I’ve had a hard time keeping to myself about my first set visit to RED, the Bruce Willis starring adaptation of Warren Ellis’ graphic novel. So imagine my surprise when I find out I finally get to share.
Okay, so please allow me my moment to turn fangirl for a second…who did I meet? Bruce Motherf*cking Willis. End moment. Sorry, I’ve kept my composure for this long. You’d be excited too. Hell, this is a man who paved a road in action history. This is John McClane, David Addison, Hudson Hawk, Joe Hallenbeck, Butch Coolidge, Korben Dallas, Dr. Malcolm Crowe, David Dunn, Hartigan, and of course the voice of Mikey from LOOK WHO’S TALKING. The point is, this is a man who has portrayed many memorable characters that all essentially are an extension of who he is. On that note, this set preview for RED isn’t a love letter to Willis alone.
There hasn’t been much released for the film so far. No news updates, sneak peeks, or even any stills. They’ve kept as much as they can on the down low so far. As you might have already noticed, the only bit I got from the studio was the logo from the film.
In case you were the tiniest bit of curious, RED is a film loosely based on the original comic from writer Warren Ellis and illustrator Cully Hamner. Before I left for Louisiana, I made sure to pick up the comic since I had never read it. Quick summary: when a new director for the CIA comes in, he finds out the disgusting things retired operative Frank Moses has done to protect his Country. The director then decides that these secrets must never get out to the American people so he orders that Moses terminated. All I can say is, the character of Frank Moses is definitely the perfect role for Willis. A retired, extremely dangerous former CIA agent fits well into his body of work. The story definitely had to be fleshed out a lot, but the add-ins made by Erich and Jon Hoeber (WHITEOUT) are nothing short of spectacular.
Expect this film to surprise you when it comes to the talents of certain veteran actors like: Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura elaborated on perhaps a hidden notion, “There’s an underlying idea in this movie that we have all related to which is…and we’ve coined the term for “Red”—Retired Extremely Dangerous. And the notion of our society the way we just cast off people, you know whether it’s old or whether it’s dead-end jobs or all the sort of notions of how difficult our society can be on people, this movie sort of has that underlying notion behind it is the empowerment of all those people who are sort of getting left behind, you know?” These characters are definitely empowered with massive artillery…especially Helen.
Sadly, I can’t spoil you on the details. What I can tell you is that I spoke with Willis, Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, and various other crew involved with the film. It was a long hot ass day spent under a tent with gunshots blasting, but it was worth it. Come back soon for the full set visit as well as the interviews with the cast.
I leave you with two words: stuffed pig.