|
MST Manager
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 139,981
|
Quote:
Arnold Schwarzenegger has made a career of being a big screen bad ass. But in writer/director David Ayer’s latest action flick, Sabotage, audiences will also be treated to an emotionally multi-layered Arnold. He’s still tough, but this time things are a little bit more complicated than meets the eye.
Following a renegade bunch of DEA agents, Schwarzenegger plays John “Breacher” Wharton, team leader and father figure. When the team successfully executes a raid on a high-powered cartel safe house, they assume their work is done. Until members of the team begin mysteriously dying and it becomes apparent that no one is to be trusted.
With a strong supporting cast rocking questionable cinematic facial hair and tattoos, check out what Schwarzenegger, Josh Holloway and Joe Manganiello had to say about their intense new movie.
The cast was sent on training sessions with real life law enforcement advisors. What was the motivation behind it?
DAVID AYER: The watch word for this is reality. For actors, if you teach them the real skills, when they get on set they don’t have to worry about anything but their performance. I think any actor can tell you that when they have the training, there’s a certain confidence in their physical performance.
JOE MANGANIELLO: When portraying someone that exists in real life, there is an amount of respect. You want to do it justice. I don’t really care about what you say about what I did in the film, I care about what (law enforcement) thought about what I did. If I’m making them happy, then I’m on the right track. David does pay these guys respect and everybody in the cast really took it seriously.
JOSH HOLLOWAY: There’s some big names in this movie, with Arnold as our anchor. But it was amazing to see people show up to the training with no ego, what so ever and be completely available. We were sweating and we’re all joking afterwards and it was fantastic. That’s really what gelled us as a team. David also had us sparing each other. You don’t put headgear on actors and let them fight each other. We’re all ego!
Arnold, your character has a lot of layers emotionally. So was this role more difficult physically or emotionally for you?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER : From an acting point of view, it was the most challenging cause I’ve never played a character like this. My characters usually are black and white. I’m the good guy that wipes out the bad guys. But this script and the character were written a lot differently. That’s what appealed to me. Of course I was familiar with David Ayer’s scripts and his style of writing. I thought that it would really be great for me to be challenged like that. When we got together, he had a whole list of things that he wanted me to do. I loved that he pushed me. Cause sometimes directors can get intimidated when they meet someone like me. But David came in and he was very clear of what needed to be done. All of that built the character and made me perform the way I did.
How do you feel about the changes in the action movie genre?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER : Things have changed since before I became governor. The style of shooting is different. The directors are much younger because they have new ideas and new visions. Movies are made by committees, where as in the old days, it’s just one old guy making all of the decisions. Budgets are half of what they used to be because the rest of the movies are used for the franchises and the sequels. It’s a different world but you have to adjust to that.
Arnold, do you think your kids will follow in your footsteps and be an action movie star?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER : My son is really into acting, but he still goes to the University and studies business. After that, he can decide if he wants to be a full time actor. He’s a terrific A student. The most important thing though is following your passion. I always try to teach kids to find their passion because I despise kids who get out of college and have no idea what they want to do. What does that mean? That’s unacceptable. Don’t listen to your parents or your coaches, listen to your heart. Listen to yourself and follow your passions. I hope he has a successful career if he chooses acting. But right now, the way he looks, he should do love stories than action movies. As good looking as he is.
Can you talk about filming in Georgia?
JOSH HOLLOWAY: I’m from Georgia, so I had a great time being back home. I have 3 brothers and it’s kind of my backyard. Gerogia is usually buggy and muggy or way too cold, but it was amazing cause we were there in the fall, which is the golden time to be in Georgia. I built my character around that. His name was Neck, short for Redneck and I have a little bit of experience with that!
DAVID AYER: Any decision to shoot some place is fueled by many reasons. Georgia has this very robust tax rebate, which is very attractive to our business. For me it was exciting cause all of my films have been shot in Los Angeles. The local government opened up to us very well. We did a major car chase scene in the city and it was really interesting to see how well the local government worked with us, the access they gave and the support they gave us. We used a lot of active PD officers as background agents in the film and it was nice to feel that Georgia hospitality.
David, can you talk about working with Arnold?
DAVID AYER: To have the opportunity to work with this man, he was my boyhood hero. The guy is a seminal legend and the films he starred in when I was a teenager, were the very films that inspired me to direct. So the opportunity to work with someone like that was the realization of a dream. Then to discover that he was a really good time on top of that. You’re always fighting, as a director, the legacy of the actors that you’re working with, so my job was to take this iconic individual and ground him and portray him in the style that I direct. He was open to that process. Everyone saw this as an opportunity to see him portray a character with layers, depth, history and an emotional life, and surround him with this fantastic ensemble cast. I think the results are fantastic.
JOSH HOLLOWAY: It was an absolute pleasure. To shoot in my back yard and my brothers got to come and meet Arnold. It was really special to me. What I found most impressive about working with him was that he was completely present with us. There was no wall to get to Arnold or to speak with him on set. He was just one of us, very present and a part of the team. That was impressive and I enjoyed that.
How did you guys come up with the look of your character?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER : I cannot take credit for my hair cut and I refuse to take credit for it. That was David’s idea. It was pitiful; I wore a hat the whole time I was off set because people were always asking me why I looked weird.
JOE MANGANIELLO: One of the things that always struck me about Training Day was that you see Denzel walk out with his bling and get into his low rider. And you’re thinking that he looks like a gangster and that’s the point. Undercovers they look like the guys that they’re chasing after. When I got cast in this role, I would up back stage at a Black Sabbath concert in Chicago and Ozzie’s new drummer had cornrows and covered in tattoos. And I thought, you would never think he’s a cop. And I kinda thought, okay, let’s try this out. So I had my friend do them for me and I came into the training session and everyone just stared at me. Terrence Howard said, “Man you look like a shark!” Somebody else said that if they turned the corner and saw me, they’d just drop the bags of meth and leave. So I knew I was on to something.
Sabotage looks to blow up the box office on Friday, March 28th.
|
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Josh Holloway & Joe Manganiello Get Brutal and Bloody in 'Sabotage' | Gofobo
__________________
icon by Sulieter
|