Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
November 15, 2010
CHRIS BROWN shows his extreme acting skills in TAKERS
Grammy®-nominated recording artist Chris Brown, already the star of the musical hit “Stomp the Yard,” plays Jesse, one of the suave outlaws in Columbia Pictures' new action-thriller “Takers.”
A recent No. 1 box-office hit in the U.S., “Takers” also stars Matt Dillon, Jay Hernandez and Hayden Christensen.
In the film, a group of young criminals bankroll their extravagant lifestyle with a series of painstakingly planned bank robberies while a dedicated police officer makes it his personal mission to stop them. After years of meticulously planned heists, the crew is convinced by one of their own to risk it all for one last big score, but pulling off the job of a lifetime with a dogged detective and a vicious rival gang on their tail is a tall order, even for these seasoned pros.
For Chris Brown, “Takers” was a chance to break away from his image as a musical artist who sometimes acts. “This role is different from any of the others I’ve played,” he says. “The earlier movies played to my strengths, which is cool, but it’s also good to be able to use your other abilities.”
The film marks producer Will Packer’s third project with Brown, who was only 19 when the film was shot. “I may not be able to krump like he can, but nobody produces a Chris Brown movie like me,” laughs Packer. “He was in his element in the first two films. In “Stomp the Yard,” he was a kid who was part of a dance crew, which was like breathing for Chris. In “This Christmas,” he was a kid who could sing, which is also not much of a stretch. He dances, runs, jumps, plays basketball. Anything athletic, this kid can do and with boundless energy.”
Which made him perfect, in Packer’s view, for the action genre. “He gets an opportunity to really showcase another side of his talent in this film,” says the producer. “He’s jumping from moving cars, jumping off a building, bouncing off the roof of a taxi and loving every minute of it. There is nothing that he does not believe he can do, so of course he insisted on doing his own stunts.”
That didn’t always sit well with the producer. “One of my responsibilities is to protect our key talent. There definitely were times on set when we wanted to have a trained stunt man, someone who does this for a living every day as opposed to one of our main actors, do it. Chris didn’t always agree. Sometimes he would push back, but it’s great when you have an actor that wants to give a hundred and ten percent.”
Brown’s headlong dash though downtown Los Angeles to escape the police is one of the film’s most thrilling set pieces. Using elements of parkour, a highly athletic, acrobatic sport, Brown surmounts seemingly impossible obstacles without any outside assistance. “I had to jump from one story to the story below on a building by scaling a wall,” he says “It was difficult because I had to grab while I was free-falling. It actually came out great.”
But even more fun than the stunts for Brown was the opportunity to work with so many actors of such high caliber. “I’m a fan of all these people,” he says. “I watched them work while I was growing and wanted to be like them. To be a part of that magic is incredible.”
Opening across the Philippines on Nov. 24, “Takers” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.
November 9, 2010
MATT DILLON is a chasing cop in TAKERS
His searing performance as a racist officer in the Oscar-winning “Crash” earned Matt Dillon an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In Columbia Pictures' new action-thriller “Takers,” Dillon plays another cop but of an entirely different mold.
“No, he’s not like the guy in `Crash' at all. Although if you are going to play a cop, I would prefer to play one who is messed up!,” he laughs. “What I mean is, I prefer to play a character who is human, with flaws. Mostly in movies, criminals are more interesting than cops but in the case of `Takers,' the character is as interesting as the bad guys. He’s got flaws and I like that. He’s divorced, he’s got a daughter, and he’s an adrenaline junkie who is very caught up in his work.”
“There’s a sequence in the film where he’s taking his daughter to a museum on his day off but then he gets some information about a guy that they’ve been looking for and he ends up going on a stakeout with his daughter. He ends up chasing this guy down the street with his daughter sitting in the car, with her colouring book, next to him.
“Who would do that? You could end up getting your daughter killed. But that’s what I mean, he’s a messed up guy.”
Dillon's character, Welles, may be a flawed man but he is also a brilliant detective, dogged in pursuit of a young crew – played by Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen and Idris Elba - who specialise in spectacular heists and are planning a $20 million bank robbery.
“I really liked those guys,” says Dillon of his young co-stars. “And I think they work really well in these roles – they have a lot of style, in fact, I think the movie has a lot of style and with a genre like this, it fits together perfectly. It’s ambitious and there are a lot of characters in the film so it’s a big ensemble cast but I think it works.”
“But I didn’t really get a lot of opportunities to work with them as much as I would have liked – you see them planning their heist and I’m trying to catch them, so for a lot of the film we’re really acting in two separate stories. I did some scenes with Paul towards the end which was good. I love Idris’s work too, he’s great.”
Director John Luessenhop used multi camera set ups to film “Takers” and Dillon found the technique produced great results. “John handled the film really well,” he says. “It’s the only film I’ve done where they had so many cameras going at once. And from an acting standpoint there were times where you didn’t even know a camera was there. It also means that when you are shooting action scenes, as we were, you can get a lot done a lot faster. `Takers' was shot digitally,” he says. “And it looks beautiful so it was great to watch how that works.”
Opening soon across the Philippines, “Takers” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.
“No, he’s not like the guy in `Crash' at all. Although if you are going to play a cop, I would prefer to play one who is messed up!,” he laughs. “What I mean is, I prefer to play a character who is human, with flaws. Mostly in movies, criminals are more interesting than cops but in the case of `Takers,' the character is as interesting as the bad guys. He’s got flaws and I like that. He’s divorced, he’s got a daughter, and he’s an adrenaline junkie who is very caught up in his work.”
“There’s a sequence in the film where he’s taking his daughter to a museum on his day off but then he gets some information about a guy that they’ve been looking for and he ends up going on a stakeout with his daughter. He ends up chasing this guy down the street with his daughter sitting in the car, with her colouring book, next to him.
“Who would do that? You could end up getting your daughter killed. But that’s what I mean, he’s a messed up guy.”
Dillon's character, Welles, may be a flawed man but he is also a brilliant detective, dogged in pursuit of a young crew – played by Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen and Idris Elba - who specialise in spectacular heists and are planning a $20 million bank robbery.
“I really liked those guys,” says Dillon of his young co-stars. “And I think they work really well in these roles – they have a lot of style, in fact, I think the movie has a lot of style and with a genre like this, it fits together perfectly. It’s ambitious and there are a lot of characters in the film so it’s a big ensemble cast but I think it works.”
“But I didn’t really get a lot of opportunities to work with them as much as I would have liked – you see them planning their heist and I’m trying to catch them, so for a lot of the film we’re really acting in two separate stories. I did some scenes with Paul towards the end which was good. I love Idris’s work too, he’s great.”
Director John Luessenhop used multi camera set ups to film “Takers” and Dillon found the technique produced great results. “John handled the film really well,” he says. “It’s the only film I’ve done where they had so many cameras going at once. And from an acting standpoint there were times where you didn’t even know a camera was there. It also means that when you are shooting action scenes, as we were, you can get a lot done a lot faster. `Takers' was shot digitally,” he says. “And it looks beautiful so it was great to watch how that works.”
Opening soon across the Philippines, “Takers” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.
November 2, 2010
HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN takes it all
After portraying a thief who can teleport himself anywhere in the 2008 hit “Jumper,” Hayden Christensen now plays a more earth-bound bank robber in Columbia Pictures' new action-thriller “Takers.”
A recent No. 1 box-office hit in the U.S., “Takers” also stars Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Michael Ealy, Tip “T.I.” Harris and Chris Brown.
In the film, a group of high-living young criminals bankroll their extravagant lifestyle with a series of painstakingly planned bank robberies while a dedicated police officer makes it his personal mission to stop them. After years of meticulously planned heists, the crew is convinced by one of their own to risk it all for one last big score, but pulling off the job of a lifetime with a dogged detective and a vicious rival gang on their tail is a tall order, even for these seasoned pros.
Hayden Christensen as AJ, an Ivy League golden boy with a taste for classic jazz and blues and a pivotal member of the heist crew. “Hayden brought in so many good ideas,” says director John Luessenhop. “He was always very thoughtful about what he was working on and how he wanted to do things. And in fact, he was usually right. He’s got great judgment and really brought the character to life. Right now, I can’t imagine anyone but Hayden as AJ.”
Christensen is probably most famous for his role as Anakin Skywalker in the “Star Wars” series, which garnered him some unwanted attention while shooting. “People in L.A. try to be very cool about seeing actors and watching films shot,” says co-star Paul Walker. “But, you know, the kid in all of us can’t help but get a little excited sometimes. ‘Oh, Anakin’s over there!’ It happened a couple of times and we never let him live it down.”
Hayden recently starred in Doug Liman’s sci-fi action film “Jumper,” opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Rachel Bilson. Christensen played David Rice, a man with the power to teleport himself around the globe who finds himself relentlessly pursued by a secret organization sworn to kill all “jumpers.” The film grossed more than $220 million worldwide. Christensen was next seen in “New York, I Love You” opposite Orlando Bloom, Julie Christie, Robin Wright, Kevin Bacon, Ethan Hawke, Natalie Portman, Rachel Bilson and Shia LaBeouf. The film is an anthology that joins several love stories set in one of the most beloved cities in the world, New York.
Christensen first gained critical acclaim for his role as a troubled teenager in Irwin Winkler’s 2001 drama “Life as a House,” costarring Kevin Kline. For his performance, Christensen was nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award. Christensen also received the award for Best Breakthrough Performance from the National Board of Review.
Other film credits include George Hickenlooper’s “Factory Girl,” Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides,” Sarah Kernochan’s “All I Wanna Do” and John Carpenter’s “In the Mouth of Madness.” Additionally, he starred in Billy Ray’s “Shattered Glass,” which was the first feature film produced by Christensen’s production company, Forest Park Pictures.
Opening soon across the Philippines, “Takers” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.
A recent No. 1 box-office hit in the U.S., “Takers” also stars Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Michael Ealy, Tip “T.I.” Harris and Chris Brown.
In the film, a group of high-living young criminals bankroll their extravagant lifestyle with a series of painstakingly planned bank robberies while a dedicated police officer makes it his personal mission to stop them. After years of meticulously planned heists, the crew is convinced by one of their own to risk it all for one last big score, but pulling off the job of a lifetime with a dogged detective and a vicious rival gang on their tail is a tall order, even for these seasoned pros.
Hayden Christensen as AJ, an Ivy League golden boy with a taste for classic jazz and blues and a pivotal member of the heist crew. “Hayden brought in so many good ideas,” says director John Luessenhop. “He was always very thoughtful about what he was working on and how he wanted to do things. And in fact, he was usually right. He’s got great judgment and really brought the character to life. Right now, I can’t imagine anyone but Hayden as AJ.”
Christensen is probably most famous for his role as Anakin Skywalker in the “Star Wars” series, which garnered him some unwanted attention while shooting. “People in L.A. try to be very cool about seeing actors and watching films shot,” says co-star Paul Walker. “But, you know, the kid in all of us can’t help but get a little excited sometimes. ‘Oh, Anakin’s over there!’ It happened a couple of times and we never let him live it down.”
Hayden recently starred in Doug Liman’s sci-fi action film “Jumper,” opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Rachel Bilson. Christensen played David Rice, a man with the power to teleport himself around the globe who finds himself relentlessly pursued by a secret organization sworn to kill all “jumpers.” The film grossed more than $220 million worldwide. Christensen was next seen in “New York, I Love You” opposite Orlando Bloom, Julie Christie, Robin Wright, Kevin Bacon, Ethan Hawke, Natalie Portman, Rachel Bilson and Shia LaBeouf. The film is an anthology that joins several love stories set in one of the most beloved cities in the world, New York.
Christensen first gained critical acclaim for his role as a troubled teenager in Irwin Winkler’s 2001 drama “Life as a House,” costarring Kevin Kline. For his performance, Christensen was nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award. Christensen also received the award for Best Breakthrough Performance from the National Board of Review.
Other film credits include George Hickenlooper’s “Factory Girl,” Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides,” Sarah Kernochan’s “All I Wanna Do” and John Carpenter’s “In the Mouth of Madness.” Additionally, he starred in Billy Ray’s “Shattered Glass,” which was the first feature film produced by Christensen’s production company, Forest Park Pictures.
Opening soon across the Philippines, “Takers” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.
October 21, 2010
TAKERS sneak peek: photos, trailer
A group of high-living young criminals bankroll their extravagant lifestyle with a series of painstakingly planned bank robberies while a dedicated police officer makes it his personal mission to stop them in Columbia Pictures' taut, edge-of your seat crime thriller “Takers.” After years of meticulously planned heists, the crew is convinced by one of their own to risk it all for one last big score, but pulling off the job of a lifetime with a dogged detective and a vicious rival gang on their tail is a tall order, even for these seasoned pros.
A recent No. 1 box-office hit in the U.S., “Takers” stars Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Michael Ealy, Tip “T.I.” Harris, with Chris Brown and Hayden Christensen.
In the film, longtime friends Gordon Betts (Elba), John Rahway (Walker), A.J. (Christensen), and the Attica brothers, Jake (Ealy) and Jesse (Brown) finance an extravagant lifestyle filled with hot cars, hotter women and unlimited cash by staging high stakes bank robberies. They avoid being caught by planning to the tiniest detail, leaving no clues and pulling off one—and only one—job per year.
Their latest successful caper, a $2 million heist, attracts the attention of LAPD Detective Jack Welles (Dillon), an old-school cop who has sacrificed his marriage, his child and any semblance of a personal life for the job. Despite a lack of support from the department, Welles is determined to track down the elusive gang before they strike again.
As the crew celebrates their latest daring robbery in a chic downtown cocktail lounge, Ghost (T.I.), a former comrade-in-arms recently released from prison, drops in with an irresistible proposal. The only member of the crew arrested for an earlier job, Ghost says he has a plan that will net each of them enough money to hang up their ski masks forever: the robbery of an armored car carrying over $12 million. But it has to happen in five days or the opportunity will evaporate.
Although doing another job right away goes against the crew’s strict rules of conduct, the lure of all that money proves too great and they decide to risk a daring daylight hold-up on a crowded downtown Los Angeles street. With just a few days to prepare, the crew sets in motion an intricate scheme that unknowingly puts them on a collision course with a group of ruthless Russian mobsters.
In the meantime, Welles is unraveling a complex web of evidence that takes him from a small time arms dealer to the Russians and finally… crew leader Gordon Betts. With the clock ticking down, ancient rivalries, unexpected double-crosses, unknown enemies and just plain bad luck complicate the plan, resulting in a deadly showdown no one saw coming.
Opening soon across the Philippines, “Takers” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.
A recent No. 1 box-office hit in the U.S., “Takers” stars Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Michael Ealy, Tip “T.I.” Harris, with Chris Brown and Hayden Christensen.
In the film, longtime friends Gordon Betts (Elba), John Rahway (Walker), A.J. (Christensen), and the Attica brothers, Jake (Ealy) and Jesse (Brown) finance an extravagant lifestyle filled with hot cars, hotter women and unlimited cash by staging high stakes bank robberies. They avoid being caught by planning to the tiniest detail, leaving no clues and pulling off one—and only one—job per year.
Their latest successful caper, a $2 million heist, attracts the attention of LAPD Detective Jack Welles (Dillon), an old-school cop who has sacrificed his marriage, his child and any semblance of a personal life for the job. Despite a lack of support from the department, Welles is determined to track down the elusive gang before they strike again.
As the crew celebrates their latest daring robbery in a chic downtown cocktail lounge, Ghost (T.I.), a former comrade-in-arms recently released from prison, drops in with an irresistible proposal. The only member of the crew arrested for an earlier job, Ghost says he has a plan that will net each of them enough money to hang up their ski masks forever: the robbery of an armored car carrying over $12 million. But it has to happen in five days or the opportunity will evaporate.
Although doing another job right away goes against the crew’s strict rules of conduct, the lure of all that money proves too great and they decide to risk a daring daylight hold-up on a crowded downtown Los Angeles street. With just a few days to prepare, the crew sets in motion an intricate scheme that unknowingly puts them on a collision course with a group of ruthless Russian mobsters.
In the meantime, Welles is unraveling a complex web of evidence that takes him from a small time arms dealer to the Russians and finally… crew leader Gordon Betts. With the clock ticking down, ancient rivalries, unexpected double-crosses, unknown enemies and just plain bad luck complicate the plan, resulting in a deadly showdown no one saw coming.
Opening soon across the Philippines, “Takers” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.
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