Known for making entertaining actioners such as ‘John Wick’, ‘Deadpool 2’, ‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw’ and the forthcoming Brad Pitt-starrer Bullet Train’, filmmaker David Leitch has praised Indian action movies for their bold choices and asserted that it is fun to watch.
The 46-year-old filmmaker finds it “inspiring in a lot of ways.”
He added: “Because action can get stale and I think some of the things that they are doing in India are going full out and it’s fun to watch.”
Before making his directorial debut with Chad Stahelski in 2014 with the Keanu Reeves-starrer John Wick’, Leitch served as a stunt performer and coordinator. He was also a stunt double for Brad Pitt five times and two times for Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Does he get his bent towards the action genre, courtesy of his love for stunts?
Leitch said: “Well, I think it’s in my DNA I had 20+ years of being a stunt performer, coordinator, and action designer and I love action in films. I think it is another layer of drama and you can do things in action sequences to define characters and ways you can’t do in a dialogue scene.”
He added: “So, I think it is really compelling for the story-telling that I do to have an action component and I know how to manipulate it in the right way.”
The filmmaker is all pepped up for the release of his forthcoming film ‘Bullet Train’, which hits the Indian screens a day prior to the US.
The film is based on the Japanese novel ‘Maria Beetle’ published in English as ‘Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka. The film stars Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Zazie Beetz, Benito A Martinez Ocasio, and Sandra Bullock.
Leitch shared that the film was being shot amid the height of the Covid pandemic.
Talking about having a star-studded cast, he said: “Well, it turned out to be relatively easy but maybe fate had something to do with it. We were shooting at the height of the pandemic. We were filming in LA because we couldn’t go to Japan and we were one of the first projects out of the gates so there was a lot of interest.”
“The collaboration between Brad and I allowed a lot of actors to come to the table and raise their hand and we got a great group of people. I can’t see the movie in any other incarnation now. It’s amazing.”
Leitch also paid serious attention to the theme track of the film, which he described as a “very important piece of the puzzle.”
“I love music in my movies. It’s always a very important piece of the puzzle for me to find the soundtrack of the movie early on and I felt that the theme song ‘Staying Alive’ was so appropriate for Lady Bug – Brad’s character and to subvert it doing the Japanese cover became the inspiration for the rest of the soundtrack.”
Sony Pictures Entertainment India will release ‘Bullet Train’ on August 4 in languages — English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
