The catalyst for the Billy-Hostetler dynamic in the new movie ‘Broken City’ is the latter’s wife, Cathleen, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Her relationship with her husband is a complex one, as is often the case with real-life political couples. “Politicians’ wives sometimes put on a face to protect their partner,” notes Zeta-Jones. “To the outside world they are this quintessential first family, but a bright light sometimes reveals scandal and corruption. To play the role, I drew on this dichotomy. When you meet Cathleen, she is what every woman wants to be and has everything they would love to possess, but that is not what’s reflected behind closed doors. As the character evolves, you see why she wants to get out of this situation. Cathleen knows way too much, and she knows that Hostetler’s dealings and actions will destroy many people’s lives, including her own.”

Another character who’s much more than he seems is Commissioner Fairbanks, who hasn’t forgiven Billy, played by Mark Wahlberg, for his past transgression, but begins to see that Billy has changed over the years. Time and again, Fairbanks has proven more than equal to the task of surviving in a tough, sometimes brutal political environment. Director Allen Hughes tapped Jeffrey Wright for the role.

“Fairbanks is potentially as dangerous as anyone else – a shark among sharks – but there are certain moral boundaries that he respects,” explains Wright. “Allen [Hughes] and I discussed how mysterious he is and that he’s both an observer and manipulator of the action and, most importantly, that he’s a survivor who knows how to protect himself.”

Another survivor is Councilman Jack Valliant, the mayor’s fresh-faced opponent in the upcoming election. Barry Pepper, an Emmy winner for his role as Robert F. Kennedy in the mini-series “The Kennedys,” portrays Valliant. Valliant is pursuing evidence that could mean an easy victory for him – but he soon discovers that nothing comes easily when you face off against the mayor.

Natalie Martinez portrays Billy’s girlfriend Natalie, an aspiring actress. Their relationship becomes challenged because of their past. “Natalie is from the projects where you have to fend for yourself and really fight to get out,” Martinez explains. “Natalie is trying to become an actress and is hungry for that life. She is sometimes tough with Billy, who is trying to find value in what he’s done and who he’s become.”

The other woman in Billy’s life is his quick-witted assistant Katy Bradshaw, with whom he shares a comfortable banter and shorthand. “Katy is the place that Billy feels at home,” explains Alona Tal, who takes on the role. “He’s almost relaxed and open, and even funny; there’s a very different beat to Billy’s personality when he is with Katy.”

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‘Broken City’ was shot on location in New York and, due to production logistics, in New Orleans, the latter doubling for the Big Apple. “‘Broken City’ is a New York movie in the classic sense that we shot most of the exteriors in New York,” director Allen Hughes explains. “Our production designer, Tom Duffield, maintained a consistency from New York into New Orleans, and there was definitely a cohesion that was remarkable.”

During their first meeting to discuss the project, Hughes and Duffield sorted through images and discussed movies that featured New York, deciding what they would film in New Orleans and what absolutely had to be shot in New York. “We wanted to show the big panoramic views of New York from across the river or on the rooftops looking at some of New York’s iconic buildings,” says Duffield. “In one scene shot from a penthouse balcony of the Palace Hotel at night (doubling for the Four Seasons) you can see both the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in one shot. Those are the scenes that give the film a real iconic feel for New York.”

Production began with over two weeks of establishing exteriors throughout New York City

Bolton Village, scene of the crime for which Billy, played by Mark Wahlberg, must relinquish his badge, and the center of the controversy surrounding Mayor Hostetler, played by Russell Crowe, was shot in and around the Lower East Side public housing project in New York’s Alphabet City known as Riis Houses.

Brooklyn’s Vinegar Hill neighborhood at Plymouth and Adams Streets, also known as DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), offered up the gritty streets where Billy sets up shop as a small-time private investigator, biding his time in hopes of regaining his honor and badge. The borough provided the perfect vantage point for daytime skylines overlooking Manhattan’s financial district.

Several hundred extras gathered as protesters of police corruption and injustice, in front of a courthouse during Billy’s trial, which filmed on the stairs of the New York City Supreme Court at One Center Street. Councilman Valliant’s press conference pledging hope for the working class, was shot at the Tweed Courthouse at 52 Chambers.

The cast and crew regularly found themselves amongst the hustle and flow of humanity, shooting on the streets of mid-town Manhattan, on Madison and 44th or Grand Central Station to capture the unassumingly influential lifestyle of the mayor’s wife, Cathleen, and her aides. Production in New York wrapped with a scene shot at the Long Island Railroad, and a sequence filmed at a Montauk Beach house in Nissequogue, Long Island.

“There are many different ways of showing New York, gritty like ‘The French Connection’, or beautiful like ‘Manhattan’,” explains Duffield. “We tended a little more towards ‘Manhattan’, with picturesque views across the river or up at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx – all these beautiful locations that just make New York feel like a great city.”

‘Broken City’ is a rhythmic dance with two forces colliding: the dangerous Manhattan patriarch (Crowe’s Mayor Hostetler) and the unapologetic outcast (Wahlberg’s Billy Taggart) on a relentless path of redemption. Much of their intense interaction was captured in New Orleans, where the production moved for the remaining six weeks to shoot interiors and select exteriors.

“For Hostetler, we wanted that sort of ‘Godfather’ feel, with light slashing through the shutters of the Don’s office,” says Duffield. “After his fall from grace, Billy Taggart moves to more gritty areas around Brooklyn. His office is probably my favorite set build in New Orleans because I got into that kind of texture of an older neighborhood, lot of walls with peeling paint and exposed pipes.”

‘Broken City’ arrived in theaters everywhere in the States on January 18, 2013.

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Director Allen Hughes of the new movie ‘Broken City’ admits that as he read the script, he immediately saw Mark Wahlberg in the role of Billy. “So I went out to Mark and we sat down and started the journey of making ‘Broken City’,” says the filmmaker.

“Allen sent the script to me and said, ‘I see you in this part; do you want to do this thing together?” Wahlberg remembers. Moreover, Wahlberg felt such a connection to the character and material that he came onboard as a producer, working closely with Hughes to put together the project.

“One thing that I love about Mark’s acting is that he embodies the true spirit of the underdog,” reveals Hughes. “There’s an endearing quality about him and when he smiles he lights up an entire room. Mark had never before done anything quite like this, and that also was interesting to me. Mark has this innate ability to surprise audiences, and that’s what his role in ‘Broken City’ called for.”

“I love the fact that Billy is unapologetic,” says Wahlberg. “He does whatever it takes to right the wrong he committed years ago. From his private detective agency in Brooklyn he watches what’s going on in the city and the life that he used to have, and he misses that. Investigating the mayor’s wife offers not only a big payday, but a chance to get back his old life.”

But as Billy soon learns, the mayor’s offer hides a much more sinister intent, one that will require Billy to summon inner resources untapped since his days as a cop.

Ultimately, he and the mayor in the film, played by Russell Crowe, will face off in a battle that will put Billy to the test. Hughes knew that a Wahlberg-Crowe on-screen confrontation would be electrifying. During his first meeting with Crowe, Hughes found that Crowe could hold court at a dinner party as masterfully as any seasoned politician. “He’s a riveting storyteller and it was the biggest surprise for me to mine that, because that quality of Russell has rarely been seen.”

Crowe didn’t base his performance on a specific public figure, instead opting to study the lives of several New York City officials. He explains: “I went back for the last fifty years and I looked at their schooling, where they came from and how they connected to people. ‘Broken City’ s Mayor Hostetler is part Queens and part Wall Street. He’s an absolute populist with elitist lifestyle habits that he’s come to appreciate and expect. We all know the old cliché that power corrupts, but it’s very interesting when the person that’s doing the corrupting believes that this is benign corruption for a higher purpose.”

Crowe brought not only his impressive skills but his larger-than-life persona to the role. “Russell is one of the greatest living actors, and he’s also very charming,” says Wahlberg. “On set, he was the mayor. He certainly charms my character Billy, but once he realizes the mayor is corrupt, Billy has got to take him down. There’s no more formidable opponent than Russell and the movie is really about us going at it.”

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