Director Joe Carnahan on the set of ‘Shadow Force’. Photo: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
The new action thriller ‘Shadow Force’, which was directed by Joe Carnahan (‘The A-Team’) and stars Kerry Washington (’Django Unchained’), Omar Sy (‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’), Mark Strong (‘Shazam!’), Cliff “Method Man” Smith (‘Garden State’), and Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph (‘The Holdovers’), opens in theaters on May 9th.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director and co-writer Joe Carnahan about his work on ‘Shadow Force’, developing the screenplay with co-writer Leon Chills, shooting the bank action sequence, Kyrah and Isaac’s relationship, working with Kerry Washington and Omar Sy, if Method Man’s Wu-Tang Clan reference was an improv, and the importance of Lionel Richie’s music to the film, as well as discussing his adaptation of ‘The A-Team’ and why Jon Hamm took an uncredited role.
Related Article: Kerry Washington and Omar Sy Talk New Action Thriller ‘Shadow Force’
Director Joe Carnahan talks ‘Shadow Force’.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about working with screenwriter Leon Chills and what were some of the elements that you wanted to add to his script?
Joe Carnahan: I think Leon had written such an interesting script. I think my perspective on it was to make it more about the nuclear family or this idea of these two people having to make this gut-wrenching choice of like, “Listen, I’m going to go out into the world and make sure that no one attacks you. You’re going to raise our son.” I think that in and of itself kind of opened the gates for all this wonderful drama and this interpersonal stuff with Omar and Kerry’s characters, and the tension and this forlorn notion of lost love or forsaken love or what have you, and then this event forcing them back together. I think that became the centrifuge, the family aspect of it that I think I brought to it. I think, again, a lot of these movies where they succeed when they’re good, it’s a very binary kind of emotional connections that the audience has developed because I think if they care deeply then they’re in. I still haven’t seen an elaborate visual effect that could beat it. There’s a moment where Kerry’s reunited with her son, and he has an action figure that looks like her. I remember looking around the test screening and everyone’s crying. I think once those things start happening and then you start to imperil and endanger those characters, there’s that much more of the buy-in and there’s that much more of the emotional investment from the audience. I think it’s not difficult to do, but it takes time to figure out how to hit those little keys and those little notes.
MF: Can you talk about shooting the action scenes, particularly the bank sequence?
JC: I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting if you shot the bank robbery from the point of view of the child, which is he can’t see any of this, so his dad’s telling him, “Close your eyes and cover your ears.” I just thought I’d never seen that. Listen, I’m not that smart. But I’ll think to myself oftentimes, “Have I seen it? No.” Sometimes that’s worth doing all by itself. If it’s a familiar thing, which is a bank robbery in a movie, audiences have seen tons of those. It’s how you execute it, and the fact that it stuck out to you. If I had shot it in a very traditional way, it may have not had the same impact, but because it’s from his point of view, it’s interesting. I think, I’m a father. I’ve got four kids; I’ve got two 10-year-old girls. I wouldn’t want them to see their father being violent, I’d want to shield them from that. So, I thought it was very cool the way we did that. It reminds you there’s this little kid in there. It’s tricky because the studio could have said, “It’s too much. You can’t put a kid in the middle of that,” but I thought the way we did it, we just were able to thread that needle. So, I was very happy with the way that came out.
(L to R) Omar Sy as Isaac and Kerry Washington as Kyrah in ‘Shadow Force’. Photo: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
MF: Can you talk about the relationship between Kyrah and Isaac, the threat against them and what they are willing to do to protect their child?
JC: Well, listen, it’s that we always say, “I’d go to the ends of the earth for my kid,” or “I’d do anything for my child.” Then the idea that you would have to physically separate to be safe, to ensure that there’s this kind of huntress out there, which is Kerry’s character, which is kind of a non-traditional way of doing it. Like Omar being the maternal figure, raising their son, I thought was intriguing. Because we have this whole society where it’s like, how could you do that? Her character says that. “Why will it work? Because no one would believe I’d walk away from my son.” That’s why it’ll work. To me that’s gut-wrenching. I think Kerry’s so lovely in delivering that sentiment because she’s a mom and she knows what that means. So, it puts a lump in your throat because it’s coming from her, the part of her that’s a wonderful actor. Then there’s that part of her that’s a mom and that infusion is lovely in a tugging your heartstrings kind of way. But I just thought it was an unusual way to set that whole thing up.
MF: What was it like directing Kerry Washington and Omar Sy on set?
JC: I mean, listen, they’re both just angels. They’re both just wonderful. Omar is possessed of just this innate decency and kindness as a man. Then, I was in Paris after we wrapped and Omar came to have dinner with me and my girls at Beef Bar in Paris, and you want to see what fame looks like? I told my girls, “Watch this restaurant when Omar walks in.” It was crazier than anything I’d ever seen. So, you got this, and you see him in ‘Lupin’ and then you have Kerry, they both have such generosity of spirit and instant chemistry with one another. Also, I think this really abiding respect from one another and their craft as actors. I think once you get that you have this mutual admiration society as they had, it’s very easy to do your job, at least it was for me.
(L to R) Cliff “Method Man” Smith as Unc and Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Auntie in ‘Shadow Force’. Photo: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
MF: In the film, Method Man’s character references the Wu-Tang Clan, was that line improvised?
JC: It was not. I decided I was going to have him say it and ask the kid if he likes Wu-Tang. Then I told Jahleel (Kamara) to say that line and if you see the film Method Man’s reaction is his actual reaction to hearing Jahleel say it. He just froze. It was great. What I love about Cliff is that meta part of it, his understanding of like, “Okay, I’m going to wink, wink, nudge, nudge the audience and go, ‘We’re talking about me.'” But he was not so precious about that. He was just lovely about it. It was great.
MF: Can you talk about the importance of Lionel Richie’s music to this film and how you chose the right songs to use?
JC: I mean, that’s my junior high slow dance song with Kelly Hines at Shepherd Elementary School in 1980. I’m such a Commodores and Lionel Richie fan. I just loved the idea that this little kid would be a Lionel Richie fanatic and a Commodores fanatic because I was as a kid. My mom had all those albums. You can’t find anybody that doesn’t love Lionel Richie, you know what I mean? It’s like you forget how great that band was, and that guy was. I just thought that was truly great, and the scene in the car where he knows all the lyrics and you realize it’s like that’s the wedding song. You’re playing our wedding song, which I just thought was great and kind of the way that gets set up and paid off I thought was lovely.
Jon Hamm in ‘The A-Team’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
MF: Finally, I’m a fan of your version of ‘The A-Team’ but I’ve always wanted to ask you, why did Jon Hamm make an appearance at the end of the movie? Were you setting him up to be the villain in a possible sequel?
JC: Yes, that’s exactly it, Jami. He was going to be the Lynch character in the sequel. That is why Jon Hamm is in ‘The A-Team’. I’ll tell you this quick, the head of Fox Marketing at the time, who shall remain unnamed, because got destroyed by ‘The Karate Kid’ remake. Three weeks after the film opens, he sees me in the Fox commissary and he gives me a big hug and says, “I screwed up.” But if I had a nickel for everybody that said, “I love that movie. When are you going to do a sequel, can you do a sequel?” Not now. They could never afford Liam (Neeson) and they certainly couldn’t afford Bradley (Cooper), but it was fun to make. I had a blast making it, man. It was great. I mean, Jon’s so lovely and so unassuming and so great. It would’ve been nice to be able to go take that into the next movie, but alas, who knows. You never know, man. With sequels, sometimes years pass and then everybody wants another one.
“Family over everything.”
Showtimes & Tickets
Kyrah and Isaac were once the leaders of a multinational special forces group called Shadow Force. They broke the rules by falling in love, and in order to protect… Read the Plot
What is the plot of ‘Shadow Force’?
Kyrah (Kerry Washington) and Isaac (Omar Sy) were once the leaders of a multinational special forces group called Shadow Force, but broke the rules by falling in love, and they go underground to protect their son (Jaheel Kamara) with the rest of the Shadow Force hot on their trail.
Who is in the cast of ‘Shadow Force’?
‘Shadow Force’ opens in theaters on May 9th. Photo: Courtesy of Lionsgate.