Taglines: He’s got time to kill.
“Red” is the story of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a former black-ops CIA agent, who is now living a quiet life. That is, until the day a hi-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him. With his identity compromised and the life of the woman he cares for, Sarah (Mary Louise Parker), endangered, Frank reassembles his old team (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren) in a last ditch effort to survive. “Red” is based on the DC Comics graphic novel of the same name by Warren Ellis.
Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) used to be the CIA’s top agents – but the secrets they know just made them the Agency’s top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.
Red, the graphic novel written by Warren Ellis, illustrated by Cully Hamner and published by DC Comics Wildstorm imprint, was originally written as a complete work but was released as three chapters over three months. Later, it was released in its entirety in book form. Although the graphic novel is just 66 pages long, Gregory Noveck, Senior Vice President of Creative Affairs at DC Comics, knew immediately after reading it that it was a perfect vehicle for a film adaptation. “I loved the book instantly,” says Noveck.
“Warren and Cully are two of the brightest lights in the comic book universe and together they created a very slick, very cool action thriller with an awesome central character and an intriguing central theme. We had a mandate at DC Comics not to just adapt our superhero characters but to take advantage of the other amazing titles in our library. ‘Red’ was one of those titles that I had targeted very early on after joining the company.
“Obviously Warren’s story had to be expanded in order to make a two-hour movie,” Noveck says. “But all along the way we aimed to retain the best element of the book – a complex, conflicted hero – and to stay true to Warren’s central theme…the idea of how our society readily discards people, in this case old guard CIA operatives and Cold War spies, once they’ve reached a certain age and replaces them with a new wave of younger, more tech-savvy agents.”
Noveck then acted on that DC mandate, brought on Jon and Erich Hoeber, and took the adaptation idea to di Bonaventura Pictures’ executive Mark Vahradian, who in turn, showed it to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
“Lorenzo and I were immediately impressed with the edgy quality, the attitude and the stylization of the graphic novel,” says Vahradian. “We loved the espionage context and both of us were fascinated with the idea of what happens to these old spies when new administrations come in and clean house. We had also been looking for projects that could attract some of the great, older actors that might never be given the opportunity to work on a ‘comic book movie’ so it seemed like a very natural fit for the company.”
di Bonaventura concurs: “Warren and Cully created a very provocative piece of work that stands alone in its genre as a graphic novel but we saw the potential in their work for a movie that could combine action, espionage, romance and comedy and could deliver a subtle message about ageism to the audience no matter what the age of the demographic. And it was of paramount importance to us that we stay true to the essence of what they created – especially with the character of Frank Moses – so that both of them could feel vested in our endeavor. And I think we’ve done that quite well.”
“It was my first time working with the Hoebers,” di Bonaventura says. “It was amazing to watch these two brothers work together because they both bring slightly different sensibilities to their work. Each of them has certain things that they care about more than the other and, in this case, the sibling dichotomy worked out very well. And they were the only two writers on the film from start to finish.”
After just one meeting with Summit Entertainment executives Erik Feig and Geoff Shaevitz and just one draft of the screenplay later, Summit greenlit the project. “The Hoeber’s first draft was remarkable,” says producer di Bonaventura. “We all read it and all had the same first reaction…now THIS is a movie. We asked Summit what they thought and they agreed so we all started to try to put it together. I think we all knew we were in for a great ride.”
“When it came to writing a script, it was all about elaborating on what was in the graphic novel,” says producer Vahradian. “Jon and Erich took the ball and ran with it…they broadened the scope and the tone of the graphic novel by creating new characters and cross-country locales but remained faithful to the Moses character and the thematic elements of the original story. Jon and Erich gave us everything we asked for and we’ve ended up with a great example of a crossgenre film with mass appeal potential.”
“Because the graphic novel is so short, we knew we were going to have to use it just as a jumping off point for a longer-format story,” says Jon Hoeber. “That jumping off point began with the Moses character. He’s one of the most dangerous men in the world and has killed many people over the years but he also has this incredible innocence about him. Here is a guy who has spent his whole life undercover avoiding personal connections with other people.
So when we meet him, newly retired, he’s discovering for the first time what it might be like to live a normal life. We see him trying to find simple pleasure in everyday activities like ‘decorating’ his house at Christmastime. When he telephones Sarah, he doesn’t even know what to say at first… he’s terrified of exposing himself. He’s a trained assassin and suddenly he’s acting like a pimply-faced high school boy trying to find the guts to call a girl for a first date. You can’t help but fall in love with him a little.”
“We then came up with the idea that if Frank Moses is an older agent who is now retired and then targeted,” says Erich Hoeber, “then there must be other retired agents out there. That notion led us to create the other characters in the film and gave us the freedom to elaborate on all those other lives besides Frank’s.”
“And even though the stakes in the film are very real,” adds Jon, “we deliberately made the characters a little larger than life. We wanted to capture a little bit of that old-school ‘Butch and Sundance’ feel…whether it’s the pairing up of Frank and Marvin, Frank and Joe, Frank and Victoria and even Frank and his civilian sidekick Sarah…there’s always the feeling that from those pairings comes a great deal of conflict and comedy. But it is all-organic because it starts with the character of Frank and the situation in which he now finds himself… retired yet still extremely dangerous.”
“Lorenzo, Mark, Gregory and David [Ready, the film’s co-producer] were all deeply involved in the development of the screenplay,” says Erich. “They were true creative partners. They understood that the story we were writing relied a lot more on great character dynamics rather than just a high concept.”
“And Warren and Cully were extremely generous in letting us expand their original story,” adds Jon. “Fortunately, they ended up really liking the script and have publicly been very supportive of us and the film.”
“I think Jon and Erich, Robert [Schwentke] and the producers all did an amazing job collaborating and adapting ‘Red’ for the big screen,” says illustrator/artist Cully Hamner, who visited the New Orleans set for a few days shortly before the film wrapped in mid-April, 2010. “The movie is a lot funnier and a little less bloody but it is not without the same artistic aspirations which Warren and I had when creating the original.”
“I knew going in as they bought the option and the book went into development as a film that it would be massively expanded,” says Ellis, who also dropped by the set for a few days in Toronto, “so there was no sense on my side of having to be precious about it. I never had worries of faceless, marauding Hollywood monsters killing off my darlings. In fact, any shock I may have felt actually turned into surprise, as Jon and Erich’s script was so truly dedicated to the central themes of the book. Everything that mattered to me about the book is there in the script and in the film. So, it’s a great surprise for me indeed.”
Ellis was also impressed with the producer’s choice of Robert Schwentke to direct the film. “A lot of people may not realize that Robert is a huge fan of the comic book medium. In fact, the first time I met him, he quoted back to me from the first comic book I ever wrote. He clearly has a real passion about the form as well as the story.”
“Robert was a great choice as director,” says di Bonaventura. “We knew we needed someone who had a clear understanding of the tone of the film and the huge balancing act that the script presented. To interpret and then harmonize the comedy, the drama, the action and the romance was not an easy feat but based on his previous films and his appreciation of the comic book genre, Robert handled it brilliantly.”
“Robert is a great guy and a very intelligent collaborator,” says writer Erich Hoeber. “Like us, he is sort of a film geek so when we would talk about obscure film references either for story or visual purposes, he always knew exactly what we were talking about. That kind of knowledge combined with his beautiful yet disciplined visual style impressed Jon and I immensely.”
“Robert’s other films – a thriller, an action-drama and a time-traveling romance – were proof that he was capable of helming different genres,” says producer Vahradian. “Although he had never directed something with comedy overtones, he immediately and completely understood the dry humor that we wanted to have in this movie. In fact, it was his concept to have the actors deliver a lot of their lines in a very matter-of-fact kind of way.
“For example,” Vahradian says, “when Morgan Freeman introduces Helen Mirren to Mary-Louise Parker, he says ‘Victoria was the best wet asset in the business, a true artist with a PSG.’ Sarah responds with ‘What’s that mean?’ and Helen’s matter-of-fact reply is ‘I kill people dear.’ There are so many great moments like that in the movie and Robert’s success of integrating those moments into the action and romance is testament to his understanding of the tone of the script and his ability to communicate very clearly with a large cast of extremely talented actors.”
Headlining the ensemble cast is Bruce Willis, an actor whose body of work has included everything from drama (Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense and Nobody’s Fool) to romance and comedy (“Moonlighting” and Death Becomes Her) and, of course, action (the Die Hard franchise and Armageddon).
“Honestly, just look at the cover of the graphic novel and try to think about anyone else other than Bruce to play Frank Moses,” says di Bonaventura. “It was a no-brainer for us…we all wanted Bruce for this role and we sat on the edge of our seats waiting and hoping he would sign on.”
And sign on he did. “There was something really fresh about the concoction of this project,” says Willis, “and that intrigued me. There is a caper element to it, a comedy element to it, a romance element to it and a big action movie element to it. But underneath all that there is the notion of loneliness and feeling left out and being kicked off the team because you’re too old to play the game any longer. I just found it all to be a really interesting cinematic recipe.”
“Bruce is that rare combination of an actor that has credibility as being funny and being deadly at the same time,” says Vahradian, “so he was the guy we wanted from day one. Once he did come aboard, it was like the flood gates opened and all the rest of these brilliant actors wanted to join in on the fun.”
“Gathering a cast like this reminds me of when I was at Warner Bros. putting together ‘Oceans Eleven,’ says di Bonaventura. “It begins slowly with one person signing on and then it just starts to take on a life of its own. And so with ‘Red,’ as each role was cast, the wow-factor increased exponentially.”
The cast list of RED reads like a who’s who of esteemed actors from stage, film and television, from living legend Ernest Borgnine to rising star Karl Urban.
“To say that this movie is a character-driven piece would be a major understatement,” adds Vahradian, laughing. “Twelve principal actors in one ensemble for a movie is not a common occurrence these days. Creatively-speaking we had to find a group that simply could ‘pull it off’ and logistically-speaking it was a challenge when trying to put together a shooting schedule that involved so many actors’ personal and professional schedules as well.”
After Willis, the first heavy-hitter to sign on was Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman, who plays Joe Matheson, the senior member of the RED team. Freeman admits he never could have imagined or predicted being part of such a stellar cast.
“Clearly I knew I’d be working with Bruce again,” says Freeman, referencing the 2006 film, Lucky Number Slevin, “and he and I always have a lot of fun on the set. But I didn’t know I was going to get a shot at working with Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker and Richard Dreyfuss, too. I mean there is nothing better than getting to work with people you greatly admire… people who have ‘the chops’ as they say in the music business…people who bring it to the table every day. Nobody was shucking and jiving on this show. Everybody was playing their A-game.”
Next to hop on the RED bandwagon was Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. For producers di Bonaventura and Vahradian, executive producer Noveck, as well as writers Jon and Erich Hoeber, Mirren was their definitive choice to play Victoria, a retired British operative now running an upscale bed-and-breakfast but who “still takes the odd contract on the side.”
“In developing the script, Lorenzo and I could not get the image of Helen as an action hero out of our heads,” says Vahradian. “We knew we wanted her from the very beginning.”
“We don’t generally write roles with specific actors in mind,” says writer Jon Hoeber, “because it is such a long shot that that person would be interested in or even available to do the movie. However, we did write Victoria with Helen in mind and we were so blown away when she agreed to do it.”
“Needless to say, I was flattered when I was told that Jon and Erich wrote this part with me in mind,” says Mirren, who hails from the same, small English town as graphic novel author Warren Ellis. “But there were a lot of other reasons I was attracted to the project, first and foremost, the chance to get to work with Bruce. It sounds like such a cliché when people like me sit here and say ‘oh God he’s such a great guy’ but he is such a great guy… and an incredibly talented and generous actor. Those are attributes that many times are not reflected in the image or personality of someone of Bruce’s height of stardom and success. Bruce has an incredible quality of wanting to be with other people, wanting to participate and not to hold himself apart. I think that is especially apparent for him in this role…he was the leader of our team.”
Mirren’s inspiration for her character came from someone not generally associated with espionage and assassins – decorating doyenne and global brand businesswoman Martha Stewart.
“Yes, she was indeed my inspiration even down to the hair, my Martha Stewart hair,” says Mirren, smiling. “She’s obviously not a retired assassin but whatever Martha Stewart does, she does it really, really well. She’s a perfectionist and I love her combination of feminine softness and an incredible strength of efficiency and practicality. I hope she won’t be insulted by this characterization because I am a big, big fan of hers.”
Also championed by Noveck, John Malkovich, was cast as the role of Marvin Boggs, a master-of-disguise CIA operative-turned-guinea pig after being given daily doses of LSD for eleven years by the Agency.
“When I was first approached about the role I was already in negotiations for something else,” says Malkovich, “but luckily that fell through and I was able to come back to this project which was fantastic for me. I liked the script and the character very much as well as all the filmmakers involved. In fact, the writers said ‘we’ll change anything.’ They were very amenable to my collaborative efforts but I told them not to change anything because I liked it the way it was…a very tight script… not a lot of useless blah blah blah…good characters, good fun.
Red (2010)
Directed by: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Heidi von Palleske, Jefferson Brown, Karl Urban, Rebecca Pidgeon, Morgan Freeman, Jaqueline Fleming, Alec Rayme, Emily Kuroda, Justine Wachsberger
Screenplay by: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber
Production Design by: Alec Hammond
Cinematography by: Florian Ballhaus
Film Editing by: Thom Noble
Costume Design by: Susan Lyall
Set Decoration by: Carolyn ‘Cal’ Loucks
Art Direction by: Kelly Curley, Brandt Gordon
Music by: Christophe Beck
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language.
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Release Date: October 15, 2010