Video:Director Sylvain White Interview - The Losers and Robotech

Transcript:Director Sylvain White Interview - The Losers and Robotech

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the Los Angeles Premiere of Warner Bros Pictures' The Losers.

Sylvain White – Director of The Losers

Sylvain White: "You know, I heard about the project and I jumped on the graphic novels. I grew up reading graphic novels. I heard about the project Warner Bros and they were looking for a director. I just got really excited about it. I put together this whole presentation, I told them about my vision for the film – and there it was."

There are so many comic book and graphic novel adaptations. What sets this one apart?

Sylvain White: "Well, what drew me initially to the project was this unique combination of comedy and these fun, light characters weaved into this viscerally engaging action. And it's sort of this unique combination – it's hard to describe. It's almost sarcastic and self-referential. The authors are British and it's about an American crew of guys, and I think somewhere in that translation there's something unique in the tone. That's what I was really trying to capture and translate to the movie."

How tough is it when you have a huge ensemble cast like this to make sure everybody's getting their fair share?

Sylvain White: "Well I thought it was going to be tough. I thought I was going to be dealing with a bunch of egos, but in fact it wasn't true. We were just having a great time in Puerto Rico. They all got along so well. I think you get problems maybe when people don't get along so well and there's tension and there's competition. But fortunately for me, and I don't know how it happened…it was the magic of the Puerto Rican air…but they all got along very well."

And it was 110 degrees with mosquitoes – that bonds people.

Sylvain White: "The conditions were really tough, physically tough. But, you know, they were all very dedicated. I made them go through hell. Especially, you know, we shot kind of chronologically, and the beginning of the movie is very dramatic for the characters. And so I started in the jungle where the drama happens and made them go through it, so they really felt like Losers after that."

Jeffrey Dean Morgan says he is absolutely ready for a Losers 2. Are you ready for a Losers 2?

Sylvain White: "Yes, yes. And Jeffrey and I have been talking about this for a while, probably since before we were shooting this."

Really?

Sylvain White: "Yeah. We just know that this is a fun movie and it's got the right combination of the cast, the characters, the action… The movie is based on the first two volumes of the graphic novel, and there's multiple volumes that follow that continue the storylines and the character arcs. There's a lot of opportunity out there."

There's lots of fodder for a #2.

Sylvain White: "Yeah, absolutely. We'll see if the movie does well this weekend. If people like the movie, then hopefully we'll get some momentum to do a second one."

The first time I saw the trailers I thought it looked like just an action movie. I like action movies, but I don't like just action. So there's comedy and everything else in this, right?

Sylvain White: "Absolutely. It's that unique combination that sets it apart. It's hard to summarize the movie in 30 seconds and you have to sort of decide what to emphasize in a trailer, but I think this movie in fact has a really nice balance between action and drama and characters and fun and comedy. I think it's hard to not like the movie. It's for everyone."

You're rumored to be with Robotech. Is there anything going on with that?

Sylvain White: "No. I read a great script though, but that's all. I'm not involved in the project."

But it's something you're interested in if things turn out?

Sylvain White: "I grew up watching the cartoon and you know it's a project that I've always loved. So, but we'll see. It's at a very early stage at this point."

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