The Agency's Posts

'Justified's' chemistry experiment: With bad mama Mags gone, creator Graham Yost tosses Neal McDonough and Mykelti Williamson into the....
Read More>

George Clooney on directing: I look for films 'in my wheelhouse': Every film begins with a decision — not whom to cast, where to shoot or how much to....
Read More>

Consider the Humblebrag: Roy LichtensteinGirl in Mirror(1964) What false modesty gains from a new medium ByMatt....
Read More>

NO BULLSH%$! The Seminar That Isn't A Seminar: As you get ready to start the new year are you feeling frustrated as a performer? Does it....
Read More>

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo': Betsy Sharkey's film pick: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo's" Lisbeth Salander, the....
Read More>

Is network TV ready for Chelsea Handler?: The busy E! host is bringing her salty brand of single-gal-in-the-city humor to NBC in 'Are You....
Read More>

'Portlandia': Straight outta Portland: Fred Armisen, who is on"Saturday Night Live,"and Carrie Brownstein, who was in the....
Read More>

'American Idol' stars rip 'X Factor' and 'The Voice': The folks at "American Idol" do really wish their competitors all the best. Even if....
Read More>

Ron Burgundy Interviews Jim Caviezel: Ron Burgundy Interviews Jim Caviezel from Ron Burgundy
Read More>

Vanger vs. Wagner? 'Dragon Tattoo' family has familiar ring: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" features the movie season's nastiest and most....
Read More>

Meryl Streep's 'The Iron Lady' off to strong box-office start: With awards pundits buzzing over Meryl Streep's Oscar-worthy performance in "The Iron....
Read More>

Solid start, fast fade for movies: Die-hard fans are still rushing to see a film in its opening weekend, but more casual audiences....
Read More>

Network TV season defies expectations: Some expected hits have tanked, while certain overlooked shows have stood out. Among the biggest....
Read More>
'Safe House': Director Daniel Espinosa doesn't take safe route
Posted on: 02/22/12
Share/Save/Bookmark
 

When Universal Pictures hired Daniel Espinosa to direct its rogue CIA agent thriller "Safe House," the studio knew it was rolling the dice. The Swedish filmmaker had never made an English-language feature, he hadn't worked with stars near the magnitude of "Safe House" leads Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, and he was graduating from a $4-million Nordic drug drama to an $85-million production.

None of that prepared executives for the first batch of footage Espinosa sent back to California from his "Safe House" set in South Africa early last year. The director was shooting actors through partially closed windows and doors, his cameras weren't staying on anyone's face for more than an instant and the scenes didn't look as if they would cut together into a coherent narrative.

"They said it looked like a French movie from the 1960s," the chain-smoking, 34-year-old Espinosa recalled on a recent visit to Los Angeles, a few days ahead of his film's Friday release. "But that was exactly what I was going for."

Hollywood in principle loves the idea of recruiting fresh voices into its filmmaking fraternity and has been particularly fond of importing directors from the independent film scene — people like Christopher Nolan and Paul Greengrass. "It's harder and harder in action movies to create moments that people are not expecting," said "Safe House" producer Scott Stuber, explaining the inspiration for the trend.

The very thing that initially made Universal concerned — Espinosa's kinetic, unexpected camera work — is ultimately part of what distinguishes "Safe House," which stars Reynolds as Matt Weston, the low-level housekeeper of a Cape Town CIA hiding place into whose custody Washington's presumed double agent, Tobin Frost, falls.

Weston is clearly in over his head, and there's no explaining how local thugs find the supposedly secret safe house as soon as Weston arrives. "I'm not your only enemy tonight," Frost counsels Weston. Worse for Weston, he doesn't know who his friends are, or how he can possibly keep Frost or himself alive.

Much as Greengrass films his Jason Bourne movies in a dynamic, nearly vertigo-inducing fashion that immerses audiences into the chaos, Espinosa favors a gritty, quick-cutting style full of visual surprises and mayhem. ("Safe House" was shot by Oliver Wood, the cinematographer of the last three Bourne films.)

"It's dirty — it's not so neat and cool," said Washington, who prepared for the part by reading Martha Stout's cautionary nonfiction book "The Sociopath Next Door." "And it's violent, especially the fight at the end of the film, where shards of glass become weapons. It's not your typical stuff."

Fighting is not unfamiliar territory to Espinosa, who was born in Chile and spent his early childhood in Africa. He says that were it not for the intervention of the Swedish government he could have been jailed for two years as a troubled teenager; as a 15-year-old in Sweden, Espinosa committed a string of minor crimes — "I beat some people up, did a breaking and entering, grand theft auto," he said.

Instead of prison, he was placed by the government into an elite boarding school. "Where I came from, if someone teased you, you had to hit them or it would escalate. If you did that at the school, you were a horrible person and would lose friends," Espinosa said.
 

Part of his program included studying at a local theater to "act out your anger" but it was his roommate of two years, the son of famous Swedish filmmaker Lasse Hallström, who set Espinosa's career in motion. Soon after he met the director of "My Life as a Dog," "Chocolat" and "The Cider House Rules," Espinosa changed his ambition from running his own cafeteria to directing his own movies.

Espinosa enrolled at the Danish Film School, and his thesis film, 2003's"The Fighter,"was well received on the festival circuit, though it was his follow-up, "Easy Money," a triptych of stories related to Swedish drug trafficking bought but not yet released in the United States through the Weinstein Co., that sparked a flood of offers from the studios.

In considering his options, Espinosa met with the makers of "Prisoners,""X-Men: First Class,""Deadpool" and "Making Jack Falcone" before deciding to direct "Safe House."

"I saw an opportunity to do a modern western — the older gunslinger who knows what the profession does to your morals, and the younger guy who believes somehow that he can unify his ethics and his perspective on life with his profession — which is a lie," Espinosa said of the "Safe House" story. "My work is about fighting against the plot, and letting characters breathe."


 

COMMENTS
Be the first to post a comment!


Post A Comment:




  • It's 2020! Start booking roles in commercials, fashion, films, theater and more with The Agency Online!

  • NEW WORKSHOP with Barbara Barna & Sean De Simone!

    Hi Everyone and Happy Summer! Sean at Sean De Simone casting and Barbara Barna are teaming up for a super informative and fun Hosting for Home Shopping workshop. A great opportunity for established or experienced TV Hosts and Experts interested in learning how to get noticed and how to get in....
  • MASTERCLASS W. Robin Carus & David John Madore

    A Special Offer for the Agency Community, from one of our favorite NYC Casting Directors! EMAIL FacetheMusicWithUs@gmail.com Or Eventbrite To Sign Up! Class Size is Limited.
  • Don't Fall Into The Comparison Trap

    Hi Everyone! As the second installment in an ongoing series of features by the Agency's amazing community, here's some sage advice from our own Regina Rockensies; a humble (& awesome)veteran we've had the pleasure of working with for a long time. Have an excellent week! : ) - The Agency....
  • One Model's Agreement

    Hi Everyone! As the first piece in an ongoing series of original articles by the Agency community, here's a short reflection on some of the values of professional acting & modeling that we can all keep in mind for our next casting. Good luck on your castings &shoots this week! : ) -....




 
home       castings&news       privacy policy       terms and conditions      contact us      browser tips
Official PayPal Seal