Reynolds on Jackson; Jackson on Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson star in
The Hitman’s Bodyguard released by Viva Films International today. Also in the cast are Salma Hayek and Gary Oldman.
The world’s top protection agent (Reynolds) is called upon to guard the life of his mortal enemy, one of the world’s most notorious hitmen (Jackson). The relentless bodyguard and manipulative assassin have been on the opposite ends of the bullet for years and are thrown together for a wildly outrageous 24 hours. During their raucous and hilarious adventure from England to the Hague, they encounter high-speed car chases, outlandish boat escapades and a merciless Eastern European dictator (Oldman). Hayek joins the mayhem as Jackson’s equally notorious wife.
Can you tell us about your character Michael Bryce?
Reynolds: Michael Bryce is sort of a top-tier executive protection agent. He is a guy that would be basically assigned to foreign dignitaries and assigned to people who are at the top of the criminal underground. Basically, anybody who is at risk of losing his life to a bullet of some kind.
So, he’s a guy who kind of suffers from a lot of hubris and he has this idealized image and romanticized image of himself in his mind, that he is a triple-A rated sort of best of the best of the best kind of guy, which becomes startlingly untrue to him as we move forward through the film. But Michael Bryce, when we first meet him, is at the top of his game and very shortly after
that, he is at the bottom of his game.
When you work with someone like Samuel L. Jackson, did you have to spend a little time to generate the chemistry on screen or did you work with him before?
Reynolds: You are hard-pressed to not have met Sam Jackson at some point in your Hollywood sojourn, just because he is ubiquitous, the guy is everywhere. He’s probably one of the hardest working men in show business, I would put him up there with The Rock and Kevin Hart, these guys that never put it down, they just go, go, go and I don’t know where he finds the energy. Sam and I had only worked on an animated film before so we knew each other from that, doing the press rounds on that. But we had never shot a film together. So this is our first time and I think there was a natural chemistry there that was inherent from the get-go. Do you sit back and let grumpy Sam go?
Reynolds: Oh yes. You do not bridle the merriment. You let grumpy Sam go and you let grumpy Sam be a muckraker to a certain degree and that is fun. And it creates a weird tension on set. So, I like watching those things. I think if I was a young, greenhorn actor, I would be threatened by that to some degree. But I have done this forever, and I know he can’t hurt me. I just have fun with it.
(Laughs) Grumpy Sam is one of the most entertaining people that you will ever meet in your life. I would go on record saying I love grumpy Sam, but for the most part, he is nothing but hospitable and charming and damn funny. *** How do you prepare for a character like Darius Kincaid and what are his motives for what he does in the film?
Jackson: The physical characteristics were very important for me, getting those tattoos of crows and ravens. The thing about the crows wasn’t in the movie until I showed up with the crows on and they asked me why and I was like well, these are all the people that I killed. It’s like every time I kill somebody, I get a new raven. And who are all the little ones, I said, well I sprayed a school bus one time, so there are little ravens. I get the physical things going and then Darius’ devil-maycare kind of personality, because Ryan’s character is kind of straight-laced, they have to be polar opposites.
Then, having a wife like Sonia (Hayek), being locked up and reading how he met her and what that all turned to, was one of the things that fueled my thoughts about her. It’s his insight about his ideas about women and romance that informs my relationship with Sonia. Why she is in jail and why I am taking this whole risk of turning myself in, to let her go. It’s a love story. And everything that I am doing, I am doing for love and nothing is going to stop me from doing that.
But in the meantime, I am here in the car with this dude, who I have been trying to kill for 18 years. The only time I have been close to him or I have seen him, is through a scope, and all of a sudden here we are together. So, I get to find out who this dude really is. Is he the guy I think he is, cool and professional, or is he the asshole that I always thought he was?
Then I find out that he has lost some of his status because of something I did... and not even knowing it was his client. When that registers, it’s kind of like, now that I like the dude, I have got to help him get his shit back. It turns to more than just kind of two guys who hate each other being in a car.
When you are in a confined space with someone like Ryan, do you learn something from him and how do you play off of each other?
Jackson: Well, I have watched Ryan on screen and I have interacted with him socially, so I think I know what his sensibilities are in terms of his humor. And he is very quick-witted and very wry.