Interview: Director Pierre Morel talks Freelance

Last Updated on November 2, 2023

Director Pierre Morel is the man who made Liam Neeson into an action icon. His movie Taken established the middle-aged character actor as perhaps the 21st century’s biggest action icon, and it was an unlikely transformation. Truly, Morel is an ace action director, with his film District 13 being one of the best action movies of the last twenty years. Since Taken, he’s specialized in transforming actors into action stars, directing Sean Penn in The Gunman and Jennifer Garner in Peppermint. Both were pretty grim movies, so now Morel is turning to somewhat lighter material with Freelance.

In it, John Cena plays a former special forces operative who’s become a suburban dad and lawyer. He seeks to recapture some of the excitement of his youth by taking a job as a bodyguard for a high-profile journalist (Alison Brie) who’s interviewing a dictator. In the middle of the assignment, a coup happens, forcing the two to work together to survive.

In our exclusive interview with Morel, he discusses wanting to try lighter material, with him comparing this to movies like Romancing the Stone. He also says that Brie, who’s displayed her physical prowess on Glow, proved to be more than up to the challenge of being in an action movie and that here and Cena made shooting this movie a blast. He also discusses the potential of doing a Freelance 2, which, admittedly, seems unlikely as the film had a relatively minor opening at the box office this weekend. However, it may find more of an audience on streaming.

You can read our Freelance review here. Did you see it this weekend? Let us know in the comments!