....And that's a question I'm often asked - who is Keyser Soze? And I've been very cryptic about my answer. But tonight, I'm going to tell you who Keyser Soze is for me: The person who pulls the strings. The person who manipulates. Who hovers over us. Who gives us life and breath. For me, Keyser Soze is Bryan Singer, the director of this film. And I thank him for his friendship, and for giving me an extraordinary part, and making me a better actor than I ever thought I could be.....

-- excerpt from Kevin Spacey's Oscar acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Mr. Spacey won a Golden Needle award at the 1995 Seattle International Film Festival for his roles in two recent movies: as Buddy Ackerman in Swimming with Sharks, and as "Verbal" Kint in The Usual Suspects (below).

Verbal draws Keaton into the scheme to hijack "New York's Finest Taxi Service". Verbal: "I have a way to do it where nobody gets killed, but they don't know me - they won't take me without you."

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Verbal looks on as Fenster and McManus discuss why the NYPD are leaning on them for the truck hijacking. Verbal: "It's Roger, actually - people say I talk too much."

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A nifty bit of movie memorabilia:
from filming of The Usual Suspects.

Usual Suspects Trivia:

The film was shot in 36 days, and came in under budget at a mere $5.5 million dollars.

The lineup scene at the beginning of the film was originally to have been played straight-faced. However, they couldn't get a take, as the actors kept cracking up over their "line". Finally, they decided to leave the scene as is, and in fact this remains one of the funniest scenes in the film.

Adding to the flavor of the lineup scene is the nearly incomprehensible Fenster. Apparently, it was actor Benicio Del Toro who had the idea of giving Fenster the accented, slurry speech. The other actors complained to Singer that even they couldn't understand him. To which Singer replied, "Let the audience in on it, then." So periodically, you will hear other characters in the film ask Fenster, "What did you say?"

Five people in all played Keyser Söze; Kevin Spacey, of course, but also Gabriel Byrne, Bryan Singer, and John Ottman played Keyser on the Tanager, and a friend of Bryan's played the young Keyser as he walks away from the burning village.

There is a lot more trivia in the boxed video set for The Usual Suspects; one tape is devoted to a running commentary by director Singer and screenwriter McQuarrie.

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