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Keith William Richards has a face with a curious familiarity.
He justlookslike a guy from a movie.
Wasnt he the heavy from a dozen B-gangster films from a decade ago?
Or maybe he was in the background somewhere inThief?
(I immediately pushed them away each time.
For some reason, this time I went with it and everything kind of fell into place.)
There, he meets Marshall Greenberg, and his brother Ronald, pawnbrokers who reluctantly accept the ring.
My brother was very excited about it.
I felt like they were like my spouse from another generation.)
Marshalls mind changed once he became more familiar with the script, and his role.
The pawnbrokers pop up twice, both times skeptical of Howards self-created chaos.
We knew that it was going to create a strong image in general for the industry.
Marshall loved the movie, and had a positive experience filming.
Im not a publicity person.
I was gonna be a film director when I was young.
I went to graduate film school at NYU.
Ive always had a huge affinity for film.
Im a film buff, historian.
Someones sending me a present, he thought.
We were making it up on the spot.
Wed been doing sales like this, me and my brother.
Its very intuitive for us.
We didnt feel like we were performing.
We were doing something wed done a million times in the past in a million other scenarios.
Ronald watched her film her scenes on the movies set at Gold Coast Studios.
I hope they cast me in another movie.
Im ready to go.
The Safdies spotted Mitchell Wenig in a diner eight years ago.
And I said, Sure.
How about my two friends?
They said, We dont want them.
And thats how Mitchell got a small role inJohns Gone.
I wrote a song with the title Uncut Gems.
But for some reason they didnt put them in the movie.
Read theentire interviews with the Wenigs here.
But its Keith William Richards who gets to deliver the final blow to Howards ego.
I really didnt think that this was even gonna work out.
So, I just went [to the audition].
I sat down, and there was a line of people.
[Sandler is] a really down-to-earth guy, a family man.
Everything I thought he was, he turned out to be.
And now I get to know him, he actually starts to be like a friend.
So, it wasnt easy to do.
But we had to get it done.
Over the phone, Richards is sweet and eager to talk.
I ask him if he thinks hes as intimidating as he comes across onscreen.
I guess I can be.
I definitely had to be in my past.
I mean, Im 56 years old.
So, theres just a lot I can tap into, he says.
At theUncut GemsDiamond District popup in January, he says, fans were nervous to approach him.
I am always conscious of my surroundings, so naturally I know when people are looking at me.
I try not to look too intimidating or anything like that.
I go up to them and go, Listen guys, Im not gonna kill you.
He and Josh started chatting, before the director left and returned with Bear-McClard.
I had no idea who these guys were.
Ive got a dentist appointment tomorrow.
Safdie was persistent, and after Googling the directors, Ara agreed.
He arrived to set showered and ready to work, but Josh sent him back to his room.
Josh looks at me and goes, No good.
No, no, no.
I need you back upstairs wearing in the shirt you wore last night in your 3-oclock-in-the-morning-craps-table mode.
Thats kind of a flex.
How many times have I responded to an offer to be in a major-motion picture with a check-mark emoji?
I would have to tell you, once, he laughs.
Not sure what I would do if ever offered again, probably put a check with an exclamation point.
I really fucked that one up.
I dont know how to read emails.
I could show you emails from them, from 2011 to today.
Six years of emails for this thing and that thing.
When I punch in Sebo on the phone, all these things came up, he says.
I start bullshitting with him.
I put his number in my phone as artist because I didnt know what his name was.
This really screwed me up!
I wouldve been in a lot more shit!
This was more like a lot improv, a lot of fun.
Diamond made his money as a dress designer in the 80s.
(He dresses plainly, but luxuriously, in black slacks and a black cashmere sweater.)
Im a retired guy, he says.
I was a famous dress designer.
Now, Im depressed.
I dont know what the fuck Im doing anymore.
All I did was drink and have fun atThe Box.
Hed had his own struggles with gambling, which made him even more passionate about the movie.
Wayne Diamond: When youre a gambler, losing is the biggest part of it.
Once you lose, you gotta win it back.
Youre trying everything to win it back.
Theres action all over the place.
Look, that guy [Mike] Francesa [who plays Howards bookie], nobody liked that guy.
I could buy and sell this motherfucker 50 times over.
But hey, were on a movie set.
These are all kids, theyre trying to make a living, theyre trying to do good.
Hes walking around in a suit like, Who the fuck are you?
I mean, give me a break.
He was not exactly my kind of guy either.
I dont like suits.
I like the TV show,Suits, but he was kind of weird.
He was not a real bookmaker.
He sounded good, but thats not how you deal with your bookmaker.
Do me a favor, nobody in the history of bookmaking would ever take a parlay bet like that.
I bet parlay with my friend whos a billionaire, a big bet.
Probably the biggest bet I ever made was with O.J.
Can you go back?
Simpson was my biggest bet in history.
Can you explain to me what a parlay is?
So youre taking all the winnings and putting it on the next bet.
Okay, got it.
In other words, youre doubling and then four times-ing.
But, the kind of parlay [Howard is] playing, nobodys gonna bet on this.
Hes doing high points.
I used to sit with John Salley.
We used to talk about it because Johns as straight as an arrow.
Hes one of my best friends.
used to bet on things, O.J.
was a big friend.
Who knows who killed her?
I played golf with him.
He was my foursome: Kardashian, O.J.
and Bobby, whos dead.
Two of the guys are dead and the others eventually dead.
I was friendly with the glove thing.
I dined with him at Chows with my son.
The lawyer, whats his name?
Every time I think about him, I get tears.
This was the nicest guy in the world.
The morning we spoke was the same day the Oscar nominations were announced.Uncut Gemswas snubbed in every category.
Diamond is furious; people his own age upset him.
He likes the Safdies because theyre young, because they have ideas.
I like being with 25- to 45-year-old people.
I dont like old fucking people.
They got nothing to teach me.
Old people are just complaining all fucking day, he says.
(He declines to reveal his age.)
They all talk like, Oh, how much money I make on the stock market.
Tell me what else is going on, anything creative?
You read anything new lately?
Have you read any books?
I made a half a million dollars last week in the stock market.
I dont give a fuck, nobody gives a shit.
Uncut Gemswas a masterpiece, he says, and Sandler deserves every Oscar.
People under the age of 50 get this movie.
But most people going to the movies are over 50.
This is what the problem is, he says.
Adam Sandler, for what he did in that movie, the guy really got punched in the face!
He went through the fucking window in Ninos!
As a matter of fact, were having dinner tonight.
