Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds co-star in the action-thriller ‘Safe House.’ Washington plays the CIA’s most dangerous traitor, who stuns the intelligence community when he surfaces in South Africa. When the safe house to which he’s remanded is attacked by brutal mercenaries, a rookie (Reynolds) is forced to help him escape. As the masterful manipulator toys with his reluctant protégé, the young operative finds his morality tested and idealism shaken. Now, they must stay alive long enough to uncover who wants them dead. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, ’Safe House’ co-stars Nora Arnezeder, Vera Farmiga, Ruben Blades, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Cunningham, Tim McGraw, Robert Patrick, and Sam Shepard. The film is due to hit cinemas February 10th in the US, and Febuary 24th in the UK. Look out for a more in-depth interview with Ryan Reynolds and the rest of the cast closer to the films release date.
Your character is very much an ideologue to begin with, that slowly breaks down over the course of the film….
Ryan Reynolds: Oh yeah. I feel like that line can blur between jingoism and idealism, a little bit. I think we start out, my character, as a God and country guy, he’s a patriot, he has that kind of mentality. But then layers of that are slowly pealed away, he has to deal with a lot of disillusionment. He sees that this job he signed up for is incredibly murderous and corrupt in a lot of ways. And then he’s seeing this sort of weird perverting mirror image of himself in this guy who’s much older and who’s been doing it a lot longer. I know for a fact, spending time with these guys that have been in the CIA for 30 or so years, that when you talk to them they started out with a real, ultra patriotic, idealism that really gets replaced by a kind of cynicism later. But part of that is because they’ve spent their entire life as a lie. They have to lie to their wife and children, for 20 or 30 years….I spoke to one guy who just revealed to his wife and children what he does for a living after 25 years, 25 years! That is amazing, I just asked, “What was the reaction like?” I was fascinated, and he replied, “Not good,” (laughs). It’s tough, because when you go to bed….all those details, it makes her wonder, “What was true? What was wasn’t?”
Denzel Washington is so good at playing charming yet at the same time fierce. How was it working with him?
Ryan Reynolds: It was fascinating. He’s just a really interesting guy to work with, so good at what he does. It was wild to see someone who’s been doing this so well for so long. He’s just a real classy and disciplined actor, and I think that’s what makes him….the success is irrelevant to him, what makes him such a good actor is that he really cares about what he does and he’s passionate. As a younger actor I look at that and it really hits me, that’s amazing, you can go this long in this industry and be that prolific, be that passionate.
How was it preparing for the physical fights? In this film there‘s something very primal about it, in particular the final fight sequence you’re involved in.
Ryan Reynolds: It was a lot of choreography, you don’t have to choreograph pretty fights as much. It’s the ugly, messy, knife fights in a phone booth that you really need to work on. Because they’re the ones people can get hurt. It was a couple months of choreography, especially that last fight sequence I’m in – that was shot over two days. We spanned every room in the house with that fight. We’re falling out of windows….it felt very old fashioned in a way. There was no real trickery. By the end of it we were covered in scrapes cuts and bruises. We were happy when it was over, definitely (laughs). There’s nothing polished about it. When we are in these intense fight sequences, you’re seeing veins popping out of peoples necks, it’s ugly and nasty. It’s kill or be killed? There is definitely something raw, primal, and deeply screwed up about it. I think it’s much more interesting to watch a guy who’s forced to fight when he doesn’t want to, than it is to watch someone who’s very well versed in those sort of activities.
I think this is one of those film that you’ll really have an opportunity to see a variety of different things. I mean, I think it appeals to people who are pure adrenaline/action junkies, then at the same time it’s a character piece. As actors, I don’t think there’s many of us who are particularly attracted to shooting a movie that is purely an action film because they’re hard (laughs), you get your ass kicked. I remember 10 years ago, falling on cement was hilarious, now? It hurts (laughs). When you get those two components right, when you have an action film that is also deeply rooted in character, you get something really rewarding from it, from both sides.
What was it like working with Daniel Espinosa? His sort of kinetic approach to film-making.
Ryan Reynolds: If you spend time with Daniel you kinda see where he’s coming from. He’s unlike anyone I’ve ever worked with or met before. He’s like this incredibly wise, intellectual, intuitive, thug….which is sort of a weird combination for a person (laughs). It gives him this incredible street sense and feeling that he’s a guy who can very easily be in a bar fight, but at the same time you could name any book and there’s a good chance that he’s read it before you. He was awesome.
Che bella che è l'intervista!!!! xD
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