The midlife crisis hits male Hollywood stars hard. They turn 50 and begin to want to prove that they can still be action heroes, that their bodies are perfect, oiled killing weapons. Liam Neeson was the master of that twist. With an Oscar and dramatic and mythical roles in his career, he decided that it was time to hand out blows. Brad Pitt had already distributed good slaps in Fight club Y Mr and Mrs smith when he was the pretty boy of the industry but now, bordering on 60, he has decided to star in his most frenetic, violent and spididic film. His name is Bullet Train, and it has all the ballots to be one of the titles of this summer.
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Its manager is David Leicht, a producer who revitalized action cinema with John Wick and that as a director he has shown his taste for hypervitaminated pastiche in AtomicDeadpool 2 either Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw. Here he adapts a novel by Maria Beetle full of bad milk, irreverence and a lot of blood. A movie in which many contract killers meet on a bullet train traveling from Tokyo to Morioka. Their stories will intersect in the limited setting of the transport wagons, giving rise to a succession of crazy action scenes, each one more exaggerated and violent. Pitt, who displays irony and charisma, is accompanied by a sly Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Joe King, Bad Bunny, the voice of Sandra Bullock and a few cameos that should not be revealed.
Leicht was brought the project with the script already written by his partner and producer Kelly McCormick, and as soon as he read it, it was clear that he wanted to do it. He assures that they were “the characters”, and mainly ‘Ladybug’, the character of Brad Pitt (and that has the animal as a code name). “He is not a normal hero. He goes on the hero’s journey, but he’s not really learning the lessons he needs to learn, and I think the fact that we all try to solve our problems with self-help platitudes and end up missing the real message, resonates with him.” says David Leicht.
Although it is defined as “an action comedy”, he assures that he likes to think that Bullet Train You have your personal brand. “There is something very much my own in this movie, and I think it is the culmination of years of making movies. There’s a bit of John Wicka bit of Atomic, a bit of Dead Pool 2a bit of Hobbs&Shaw… those experiences as a director have brought me here and Bulltet Train I think it has the flavor of all the things I like,” he says.
The director is once again betting on a film whose violence makes it have an ‘R’ rating in the US, which means that those under 17 must be accompanied by an adult to see it. It is the same that all his works have had and the one that the big productions try to avoid, since their box office results are usually more limited. Leicht acknowledges that it is a decision that must be carefully thought through, because “films with that rating do not usually make that much money and you have to find a balance between business and art.” On this occasion, he was clear: “I felt that I could not make this film with a 13-year rating, because it would lose all the irreverence it needed. We had to create this over-the-top world with over-the-top characters. They are killers and we have violence and humor, and we didn’t want to soften them. The script was so provocative that a watered-down version would not have been correct.”
A month ago, due to the recent shootings in the US, a large group of actresses, actors and directors signed a letter committing themselves to reviewing how cinema shows the possession and use of weapons. Leicht states that “shootings are a pandemic in the US”. “Artists have to think about how we influence culture, and I think that as an artist you can positively and negatively influence the world. I think we should all be aware of that, but I think this movie is fun, and I think the action scenes are so exaggerated… plus, the lead decides never to use a gun, and I think there’s a statement of intent there as well.” , ditch.
In a recent interview, Brad Pitt said that he believed he was in “the last stage of his career.” Many saw it as a hint at a possible retirement, but David Leicht believes people are “hyperbolizing what he said.” “I think he is at the peak of his career and his talent, and that he just said that he was interested in exploiting a new chapter within his career and moving in that direction. I don’t see Brad stopping making movies, he likes them too much and has too much fun making them, ”says the director.
Bullet Train It is one of Sony’s cartridges for the summer box office, which is why David Leicht thinks about the economic result, and confesses that he always feels “the pressure of the box office”. “Sony has been very brave in supporting this movie and making it for theaters, and I think there needs to be more summer movies like this, that aren’t just sequels and comic book adaptations, so I really appreciate that they’ve gone for this movie.” , recounts.
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