![]() Basically, Jamie is a flawed character that just got lost in his job. He has to learn during the course of the story that he has to focus on other stuff. You actually follow a corrupt cop who is very flawed, who has a lot of issues, and who doesn’t focus on the real things. ODAR: Well, I’m from Europe, so we really love flawed characters, and that’s what I liked about the story. If it’s just one step too close, then you hit someone.ĭid you worry about alienating audiences because of how Jamie’s character is portrayed at the beginning? Usually, you try not to hit someone, but sometimes it happens. No one is really capable of doing martial arts. That’s why we also said all the extras should feel grounded, too. It was very important to me not to have stunt doubles, because I don’t like that so much. They went through it all and wanted to do it by themselves. ODAR: You choreograph it like a dance, but in the end, you hit each other and accidents happen. How did you direct them in that scene where they go at it with each other? We hear Jamie chipped his tooth when he was fighting with Michelle. You always face a bunch of hands trying to stop you from working. Everyone loves him, especially the women and girls. In my German movie, Who Am I, I was with one of the biggest stars in Germany and we had the same issue. When we were shooting on the street or wherever people could get closer to the set, there were always 200 people yelling, “Jamie, Jamie!” But I’m fine with that. He’s a great guy.ĭid you have any issues with the paparazzi while you were shooting the film? Then, I yelled “cut” and he fell asleep again. Once you yell “action,” he’s so focused and he’s in the role immediately. Then, I yelled “action” and then he was wide awake. Let’s try and see if we can do it.” He literally almost fell asleep at the wheel. ![]() I was like, “Oh my God, we’re never going to get through this scene, because it’s already the 14 th shooting hour, and we have to push that scene. He was really tired because of the fighting and the stunts that he did all by himself. We were shooting a shot where he’s in the car and he tries to escape the other car that’s chasing him. There was one day we shot where it was a very long shooting day, and Jamie was so tired. For a director, sometimes it’s awkward if your actor is such an entertainer, because you want to stay focused. Then, I met her and I think she’s brilliant, but that was Jamie’s idea. ![]() Was it Jamie’s idea to cast Gabrielle Union as his wife? You really have to have someone who is a good supporter of that. She’s not just a pretty woman, but she’s also a really good actress, and we felt like she was a perfect fit to Jamie, because Jamie is such a good actor. I think she’s a fantastic actress and very likeable, but also edgy. I’ve loved her work since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and also Gone Baby Gone. Then, we started casting with Avy Kaufman. Jamie was the only one who was on board already. Did you cast her or was she also on board when you came on? Michelle Monaghan is Jamie’s equal co-star in this movie. We felt it fit better than having a typical huge Hollywood explosion. We felt that going into that garage was like going into your dark side or a metaphor for that. We always felt because we were so grounded, as least I think with this action movie, that we didn’t want to have this typical big Hollywood showdown, but rather something that was very rooted in the characters. There were also draft versions where the showdown was outside, taking place in Vegas on the monorail. We also felt like sometimes you have to get outside of this entire thing. You get the knight that goes into the castle and has to fight the bad knights to get his son back. We liked the idea of having this entire casino tower, which still feels like a prison for Jamie. You can’t really do much in just the club. As you know, the movie is based on a French movie ( Nuit Blanche) that’s set up in a club, which is also a nice location, but we always felt like it’s too small for 90 minutes. So, we decided to get as much as possible in interior set-ups and build up the casino floor. It’s a great city with great crews there, but it’s really hard to make it into a Las Vegas version of it because it doesn’t look at all like Las Vegas.
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