Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller about their work on ‘Reagan,’ approaching the iconic roles of Ron and Nancy, the love they shared, his Presidential accomplishments, and bringing this story to the big screen.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Quaid, Miller, and Jon Voight.
Dennis Quaid in ‘Reagan’. Photo: MJM Entertainment.
Moviefone: To begin with, Dennis, you have portrayed real people on screen in the past, but what was your approach to playing someone as iconic as President Reagan?
Dennis Quaid: Well, with all real people, I want to play them from their point of view, which with Reagan was very hard to get to. For one thing, he wasn’t around for me to ask him all the penetrating questions that I’m not sure he’d answer anyway. But he was a great communicator. Everybody I talked to said there was this private wall inside of Reagan, that was almost impenetrable, that I think Nancy got a glimpse into. So, it was figuring out what that was that was key to me, because I didn’t want to do an impression, an impersonation, or a love letter, because he was my favorite president. I wanted to play him warts and all.
(Left) Penelope Ann Miller in ‘Reagan’. Photo: MJM Entertainment.
MF: Penelope, can you talk about your approach to playing the First Lady and how she truly loved, supported, and protected her husband?
Penelope Anne Miller: I mean, in essence, that really was, I guess, what she felt her purpose was, was to be there for her husband, who she was fiercely devoted to, fiercely protective of, and had an incredible belief in. It was a great love story really. I think reading her autobiography, I got more of a sense of who she was as a human being, which I in turn didn’t want to do some characterization of somebody. I really wanted to capture, embody the essence of the person, sort of somewhat channel her. But honestly, the wigs helped, the wardrobe, all of that helped me carry her in a way that I wouldn’t have without all the incredible creative team behind us and the writing and the direction and then playing opposite Dennis. I think we had a great rapport and worked well together. We have very similar styles of working.
(L to R) Penelope Ann Miller and Dennis Quaid in ‘Reagan’. Photo: MJM Entertainment.
MF: Dennis, how would you describe Ron and Nancy’s relationship?
DQ: The heart of the movie is a love story, really, and in that it just shows, a great, strong relationship that brings out your best self. There would not have been a President Reagan without Nancy, that’s for sure. That’s what (Penelope) did. She did channel her. It was easy working with her. It just made my job so much easier.
Dennis Quaid in ‘Reagan’. Photo: MJM Entertainment.
MF: Dennis, before becoming President, Ronald Reagan was an actor and there was a performative aspect to his famous speeches. Can you talk about recreating some of those speeches for this movie and did you incorporate that into your performance?
DQ: He himself said that the greatest role he ever played was President the United States. He knew how to play that well. They called him the Great Communicator. He could disarm people. He always opened with a joke. He could disarm people, from Gorbachev to Nancy. Man, as far as America goes, he was the epitome of an American president. It’s about us in a way. It’s about all of us. A president’s a reflection of people that elected him. It is about us back then. You see it, depending on your age, you’ll see what this country was like, and what it still can be.
(L to R) Dennis Quaid and Penelope Ann Miller in ‘Reagan’. Photo: MJM Entertainment.
MF: Finally, can you both talk about shooting the scene in the hospital between Ron and Nancy after the assassination attempt on the President’s life?
PAM: He made jokes after his assassination when he was in the hospital to the doctors and even to Nancy when he woke up. I mean, just the fact that he was able to charm people and that he always wanted to disarm people, make people feel welcome and warm and engage with them.
DQ: Here he is, he’s on the operating table and already they put the anesthesia on him and he’s already asleep, but he woke up just as they’re getting ready to make the incision, with a bullet like an inch from his heart. He woke up and he saw these doctors above him, and he goes, “I hope you’re all Republicans.”
PAM: In turn, they said, “We are today, sir. We are today.” It was very sweet. But, I mean the movie I think shows a lot of things that you wouldn’t have seen. Obviously, there’s the public personas, but then there’s the behind the scenes and I think that’s what makes it interesting to watch. I want to see what I didn’t know. It’s not some history lesson or political drama. It’s really a biopic about human beings, mainly Ronald, but also their love story as well and what made these people become who they became and very iconic.
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What is the plot of ‘Reagan’?
The film follows Ronald Reagan’s (Dennis Quaid) life from his childhood to his years as president of the United States, told by Viktor Ivanov (Jon Voight), a former KGB agent.
Opening in theaters on August 4th is the new action thriller ‘Mob Land,’ which was written and directed by first time feature filmmaker Nicholas Maggio.
What is the plot of ‘Mob Land’?
Deep in the heart of Dixie, in a small town struggling with the ravages of addiction, a local sheriff (John Travolta) tries to maintain the peace when desperate family man Shelby (Shiloh Fernandez) robs a pill mill with his reckless brother-in-law, Trey (Kevin Dillon). But the supposedly easy score takes a violent turn, alerting the New Orleans mafia’s revenge-seeking enforcer (Stephen Dorff), who threatens Shelby’s wife (Ashley Benson) and daughter. With its unpredictable twists and turns, Mob Land is a heart-pounding, action thriller.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with writer and director Nicholas Maggio about his work on ‘Mob Land,’ creating the screenplay, directing John Travolta, Stephen Dorff’s performance, the music and shooting a complicated scene in under an hour.
John Travolta as Bodie Davis in ‘Mob Land.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about developing the screenplay and the themes you wanted to explore with this movie?
Nicholas Maggio: I’m obsessed with cars. I love the South. I love Southern Gothic stories. I love neo-noir. I spent a lot of time in the South. I was visiting some friends in northern Alabama. We were at the drag strip. I’m immersed in this culture, in this rural, Southern atmosphere, and I was like, “Man, I got to shoot a movie here. I got to write a script.” So I had that as the location, I knew it was going to take place there, and then the rest is just fiction. I just needed a catalyst to get me into this location, to meet these characters, and it was the robbery, and it was everything that went into it. That’s where the story came from. It was literally just my love for the rural South and cars and having visited there. Then, I guess, as far as themes, I think the fun thing about themes for films is I went into it with a few intentional ideas for themes, what I needed to get done as a filmmaker, what I needed to put in there thematically. But I think the fun thing is that, once the film is out and once people see it, once you see it, the audience takes what they want from it, and it doesn’t matter what my themes are, what my intentions were thematically. I think it’s just up to the viewer, the audience, to pull from it what they need from it. As far as themes, God, it’s subjective. It’s whatever you need it to be.
MF: The film is really void of any clear cut heroes or villains, was that by design?
NM: Yeah, definitely, nail on the head. I love antagonists that aren’t antagonists, and protagonists that aren’t protagonists. Ever since ‘The Sopranos,’ it’s like we fell in love with that idea. You’re rooting for the bad guy, you don’t know why, but they’re so empathetic and sweet. I’ve always been obsessed with that notion that, just because good people do bad things, does that make them bad, and if bad people do good things, does that make them good or bad? Definitely, that is something I wanted to play with, and I had a really good time doing it because everyone does some bad things in this film, and whether or not they do it for the right reasons, does that matter? It’s absolutely something that I wanted to do, that I wanted to play with, because I think that’s something that everyone can relate to in some way, whether or not they themselves are conflicted bad people doing good things, or good people doing bad things. But it’s at least something that most people can be empathetic to. If you’re put in these situations that these characters find themselves in, I think most people can understand why they’re making the decisions they do, and I think that was really fun to play with the empathy of the audience.
John Travolta as Bodie Davis in ‘Mob Land.’
MF: As a first time filmmaker, what was it like directing John Travolta, who is arguably one of the greatest movie stars of all time?
NM: I think anyone, first-time director or not, when you’re standing there in front of an actor, a movie star who’s been a movie star for decades, of course, it’s intimidating. Directing, in the traditional sense, I knew wasn’t going to be something that I was going to have the time or luxury to do because we had such an incredibly tight schedule. Most of the directing I did with the actors was beforehand. I tried to give them all the information. I tried to have conversations, text messages with them, answer all the questions, and then create the environments, whether production design, locations, tweaking the script for them, giving them absolutely everything they needed to do what they could do, to do what they do best, and to do the characters justice. As far as Travolta himself, he did so much homework beforehand. I based the character of Bodie on my grandfather, and on some great uncles, but he wanted to see photos of them. He wanted to know about them, how they talked, and he did so much homework in that way that, when he stepped on set, he was Bodie. He knew every line. He knew exactly the mannerisms he was going to bring to it. In the traditional sense, I really didn’t do much directing with John as far as the character was concerned, day of, on set. It was more physical or we would collaborate with blocking, or maybe he would do this and maybe he wouldn’t do that, and so that’s mostly what it was. But every actor, and John included, they just came so prepared that, thank God, because, on the time schedule we had, I wasn’t able to take the time that maybe some directors and actors would need, and I didn’t need it because they came so prepared, which was really epic to have.
MF: There were lines of dialogue that Travolta delivered in a way that only he could, and it seems that another actor may not of interpreted those lines in the same way. Did you realize that on set?
NM: Yeah, definitely. It’s so nuanced, and that’s great about really great actors. It’s the slight inflection in a word, it’s the mannerism, it’s throwing the line away when I didn’t know he was going to. It’s the little things. For the most part, it was pretty verbatim as far as the script is concerned, we didn’t deviate too much, but when we did, it was John’s idea, and it was always right. I’m not even going to pretend to know that I know acting, as a first-time director, better than John Travolta. Every time he had an idea, it’s like, “What if we cut this line and I just said this?” and it wasn’t because he didn’t want to say the lines. It was because he truly thought, and knew that that was best for Bodie in that moment, and he was always right. It was almost annoying, but the guy was right. It just came down to the little things. He’s so very John Travolta in this role, but at the same time, a lot of people who have watched it, and what I believe as well, is that he’s also uniquely Bodie Davis in this. I think that’s really fun, and I think that’s what a movie star is. You see it’s them and they’re doing it, but they’re also giving you something maybe we haven’t seen before from that actor, which is exceptionally fun to watch with him.
MF: What was your experience like working with Stephen Dorff?
NM: Stephen is such an integral part of this whole thing happening, so I got to give my props to Stephen. He was the first one that read the script. He was super excited. I pitched Shiloh’s name to Stephen and he was like, “Absolutely, I’m on. I love Shiloh.” He got it to Travolta. Travolta read it. They talked. Stephen was a huge part of that. He was a champion of mine very early on. We had a pretty blunt conversation, the very first conversation, and Stephen has a way about him. He’s known for being pretty bold, and he was like, “Hey, don’t mess this up. Are you going to mess this up? How are you going to do this?” Once I got him on my side and I gave it to him how I thought, he was on my side the entire production, which was epic. I do have to give props to Stephen for that. Oh, my God, he’s so good. He’s so beautiful on camera. He’s so fun to watch. His face is just perfect for the type of light, for the type of filming we were doing, and then he is such a great actor. I am biased as hell, but I think this is his best role. It’s my film, and he said my words, but, God, he’s so good in it. It’s fun that everyone who watches it says, “Stephen was so great,” and because he is, he’s so good in it.
MF: Can you talk about Dorff’s character, Clayton, his point of view and what he’s searching for in his life?
NM: I think the fun thing about Clayton is that he lives by his own set of morals that he deems righteous, but also what he’s doing is all of these rules that he set for himself and the questioning of the locals and trying to understand them in his way, knowing that he’s not going to understand them, is all just means to justify the horrible stuff that he does. He’s conflicted. He knows what good and bad is. He knows the difference. He’s not a sociopath. He’s not a psychopath. He truly understands. He’s just looking for meaning like everyone else, but on top of that, he’s looking to justify everything he does, and so he’s constantly searching for justification for the violence, for his way of life. That’s so much fun in the arc of the story is that he does get to understand a little bit of it, and by the end, he does have an understanding through especially the last conversation with Shelby (Fernandez), he does have this understanding of what it means to be in Shelby’s shoes type of thing. That’s the crux. That’s what gives us the ending that it is with Clayton.
Stephen Dorff as Clayton Minor in ‘Mob Land.’
MF: Can you talk about your musical choices in the movie and how those particular songs helped to create a specific tone for each of the characters?
NM: I love you for even mentioning it, because we had no budget for music. We just didn’t. All of the songs outside of score are friends of mine that gave it to me for free, whether it was Devlin McCluskey, the singer of The Dead Ships, who did that unreal cover of “House of the Rising Sun,” he recorded that in his bedroom, or whether it’s Jason Dodson from The Maldives who wrote and recorded that song during the credits. He did that after he read the script. He still hasn’t seen the film. The song that plays while he’s walking to the carwash and back, that is another friend of mine. That’s his band who did that. The metal song that plays during the chase scene is a straight edge, hardcore band out of Birmingham, Alabama, called No Cure that I hit up, and they gave me a song for free. I’m lucky enough to be involved in music as just a massive fan, and being such a fan of music, I’ve met some really great people who were willing to give me this music for free. Massive shout-out to all of the bands, Mind’s Eye out of Denver, the song that’s playing when Kevin Dillon was driving the Honda. Everything was given to me, so just huge thanks to all those people. I was up against it because it really made me search for songs that were accessible. I couldn’t use Journey. I couldn’t use Styx. I had to find songs that I could actually get access to, but because of that, it was a really great thing because it let me get very personal with it. They are songs that really mean something to me because most of them are friends’ bands that really have spoken to me over the years or whatnot. That was really fun to do.
MF: Finally, can you talk about the challenges of shooting the bank heist and care chase sequence?
NM: I’ll maybe blow your mind a little bit. From the time when they have the guns, to the time they run out of the bank, that entire sequence, I shot in 48 minutes. We were on an incredibly tight schedule for the entire principal, and it was one of those things where things were stacked up. We had the location at a certain time. We had the stunts, and we did everything in 48 minutes, to the point where, when we’re in the red room during the robbery, King Orba, who plays Rip, Shiloh Fernandez, and Kevin Dillon, the three of them are in there, and there’s no master shot. We went in there with two cameras, and I told them, “Guys, I am so sorry, but we have three takes,” and all of them immediately were like, “Yep, let’s go. We got it,” and they just nailed it. What’s so beautiful about that is that Rip was going to take his time during the robbery. He was going to deliver these lines very methodically. He was a different character up until, literally, two minutes before we shot. Then King flipped it, and the way he rattles those lines off, it really heightens the entire scene, which ended up being a blessing. I cut a few lines out, I cut a few actions out, literally as we were shooting, and it gave this heightened sense of urgency, stress and anxiety to the scene. I don’t think we would’ve gotten otherwise. Those guys, the three of them are such great actors that they just delivered for three takes and we were done, and God bless them. I lucked out time and time again, whether it was with cast, the crew, or with locations. That’s what filmmaking is. It’s stars aligning, and time and time again, we lucked out.
‘Mob Land’ is produced by 308 Enterprises, Three Point Capital, BondIt Media Capital, and Grandave Capital. The movie is scheduled to release in theaters on August 4th, 2023.
What is the plot of ‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening?’
Following the events of ‘Buddy Games,’ faced with their biggest challenge yet, Bobfather (Josh Duhamel), Doc (Kevin Dillon), Shelly (Dan Bakkedahl), and Bender (Nick Swardson) set out to honor their lost friend Durfy (Dax Shepard) only to find themselves in the middle of where it all began – Spring Break – where they learn their old school ways of partying hardly compete with today’s generation.
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Who is in the cast of ‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening?’
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director and actor Josh Duhamel, as well as Kevin Dillon and Dan Bakkedahl about their work on ‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening,’ making a sequel, their characters’ friendship, how they’ve changed since the first movie, and what Duhamel wanted to say about masculinity.
(L to R) Dan Bakkedahl, Josh Duhamel and Kevin Dillon star in ‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, Josh, at what point after making the original movie did you realize that there were more stories to tell about these characters?
Josh Duhamel: I had ideas for days. We have ideas for twelve of these if they’d let us. I knew that there was enough story inherent in just these guys’ relationships, and having a group of friends very similar to these guys, that there’s so many different directions you could go. I felt like we made a funny movie the first time and then I saw how people reacted to it. When we showed it in theaters I was like, “Oh my God, these guys have the same stupid sense of humor that I have.” They get it. I was really worried about it. I’m not kidding. So that was a relief to be honest. Then to see it do really well was even further affirmation that people like to be a little naughty. They like to laugh at things, maybe they’re not supposed to. We went even further on this one because there’s a lot of stuff out there that, to me, is funny. We wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t overly mean spirited. We didn’t want to be mean-spirited in any way. We wanted it to be good-natured, but we did want to poke some fun. We poke a lot of fun at ourselves and it’s the only way to break through this stuff is just to lighten up and not be so sensitive and have some laughs. That’s the main purpose of these movies.
MF: Dan, can you talk about the adventure these guys go on together to celebrate the life of their deceased friend?
Dan Bakkedahl: Well, I think what was really brilliant about this is that if we’re going to start on a down note, like, “Oh my God, one of our best friends just died,” it’s great that we built this, “Okay, we got a plan. It’s half-baked because it’s us.” Then, “Well, okay. Something comes in, but we’re going to stay on track. Okay, now we’re split up, but we’re going to stay on track. Okay, now we’ve all got terrible hangovers, but we’re going to stay on track.” We keep on the mission. There’s a lot of off ramps where we go off to get loaded or try to get laid or whatever our thing is, but ultimately we get back on it because it’s all about honoring this friend.
(L to R) Nick Swardson as Bender, Dan Bakkedahl as Shelly, Kevin Dillon as Doc, Josh Duhamel as Bobfather and Dylan Playfair as Larry Lampshade in the Comedy film, ‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening,’ a Paramount Global Content Distribution Group release. Photo courtesy of Paramount Global Content Distribution Group.
MF: Kevin, can you talk about how Doc has changed since the first movie and what it was like for you to reprise this character and reunite with the rest of the cast?
Kevin Dillon: Well, I love working with these guys. I had a great time the first time around. I feel like we all hit it off right away. I felt like, I don’t know how he’s really evolved. I don’t really know that. He’s devolving, I feel. He’s still Doc, but these guys don’t give him many credit for that. It’s like, “Oh, he’s a chiropractor, that don’t count.” But I think all he does is wait around for the Buddy Games. To be honest with you, this time the Buddy Games didn’t even really happen. It’s a death that brought us together this time. So we still only did one real Buddy Games with the original ‘Buddy Games.’ It was like an accidental Buddy Games. It wasn’t a planned Buddy Games. But yeah, I think that’s what he’s really waiting for.
MF: Josh, do you think any of the characters have grown or changed since the first film, or are they the same guys they’ve always been?
JD: Well, I like to think that Doc’s probably evolved the most because he was in a pretty dark place in the first one. True to form, we all sort of lifted them up. I got a group of friends that whenever one of us is down, everybody lifts them up. It’s no man left behind. So yeah, I guess I hadn’t thought a lot about how much we’ve evolved, but I think that when you lose somebody you love as much as we did Durfy, I think people’s true colors come out. That’s part of the evolution is even in the worst of times, these guys still show up for each other. I think that’s part of the growth that you see. But at the end of the day, they’re still dudes who want to have fun, who really, truly, I think as they get older, appreciate this friendship that much more.
(L to R) Dan Bakkedahl as Shelly, Nick Swardson as Bender, Josh Duhamel as Bobfather, and Kevin Dillon as Doc in the Comedy film, ‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening,’ a Paramount Global Content Distribution Group release. Photo courtesy of Paramount Global Content Distribution Group.
MF: Finally, the film explores the idea of masculinity and what that is in 2023. Josh, what did you want to explore and say about the idea of masculinity with this movie?
JD: Well, we wanted to have some fun with the extreme stuff that’s out there right now. We didn’t do it in a way to be mean-spirited. We wanted it to be fun, and I’m hoping that even those that are extremely woke can look at this and go, “Okay, that’s pretty funny.” Because we’re still making fun of ourselves at the same time. So it’s like if we’re going to do it to you, we’re going to do it to ourselves too. In this day and age, I think that everybody is pretty damn sensitive and we just wanted to lighten it up a little bit. I wanted to make a movie that was unapologetic, that explored some things that I might be a little bit provocative or controversial and we did it. But I think we did it in a way that balances the line pretty well.
(L to R) Josh Duhamel as Bobfather, Dan Bakkedahl as Shelly, Kevin Dillon as Doc, and Nick Swardson as Bender in the Comedy film, ‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening,’ a Paramount Global Content Distribution Group release. Photo courtesy of Paramount Global Content Distribution Group.
Other Movies Similar to ‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening:’
‘Buddy Games: Spring Awakening’ is produced by The Long Game, and Dakota Kid Productions. It is set to release in theaters on May 19th and on digital June 2nd.
The new movie stars legendary actor Bruce Willis (‘Die Hard’) as Shane Mueller, a Homeland Security agent who runs a wire room, which is a high-tech command center surveilling the most dangerous criminals. New recruit Justin Rosa (Kevin Dillon) is assigned to monitor a cartel member named Eddie Flynn (Oliver Trevena), and keep him alive no matter what.
When a team of assassins attack Flynn in his home, Rosa goes against protocol and speaks with the gangster directly to save his life. As the armed soldiers ascend on the wire room, Mueller and Rosa make one last stand against the corrupt officers who want to destroy the evidence and murder them both.
Actor Kevin Dillon has been working steadily in movies and on television for almost 40 years! He’s appeared in such acclaimed films as ‘Platoon,’ and ‘The Doors,’ both directed by Oscar-winner Oliver Stone, and on classic TV programs like ‘NYPD Blue,’ ’24,’ and ‘The Simpsons.’
But the actor is probably best known for his role as Johnny “Drama” Chase on HBO’s hit series ‘Entourage’ and the movie adaption of the same name.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Dillon about his work on ‘Wire Room,’ working with Bruce Willis, his approach to his character, the challenges of acting by himself at times, shooting the entire movie in one week, and exactly what a wire room really is!
Kevin Dillon as Justin Rosa in the action film, ‘Wire Room,’ a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, how did you get involved with this project?
Kevin Dillon: You know what? It was a straight up offer. The way I like them. Sometimes I have to audition for things. This was an offer. I read the script. I thought it had some cool plot twist and turns. I wanted to add as much humor wherever I could.
They said, “Bruce Willis is going to do it,” the legend! So, I said, yes. I did a movie with Bruce before, but I didn’t get to act with him. This time I did. He’s great. I’m a big Bruce Willis fan, love the guy.
MF: Can you talk about your research for this movie? Did you learn a lot about real wire rooms and how they work?
KD: I knew nothing about wire rooms beforehand. I didn’t even know they existed. I didn’t have a lot of time to prep on it. Just for anyone out there, a wire room is when the CIA or the FBI has to have wires in certain rooms when they spy on people, they record it all in one room. That’s where my character finds himself, doing wire room duty. It’s his first day and things get crazy.
MF: How would you describe your character and your approach to playing him?
KD: I look at my character, Justin, as he’s a screw up. He used to work with the secret service. It’s backstory, it’s not in the script, but I like to think that he screwed up because he doesn’t listen. He won’t listen to what they tell him to do. I believe he got let go, and that’s why he is stuck working in a wire room, which is kind of like a demotion in a way. He, once again, doesn’t listen to Bruce and he gets in trouble again.
Bruce Willis as Shane Mueller in the action film, ‘Wire Room,’ a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate.
MF: You have a lot of scenes in the movie where you are acting in a room alone or on the phone. Can you talk about the challenges of acting without another performer to play off of?
KD: Yeah, it’s tough. It really is. Because you’re looking at screens and you’re seeing all this action that’s not there. It’s a blank screen, so you got to use your imagination a little bit. I was lucky to have Oliver Trevena come in and run lines with me, so we were able to kind of build up a little chemistry, even though we weren’t on film together.
I thought he did a great job. I thought we had some chemistry. It was definitely challenging to do a movie like this. We did it in seven days. We did my stuff in five days, so, it’s unbelievable what we got done in that time period.
MF: That’s shocking! Is that the fastest movie production you have ever worked on?
KD: Well, I did a seven-day movie with the same production company, called ‘Hot Seat.’ That was amazing that we did that. These guys know how to get it done and they knew I could get it done, so they brought me in on this one. It’s a real challenge and I actually like stepping up to it. You got to really be on your game.
Kevin Dillon as Justin Rosa in the action film, ‘Wire Room,’ a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate.
MF: What was it like working with director Matt Eskandari on such a fast shoot?
KD: Oh man, he’s the best. Very few guys could have done this. He’s open to ideas. He’s open to improv, and we had lots of that on the set. He just has a real vision. I saw it last night for the first time, I didn’t know all the things he had going on. He had a lot of cool directorial tricks. When the bombs go off, you actually feel dizzy from the bomb going off. I mean, he just did some really cool things as director.
MF: Finally, the movie concludes in a way that is open ended, is this a character you would be interested in revisiting in the future?
KD: Oh, hell yeah. Justin, he’s going to hunt him down. He said, “I will track you down.” And he’s a man of his words.
(L to R) Bruce Willis as Shane Mueller and Kevin Dillon as Justin Rosa in the action film, ‘Wire Room,’ a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate.
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Directed by Wes Miller (‘Hell on the Border’), the movie centers on disgraced parole officer Connor (Dillon), who is indebted to a local gang leader (Leon Robinson) and forced to pull off a series of dangerous drug heists with his former partner, Mason (Grillo). They have twelve hours to steal the $2 million dollars he owes, rescue his kidnapped pregnant wife (Brooke Butler), and settle a score with the city’s corrupt police chief (Willis), who is working with the gang leader and double-crossed him years ago.
But to most audiences, he is probably best known for two roles, playing Sergeant Leo Barnes in ‘The Purge: Anarchy’ and ‘The Purge: Election Year,’ and portraying Brock “Crossbones” Rumlow in the MCU movies ‘Captain America: The Winter Solider,’ ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame.’
Grillo is the real deal when it comes to action, as he holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and is a former boxer. He is also no stranger to co-staring in a film with Bruce Willis, as ‘A Day to Die’ marks the fourth movie they have made together after ‘Lay the Favorite,’ ‘Cosmic Sin,’ and ‘Reprisal.’
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking exclusively with Frank Grillo about his work on ‘A Day to Die.’ The actor spoke candidly about the new movie, reuniting with Bruce Willis, their characters, working with Kevin Dillon for the first time, how seriously he takes action-sequences, the importance of safety on the set, the trajectory of his own career, and the possibility of returning to the MCU.
(L to R) Frank Grillo, Kevin Dillon and Leon Robinson in ‘A Day to Die’
Here is what Frank Grillo had to say about ‘A Day to Die.’
Moviefone: To begin with, how did you get involved with this project?
Frank Grillo: Well, my buddy Wes Miller, called me up and said, “I’m sending you the script.” It was in my wheelhouse, and I really love Wes, and always want to support him and do whatever I can to help him make movies. Then he brought in Bruce, who’s a dear friend. And who knows how many more movies Bruce has in him? So, I thought, let me go and have some fun with him.
MF: This is the forth movie that you have made with Bruce Willis. What has your experience been like working with him over the course of these four films?
FG: There’s a few guys in Hollywood that are in the stratosphere as far as movie stars are concerned, and Bruce Willis is one of those guys. But, I think at 64 he’s going to be phasing out of this stuff. But it’s Bruce Willis, you know what I mean? I got to work with guys like Bruce, Liam Neeson, Sylvester Stallone, John Malkovich, and they’re in another league.. It’s just fun to work with them, hang out with them, and listen to the stories. I’m glad he’s a pal. He’s a dear friend. Like I said, I think he’s phasing out of doing these movies at this point.
A lot of these guys are not at the height of their career, obviously, but they are such a big draw. There’s a nostalgic draw to these guys because they remind us of a time when movies were big, and you showed up for the movie star. I think we really show up for the event now with movies, especially that Marvel’s taken over the world. It’s fun to be around them. I just like absorbing their energy, and I’m at the age too where I’m old school, so I can relate to them and they can relate to me. As opposed to the younger generation, which it’s a whole different ball of wax.
MF: Can you talk about your character Mason’s relationship to Alston, the character that Bruce Willis plays. It seems like Mason both admires and resents him at the same time, is that correct?
FG: Yeah. I think as I recall, that’s exactly where it was. I mean, they were two guys who were peers more than anything. There was a mutual respect, as there is with anyone, even with adversaries, especially sometimes. I always use the film ‘Heat’ as a template with a lot of these movies. You look at the relationships, and De Niro and Pacino were on opposite ends of the spectrum, but when they sat down, you understood that they respected each other.
Bruce Willis in ‘A Day to DIe.’
MF: Can you talk about your approach to playing Mason?
FG: He is a guy who, look, nobody ever wants to be the bad guy. You don’t start out in life trying to end up being the bad guy. So, you approach it with, it’s a set of circumstances that now dictate this guy’s behavior, and why he has to do what he has to do. I know a lot of this harkens back to guys who are in the military who have come out, and just have not been treated very well, and have to do what they have to do to get by.
I have a lot of friends that served overseas, special forces, that were really important at one point in their life in what they were doing. Then, they come back here and they have to do jobs, and they’re not respected here the way they were. Or they’re not really using their intelligence and their abilities, what they trained their whole life to do. So, they find different ways to make a living, and make up for what they think they’re not getting.
MF: That was an interesting aspect to the film. Is that a theme that spoke to you, because as you said, you have friends who have been through that?
FG: Yeah. It’s that whole thing of what this country does with our veterans. We tend to push them to the side. Many times it’s degrading and it’s embarrassing for these guys to come back here, and just not be treated the way they should be treated and taken care of.
MF: Can you talk about why Mason is so willing to help Connor in this situation? Is it because they have a deep bond from their time serving in the military together?
FG: Yeah. That’s what it is. It’s one for all, and all for one. When a brother is down and needs help, you don’t worry about your own self-preservation, that’s not what these guys do. They’d all be dead if that was the case. If one is down, you go in, and you need to take care of whatever you need to take care of to save that person. That’s what this was about, it’s like, we’re here to die for you.
MF: Tell us about working with Kevin Dillon. Had you ever met or worked with him before making this movie?
FG: I haven’t. I’ve always been a fan of Kevin from ‘Entourage,’ and some other things. When they first mentioned his name, I was like, “Wow, I don’t see that. I don’t see Kevin as that guy.” I almost said, “Is this going to work?” Then Wes said, “Why don’t just go hang out with him, and talk to him for a while.” I went and sat down with him, and I thought, it’s cool to go against type here, and not have the basic, video game, tough guy, paramilitary dude, because Kevin’s not that guy. It worked really well, I think. I believed him.
Kevin Dillon in ‘A Day to Die.’
MF: It’s interesting you say that, because if they had cast you as Connor, it would have been a totally different movie.
FG: They wanted to, they asked me to do it. I only worked on the movie for a couple days because I was doing another film, and I really wanted to be able to help Wes out. So, I wanted to go in there and do as good as I could in the short amount of time that I had. But they asked me to play that role, and for me, that’s like falling off a log. It’s so easy to do that, and you expect that from me. It’s better that Kevin did it, because it’s a different way to cast the movie.
MF: You have a background in boxing and martial arts, and I know you have a lot of experience with weapons training as well. With a project like this, where you have so many action sequences, how involved do you get with the stunt coordinators? Do you help choreograph your own action scenes?
FG: Well, I just finished a film, and I’m about to go do a film, which is like a ‘Bourne Identity,’ and yeah, I’m very involved. So, in anything that I do that I’m on screen, I choreograph with the stunt coordinator, and who’s ever on the fight team. So, it’s my dance, and I’m very specific about how I want to look in the film. I never want to look cinematic, I like to be very authentic with all that stuff, with the action and with the fighting specifically, because it’s a whole language unto itself.
I watch movies where there’s these crazy fights, but I don’t believe any of the fights. It’s just like when I watch bad acting, and I don’t believe the acting. So, to come back around for the answer, I’m very involved in all of it, including the weapons that I hold.
MF: I would imagine safety is a priority to you as well on the set, is that right?
FG: Oh my God. Yes! Before any of this happened, the unfortunate events with Alec Baldwin. I mean, if you knew the people that I’ve worked with, you could ask them. I am a maniac about it. I mean, safety to me is paramount. Not only for myself and watching out that I don’t get hurt, because my livelihood is on the line, but for other people. I won’t allow it.
I’ll take the brunt of the producer’s anger. I say to them all time, blame me, let them come to my trailer. I’ll have the conversation. Usually they acquiesce, because as we’ve seen, a lot of these movies are low budget, and there’s less time than you actually need to do it, that’s when people get hurt. The other side of that is, I’ve done four Marvel movies where you have all the time in the world, and all the prep. I act as if every movie is a Marvel movie, because they do it right.
Kevin Dillon in ‘A Day to DIe.’
MF: Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is introducing the idea of the multiverse and different variants of different characters, as seen in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and the upcoming ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,’ what are the chances of you returning to the MCU is a different version of Brock “Crossbones” Rumlow?
FG: Oh, listen, I would go. I have three sons, one of them is 14, who is a fanatic about Marvel, and in comic book movies in general. But I always say this, I would jump at the chance to go and play with those guys and do anything. For me, anything I can do that my kid digs, is something I want to do. Listen, it’s helped my career immensely, globally, and I’m so appreciative of it. Anytime they call, I’ll pick up the phone and go.
MF: As an actor, you must have learned so much just from being a part of the “Marvel Machine.” Are you impressed with what Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have been able to accomplish with this series over the years?
FG: I mean, I started out in ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier,’ when Marvel was just getting going. Kevin Feige was just another guy who was a comic book geek and was running the studio. They hired these goofy guys called the RussoBrothers, and lo and behold, that was Marvel. So, when I went and did that little piece on Avengers: Endgame, I was there for a couple weeks. I was like, wow, look at this. Kevin Feige has emerged as one of, if not the smartest brain in Hollywood, I think. His track record is unparalleled. He’s the Tom Brady of the movie business.
MF: Finally, what projects do you have coming up that your fans can look forward to?
I’ve got a few movies coming out, and I probably have six movies that I’m going to go do. People laugh at me all the time, and I know sometimes even online, they make fun of me. It’s like, I like to work! I’m not curating my career. I’m not Brad Pitt. I’m not getting the best of the best of the best, where I can pick one, make $20 million and wait till next year.
It’s like, I make a good living, but I’ve got to work. I’ve got to hustle. So that’s why my name is in the trades every third week. People think my God, don’t you ever stop? I’m like, I do stop. But I also do love to work. I mean, I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to do this, that people are going to be hiring me. So, I love to work. I really enjoy it. It’s the most satisfying thing that I do aside from raising my children. I’ll do it as much as I want.
I’m always curious how other people are judging me and asking me why I work so much. I’m like, what a silly question. A, I need to make a living. B, I love it, and I don’t consider it work. So, actors wait their whole life to get into a position where there’s a number of jobs in front of them. Again, I don’t know when it’s going to stop, but it’s going to stop. Then I can go, I remember when I used to work all the time, that was fun.
