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David Ayer - Film
By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment columnist
www.twitter.com/rychmccain and Facebook (Like Me)
Photos via Open Road
David Ayer
Film Director On The Cutting
Edge
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| David Ayer Director/Writer/Producer |
Director/writer/producer David Ayer has
been steady carving out a name for himself in Hollywood since he began as a
script writer. His spec script “Training
Day” was not only picked up and he was a co-producer but it became a mega
box office smash and garnered Denzel Washington his second Academy Award® for
Best Actor. This began a journey that has seen him write and direct some of
Hollywood’s most street realistic films such as “The Fast And The Furious,” S.W.A.T.,” “Dark Blue,” “Street Kings” and “End Of Watch.” Ayer’s latest offering “Sabotage,” is about an elite DEA task
force that takes on the world’s deadliest drug cartels. Ayer’s writing and
directing reflects his upbringing on the mean streets of LA and he uses those
experiences to bring hard core, in-your-face realism to all of his films.
Ayer now has a solid reputation of realism
and perfectionism in his films. In regard to his latest “Sabotage,” he had his
actors train with the actual LA Sheriff’s
S.W.A.T. team doing the exact drills and
exercises that they do. Ayer explains, “I think the watch word in this is
reality and for actors, if you teach them the real skills, when they get on set
they don’t have to worry about anything but what they are doing, their
performance. Any actor will tell you that when they have the training there’s a
certain confidence they have in their physical performance. They don’t have to
worry about where they are putting their hands or what they are doing. You want
it to be second nature.”
In working with the real guys the cast
found out that is was very physical, hard and sweat draining. Ayer laughs and
said “We put these guys through endless repetitions. The boss said it’s all
about reps and that’s what we did but by the end of this thing the guys could
go in and were pretty autonomous. They could clear rooms, kick doors, solve
tactical
problems and row through the problem in any given way. So by the time they get
to the set to do one of these scenes; what you are seeing is not staged per say
but a lot of it is there own decisions on how to solve this tactical problem to
clear the room. And from that guys turning the wrong way and making mistakes
and how harsh they can be with each other. Also the camaraderie develops. There’s
a training scene in the film where a lot of what’s said in that scene is pretty
honest stuff.”
Because the film’s lead actor is none
other than the action icon himself Arnold Schwarzenegger, was there any
pressure from the film’s big bosses to make the project typically Arnold? Ayer
chuckles, “For me it was an incredible opportunity to work with this man who is
more than a hero. I mean the guy is obviously a symbol legend. The films he
starred in that I saw as a teenager,
“Terminator”
and things like that are the very films that inspired me to direct. So the
opportunity to work with somebody like that was the realization of a dream.
Then discover that he’s a really good guy on top of it, a hard worker and a
great role model for me as somebody who is a bit of and over achiever and has
succeeded in every venue.”
Looking at the politics of film making combined
with the special effects and green screen versus real action from the actors,
are the new films reverting back to the old school way of doing things. Ayer
examines this, “Companies like Bill’s (QED International) and other companies
are creating these opportunities for film makers to have a lager canvas to tell
interesting stories on. So I think there is a bit of a 70’s revolution right
now where people are going back to bread and butter film making. For me, no
amount of CG, green screen or wire work can bet the visceral, gut wrenching
quality of a really well done practical stunt.”
©
2014 Rych McCain Media/Syndication TM
(You
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