Video:Law Abiding Citizen-F Gary Gray and Lucas Foster Interviews
with Rebecca MurrayDirector F Gary Gray and producer Lucas Foster were among the 'Law Abiding Citizen' cast & crew who showed up at Grauman's Chinese Theater for the LA premiere of the dramatic thriller. On the red carpet, Gray & Foster talked about the film's appeal.
Transcript:Law Abiding Citizen-F Gary Gray and Lucas Foster Interviews
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the LA Premiere of Overture Films' Law Abiding Citizen.
F. Gary Gray – Director of Law Abiding Citizen
Is that the word to describe this movie – crazy?
F Gary Gray: "This movie is insane. Absolutely. Yes it is. It's insane in the best way possible. It's insane in that you have no idea what's going to happen next, just like kind of an insane person. It's unpredictable."
Is that the appeal?
F Gary Gray: "I think it's part of the appeal. I think that a man taking an entire city hostage from prison is part of the appeal. It's a great concept. But the fact that it's unpredictable, it takes you on a ride, it keeps you guessing, is I think another part of the appeal."
There's a very fine line you had to walk to make the audience not hate either of the characters. How did you do that?
F Gary Gray: "You know what? I think that's a combination of writing, it's a combination of working with really good actors… I mean, I'll give you an example. Gerard [Butler] brings a humanity to the part of Clyde, and in the wrong hands you could just kind of chalk him up as a crazy person. But you know there's something relatable about Gerard that makes it really kind of strange to watch. You're rooting for this guy but he's doing awful things. I don't know. It's part of the appeal of the movie."
Something I'm really impressed by is you Tweet a lot and you keep the fans involved. You kept them involved the whole production. Is that something you're going to do with all of your movies?
F Gary Gray: "You know what? If Twitter is around when I do my next one and my next one after that, I think it's a great tool. I think you cut out the middle man and you have access to thousands of points of view from all over the world. I think that is invaluable."
Do you ever take their input and use it?
F Gary Gray: "Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. There's a couple of times where I said, 'What do you think about this poster?,' or 'What do you think about this idea?' People would tell you honestly. And that's the good thing, because it's honest. You know, why not?"
Lucas Foster – Producer of Law Abiding Citizen
Lucas Foster: "It's a little bit of an old-fashioned movie. What I loved about it was it was an old-school cat-and-mouse tug-of-war between two people who both are right. And I thought that was pretty unusual. When the idea was first pitched to me, I really was intrigued by that and that stuck with me. We did many, many drafts. I don't know, 20 or something drafts before we showed it to anybody. But the central idea always the same. It's very powerful. If you can't get justice in the normal way, sometimes you have to get it in an extraordinary way. And this character, he's a very compelling character – Clyde."
Is 20 drafts normal for a project?
Lucas Foster: "It is for me. I'm kind of a hard-ass about that. But you know, as I said, I think it's better when you work on it more. And in recent years I haven't worked on a movie where I've had less than 20, 25 drafts. That would be atypical for me. I don't know how other people do it. Maybe they're great filmmakers who - you know, Jim Brooks - it pops out and it's perfect and brilliant, but not for me. For me it takes a long time to get it right, and I won't make the movie until it's right."
That makes sense. These guys, Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx, have very different personalities and they bring very different things to this movie. How did you know those two would work going against each other?
Lucas Foster: "They had instant chemistry. We had Gerry first and he was playing the other role. He was playing the prosecutor role and we were talking about Jamie as potentially playing the wronged father. And the minute they met, the chemistry was obvious. We were just like enthralled by the chemistry. That's how we knew. They had 'it'."
Does that usually happen in casting?
Lucas Foster: "No, very rarely. Only time it's ever happened to me before was on Mr and Mrs Smith. They had instant chemistry and look where that ended up."
You don't think Gerry and Jamie are going to end up that way?
Lucas Foster: "You never know. Come to the movie and find out."