The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

Posted: 08 Oct 2012 02:17 AM PDT

In Stolen, a father goes to extremes to save his daughter ... including pulling off a major heist.

SOMETIMES a criminal just can't get away from his past, no matter how hard he wants to change. This is exactly what Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage) discovers upon his release after serving an eight-year sentence in the film Stolen.

Will is a master thief who was sent to prison for his part in a US$10mil (RM30mil) heist. Upon release, he vows to leave his criminal life behind and rebuild his relationship with his daughter Alison (Sami Gayle).

Unfortunately, there are some parties who have taken an interest in him and the loot. One such person is Will's old partner and friend Vincent (Josh Lucas). Desperate to get his hands on the money he thinks he fully deserves, Vincent kidnaps Alison with a ransom of – go ahead, take a guess at the number – US$10mil. Another man interested in Will and the money is FBI agent Tim Harlend (Danny Huston), who is equally convinced that Will has the money stashed somewhere.

Well, here's the rub – Will never had that money, but how do you tell your psycho partner that? And how exactly is Will going to raise that much money in such a short time in order to save his daughter – who is trapped in a soundproof taxi somewhere in the city? The only option he sees is to pull off another US$10mil heist.

For this film, Cage teams up with Simon West – the same director he worked with on Con Air (one of Cage's first action films back in 1997). For the 48-year-old actor, it was the chance to work with West again that made him sign up for Stolen.

In the movie's production notes provided by GSC Movies, Cage was quoted as saying: "I would say yes to Simon West on almost anything because I feel he is one of the best directors I've ever worked with, and I had a great experience working with him on Con Air."

He added: "He's a gentleman and he's an artist and he knows what he wants. He's supremely confident; he comes in and he sculpts, and then you have a new way of looking at the scene."

Although Stolen is categorised as an action film, West says it is one about relationship. He said: "It's really about the characters and how they interact. Even though it's got all the pyrotechnics and the roller coaster ride of an action movie."

After all, the bad guy here is none other than the protagonist's best friend. Lucas who portrays this role said: "Nic Cage and I play old great friends who have been doing this game together for a while, and in this process there's betrayal between the two of us and lives shift very badly and very intensively. After what goes down between his character and mine, we cut to eight years later where you have a character that's not only lost his mind but lost his dreams and is self-destructive on such a level that he is beyond damage."

In Stolen, the actor said he got the chance to play a multi-layer character. Also, it gave him a chance to share scenes with one of the actors he admired. Lucas shared: "Part of my whole joy of this film and the reason I wanted to do it was because anytime you get to work with an actor of Cage's calibre, you jump at that opportunity, and the reality is there are only a few actors on Earth who I'd put up in Cage's category. I mean, he's one of the true greats."

Another crucial person in the film is FBI agent Harlend who wants to solve this case and just close the file. For this role, West was looking for an actor who could put an eccentric twist to the character. "... not the usual boring FBI agent who is tracking these guys and immediately make people think, 'Oh, very staid kind of traditional cop.' I approached Danny and he loved the idea of playing this FBI agent and he had some great ideas. The main one was his hat – he tried on all these hats. And we picked one that became a major part of his character, this hat that he always wears.

"Also, whenever Harlend needs to give anyone any advice he always quotes his grandmother.

"And so he has a very dry sense of humour. He is a very eccentric, quirky kind of FBI agent."

The rose among the thorns is Malin Akerman, who plays a bank robber and a friend of Cage's character. Actually, Akerman's character is the only one who is willing to help Will when he decides his only way out is to pull off a perfect heist.

West has been a fan of Akerman's work and wanted to work with the beautiful actress for some time now. He elaborated: "I always like to take people from one genre and put them in another, and so I thought it'd be great to try get someone like her, who can hold her own in a group of guys like hard talking bank robbers."

He added: "And she's very cute and very funny as well, and for her to interact with those tough guys I thought would be a great combination." – Mumtaj Begum

> The caper codenamed Stolen opens in cinemas on Oct 11.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 8 Oktober 2012

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

0 ulasan:

Catat Ulasan