In a broken city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) seeks redemption – and revenge – after being double-crossed by the city’s most powerful figure, the mayor (Russell Crowe). Billy’s relentless pursuit of justice, matched only by his streetwise toughness, makes him an unstoppable force – and the mayor’s worst nightmare.

‘Broken City’ protagonist Billy Taggart is one of Mark Wahlberg’s richest screen roles. “The film’s script reminded me of those smart, character-driven crime thrillers that I grew up watching and loving,” says the Oscar-nominated actor.

Billy is an ex-New York City cop who loved his job and did it very well until he went too far while investigating a murder. Now, he’s a private detective, barely making ends meet, “when a call from the mayor offers an opportunity to regain his badge and gun,” Wahlberg explains. “The mayor thinks his wife is having an affair and he’s worried about it interfering with his chances for reelection. As Billy starts to investigate, he comes to realize there’s much more to this case than a cheating spouse, and that’s when the war between the mayor and Billy ignites.” It is this war that leads Billy to redemption.

“There is an edge to this story and to the way people speak to each other,” says Russell Crowe, who portrays Mayor Hostetler, a character that projects a powerful mix of charm and menace. “I look to be physically affected by projects I’m considering, and I sort of got goose bumps and started making decisions on behalf of the mayor straightaway while reading the script for ‘Broken City’. It’s a truly grown-up story.”

“The film really respects the audience’s intelligence,” notes Catherine Zeta-Jones, who portrays the mayor’s wife, Cathleen, who is much more than she seems. “Its smart dialogue moves like a bullet train right through the piece.”

“I read ‘Broken City’ as a kind of contemporary Humphrey Bogart story, taking place against a backdrop of treachery and intrigue where everyone is ambitious in one way or another,” adds Jeffrey Wright, who portrays Commissioner Fairbanks, whose continuing doubts about Billy will change by the end of the latter’s journey.

Brian Tucker’s taut screenplay had an impressive pedigree, having earned a spot on The Black List, an industry clearinghouse for the best, yet-to-be-produced screenplays. “It has a lot of great action, twists and turns, and a dynamic narrative, but more important than that is its characters,” explains director Allen Hughes. “Billy Taggart jumped off the page as being very layered and challenging.”

‘Broken City’ fits squarely within the impressive body of work from Hughes. He and his brother Albert – known professionally as The Hughes Brothers – are renowned for their gritty, no-holds-barred films that place dynamic characters in challenging, if not impossible situations. Their films include ‘Menace II Society’, ‘Dead Presidents’ and ‘From Hell’. Allen, inspired by Brian Tucker’s screenplay, was eager to make ‘Broken City’ his next project. “Ultimately ‘Broken City’ is a redemption story,” he points out. “Billy will go to any lengths to find justice for something that’s long haunted him.”

Hughes was more than surprised when the creator of these powerful and complex characters turned out to be very different from what he expected. “I was blown away when Brian, this scrawny 25-year-old kid walked in for our meeting. I could not believe that this young man, who looked barely 19, had written such a sophisticated, compelling, and layered story.”

Producer Randall Emmett shared the actors’ and Hughes’ passion for the story and characters. “I’ve always loved films about the underdog who stands up to the system,” says Emmett, who is partnered with George Furla (one of ‘Broken City’s executive producers) in the prolific production company Emmett/Furla Films. “I was really excited by the fact that you never know where the story is going.”

‘Broken City’ is out in theaters in the US now.

The article Broken City: A Movie on the Edge appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Seth MacFarlane’s new comedy ‘Ted’ is out in cinemas on June 29 and tells the tale of a boy and his friendship with a toy. From the moment they find each other, young John Bennett and the cuddly bear Ted vow to be best friends, forever and ever. Their shared childhood joys include time go-karting, making snow angels, watching ‘Flash Gordon’, dressing in costumes for the local opening of ‘Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace’ (as Darth Maul and Yoda), getting high…and watching ‘Flash Gordon’. As kids, their shared fear of thunder bonds them as “Thunder Buddies,” and the phobia follows them into adulthood. Nothing scares away thunder more than a shared song to embolden their spirits.

MacFarlane discusses casting the role of the man who just can’t grow up: “Mark Wahlberg was the perfect fit because he can be hysterically funny, yet he’s also able to deliver genuine emotion and realism. When he talks to the bear, you believe that bear is sitting there. The way he could sit there and show such genuine emotion over the prostrate body of an inanimate stuffed animal was pretty impressive, and that is going to be a very big reason why the audience is invested in this.”

While Wahlberg has only appeared in a handful of comedies, his skills wowed the director. “His ability to do physical comedy is incredible,” continues MacFarlane. “That loveable, gullible character he plays in ‘Boogie Nights’ and ‘I Heart Huckabees’ was something we saw as a jumping-off point for John: the sweet and funny guy who is susceptible to Ted’s urgings.”

Wahlberg admits that he usually selects the role opposite in character from the one he last filmed. He says: “I went from doing ‘The Fighter’ press to shooting ‘Contraband’ in New Orleans during award season and going back and forth. Then I got a copy of the script, and when I read it, 30 minutes into it I completely forgot about the bear, and I thought, ‘Wow, what a great buddy movie with this dilemma in the middle of it with the girlfriend.’ Then I met Seth, and I was campaigning to get the part.”

As he read the screenplay, Wahlberg says he was quite impressed by the comedy: “People will not be disappointed. It’s Seth on steroids. When I first saw “Family Guy,” I couldn’t believe that he was getting away with some of that stuff in a cartoon. But now with this rated-R feature film, he really pushes the envelope. There’s nobody that he doesn’t offend, either. Across the board, everybody’s fair game.”

Wahlberg introduces us to his character: “John works at a rent-a-car place and has a beautiful girlfriend, Lori. He doesn’t want to let go of his adolescence, but his girlfriend wants him to step up and be a man. He’s enjoying life and couldn’t be happier with his girlfriend and his best friend; they make the most of every moment together. But that becomes a problem because Lori wants a bigger commitment.”

His first blended animation film, the actor wanted to make sure that he did the part justice. He says: “My only concern was that I wanted to play everything as real as possible. I wanted to play it completely straight and let the laughs come from the craziness of the situation. That was exactly what Seth was looking for.” So intense was his preparation to ready himself for the scene in which John rattles off a number of potential names to Ted, Wahlberg wrote out each girl’s name hundreds of times.

Producer Scott Stuber knew that the man they cast had to implicitly believe that his director wouldn’t lead him astray. He explains: “Trust is a big word, and Mark had to go there with Seth. He had to sit on a couch next to a kickstand and hope that the animation and the personality of that bear would feel like two guys on a couch having fun and having real camaraderie. Mark was unbelievable; he gives such a great performance.” The producer acknowledges that their lead gave them his all: “The irony is that if you watch the dailies of the movie, there’s nobody playing against him. If you watch the movie just from Mark’s perspective, he’s getting his bare ass whipped, has to get up and sing poorly and is beat up by a bear—all kinds of indignation for his character. He just never complained, and he did everything we asked of him.”

Cast opposite Wahlberg was Mila Kunis as Lori Collins, John’s formerly patient girlfriend and a rising public relations executive. The actress, who has voiced the role of “Family Guy”’s Meg for almost 13 years, grew up with her director. Says MacFarlane: “It was a logical choice to bring her on board, given my relationship with her combined with the fact that she is just blowing up right now, and deservedly so.”

Discussing Lori’s part in the comedy, MacFarlane shares: “As with Mark, we had the same set of needs.

This role had to be played with believability, despite the outrageousness. Her relationship is hampered by the fact that this guy’s teddy bear is hanging around and keeping him from evolving and allowing their relationship to evolve. To play that real is asking a lot of an actor, and she pulled it off with flying colors. You believe that she’s genuinely distraught that this stuffed animal is dominating their life. In many ways, that was the key to the recipe for the comedy. Since the premise brings its own comedy, the trick for mining it is to play it straight at the core.”

How did Kunis feel about tackling the project? “I’ve known Seth since I was 15,” she says. “If you can work with your friends all the time, you can’t ask for a better work environment.” Plus, she deadpans, “It’s a movie about a talking teddy bear, and I would expect nothing less from Seth, Alec and Wellesley. It all made sense to me, and I didn’t question it at all. I’m on a cartoon with a talking dog. Like I’m going to question a bear?”

Nonetheless, Kunis still found the experience working with MacFarlane directing “a little strange.” She offers: “On “Family Guy”, I’m in one booth. He’s in another booth, and normally he has to explain to me what’s happening because you record “Family Guy” a year before anything’s drawn. Seeing him as the director explaining scenarios and characters and visually setting up shots has been great. Seth gets so giddy when he gets a take that he likes.”

Kunis explains that Lori is none too happy with the odd triangle in which she finds herself embedded. The actress says: “Ted is a roommate who gets in the way a lot. Lori is a hard-working girl who loves John for being a child at heart, but she also wants to settle down and have a sense of security that he’s not capable of giving her. He is a sweet, beautiful soul, but he’s like a stunted 15-year-old boy who means well but doesn’t have the drive to go past a certain point. All he does all day long is smoke weed and get high with his teddy bear. Lori tries to get John to get Ted to move into his own place so that the two of them can start their life together.”

‘Ted’ isn’t the first time the two actors have performed with one another. Kunis shares: “Mark’s very present, and he’s a comforting actor to work with. Just knowing that there’s somebody who is looking out for your best interests and that you can trust is very rare.”

Though the crux of the comedy is Ted, John and Lori, it was crucial to the filmmakers not to support the main characters with stock ones. Stuber offers: “We wanted to fill out our characters’ lives. One of the mistakes we sometimes make in filmmaking—whether it’s a comedy or a romantic comedy—is that we tend to never show that our main characters have diverse lives. It was important to dimensionalize Ted, Lori and John’s work lives and make sure that you knew these characters. Plus, across the board, we were able to get the kind of supporting actors that we wanted.”

Image Courtesy of  Ted

The article Mark Wahlberg in ‘Ted’ – ‘It’s “Family Guy” on Steroids’ appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In 2008, writer Arnaldur Indriason and writer/director Óskar Jónasson crafted the Nordic heist thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam, developed and financed by the film’s star and its primary producer, Baltasar Kormákur.

The thriller follows a security guard named Kristófer as he is reluctantly drawn back into the world of alcohol smuggling when he takes a job on a container ship that departs Reykjavik, Iceland, and heads to Rotterdam, Holland. A labor of love for Jónasson, Indriason, Kormákur and their entire team, Reykjavik-Rotterdam was well received in its home country of Iceland and throughout Europe.

Two years later, Kormákur brought the idea of reimagining the film for English-speaking audiences to one of his agents. In turn, this led to British filmmakers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner deciding to develop the project as an English-language thriller under their production banner, Working Title. This was the backdrop of the upcoming movie Contraband.

Fellner reflects: “It’s not uncommon for a film to be reimagined for an entirely new audience. But what was interesting about the development of Contraband is that the original film’s star, who was also one of its producers, wanted to change things up by directing the remake. Balt has long been known in Europe as a rising-star director.

After seeing his other films, we had the utmost confidence in his ability to helm this project and tell a story that was a parallel to the one he had helped to create in 2008. With greater resources, we knew he could expand upon that world and create a thriller that audiences will thoroughly embrace.”

When considering their new setting, the team reflected upon Louisiana’s role as a sizable gateway to the world’s waterways, and the volume of the U.S. smuggling trade that passes through this region. Consequently, Kormákur, Guzikowski and the producers scouted the locale and decided that Contraband should be set in New Orleans, rather than Kormákur’s native Iceland. “The story is universal,” explains the director. “It has nothing especially to do with Iceland or Rotterdam. Smuggling in America is more relevant than what we have in my home country.”

When producers Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson were given a copy of Reykjavik-Rotterdam, the two men quickly responded to the material and set up a meeting with Kormákur, Guzikowski and Working Title to discuss the possibilities of a partnership. Levinson walks us through Contraband’s development: “Balt was attached because he produced the original film.

I thought it was interesting that he produced and starred in the original but that he wanted to direct this version. He said that he only saw Mark playing the role that he originated, and that was a big endorsement.” Wahlberg offers: “I loved Reykjavik-Rotterdam, and Balt and I hit it off instantly. He starred in and produced the original, so he knows the story inside and out.”

As they agreed to the terms and began preproduction, Wahlberg knew that working with independent filmmaker Kormákur meant there would a unique energy on set. Says the actor/producer: “Balt had the same approach with Contraband that he’s had with his movies that were a fourth of this budget. He was on set the whole time…jumping, running, showing me how to climb up things. He covers all the bases, and he’s smart about the performances. I like his style.”

As his British and American counterparts partnered with him for the new thriller, Kormákur says that he didn’t consider this iteration of the film to be a retread of his previous project. “It’s a journey,” he offers. “I don’t think of this film as a remake, but as an adaptation. I see it as one that has a story that has been used for another film. We created a new story out of Reykjavik-Rotterdam, and we used that as our inspiration for Contraband.”

Contraband will open in theaters around the US on January 13.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/Contraband

The article ‘Contraband’, Mark Wahlberg Takes Icelandic Thriller to Louisiana appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Mark Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale lead the cast of Contraband, a fast-paced thriller about a man trying to stay out of a world he worked hard to leave behind, and the family he’ll do anything to protect. Legendary smuggler Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) had abandoned his life of crime to settle into a life of comfortable domesticity with his wife and their two young sons. But after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does better than anyone, running contraband, to settle Andy’s debt.

With the help of his best friend, Sebastian Abney (Ben Foster), Chris quickly assembles a crew that includes their childhood friend Danny Raymer (Lukas Haas) to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills. They must pull this off under the suspicious eyes of the ship’s captain (J.K. Simmons), whose long history with Chris’ father makes him suspect the younger Farraday of even shadier dealings.

Things quickly fall apart, and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal Panamanian drug runners such as Gonzalo (Diego Luna), cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), and his sons become their target. Nordic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur (Jar City, 101 Reykjavík) directs Contraband from a screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski, based upon the film Reykjavik-Rotterdam written by Arnaldur Andriason and Óskar Jónasson.

Since Kormákur had the opportunity to continue his vision in the American version of his movie, he could employ the same casting technique he used during the years he made movies in his home country. Rather than choosing an actor by his or her looks, the director casts Contraband according to the performer’s personality. “I like to find the core of people,” he says. “The outer appearance is less important. What is the person? You try to figure that out and make that right for the character.”

The first actor cast was the same man to whom the director brought his ideas for a film inspired by the one in which he last performed. Kormákur commends: “Mark has a mixture of boyish charm and toughness, and you believe him as a blue-collar guy. Chris has actually walked out of the criminal world, but then he’s forced back in. That’s the great thing about heist-thrillers. It’s great to see people step outside the norm and do something that the rest of us wouldn’t do.”

Describing his character, Wahlberg explains: “Chris is definitely a thinker, but he is not afraid to raise his voice or get his hands dirty.” For Wahlberg, when his character finds himself back in the game, and possibly over his head, that’s when the fun begins. He offers: “Chris is continuing to try to figure out a way to survive, to still solve the problem and then get his ass home to his wife and kids.”

When it came time to casting the role of Chris’ wife, Kate, a number of actresses were considered. None, however, brought the combination of beauty and iron will needed…until the performer who has handled the blockbuster Underworld series as effortlessly as she’s helped create comedies and period pieces threw her hat in the ring. Of the production’s decision to bring Kate Beckinsale onto the project, Kormákur says: “Kate was a good choice in many ways. She’s obviously very beautiful, but, at the same time, very real. There is an interesting mixture of sensitivity and toughness in Kate, and her role is a bit different from the original.”

Wahlberg agrees that they wanted Chris’ wife to have more of an attitude in this chapter of the Contraband story. “Kate responded to it right away and was hungry to do something different,” he reflects. “She reminds me a lot of Amy Adams in The Fighter. You’re watching somebody you’re used to seeing in a certain way completely surprise you.”

The actress admits that Guzikowski’s taut narrative captured her attention. “Contraband has a gripping story and terrific characters,” she commends. “It created a world that I was interested in and one that was unfamiliar to me.” Of her role, the actress says: “She’s a great character because she’s loving and strong, tough and quite reactive.”

Beckinsale explains that because she is apart from her co-star for much of the film, she spent much time considering the relationships within her character’s family. She says, “You have to fill in a number of things yourself so that when you show up to shoot, there feels like there’s a history between your husband and yourself, or your brother, whom you’ve helped raise. It was important to feel that strong foundation there.”

As the production had been underway for a few weeks before she joined, Beckinsale admits she felt like “the new girl.” Glamorous, it wasn’t. “I turned up on set and was covered in blood and then wrapped like a burrito in plastic tarpaulin,” she laughs. “It was hailing and freezing, and I was trying not to shiver. Then I was dumped into a muddy hole and had concrete poured on me. I thought, ‘Well, that’s probably as good a way as any to start to feel like part of the gang.’”

You can catch Contraband in cinemas from January 13. Tell us what you though of it on Toonari Post on Facebook or tweet a comment @ToonariPost.

The article Mark Wahlberg, ‘Contraband’ Cast Boast Strong Leads appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.