John Hillcoat sure knows how to assemble a great cast. In TRIPLE 9, the filmmaker offers up a few impressive names to tell the story of morally ambigious police officers. The film stars Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Gal Gadot, Teresa Palmer, Woody Harrelson, Clifton Collins Jr. and Kate Winslet… Talk about serious acting cred. And on the press tour for the film, several of these fantastic talents took time out to talk about working with Hillcoat.
During the junket, not only did we get to talk to Norman Reedus and Aaron Paul, the two actors also had a couple of adorable guests joining them. Sure we talked about working on successful television programs, and working with this incredible ensemble, but we also talked puppies. In our interview, each actor held a puppy. And no, it has nothing to do with the movie, but it was a great way to start a conversation.
After that, I sat down with the rest of the cast including Mackie, Ejiofor, Palmer and of course, Mr. Collins. They all discussed their experiences working on the film, although nobody else had man's best friend in the room with them. Both Mackie and Ejiofor talked about stepping back from CGI and dealing with practical effects – the car chases here are wild. And Collins talked about his very detailed prep for playing Jorge Rodriguez. Finally, we finished off the junket talking to Mr. John Hillcoat himself. He discussed finding the right names to make it work as well as taking on this very serious subject.
TRIPLE 9 is a firecracker of a flick that features great performances, and some thrilling action. Make sure you check this out when it hits theatres this coming Friday!