SDCC ’10: Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren are Retired and Extremely Dangerous

Coming October 15th from Summit Entertainment is the film adaption of Warren Ellis’ short graphic novel Red. Actors Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and Karl Urban were at Comic-Con as they talked about what we can expect from the unconventional plot of having more seasoned actors kicking butt. Here is the plot: When his idyllic life is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last ditch effort to survive.

Why do another action movie?

Bruce Willis: I always question whether it’s the right time for anything that I choose to do because I rely a lot of time on my own choices and the stories that I like and the scripts that I like. This film was always ambitious right from the very start. It could have just been defined as an action movie, or as a comedy, or as a romantic comedy. The studio and the story was always about that. Depending on who you talk to with this film, some guys would tell you it’s an action movie and some people would say it’s a comedy or romantic comedy. We use all of these things together in a way that doesn’t move you off from liking the action, comedy, or romantic comedy. I get to kill people and be in a romantic comedy. It’s great and I’m really pleased with this choice.

Working with director Robert Schwentke and how he handled the different genres within the film:

Bruce Willis: I think Robert had a lot of things to juggle. I think it would be intimidating for almost anyone to have to work with as many veteran actors and big movie stars. Robert managed everyday with a lot of grace and a sense of humor and got the work done. He made a really great film.

Helen Mirren: He was very loose and very easy and very patient. And he was also quite German and he wouldn’t let go. He knew what he wanted and he would push all of us in terms of acting and always towards what he wanted. He was kind of relentless in that way and I think in a way a consistency in turn because you could very easily have a movie where everyone is acting in a different style. Robert was very good at maintaining an overall style of acting, as well as the overall style of the movie.

Why are comic books and graphic novels such a strong base for the entertainment field?

Helen Mirren: I’m wearing a t-shirt in respect to Harvey Pekar, who is a great graphic artist and graphic novelist. In my ignorance I didn’t understand this stuff before I was exposed to his work. Now I am much more open-minded. I thought it was all about comic book heroes and that kind of stuff. He revealed the fact that a graphic novel can be as deep and complex and personal as any other work of art. I think it is very exciting to see this world burgeoning and expanding and changing as it goes into a total art form. I think we are at a very exciting point in the era of comic books. I’m fascinated to see where it’s going to be in another twenty years.

Bruce Willis: I think these guys wrote and illustrated it pretty well thoughtout story that already had drama in it. It showed up long before it made the transition from a graphic novel to a film. The novel was sixty-six pages and turn it into a one hundred and ten page script and then try to film ninety minutes of that. It was very ambitious and there were many days when we would say where are we in the story. Robert always knew the answer. He always knew exactly where we were and what this scene was about. I think the story was already really dramatic and it was very easy to play and it was very easy to understand.

Did you learn anything from Bruce about being an action star?

Helen Mirren: Oh my God. It was great fun. I absolutely loved every minute of it. You always learn from great movie stars. There is no accident on why they are a great movie star, and Bruce is a great movie star. These things don’t happen by accident and it means that they have both a mystery about them and an expertise. It’s always a dream to watch that and to learn from it. I was doing that all of the time on the set.

Can you talk about how the film explores what people over a certain age can do when pushed to the extremes?

Bruce Willis: The word is certainly used and it’s used in the title of the film, Retired Extremely Dangerous. Karl Urban and I had one of the toughest fights that I have done in my life and contact was made. It was deliberately crafted along the lines of mixed martial artists and how violent that is. We were literally throwing each other around and doing things that are very cool and very right now. Anyone who reports to be retiring in this film is sexy and hot and romantic and funny. It’s just one little part of the title.

Karl Urban: The most fun I had with Bruce was having the opportunity to throw Mr. Bruce Willis across the room and watch him smash into the furniture. The film does explore the concept of old school techniques versus new school techniques. Bruce, Helen, and Morgan’s characters represent the way things used to be done. I play a character who is of the new breed. One of the cool things about this film is you get to see those two different schools of thought go head-to-head.

Helen Mirren: I would just say as an older person you bring a different energy to the piece and maybe it’s the energy of wisdom and the energy of experience. That is in a sense the story of the movie that these people bring their deep experience and knowledge of what they are doing to this particular job. Shooting a gun was all I had to learn really. That was fun to do and I did it to a certain extent.

What do you like about coming to Comic-Con?

Helen Mirren: It’s obviously all about the fans. I had to see the big room because that’s what’s it’s all about, isn’t it?  We travel in a bubble a lot of the time, either in rooms like this or red carpets. Here is where you actually have face-to-face experiences with fans. That’s the great thing about Americans is their ability to be enthusiastic and obsessed about stuff, and do it on such a grand scale. For me as a Brit, it’s really exciting and endearing. It’s everything that you love about America. It’s that committment and excitement and enthusiasm and a kind of innocence about it. It’s great to be a part of. It’s fantastic to have this kind of venue where you can get down and dirty with fans.

On working with such an incredible cast:

Bruce Willis: I was talking with Lorenzo about two years before we started shooting. There was never any way either you or I could have ever of imagined the richness of what a film could be that has a huge cast of characters in it. All of those characters are played by actors that you know and love and that you are a fan of. I was excited all of the time. We are just starting to talk about this film and get a response to it. One of the things that is going to be talked about between now and the time the film comes out a lot more is the fact that just the phenomena of having this many actors and this many movie stars in the film who told a great story.

Helen Mirren: I’m not The Queen, Bruce Willis, evening dress, and a machine gun. That ought to do it.

Competiting with other films:

Bruce Willis: I hadn’t thought about it like that. I’m still a fan of films. I go to the movies all of the time. I like to see what’s out there. I don’t know about you guys, but I never think that’s there never competition between films. I root for everyone’s film. I have a fond place in my heart for graphic novels and for comics. What’s really cool for me is coming here and seeing Comic-Con, and seeing seven thousand people who all dig the same kind of thing. I’ve never seen it. I’ve never seen any other slice of the audience that’s all in one place and all really excited to be here. I think it’s really a cool thing to see.

The storyline:

Bruce Willis: I think we all tried to live up the storyline. I’d rather have you ask the guys who came up with the idea and ask them if we live up to what that story was.

At this point in your career does anything scare you?

Bruce Willis: No. It’s my favorite part of making movies. There are a lot of different parts of movie-making that I take part in. From the time the camera is turned on, doing the work, and talking about it afterwards and participating in the marketing of it and getting the word out there. My favorite part is the making of it. I’m not scared everyday. It’s not fear as much as it is excitement and that thrill you have to create something out of one hundred fifteen typewritten pages and make it be human and lifelike. I think I’m much more afraid of making a mistake in raising my daughter than on any work that I do as an actor. There is a much higher scale of fear raising kids.

Helen Mirren: I’m just kind of frightened all of the time. My whole life is just overcoming fear. The first night at the theater was really scary. Right now I am terrified of the rubbish in New York. Such a mountain of it, where does it all go? That is a scary thought. I’m terrified of plastic packaging, that is what is scaring me right now. There’s too much of it. Get rid of it.

Do you collect comics or graphic novels?

Bruce Willis: I don’t collect them, but I have done a couple of movies that are based on them. They all turn out to be really fun projects. There’s just more character in them. There’s just more stuff that’s already there. For the most part people would expect the actors to fill in the blanks, and when there are not banks anymore, it’s always a lot easier for me.

Jason Bene

I'm just an average man/ With an average life/ I work from nine to five/ Hey, hell, I pay the price/ All I want is to be left alone/ In my average home/ But why do I always feel/ Like I'm in the twilight zone

More Posts - Website

Follow Me: