The informer
THE INFORMER I Joel Kinnaman goes undercover in Andrea Di Stefano’s gritty thriller…
Joel Kinnaman does jail time to infiltrate the mob.
Aquiet cul-de-sac in leafy Amersham is not exactly where you might expect to find the set for Andrea Di Stefano’s The Informer. But the suburb just north of London, with its houses fronted with white wood and blue shutters, is a dead ringer for America’s East Coast. “We found a street that looks like Long Island,” grins the silver-haired Di Stefano (Escobar: Paradise Lost), as his crew set up a shot for the film’s final act.
The scene in question is a shoot-out as two heavies invade the home of former Special Forces soldier Pete Koslow, with his wife Sofia (Blade Runner 2049’s Ana de Armas) and young daughter present. Jailed for manslaughter following a bar fight, Koslow has been released early after cutting a deal with the FBI to infiltrate a gang of Polish drug dealers. But events conspire to force him back into prison, leaving his family exposed.
“It is about a guy who, from the get-go, must take care of his family and protect them from what’s coming,” explains Di Stefano. Playing that “guy” is Swedish star Joel Kinnaman, currently kicking back in his trailer, his arms covered in tattoos and his locks (amusingly) plastered down in a pink hair net. “I’d been following this script
for quite a while,” says the Killing star. “It got sent to me a couple of years ago and it was a very different iteration – much more like a genre movie.”
Then in came Di Stefano who re-worked the script – originally adapted from Swedish crime novel Three Seconds – after spending time with FBI and DEA agents. Di Stefano even visited the infamous New York State prison Sing Sing, and met with a real-life former informant. It all makes for what the director calls “fertile ground” for storytelling. “It’s a whole world made of larger-than-life emotions,” he says. “Mistakes you pay [for] with death.”
Following their director’s lead, Rosamund Pike, who plays Pete’s FBI contact, spent time with real-life federal agents, while Kinnaman’s Suicide Squad co-star Common, who features as an honorable cop, hung out with the NYPD. “I know that this film is going to have authenticity,” says Common, sporting a black hoodie and thick silver chain when he sits down with Teasers in the back yard. “You smell it coming off the screen.”
With Clive Owen also on board as Pike’s superior, the classy cast led everyone to up their game. “One of my dreams was always to make something à la The French Connection,” adds the ambitious Di Stefano, clearly hoping his film can match William Friedkin’s classic drama. Kinnaman, meanwhile, compares it to the “compelling world” of his own Swedish 2010 hit, Easy Money, saying, “You can really see this is going to appeal to audiences.”