*Yes, the deadliest man alive, “Agent 47,” has jokes.
At a press conference in New York City for “Hitman: Agent 47,” a James Bond and Jason Bourne all rolled into one on steroids, Rupert Friend (Agent 47) says he could land in jail if he literally practiced his craft.
When asked at the press conference how he prepared for such an awesome role he said:
“I went on a killing spree. [Laughter] I get this question a lot. ‘What is it about you and people who kill people for money’ because I seem to do it a fair bit. The answer is I don’t know. When I got the role, I began training with Zachary in a boxing gym here in New York, so I was doing this very brutal, efficient, Israeli self-defense technique and trying to marry that with something balletic.
“I think the world we’re lucky enough to work in is a world of wonderful make believe, and when you’re really given an opportunity to stretch your imagination, as we were with this movie, it tests what I think is the most limitless muscle we have as creative people, which is: ‘Can you imagine it?’ And if the answer to that is yes, ‘then can you do it?’ And that’s our challenge. All of us actors do that on a daily basis. Special effects people do it, and photographers do it. And it’s the single most fascinating element of the job for me. You can’t really literally prepare to play an assassin unless you want to be thrown in prison. There are a few things you can’t prepare for in that way other than in your mind, and in that respect, it’s a leap of imagination.”
Zachary Quinto, Hannah Ware and director Aleksander Bach also attended the press conference at the Crosby Hotel.
What were some of the challenges you all faced?
ZACHARY QUINTO: The biggest challenge, I think, in this film is the stamina, the action, keeping everything at the level that it needs to be at in order to stay engaged with one another was a challenge that we were all happy to meet. It was good fun to work with these two (looking at Friend and Ware).
HANNAH WARE: Yeah, it was a very physical role for all of us. And the human component is what really brings the film to life and makes it not just a crossover from it being based on a video game. It’s extremely well written, and we have some multi-faceted characters.
ALEKSANDER BACH: On the challenges of translating a video game into a film, to make it successful it doesn’t matter if it’s a video or not. You need a great story, and you need great characters, and you need great actors to bring it to life. When you have this and you combine it with great action and something which feels fresh, then you have a chance to put the puzzle together in a very nice way and create something which feels right. I think that it’s most important that you have great characters that you care for. Based on the ‘Hitman’ game, you have this cold assassin Agent 47. But you also need to care for this guy. When he’s just too cold, it doesn’t work.
Based on the top-selling, award-winning videogame franchise, “Hitman: Agent 47” is an all-new motion picture about an elite and genetically engineered assassin, known only by the last two digits—47 of a barcode—tattooed on the back of his neck.
Remember, tell The Film Strip what you enjoyed most about “Hitman: Agent 47” and you could win the signature red tie Agent 47 wears.
Syndicated Entertainment journalist Marie Moore reports on film and TV from her New York City base. Contact her at [email protected]
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