HITMAN: AGENT 47
We go on set to track down the videogame assassin.
arch 2014. Total Film is snooping around CCC Studios on the outskirts of Berlin. There’s something appropriately videogame-y about the environment; maybe it’s the network of labyrinthine corridors, or the metal stairways and railings that have to be negotiated to even enter the building – or it could be the sheer number of masked footsoldiers stalking around. We’re on set for the shooting of
Hitman: Agent 47, 20th Century Fox’s groundup reboot of the videogame adap, and one thing becomes immediately clear: today’s filming is tantamount to a military operation.
There’s a ruthless efficiency to the day’s itinerary. As we’re shepherded around the various sound stages, there’s a lot to take in. Our first stop: a hangar-sized room hosting a set standing in for a 40-storey-high Singapore rooftop. (After work is complete in Berlin, the production ups sticks to southeast Asia.) Over to one side, atop a helipad, a black helicopter is being painted to appear “even more black” in time for a close-up. Across the way is the faux-glass door that leads to this rooftop escape-hatch. The walls are blanketed by greenscreen drapes dotted with pink crosses for visual-effects referencing, standing in for a midnight skyline to be CGI-ed in at a later date.
Down the hall, at the next stage along, black-clad operatives take aim from the top of similarly lurid green platforms. Aiming their assault rifles every which way – above the camera, below, to either side – before leaping down on to crashmats (yep, green ones), they are quickly shuffled back into position for maximum coverage. In another part of the studio, an interrogation room is playing home to an Agent 47 stand-in who has the same black suit and red tie but, crucially, a full head of hair. A motion-controlled camera surveys the room with the same precise movements again and again as lighting checks are done and the scene is set for Rupert Friend’s eponymous antihero to make good his escape.
After admiring an array of weaponry – knives, grenades, guns, bullet clips – that’d make Neo and Trinity envious, we’re ushered into an underground bunker/press room to find out from producer Adrian Askarieh why
“one of the Big strengths of the movie is going to Be its fresh, unexpected cast”
the iconic videogame baldie has been selected for another shot at movie success. (Askarieh also produced the 2007 adaptation, snapping up the rights to the character at a time when studio interest in videogame properties was at its lowest.) “I thought [ Agent 47] was probably more of a cinematic character than a videogame character,” he explains of securing the film rights. “To me, it felt like the Hitman games were based on a movie.” The previous film more than recouped its modest $26m budget with a global haul of $100m but, with critics and fans not crying out for more, it failed to launch a franchise – or make an action star of Timothy Olyphant.
“Was it everything we were hoping it was going to be? I’m not going to lie to you: no,” Askarieh candidly admits. Given the bald assassin is still beloved in gaming circles – the five-strong console/PC series has been active since 2000, with another installment due later this year – the impetus behind his second big-screen outing was to place him within a grittier, more grounded world; Askarieh’s lofty touchpoints include Batman
Begins and Casino Royale, hard-edged franchiserestarters with genre-defying mass appeal.
Brought on to direct is commercial whizz Aleksander Bach, whose award-winning Red Cross short ‘Stars’ grabbed the attention of Fox executives looking for a helmer to launch a potentially lucrative new franchise. Catching a breath between takes, Bach explains what drew him to Hitman:
Agent 47 for his feature debut. “I feel it is my responsibility to do something beyond the game. You can play the character but what’s going on behind his eyes is interesting...” Later, Bach explains how he wanted to differentiate this new version from the previous effort by stripping it back and zeroing in on the single most important element: “I wanted to concentrate on Agent 47, and to have a very small and young ensemble around him.” “One of the big strengths of the movie is going to be its fresh, unexpected cast,” Askarieh concurs.
Unexpected is the word. Alongside Homeland’s Friend (better know for sensitive turns in The Young Victoria and Starred
Up), this central trio comprises Zachary Quinto and British newcomer Hannah Ware (the elder sister of singer Jessie Ware). “For me, it was just about responding to a character, and the world of a studio action movie,” explains Quinto of signing up to play the antagonist to Friend’s ruthless hunter. Ware can’t contain her excitement at landing her first major role – she had to be escorted out
nd of a branch of Bed Bath & Beyond after screaming when she got the call – but she’s finding the physical side a challenge. “This is the first time I’ve done action – hitting and fighting! [ Greenscreens] are really hard… It’s a real testament to your imagination!”
How these three key characters fit together will probably remain a mystery until the film opens. Ware’s response is typical when asked if she can tell us a bit about her character, Katia. “I can’t actually,” she smiles. “I’m not allowed!” What could be gleaned from the set is at the story will revolve around Katia variously being pursued and protected by both Agent 47 and Quinto’s John Smith at different points in the story. Friend, who says the producers took a gamble on him in the title role (he was hired following the death of Paul Walker, originally cast in the lead), reveals he hasn’t had a huge number of dialogue scenes with Quinto due to the cat-and-mouse nature of the tale. “We’ve just been beating each other up,” he grins, dressed in his black suit, white shirt and signature red tie, his hair shaved to barely there stubble. (The toned down look is part-and-parcel of the grittier aesthetic, with Agent 47’s trademark barcode tattoo now a little more subtle.)
There’s first-hand evidence of the pair “beating each other up” when TF is ushered to Stage 6 to watch a fight scene play out. The gleaming white office is the workspace of shady villain Le Clerq (played by Thomas Kretschmann), head of the mysterious Syndicate International; if you weren’t already sure he was evil, one glimpse at his Bondvillain chair should confirm your suspicions. Friend and Quinto run through their carefully choreographed routine at half-speed before ear protection is handed out ahead of the full-speed take. When “Action!” is called, the fist fight commences in a slick flurry of moves, ending with some close-range gunfire. (To describe in more detail could be spoilery, although we’re told all is not quite what it seems…) “It’s a little bit intimidating,” Quinto says later of the point-blank gunwork. “There was some tension around that...” Friend has some experience of firearms from his work on Homeland but even he had some way to go to convince as the professional assassin from the videogame.
almost exactly a year later, Total
Film visits another set in Berlin. “The studio saw the movie and they loved it, and they said, ‘Do you want to shoot more action?’ and we said ‘Yes!’” explains Askarieh. Everything being shot now is action, including a whole new opening sequence. The scenes being filmed today (in an old steel mill) will replace an interior set-piece shot in Singapore, while the extra shooting will cover off more signature 47 kills – in the games, he’s renowned for stealth and style over gung-ho tactics.
John Wick co-directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski are overseeing this second unit. In a mocked-up jet-engine factory with five-ton components swinging overhead, “Chad and Dave” (as they are known) frequently split up to oversee different pockets of action and work as efficiently as possible. “Fox felt we could bring something a little bit unique, something that could help the action scenes on Agent 47 come to life a bit more,” explains Stahelski. Leitch (once Brad Pitt’s stunt double) describes the tone of their action as “hyperreal”, aiming to capture the essence of the game: “It’s the dark, noir nature of the visuals that make it. It’s a signature style of Hitman... We wanted to get some iconic Agent 47 shots in there.”
The cast are buzzing from the additional expertise they’ve brought to the table. Quinto praises the pair’s “really excellent dynamic of melding action and attention” and Friend is similarly impressed. “They understand action in the best way I’ve ever seen working on a set,” he says. “They want full contact. The guys are tough as hell and they don’t pull any punches.” The British actor jokes about how proficiently Leitch and Stahelski can improvise a takedown “in a way that you’re like, ‘You actually have killed people, haven’t you?!’” Given it was the intelligence of the game’s action that first drew Friend in (“not just a brutal killer but a fiercely intelligent killer”), Leitch and Stahelski seem like an appropriate fit.
With Duncan Jones’ Warcraft and the Michael Fassbender-produced-and-starring
Assassin’s Creed on the horizon, Askarieh is confident videogame movies might become the new comic-book movies, destigmatising the beleaguered genre. Hitman: Agent 47 is certainly being eyed as the hopeful birth of a new franchise but, whatever happens, Friend is excited. “I think it’s definitely true to what we set out to do, which is to make an intelligent, original, thrilling version of this world,” he states. “I think it just looks fucking badass.”
“I mean, I’ve had a gun in my hand for three years straight, so that’s been helpful,” he laughs, “but 47 is ambidextrous with his gun, so that takes some doing. Safety reloads with two hands is a bit of a mindfuck, but then 47 is an engineered human being. He’s better at everything than everyone.”