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The Hughes Brothers to Direct Akira

Krystal Clark — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:23:00 +0000

The directing duo, The Hughes Brothers have decided to move away from their post apocalyptic Western, The Book of Eli to tackle a more legendary property. According to Deadline Hollywood, Akira will be their next theatrical conquest as the directors are in talks with Warner Bros to bring the popular anime to the big screen.

The Akira film will be a live action adaptation of anime artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s 6-volume graphic novel that’s become a worldwide phenomenon among fans. For years there’s been talk of adapting the property but the majority of the plans have fallen through. It also doesn’t help when all the Akira lovers of the world keep pressing that they don’t want a Hollywood studio to ruin such great material. Too bad, too sad, because the WB has their eye on it and they want to produce it ASAP.

According to the site, Leonardo Dicaprio‘s production company Appian Way will back the film that will have a screenplay written by Gary Whitta, who penned Book of Eli. The studio’s intention is to make two movies with each covering 3 volumes in the series. Warner Bros has been trying to bring Akira to life for over 2 years ever since they first acquired the rights from manga publisher Kodansha.

Even though Warner Bros remains high on my list of studios when it comes to comic book material, an Akira movie worries me. The Hughes Brothers have had their fair share of graphic novel material, considering their 2001 adaptation From Hell, but I’m not sure if anyone can compress the story of 6 volumes into two films. What will they cut out?

How do you feel about the Hughes Brothers taking on Akira? Do you think the film should be adapted?

The Book of Eli: Movie Review

Krystal Clark — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:00:40 +0000

The Book of Eli marks the theatrical return of the directing team of Albert and Allen Hughes. The brothers are known for their gritty urban dramas like Menace II Society and Dead Presidents, but for the new decade they’ve decided to go in a different direction. Eli is a post-apocalyptic Western that has elements of an action thriller as well as a religious epic. The film’s cast is led by two time Oscar winner Denzel Washington as the pseudo-savior of mankind, and Gary Oldman as his archenemy. Both deliver strong, polarizing performances that give The Book of Eli the push it needs to go above and beyond your expectations…

The Players:

Director: Allen and Albert Hughes (The Hughes Brothers)
Writer: Gary Whitta
Actors: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Beals, Ray Stevenson, Tom Waits, Malcolm McDowell
Music: Atticus Ross
Director of Photography: Don Burgess

The Plot:

The Book Eli takes place in a post apocalyptic world that’s been ravaged by the sun. The land is dry, the people are burned, and a self-imposed dictatorship is the government of choice. Eli (Washington) is a man of few words, whose one valuable possession is a book. A book that he believes can save the world and return it to a place of order. Carnegie (Oldman) is the leader of a small town, whose been in search of Eli’s “special book” for years. He believes that he can use the sacred text to manipulate the people to carry out his every order. They’re both strong in their convictions and have one thing on their minds. Who will win and eventually gain possession of the book of Eli?

The Good:

Jennifer Beals: Beals has a very small part in Eli as the mother of Solara (Kunis), but she manages her time wisely. The actress tells the story of her character with her face and not necessarily her dialogue. She only appears in one scene with Washington, and within it they have the most genuine exchange between two characters in the entire movie.
The Screenplay: On the surface, Eli looks like a typical sci-fi action flick but it’s much more. The film’s story is simple and centers on the idea of faith and conviction. It’s a theme that can be found in any movie no matter the genre, but screenwriter Gary Whitta was able to apply it to a futuristic setting without it being unbelievable. As a viewer you never forget the basic premise of the film because the characters consistently reinforce it.
The Editing: In films today there’s a lot of MTV editing that includes excessive, quick cuts. It doesn’t work in every movie and The Hughes Brothers realized that here. This film takes its time, but is still visually stimulating. There’s nothing worse than watching an action movie and not being able to follow what’s on screen (i.e. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen).
The Makeup: The Book of Eli takes place in a world that’s been partially destroyed by the sun, therefore the look of the characters should reflect that. Everyone had excessively burned skin that was peeling, dry lips, and dry hair. It’s very rare to watch a movie that doesn’t play the audience for fools by having the actors actually look like they live in the world they’re representing.

The Bad:

The Religious Tone: The religious undertone of the film didn’t bother me personally, but it might turn off viewers who aren’t spiritually inclined. Faith is a major part of the story, almost a secondary character and in order for you to enjoy the film, you might have to turn off any reservations you have about the topic.

Overall:

The Book of Eli far exceeds the expectations that were previously put upon it. The film has more to offer than what’s shown in the trailers. There’s a deeper meaning that doesn’t fully focus on faith, but also highlights humanity. Backed by an extraordinary cast and beautiful direction, this film is definitely worth your money this weekend.

Rating: 8.5/10

The Book of Eli will be in theaters January 15th

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

Interview: The Hughes Brothers for The Book of Eli

Krystal Clark — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:31:20 +0000

Albert and Allen Hughes, most commonly known as The Hughes Brothers aren’t your typical directing team. Not only are they brothers but they’re twin brothers, who both have a strong connection to their craft. The last time the duo directed a major film was 2001′s From Hell, a horror thriller that starred Johnny Depp and Heather Graham. Before that they helmed 1999′s American Pimp, 1995′s Dead Presidents, and their breakout debut in 1993, Menace II Society. Book of Eli marks their first feature of the new decade, led by two time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, and Jennifer Beals.

After speaking to both directors individually, I got a clear understanding of how they work. They have a gift that allows them to see things that the average viewer, or fellow filmmaker wouldn’t notice at first glance. Finding the truth in a story and making their audience believe it wholeheartedly is their mission, and they’ve stood buy that for almost two decades. Here’s our in-depth look into the minds of The Hughes Brothers…

The Book of Eli is an interesting story that crosses several genres. It can be seen as a religious epic, a futuristic thriller, or an old school Western. The screenplay was written by Gary Whitta, so we wanted to know how the project got into the directors’ hands.

Albert: It was done by Gary [Whitta], he sold a spec script to Warner Brothers and Joel Silver. I don’t think anybody over there read it but one or two people. It hadn’t gone out to directors, nobody in town knew about it. An agent called my brother and said we needed to read the script and I think his question was had anybody read the script and he said no. He jumped on and read it, then he told me to read it. I read it and called him back and said, ‘I don’t know because of this religious stuff. I’m kind of hesitant about that.’ He’s like, ‘Well, OK. Just sleep on it and call me in the morning.’ Then I slept on it and had a dream about the script, with the song from Nine Inch Nails playing in my head that he’d been playing in the car from the week before. And that song let me see the way into the script.

It’s been a long time since the Hughes Brothers did a film together, and with The Book of Eli their taking on a subject that always spawns controversy. Coming from the background of urban drama and horror to a futuristic religious epic is a tall order, and their reason for doing the film isn’t as black and white as some of their previous works. They had something to prove.

Albert: We had five years between Dead Presidents and From Hell, and eight years between Eli and From Hell. Just because I’m not necessarily religious doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in the story. I had to find my way in. And I also believe in propaganda too, like I would do a commercial for a Republican, just to jerk it off basically. Just to say, ‘Oh, I did it.’ Can I make people believe something, even though I don’t believe it? Do I have enough, not talent, but technique? Do I have the technique to sell somebody on an idea that is not something that I believe in? I may not necessarily believe in aspects of this story, but I’ve got to believe in this guy’s mission. I’ve got to believe everything about it just like if it was Star Wars. We know there’s no spaceships in outer space doing that, we know there’s no Hobbits in Middle Earth. For me that’s how, you’ve got to believe the story you’re telling.

Since faith is such a major part of Eli‘s premise, you might wonder how the directors plan on entertaining those who aren’t heavily embedded in any particular faith. Surprisingly, their perspective on the film doesn’t come from a religious point of view. They see the Eli as something much more.

Albert: I don’t think it’s about religion. I think there are some religious or spiritual elements in it, but you’re going to find something in one character’s mouth that you actually believe. You might not like that character, but if you’re a non-religious person, you’re going to find some character in the movie that makes you go, ‘OK, I believe in what he’s saying.” If you’re religious person, you’re going to find a religious character and say, “I believe what he’s saying.’ If you don’t believe in what any of them are saying you may just like the world. You may like the elements, because it’s more like a throw back to an old kind of Western. The very clearly defined good and evil. They both want something, but one wants it for bad, and one wants it for good. It’s like a classic kind of old, cinema story, and very simplistic in a way.

The actors used to represent that good and evil are Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. Working with veterans of their caliber would be an overwhelming task for some, but the Hughes’ kept their cool under pressure. They found both actors to be extremely helpful in the filmmaking process.

Albert: You realize it when it’s on paper. You go, ‘We’ve got Gary, we’ve got Denzel, we’ve got wardrobe fittings, etc.’ But we’re not those kinds of guys that sit back and go, ‘Wow.” We’re too busy thinking about something else. We always get the question of, ‘Are you nervous?’ Never once in our lives have we ever had a bout of bad nerves. Stress, yes we’ve had, but not stress over like, ‘Oh my God is it going to work?’ We’re not those kinds of people, and when it comes to talent, once you get to know them and you get to know Gary and you get to know Denzel, you go ‘OK, he’s like a friend now.’ Now we’re over that. Now, that we’ve decompressed and we’re done with the movie, we’re like ‘Wow, we actually did a movie with Gary?’ It still hasn’t sunk in yet. They’re such good guys, and Gary has such a wicked sense of humor. He’s so talented, and Denzel is too. Denzel’s so smart, it’s like they only helped us. If you work with less experienced actors, you’ve got to carry a bigger load. Those guys helped us because they’re both filmmakers too. They’ve both directed, so it’s a plus in working with them.

The supporting cast was also filled to the brim with talented people. It almost got to the point where we weren’t sure who would pop up in the next scene. You have Michael Gambon, Tom Waits, Malcolm McDowell, Mila Kunis, and Jennifer Beals. We had to know how they wrangled together such a talented group of people.

Albert: I don’t have a [specific] memory, but I remember they all just started falling together. When you get Denzel in a movie people are like, ‘Hey, I’ll show up for that,’ you know? These English actors have been very nice to us. Those people show up and they work, then you call cut and they start cursing like a sailor. And they have character and have great stories. They want their curry and their tea and that’s it and they’re happy. It just fell together. Everything started to like fall into place and surprise us.

Allen: Interestingly enough, I called one of my producers and said, ‘If we don’t get Michael Gambon, (because it was going to fall apart), in this movie you’re not a real producer.’ I just idolize that man, and not a lot of people don’t know him by name. And Jennifer Beals was challenging because I had someone else in mind, and she auditioned for the part on tape and really went for it. Her audition was uncanny and uncomfortable and I was like, ‘What is this?’ It made me uncomfortable, and I didn’t like it. And I went to sleep and I went ‘You know what? She’s doing something over there.’ What was so rewarding with working with Ms. Beals was I love when you don’t recognize something and you’re like, what is this? The story is they told her at the airport, she was in contention for that role, and she just broke down and cried and told her agent, ‘You know if I don’t get the role, tell them thank you just for even putting me in contention for it.’ And there was another huge actress [in waiting], but I heard her hunger. I know to be an actress is tough alone past 30, but to be a Black actress over 30 is incredibly tough.

Even though Beals has a small, supporting role in the film, she made a major impact on the directors and the rest of her co-stars, most notably Washington.

Allen: She showed up [in a scene], and it was at the door when he [Washington] said, ‘I like your perfume.” there was that moment and she said ‘It’s the shampoo.” Denzel never compliments anybody and he was like, “Did you see that?” Because she did it like 3 or 4 or 5 different times and I was so proud of her because here’s a woman, she’s 45. She started at 18, she looks amazing, and she ceased the moment.

Speaking of Denzel’s input, his action scenes in this film can not be ignored. The actor’s in his mid-fifties and pulled off a few action scenes, that a 20 year old would have problems doing. According to the directors every piece of footage that shows Eli battling it out with the bad guys is all Washington. No stunt double required.

Allen: The thing with him is you always hear, “I did my own stunts. I did my own stunts.” That’s one thing. He did his own fighting, and it was one take. That thing in the underpass? That’s one shot with no cuts all the way through, and even the one in the bar, we shot it as one shot. So he trained for 6 months. I laughed everyday because he had a body double, or stunt double and all he did was sit in his trailer and read a book. Never came out, not once. Maybe for a long shot walking. He came out one day. Denzel did everything, and it was beyond stunts. It’s like I said, he had to lose 60 pounds. Then he had to go in and train with Jeff Amata who did the Bourne movies. And Bruce Lee’s right hand man Dan Inosanto went down there in Marina del Rey, and trained. I saw him doing stuff blind, with the sticks!

Since this was their first experience working with Washington, they got to see his work ethic first hand. They learned that he is much more than just an ‘actor.’

Allen: Denzel, he’s such a gifted man. It was the first time he made me understand why some men like Marlon Brando would consider it an insult just to be an actor. Denzel finally made me realize what it is, because his gifts are so much more. He just really has an intuitive gift of understanding everything. And he’s very quiet, and zen about it, although he very gregarious don’t get me wrong. He’s obsessive like me and my brother and he got way into all that.

The makeup department for Book of Eli worked overtime to give all the characters a distinct look. Their skin is burned and damaged to show that their world has been ravaged by the sun, it was great to see a post apocalyptic movie where the main characters didn’t look pretty, but were believable.

Albert: We try to do that with every movie, but when you’re dealing with actors sometimes you can’t get away with that as much. I remember on our last movie the studio was like, ‘Nope, you can’t put that dirt on Heather Graham’s face.’ You can’t do that, you can’t do this. Then it starts to look uneven you know? We try to treat them all the same in this movie. But you’ve got to show that some characters are women, as always in cinema. Even Sergio did that, Sergio Leone had the women look great, but the men were just dirty and sweaty and funky and as long as the audience feels that, you may be able to get away with one pretty girl or pretty woman in better make up, hopefully.

The Hughes Brothers have tackled a lot in their careers, so the big question is what’s next? Could we see another gritty drama in the future, or would they like to expand more into the action genre? Allen is interested in going in a direction that will not only challenge him as a filmmaker but also as a man.

Allen: I want to do a Last Tango in Paris. I really want to do one of those. I want to do it with an actress though, I don’t want to make it about a man. I want to make it real erotic, a cinematic movie, about a woman exploring her sexuality. Because I know that I would be uncomfortable doing it, so it’s a challenge, and plus we need it.

When you spend a good chunk of your life living together, working together, and sharing the same gene pool it’s hard to find the right balance with a person, especially if their your twin. We found out how the brothers have managed to have such a successful working relationship without it crossing over into their personal lives.

Allen: We have a tough relationship because we’re twins. We’re not just siblings. Siblings someone’s older and it’s, ‘You shut the fuck up because I’m older motherfucker,” you know? That’s something that’s established. Even the youngest is brighter and the oldest is more physical, there’s something that’s established. With twins, your mother pours the same amount of Kool-Aid from day one. So it’s a democracy, and directing is not about democracy, it’s a dictatorship. It’s tough, it’s difficult.

Albert: When it works, when it’s clicking, and you’re in sync and you’re thinking alike and everything’s going off without a hitch, there’s no other feeling like that. It’s almost like a drug, and you’re constantly chasing that dragon. There’s a lot of bad here because we’re brothers and we’re fighting all the time, but there’s that big good at the end if we just stick it out. Just stick it out.

Book of Eli opens in theaters nationwide on January 15, 2010.

Book Of Eli: Behind the Stunts Video

Krystal Clark — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:12:37 +0000

Allen and Albert Hughes latest film The Book of Eli, stars Denzel Washington in a way we’ve never seen him before. The film will debut in theaters on January 15th and features several veteran actors such as Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals, and even Malcolm McDowell. The action sequences in the film are all performed by Washington without the help of excessive special effects or tricky editing. The following featurette shows you the preparation that went into those intricate scenes…

The Book of Eli centers on a man and his journey to protect a sacred book, which he believes can redeem the post apocalyptic society he lives in. While on his mission he must protect it from the many evil forces that want to use its power for selfish reasons. His main opposition comes in the form of Oldman and his group of followers who are willing to do anything and kill anyone to get the book.

This behind the scenes video includes interviews from the film’s directors as well as Washington and the award winning stunt choreographers. You see first hand the amount of technique and training that had to go into each fight scene, and most importantly how much of it Washington did himself. Not bad for a man who’s well into his fifties!

What do you think of Washington’s fighting style in The Book of Eli? Are you surprised by how much he did himself?

Comic-Con 2009: Book of Eli Interview with Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman…

Mali Elfman — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:21:18 +0000

One of the many press conferences we attended at Comic-Con was for the Book of Eli with Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, and Directors Albert and Allen Hughes. Sadly, it’s very hard when transcribing which brother is which. In fact, even when watching the videos it’s hard to tell which twin is which, unless I look at the signs in front of them. Can’t one of them choose a different facial hair style or something?. I did my best, but some of the below might be swapped. You can also check out videos from The Book of Eli panel or their recently released trailer.

Check out the interview below…

Can I have a question for the actors please, you guys can talk about the characters you play in this, I guess it could be described as post-Apocalyptic western, who do you play and the natures of your characters?

Denzel Washington: You know, Allen and Albert, no for real, everyone says post-Apocalyptic Western so you are the filmmakers, is that, what do you…

Albert Hughes: The thing is, almost, somebody said it once and it caught on. Studios are scared of Westerns, don’t say that but at the same time some of the influences of the Eli character come from The Man With No Name, and some of those movies stylistically as far as what we researched but I wouldn’t call it a Western, it takes place in the West but this story could have easily taken place in the East coast.

Denzel: Yeah, now that’s another thing, what about the post-Apocalyptic part of it? Because everybody keeps saying that. Now I could answer your question too but I want to get it from the horse’s mouth, they are making the movie. I’m just, you know, we’re just a couple of slaves.

Gary Oldman: We’re just coming in and hitting the mark.

Denzel: That’s it. We just do what we’re told. But I’m serious though. I’ve been asked that question 50 times today. You know, and they say “Well, there are so many post-Apocalyptic movies coming out right” and I say well I don’t know if that’s what we really are. So are we?

Albert: I don’t like the word because it is such a genre word. We have such a great story here that is not about being post-Apocalyptic. It is 30 years in the future after an event but if you don’t have a good story and great characters, it doesn’t matter what genre it is.

Allen Hughes: You know, there’s 40 million cop movies coming out every year. There’s genres if you want to place genres on the movie. I think the post-Apocalyptic part is third or fourth-dary in the story, it’s more of a character then anything. It could have very easily have been on an island with just a 100 people.

Denzel: So speaking of characters like you were saying, go ‘head, go ‘head…

Gary: No, but I think when you’re looking for a sound-bite in a situation where you’re walking up the carpet and someone’s saying “Gary tell me” like that and you’re looking for, it is set in a post-Apocalyptic world and it has a vibe or echoes of a Western. So, I have been guilty of saying it because it’s a short hand to sort of wrap it up in a sort of…

Denzel: So, get in your car and keep moving. (Gary: Exactly) You started that.

Gary: I am guilty of that. That will be all over the internet. I’ve said a whole bunch of shit today. I’ve been a very naughty boy today.

Denzel: There is this book and there is a mission that my character is on and it is to take this book across the country. It is (phone makes sound) that wasn’t’ the book. Gary’s character is a man who also wants to use this book to influence and control the world. So, these two men collide and Salara. Mila can tell you about Salara.

Mila Kunis: What? I’m up. As Gary Oldman’s character plays my step-father, I guess in a sense of, and uses me to seduce Denzel’s character and in return I become infatuated by him and his belief and the man that he is because he is not abusive and is not the man of the world. And she decides to escape and follow him and I guess maybe becomes his pupil and just wants to follow him on his journey and be like him and be inspired by him and kind of, you know, escapes from the small town and goes with Eli.

Gary: You’re a hunk, in a way.

Mila: Yeah.

What were your inspirations for the movie?

Albert: Well, we usually start by just looking at, if people are like, let’s talk about post-Apocalyptic movies, the last movie we did was by Jack the Ripper so we researched those movies with what’s been done before, and try to flip the clichés a bit, use things that work. Then we go to comic book material, which is ironic for this one because it wasn’t based off of a comic book and we use a lot of those artists to help us with the look of the movie. One thing is trying to set it aside visually from the other movies that are out there, and finding colors that work, and hit your eye pretty quickly and you say, ok that doesn’t look like, let’s say the road or Mad Max, if Mad Max or the road had that color, let’s do that, it’s as simple as that sometimes and then the tip of the hat to the Westerns, I think, you know, we’re greatly influenced by Sergio Leone and the simplicity of his filmmaking but also the darkness of his imagery.

Allen: Well also, I remember, (6:33) was involved in this stage where we had stack of books that were from professors who studied in the 80’s, what would happen if there was a nuclear event, there’s like three definitive books on this and the environment, on humanity, on the animal kingdom and you know, so you can study with the clouds based in their research and we got really into, to really see what the reality was, and if it was a nuclear, if it was one of those 2012 things, it was a biological, it was a super volcano. They all, basically, the same thing will happen 30 years later, the atmosphere will look a certain way, there will be a certain color in the sky, there will be a certain decomposition of the landscape, so we put that coupled with what Albert’s talking about and that’s how we get the…

Albert: Yeah, because right now what’s in the teaser is not, when the normal trailer comes out you’ll see more of the world, you know, there’s no vegetation until the end of the movie.

That’s a spoiler.

Denzel: Oh, God damn-it. (laughter)

I’m fascinated by how people survive in these sort of disastrous environment, will we get to see some scenes of like scavenging for supplies and finding stuff in the rubble?

Gary: Most people are scavengers. A lot of people that you see in this film.

Denzel: What do I say, “People…” what’s the line, “People…”

Albert: …kill

Denzel: Kill now for things that people used to…

Mila: …take for granted?

Denzel: …we used to throw away or something like that.

Albert: Yeah, yeah. People kill now. And this character Eli says, “We kill people for what we throw away, for things we should throw away.” It was a beautiful mindset.

Allen: And you know it’s more of a peripheral too, this story, this story is about a group of characters, a group of three or four, basically, the world is more peripheral in a way. So you’re not going to see, we’re not focusing on…

Albert: But you do see all throughout, you see survival in the whole movie, there is, it is about humans, and whether it is Gary’s or Mila’s character, or Denzel’s character, they all are survivors, period. They are surviving.

That is a great line you mentioned, so will we see a great dramatic scene where you have to kill for something that we take for granted these days?

Denzel: Well, there are a few meat sandwiches… (laughter)

Allen: Oh, I forgot about that.

Mila: Oh Yeah.

Denzel: …there’s some meat sandwiches that are eaten in the film.

You devouring those, do you?

Denzel: I didn’t say I devoured them, the meat sandwiches.

Gary: Well you know, it’s this, for survival. I mean, for instance, Carnegie has a source of water, of fresh water, which is really the currency which is the commodity, I mean, it kind of is anyway, because it’s more expensive than gasoline, this stuff. But, it’s become more so. He rules because he knows where that well is, and he is, and that’s the King’s ransom right there, but people have taken, people have been pushed to extremes.

Denzel: How long have we been paying for water now?

Albert: It seems like 20 years at least.

Denzel: Has it been 20 years?

For the Hughes Brothers, it’s been awhile since your last movie, is it hard to get a movie deal together for awhile or were you sort of waiting to develop a different project?

Allen: I thing it’s hard to find great material, one. Two, the climate has changed a lot, I didn’t realize that, few people know, the longer a filmmaker stays away from filmmaking, the more the industry, you’re not bonded. They don’t know, can we work with them, are they sane? Each year that goes by there’s no gage as to where our heads are and we’re being very picky about the material and we finally found some material. We shot a lot of ads, we’ve been working a lot, but it’s really tough to find something that important to you and important to them at the same time. And then finding important actors to make it happen.

Albert: It was really part of the conscious choice. When you get something and you read the first ten pages and go “Oh, shit!” After you get like ten of those, you’re like, you almost give up sometimes until someone says there’s a pretty good one right here and you read that and you’re like “Oh damn” and then there’s a battle to get that made. It’s a battle to get any movie made. Denzel really helped us with this one though if it wasn’t for him, I think this thing would not be made.

What battle did you have to fight to get your vision…?

Albert: Yeah, you have to fight to get things made and there was this one instance in our career, when we made our second movie where there was no battle to make the movie made, and when there’s no battle there’s no fight, you have nothing to fight for and sometimes the movie suffers for that. But when you have the studio or a producer or somebody fighting against you or someone saying, well you got to make it for this number or don’t make it at all or go get that star or whatever and then once it’s up and running you have more battles to take care of but he really helped us with that.

What are your feelings about humans in this depressing survival mode and actors portraying this area where people are very desperate and were you aware of The Road as far as you can see that you guys are similar since they are another Western?

Albert: I could answer The Road part. I purposely avoided reading or even looking at The Road. I think it’s a more serious and dramatic movie than from what I heard, it’s very impressive so I think it’s different. I’ve seen some stuff lately, it’s a very different movie, as far as the acting is concerned.

Allen: I think the bottom line is, that’s why the Western comes up because when you take it back to more primitive times, true characters starts to show through and you put people in that element you start to see, the conflict is there a lot more, so it’s a hot-bed for drama. Our piece is very dramatic, it may appear just an action but it starts that character in that conflict and all that drama.

Gary: I think it feels very present too. It feels, you walk around feeling like it can happen, like it’s going to happen. Since we made this movie, career shooting missiles in the air. We’re in a very strange time.

For the actors, in what way did you feel like this stretched your abilities? Is there something new that you got out of this that was challenging that you really haven’t experienced before or haven’t gotten a lot of in previous roles in other films?

Denzel: For me, it was the physical work. I’ve done physical films but that’s that adventure, to be able to step into other people’s shoes, in this case, have the opportunity to work with some really brilliant martial artists, Jeff Imada and Dan Inosanto, who is a contemporary of Bruce Lee so just to be able to, for six or eight months, to be able to work out with them and learn from them.

Comic-Con 2009: Book of Eli Panel Videos

Brendan Walsh — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:35:01 +0000

***Update: You can check out our live blog transcription of the Warner Bros panel, along with some late breaking Batman news via co-star, Gary Oldman. We also have interviews with the three stars of Eli for your reading pleasure.

Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, and directors the Hughes brothers gathered at Comic Con to discuss their upcoming post-apocalyptic action film Book of Eli. It looks like they had a lot of fun making this film. Check out the videos, after the jump…

Gary Oldman discusses how he feels about being typecast as a villain

Denzel Washington talks about his physical training for the fight scenes in Book of Eli

Denzel & Gary compare working together to “good sex.” Sometimes it’s in slang, sometimes it’s in proper english, and sometimes it’s…theatrical.

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