Taglines: It’s a job. It isn’t personal. Well, maybe a little…
Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler), a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, gets his dream job when he is assigned to track down his bail-jumping ex-wife, reporter Nicole Hurly (Jennifer Aniston). He thinks all that’s ahead is an easy payday, but when Nicole gives him the slip so she can chase a lead on a murder cover-up, Milo realizes that nothing ever goes simply with him and Nicole. The exes continue to one-up each other until they find themselves on the run for their lives. If they thought their promise to love, honor and obey was tough; staying alive is going to be a whole lot tougher.
The film was filmed in Queens, New York, and other various places in the United States. As of September 13, 2009, a filming location is Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey. On the same day, Columbia Pictures posted warnings throughout the Racetrack warning attendees that they may be part of the filming, and that if they wish not to be, to leave the premises. Although Gerard Butler was involved in various stunts throughout the movie, a body double was used to perform certain scenes. Filming started in June 2009 and ended in September 2009.
The Bounty Hunter began as a friendly over-the-fence chat between neighbors. The two neighbors just happened to be producer Neal H. Moritz and director Andy Tennant, who had collaborated previously on the hit film Sweet Home Alabama.
“Oftentimes, we just chat to each other, literally across the fence,” says Tennant. “He asked, ‘What are you doing next?’ and I said, ‘I have no idea.’ So Neal said, ‘I have a script. Why don’t you take a look?’”
That script, by screenwriter Sarah Thorp, turned out to be a perfect match to Tennant’s sensibilities and strengths. Centering on a struggling New York bounty hunter tasked with dragging his ex-wife back to jail, The Bounty Hunter is “not just a romantic comedy,” says Moritz. “It’s an action comedy that has romance in it as well. Andy does all of those things – comedy, romance, and action – really well.”
What attracted Tennant to the project was a script that would prove to be an action-packed story as well as production. “Here was a movie that was so subversive and funny. It’s a take-no-prisoners marital comedy,” Tennant remarks.
“Milo Boyd, played by Gerard Butler, is a down-on-his luck bounty hunter – he used to be a policeman, but got himself booted off the force, and now he’s just making ends meet,” Moritz explains. “He gets the assignment of his life – his ex-wife, played by Jennifer Aniston, has jumped bail, and he’s got to find her and bring her back.”
“It’s just the two of them, on the road,” says Tennant. “Catching her is easy; bringing her to justice is a bit more challenging.”
“Milo Boyd was a great cop back in the day. But he could let things get the better of him – including his ex-wife, Nicole,” Butler says of his character’s background. “When they got divorced, he lost his way a little bit, even got himself booted off the police force. So he’s now become a bounty hunter, and honestly, he’s not doing too great. He sleeps on a buddy’s sofa half the time. He’s just trying to convince himself that he’s happy.
“I took one look at this script, and I loved it. It was sharp, hilarious, edgy, and it was on,” Butler continues. “I laughed from start to finish and I thought, ‘I wanna play that guy.’”
Though Jennifer Aniston’s character, Nicole, seems more put together, she secretly carries just as much baggage as her ex wears on his sleeve. “She’s a reporter and he was a cop, so they would break down cases and stories together,” says Aniston. “Somehow or another, as relationships do if you get lazy, they just stopped paying attention, and the things that they loved about each other become the things that they are annoyed with.”
“Nicole is a reporter for the Daily News and she’s skipped a hearing in order to chase a story. So, yeah, she’s a felon,” says Aniston. “And now Milo has the opportunity of a lifetime to track her down and bring her to jail, which for him is like a dream come true.”
“That’s what’s fun about watching this story – as Milo is chasing Nicole, he gets involved in pursuing the story she’s trying to break,” Aniston remarks. “So they get back into the beauty of what the fun of what their relationship was.”
For Butler, the opportunity to show a couple still crazy about each other – even as they drive each other crazy – was a great attraction to the role. “I think their intellects matched beautifully,” says Butler. “He loved her humor, her quick wittedness, her doggedness, her stubbornness – all the very things that now drive him up the wall. But it’s clear that Milo and Nicole still have a lot of feelings for each other.”
“Usually relationships end, you never see the other person, there’s never any closure,” says executive producer Ori Marmur. “In this case, Milo blames Nicole for ruining his life and this is his chance for that closure. It doesn’t work out like he planned.
“Andy had to craft a movie about two people who are at each other’s throats, but we as the audience know they should obviously be together,” Marmur adds. “Milo and Nicole are perfect for each other, but they can’t see it. So, through the bickering and through the fighting, they have to start falling in love as well. Andy really did a great job executing that.”
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The Bounty Hunter (2010)
Directed by: Andy Tennant
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Jason Sudeikis, Dorian Missick, Joel Marsh Garland, Christine Baranski, Dorian Missick, David Costabile, Lynda Gravatt, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Michelle Nagy, Caroline Overby
Screenplay by: Sarah Thorp
Production Design by: Jane Musky
Cinematography by: Oliver Bokelberg
Film Editing by: Troy Takaki
Costume Design by: Sophie De Rakoff
Set Decoration by: Ellen Christiansen
Art Direction by: Patricia Woodbridge
Music by: George Fenton
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content including suggestive comments, language and some violence.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: March 19, 2010