For his upcoming movie Tower Heist, Eddie Murphy believed that it was time to return to familiar comic ground. “The theme of the film, with the workers being taken advantage of by the rich folks and then turning the tables, is timeless. One of my earliest movies, Trading Places, was like that. Those themes work forever. It was fun for me to work on because I hadn’t done a role like that in a while.

I’ve done a lot of family movies, and I’ve done a lot of projects in which the characters were not ‘street-y’ guys. There was a freshness to this.” Ben Stiller, the star of such box-office hits as Zoolander and Tropic Thunder (both of which he directed) and the three films of the Meet the Parents franchise, came aboard as Josh Kovaks, the workaholic manager of the tony building who has given up on his personal life to satiate the endless wants of his pampered residents.

Whether immersing himself in the minutiae of fine wines and the newest restaurants or keeping track of the birthday and anniversary of every affluent occupant, Josh may always be counted upon. With a decade of experience working in the building, he runs a tight ship and expects nothing but perfection from his staff.

The actor admits that he was intrigued by director Brett Ratner’s passionate take on the material, and the chance to join both the director and Murphy proved to be an attractive proposition. Stiller remarks: “I’ve known Brett for almost 15 years, and this is the first time that we’ve worked together.

He has incredible enthusiasm and an amazing sense of film history. He loves the filmmaking process, and he loves filmmakers. Brett works viscerally. He does his prep, but when he gets on the set is when it all comes alive for him.” Ratner returns the compliment to Stiller: “I’ve been a friend and fan of Ben’s for more than 15 years.

He is one of my favorite directors and actors. There is no actor with as much passion, commitment and hard work toward a performance than Ben. From our first meeting about Tower Heist, we were on the same page and completely agreed on the tone of the film that we all wanted to make.”

Problem solver that he is, Josh looks to con man Slide when it comes to criminal advice. The relationship between the two dates back to their time in preschool in Astoria, Queens, but the interaction that they currently have is the daily harassment that Slide gives Josh on Josh’s way to work.

Although both still live in the borough, the men are polar opposites who have taken separate paths. Josh works in the rarified world of vast wealth in Manhattan while Slide is pulling low-level crime gigs. But a criminal mind is a criminal mind, and Josh has limited options and time to get the pension funds back.  Josh knows he’s taking a chance to ask Slide to join in their con, but he takes the risk.

When it came to working with Murphy, Stiller led the cast in enthusiasm. As Murphy has been a fixture of the comedy landscape for decades, Stiller was excited to see him slip into a role that harkened back to memorable characters he portrayed in Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hrs.

“Eddie Murphy is iconic, especially for my generation,” says Stiller. “He defines a lot of what comedy is over the last 25 years, so it was very cool to work with him. I sometimes felt like an audience member as I watched him do his thing. I would think ‘Wow, that’s good. That’s going to be in the movie.’”

Shooting script locked and filmmaking team in place, Grazer reflected upon the project that began with the grain of an idea several years prior. He notes: “It’s difficult to imagine that a casual conversation six years ago has grown into such a fully realized film that is so grand in scope.

Plus, who could have known that, in this period of time, the global financial markets would teeter on the verge of collapse and the villain in our story would pale in comparison to some very real ones on Wall Street? Truth remains stranger than fiction.”

Image Courtesy of   http://www.facebook.com/towerheist

The article Tower Heist: ‘Truth Remains Stranger Than Fiction’ appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer is one of a handful of filmmakers with the intuitive ability to pair Brett Ratner, the action-savvy director with a string of box-office hits to his name, and a high-profile cast led by comedy superstars Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy to deliver Tower Heist, an action-comedy that scales new heights.

The producer shares how the project began: “Eddie and I have worked with one another since we filmed Boomerang in the early ’90s. In 2005, he pitched an idea to Brett and me to develop a film with a number of comedians playing guys who were down on their luck, the genesis of Tower Heist.

He wanted to create a movie with characters that were not the cool, slick guys. His idea was that the story would follow a group of disgruntled employees in a building like the Trump Tower who seize their chance and plan a robbery. Naturally, everything that could possibly go wrong with their ill-conceived plans did.”

From inception to the first day of principal photography, it would take almost five years before the film would fire on all cylinders. Grazer, Ratner and Murphy were in no rush, however, as they wanted to make sure that the project was tonally perfect.

Murphy says of the man with whom he’s worked on blockbuster hits such as The Nutty Professor and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps: “Brian has been my biggest collaborator throughout my career. We have similar sensibilities when it comes down to what a good movie is and the types of movies we’re trying to make.

We have a shorthand communication where I can tell him one of my ideas and he can help shape it into a screenplay.” Since Murphy’s pitch to Grazer and Ratner in ’05, several incarnations of the project have come about. The development process has been a lengthy one, but the three men agreed that the film that they ultimately wanted to make should seamlessly blend comedy and action.

Grazer and Murphy found Ratner to be the perfect partner to helm Tower Heist and liked the fact that he would work with Ocean’s Eleven screenwriter Ted Griffin and Catch Me If You Can writer Jeff Nathanson to hone the earlier work of Accepted scribes Adam Cooper and Bill Collage.

Ratner reflects upon how Tower Heist’s writers nailed the tone of the film he would direct: “Ted brought the real motivation and the heart to the concept, and then when Jeff came on, he came up with the obstacles, complexities and the specificities of these characters.” He feels that the time is ideal for this story to unfold and states: “It’s about the upstairs and the downstairs and working-class, blue-collar workers just trying to get by who were robbed.

They’re taking it back from not just the rich, but the corrupt rich. That’s why you’re cheering for and rooting for these characters. You want them to win.” The director, who is equally comfortable with the comedy genre as he is with action, shares something unique with Murphy: both are film aficionados who possess encyclopedic recall of scenes from classic Hollywood and foreign films.

However, it was Ratner’s deep affinity for the heist movies of the 1970s — from The Taking of Pelham One Two Three to The Hot Rock and The Anderson Tapes — that most attracted him to Tower Heist. “What works about our movie is that it walks that line between drama and comedy very well,” he offers.

“Nobody’s playing these characters with a wink; everyone’s playing them incredibly serious. The comedy naturally comes from the characters and the situations that they’re put into.”

For Ratner, the opportunity to direct a comedy icon was one he didn’t hesitate to grab. He offers: “I grew up watching all of Eddie’s films and studying them, so the chance to work with him was a dream come true. Not only was this movie Eddie’s idea, but in a lot of ways, he invented the genre. If it wasn’t for him, my Rush Hour series would never have existed.”

Murphy, pleased to see that the project was coming full circle, joined Grazer and fellow Imagine executive Kim Roth on Tower Heist as a producer on the film. He shares: “Brian and the studio kept developing it and wanted to make it more about one character instead of a group of comedians, and a great script came together.

They called me and let me know that Ben Stiller wanted to do the movie and that there was this role in it that’s really cool. I read it and thought it was funny. Plus, I’m trying to work with Brett as much as possible.”

Image Courtesy of   http://www.facebook.com/towerheist

The article Tower Heist: The Classic Heist Genre Reaches New Heights appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In the upcoming movie Tower Heist, featuring a standout comic cast led by Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, humor will naturally punctuate a storyline complemented by action.

For many of the main actors, the film gave longtime friends an opportunity to work together once again. Ben Stiller, Alan Alda and Téa Leoni reunited for the first time since co-starring in David O’Russell’s critically acclaimed 1996 indie Flirting With Disaster. Leoni had previously collaborated with director Brett Ratner on The Family Man, and Stiller directed Matthew Broderick in 1996’s dark comedy The Cable Guy.

International financier Arthur Shaw, played by veteran Alda, is the quintessential champagne villain whose polished veneer belies a shrewd con man. For many years Shaw demanded a quiet respect from Stiller’s character Josh, who feels a kinship with one of the high rise’s most beloved residents. Josh aspires to live in this world and has been hopeful that his fellow chess player would shepherd him there.

When faced with an unimaginable betrayal, however, Josh makes it his personal mission to reclaim his crew’s money from Shaw. Stiller explains: “Josh and Shaw have a good rapport. Josh is very good at understanding what Shaw needs, but he misinterprets the relationship early on by thinking that Shaw would never do anything to intentionally hurt the people who work in the building.”

In Alan Alda, Ratner and the producers found an actor who could sell a likeable billionaire whom we learn is more comfortable stealing from blue-collar workers than from his elite clients. But Alda clears up a misconception about Shaw. “Shaw is sometimes described as a Bernie Madoff-like character. I’m not sure. I don’t think anyone has ever operated on the scale that Madoff did. And I don’t know if what Shaw did technically qualifies as a Ponzi scheme.

But in that Shaw was willing to steal money from people who really needed it — who really couldn’t afford to lose it — and willing to take everything they had…yes, he’s in Bernie territory, with both feet.” It’s Special Agent Claire Denham who clues in Josh about Shaw’s fraudulent history and does so with swift efficiency.

Leoni, whose FBI Special Agent Claire Denham knows the truth about Shaw, is the one who has to explain the cold, hard reality of the situation to Josh after he thwarts what he believes is an attempted kidnapping of The Tower’s favorite resident. Téa Leoni credits her interaction with FBI technical advisor Anne C. Beagan with putting the distinctive touches on her tough-as-nails agent who has to convince Josh that Shaw is a bad guy.

The actress laughs: “Agent Denham is your standard-issue, ball-breaking FBI agent. She’s certainly a very tough lady, and it’s not my first waltz with this type of character. However, I was able to spend some time with Anne, a great technical advisor we had on set. She’s got this steely gaze that is terrifying, but what’s underneath that is a very interesting lady. Beyond the technical aspects of the job, she provided so much more for me to use.”

The actress was equally impressed by her cohorts. “We had a table read in Los Angeles and as I was sitting around with this cast and listening to these strong actors who, with a minimal amount of effort, brought such a distinguished flavor to their characters, I thought, ‘We could have just shot the table read.’”

Stiller returns the compliment to his leading lady: “Téa is very believable as an FBI agent because she’s smart and aggressive and has a great sense of humor. But she’s also very much a New Yorker, and a lot of what this movie is about is New Yorkers and their attitudes toward life. She was a great choice for the role, and it was fun to work with her again because it had been a long time since we’d done so.”

Tower Heist is in cinemas on November 4.

Miguel Campos / Shutterstock.com

The article Ben Stiller Reunited With Alda and Leoni in “Tower Heist” appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

At the heart of Tower Heist is a ragtag group—a building manager with a score to settle, a desperate Wall Streeter on the verge of bankruptcy, a cash-strapped concierge whose wife is expecting their first child, a bellhop up for any adventure and a feisty maid hoping to stay in the country—looking to recoup their looted pensions.

Alongside a petty criminal looking for quick cash, they are ready to do what needs to be done to get the cash. The talented ensemble has a few aces up its sleeve as two names stand out in the roll call to elevate the material; the enigmatic Casey Affleck and veteran Matthew Broderick.

Casey Affleck, who portrays Charlie, Ben Stiller’s charachter Josh’s not-so-savvy (and broke) brother-in-law who works as The Tower’s concierge, cut his teeth on the heist genre as Virgil Malloy in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven series. Still, he knew the promise of working with Stiller, Eddie Murphy and director Brett Ratner was reason enough to revisit the genre.

Affleck notes “More than anything else, I just like Ben, Eddie and Brett, and it sounded like a fun film to do. I wanted to do a comedy, and I thought this was an opportunity to try and be funny.” With a wife on the verge of going into labor, Charlie is reluctant to join Josh’s crew of amateur thieves.

Producer Brian Grazer felt that Affleck, with his deadpan timing, was perfect for the part. “Casey continues to impress me with the fascinating choices he has made in his career,” offers the producer. “He is so droll, that with a slight vocal inflection or delivery of a minor tic, he can elicit a great number of laughs.

The fact that Casey has experience in the world of heist movies made him even more perfect for the job.” Matthew Broderick came aboard Tower Heist to portray Mr. Fitzhugh, a Wall Streeter who has suffered his own financial hardships and whose quarters in the ritzy building have been foreclosed.

Despite the dire circumstances, the self-professed squatter is a financier to the core and knows the tricks of his former trade. “Fitzhugh needs the money, and greed becomes his primary motivation,” explains Broderick. “That’s one thing I like about the caper movies from the 1970s like The Anderson Tapes. They really wanted the money or jewels or art. Fitzhugh’s mindset harkens back to that.”

For Ratner, the chance to work with the veteran actor was another reason to be excited about showing up for work every day.  He says: “When I was 12, Matthew Broderick was the biggest movie star next to Eddie Murphy, literally. I grew up on Matthew, and to have him play Fitzhugh was a great honor. I couldn’t believe that he was on my set sitting next to Eddie, Ben and all of these other great actors.”

Murphy shares his director’s assessment of the veteran stage and screen performer. He compliments, “Everybody in the cast is funny and likeable, and you want everybody in the cast to win. Matthew Broderick is one of my contemporaries. We came up around the same time. I’ve seen everything that he’s done, and it was great to be on a set with a master actor.”

You can watch Tower Heist in cinema on November 4.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyz/

The article Tower Heist Cast; Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick on Characters appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, an action-comedy about a staff of blue-collar workers who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the crew at the luxury Central Park condominium The Tower discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.

Queens native Josh Kovaks (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade. Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing $2 billion from his investors. The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The Tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage.

With only days until Shaw gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible: steal the $20 million they are sure is hidden in the heavily guarded condo where Shaw is being held by an FBI team led by Special Agent Claire Denham (Tea Leoni, Fun With Dick and Jane).

The burglary takes place in the midst of one of New York City’s most iconic events: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Integrating the decades-old tradition into the story line was a daunting task that had the cast and crew re-creating the parade one week after the original. But to ensure that they fully captured the one-of-a-kind magic that only the real parade could provide, dozens of crew members gave up their Thanksgiving weekend to film portions of the actual parade on Columbus Circle.

Native New Yorkers Stiller, Alda, Leoni, Broderick and Sidibe had their own memories of attending the parade, while other members of the crew vividly recall watching the parade on television.  However, the production’s ambitious re-creation was awe-inspiring for the team.

“When I was a kid, my family would go to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and it was hard to get close,” says Leoni. “To be able to have front-row seats, so to speak, for even a portion of the parade, where I could take a look at all the balloons, was amazing.  It was much cooler than it was when I was a kid.”

Ratner agrees with his film’s hard-nosed agent: “I knew that the building that is the center of Tower Heist is a main character in the film, and I wanted all the action around this centerpiece. The shots of the Thanksgiving Day Parade that we captured were just incredible.

Though amateurs, these rookie thieves — including high-strung concierge Charlie (Casey Affleck, Ocean’s Eleven trilogy), broke ex-Wall Streeter Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick, The Producers), rookie bellhop Dev’Reaux (Michael Peña, Battle: Los Angeles) and feisty maid Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe, Precious) — know the building better than anyone. It turns out they’ve been casing the place for years…they just didn’t know it.

Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour series, X-Men: The Last Stand, Red Dragon) joins Academy Award^®-winning producer Brian Grazer (8 Mile, A Beautiful Mind, American Gangster) to lead a talented behind-the-scenes crew for Tower Heist. Grazer is joined in production duties on the action-comedy by Eddie Murphy and Kim Roth (Inside Man, Insomnia).

Image Courtesy of   http://www.facebook.com/towerheist

The article “Tower Heist” In Cinemas Soon appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.