard Depardieu. ... Stellan Skarsgård (help· info) (born June 13, 1951, Gothenburg, Sweden) is a Swedish actor. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...

Production

Locations in Cambodia

• Filming locations included Phnom Penh, Battambang, Kep and Phnom Chisor, an Angkor-era ruin south of Phnom Penh. The film's final scenes were shot at Bokor Hill Station, which was once a French colonial-era retreat with a hotel and casino complex. Even today, there are rumors and announcements of revitalizing the remote, fog-enshrouded mountaintop location as a new resort.
• Although 2001s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was partially filmed around Angkor Wat, City of Ghosts was the first major US film using Cambodia as a principal location since the 1965 film Lord Jim, directed by Richard Brooks and starring Peter O'Toole.

City motto: No motto City proper Province Phnom Penh Mayor Kep Chuktema ( ) Area 376 km² Population 2,009,264(2006) Density 5343. ... Battambang is Cambodias second-largest city (urban area population 124,290 according to the 1998 census) and the capital of Battambang Province. ... Kep (also known as Keb) is a municipality in Cambodia with the status of a province. ... Angkor was the site of a series of capital cities that is rk of the Khmer empire for much of the period from the 9th century to the 15th century CE. (The angkor people relyed on the jungle for protection and food. ... An abandoned French town built high upon Bokor Hill, just outside the town of Kampot, southern Cambodia. ... In October of 1887, the French announced the formation of the Union Indochinoise (Union of Indochina), which at that time comprised Cambodia, already an autonomous French possession, and the three regions of Vietnam (Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina. ... Categories: Movie stubs | Action films | Adventure films | 2001 films | Films based on video games ... Aerial view of Angkor Wat The main entrance to the temple proper, seen from the eastern end of the Naga causeway Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built for king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. ... Lord Jim is a 1965 adventure film made by Columbia Pictures. ... For the actor, see Richard Brooks (actor) Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912-March 11, 1992) was a Hollywood film writer, director, and (occasionally) producer. ... Peter Seamus OToole (born Peter James OToole on August 2, 1932) is an eight-time Academy Award-nominated actor. ...

Casting in Cambodia

• Kem Sereyvuth, the cyclo driver who played Sok, was cast in Cambodia. He had no prior acting experience. The story his character tells Jimmy is his own.
• In one scene in the hotel bar, a character, Harry the American expat, tells Jimmy in no uncertain terms that he's a fool and does not know what he's getting into. Harry was portrayed by Michael Hayes, the publisher of the Phnom Penh Post, a fortnightly English-language newspaper.
• The macaque that stole Jimmy's sunglasses was named Jadet, who was smuggled in from Thailand because the Cambodian monkey was not tame and "bit a chunk out of the prop lady's ear," Dillon told Time Asia. "The Thai monkey escaped, and its trainer was yelling at these kids who gathered around not to chase it. Of course, every kid in Cambodia went after that monkey, and it ran into the post office where things really got nuts."
• The people at the full moon party, as well as some of those on Emile's balcony, are all actually backpackers recruited from Phnom Penh hostels.

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Phnom Penh Post is a fortnightly English-language newspaper published in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. ... Type Species Simia inuus Linnaeus, 1758 = Simia sylvanus Linnaeus, 1758 Species See text. ... Time (whose trademark is capitalized TIME) is a weekly American newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. ...

Soundtrack

Music from the Motion Picture City of Ghosts
Soundtrack by various artists
Released	April 29, 2003
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Lakeshore S
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link

The soundtrack for City of Ghosts features an eclectic mix of music that includes 1970s Khmer rock and roll, French pop and American pre-WWII blues and jazz. The album contains the following tracks: Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... // In film formats, the sound track is the physical area of the film which records the synchronized sound. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... // In film formats, the sound track is the physical area of the film which records the synchronized sound. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links Description: 4 out of 5 star. ... Khmer can refer to, the: Khmer people, the ethnic group to which the great majority of Cambodians belong to Khmer language Khmer script Khmer Empire, which ruled much of Indochina from the 9th to the 13th centuries. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that typically follows a twelve-bar structure. ... Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ...

1. "Both Sides Now" – written by Joni Mitchell; performed by Dengue Fever
2. "Et Moi, Et Moi, Et Moi" – written by Jacques Dutronc and Jacques Lanzmann; performed by Jacques Dutronc
3. "Wait Ten Months" – performed by Ros Sereysothea
4. "Sak Kra Va" performed by Chan Chaya
5. "Do You Believe In Love At Sight" – performed by McKinney's Cotton Pickers
6. "Hilo Hula" – performed by Mike Hanapi and the Llima Islanders
7. "Have You Seen My Love" – performed by Ros Sereysothea
8. "Parlez Moi D'amour" – performed Lucianne Boyer
9. "I Want A Little Girl" – performed by McKinney's Cotton Pickers
10. "Mou Pei Na" – performed by Sinn Sisamouth
11. "Coining" – performed by Maes Samouen
12. "Giant Woman" – performed by Pan Ron
13. "Close Fit Blues" – performed by Clarence Williams
14. "I'm Sixteen" – performed by Ros Sereysothea
15. "Ne Te Fache Pas" – performed by Sinn Sisamouth
16. "Love Pillow" – performed by Choun Malai
17. "Dear 5" – performed by Peter Whitehead

In the film, James Caan performed a song in Khmer, but it's not on the soundtrack CD. Both Sides Now is a song by Joni Mitchell. ... Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943) is a noted Canadian musician, songwriter, and painter. ... Dengue Fever is a six-member band from Los Angeles that combines Cambodian pop music and lyrics with psychedelic rock. ... Jacques Dutronc (b. ... This article draws heavily on the Jacques Lanzmann article in the French-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of 2006-06-24. ... Ros Sereysothea was a Cambodian singer and songwriter who was popular in the 1960s and early 70s in Phnom Penh. ... McKinneys Cotton Pickers were an United States jazz band founded in 1926 by William McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten pieces. ... Sinn Sisamouth (Khmer: ស៊ីន ស៊ីសាមុត, 1935–c. ... Pan Ron was one of two famous female Cambodian singers of the 1960s and 70s. ... Clarence Williams ( November 8, 1893 - November 6, 1965) was a Jazz pianist, composer, promoter, vocalist, and publisher. ... James Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ... Khmer (ភាសាខ្មែរ) is one of the main Austroasiatic languages. ...

References

• Ressner, Jeffrey (March 31, 2003) "Post-Apocalypse Now". Time Asia.

Time (whose trademark is capitalized TIME) is a weekly American newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. ...

External links

• City of Ghosts at the Internet Movie Database
• City of Ghosts at All Movie Guide
• City of Ghosts at Rotten Tomatoes