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| “ | I liked your father. I liked him right up until the moment I killed him. | „ |
| ~ Steve taunting Stella about killing her father |
Steven "Steve" Frazelli is the main antagonist of the 2003 remake film The Italian Job.
He was portrayed by Edward Norton, who also played Aaron Stampler in Primal Fear, Eric Byer in The Bourne Legacy, Derek Vinyard in American History X, and Nova in Alita: Battle Angel.
Biography
Originally apart of Bridger's heist team, but at the end of the mission betrays them all and leaves them for dead. A year later, Charlie, the new leader of the team, tracks down Steve and the stolen gold to Los Angeles, CA, and recruits Stella, the sole daughter of the late John Bridger. Steve attempts to sell his gold through his money launderer Yevhen but kills him when the latter gradually uncovers the source about the gold. Unbeknownst to Steve, however, Yevhen is the cousin of local Ukrainian Mafia boss Mashkov, who subsequently seeks vengeance for his cousin's murder. The team's initial plan is to have Steve stood up on a date with Stella—who posed as a cable repair woman to get into Steve's house and locate his safe — while the team would break into Steve's house, load the gold into 3 Mini Coopers modified by Rob's mechanical friend Wrench, and use hacked traffic lights to make their escape. However, Charlie is forced to call the plan off because of a local party, which would witness the heist's execution. To maintain her cover, Stella goes on the date with Steve, but he figures out her real identity. Charlie then confronts Steve and chides him, Steve systematically figures out their plans: take out his five guards, hack into his system, and crack his safe.
Now aware that Charlie and his team are alive, Steve makes preparations to move the gold. He obtains three armored trucks and a helicopter from which to monitor the trucks' transit, with the two of them acting as decoys to fool Charlie and his team. To counter the shell game, Charlie uses Lyle's control over the Los Angeles traffic system to isolate the one truck containing the gold, which Lyle manages to find, and gridlocks the city. The team then steals the gold from the truck and escape in their trio of Mini Coopers. Steve and his hired security guards pursue them through Los Angeles, and the team manages to lose them all, except Steve. Using his helicopter, he follows Charlie in his Mini Cooper, with both of them going into one of the tunnels. Charlie and Steve then face each other in a game of chicken; as Steve tries to attack Charlie using his helicopter, he uses his Mini Cooper to damage the helicopters tail rotors, bringing it to a halt. Steve then steals a Ford Bronco in anger and continues to follow Charlie to Union Station as the team have already arrived there. As Steve arrives at the railcar the Mini Coopers are stored in, he is confronted by Charlie, who taunts him that he's got nothing since Charlie now has the gold. Angered, Steve threatens to kill Charlie if he doesn't turn over the gold, but falls into a trap: Charlie has already informed the Ukrainian that Steve is the person they want, and Charlie gives the Ukrainian a portion of the stolen gold. Before Mashkov takes him away, Steve gets punched by Stella in revenge for killing her father. Steve is presumably, albeit more likely tortured and killed by Mashkov and his mob. As his death was not shown, it can be implied that he may have died in a car crusher, as Mashkov and the mob were working there.
Trivia
- Mark Wahlberg was originally interested in the role of Steve. However, F. Gary Gray thought that he was perfect for Charlie.
- The tie-in video game, Steve's real last name is said to be Bandell. However, it is unknown if this is true in the film; Charlie mentions to Stella that Steve had changed his last name to Frazelli, but his true last name is never revealed.
- Edward Norton did not enjoy working on The Italian Job; having been contractually obligated to work on three films for Paramount (with the first being Primal Fear), he was forced to work on the film after constantly rejecting scripts for the next two. Norton made no attempt to hide his disdain while on set, frequently clashed with the crew, and when the producer sent the cast gifts after the film's surprising box-office success, he sent his back with a note reading "Give this to someone you actually like - or someone who actually likes you."