The Losers is based on the DC Comics/Vertigo comic series created by Andy Diggle. The story centers around a Special Forces team who were betrayed by their enigmatic handler, Max. Their new enemy soon discovers that you should never leave a bunch of black-ops commandos for dead. The Losers regroup for revenge, while attempting to wipe their names off a pesky CIA death list.
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with the film's director, Sylvian White, about the project:
How did you get attached to this movie?
Sylvain White:
"I was working on this other developing and writing project at Warner Bros. and I heard about this project and I was familiar with the comic book and I went and aggressively pursued it. I was able to get it."
Tell me about the story development here. Is it close to the book or are fans going to get something different?
"It's very close to the books. We're basically basing this movie on the first volume, which is 'Ante Up,' and of course we take things from the others, but we're not trying to tell the entire story of the comic book in one movie, we're just telling the beginning of it. Hopefully the movie will do well and we'll have the opportunity to do more in the sequels."
Let's go over the casting of actors in the movie and what each of them brings to the characters?
"I really wanted to be true to the look and feel of the characters in the comic book, so that was the first criteria. Secondly, I cast and interviewed people. Guys like Columbus Short that I'd worked with before was a no-brainer, I always saw him as Pooch from my first reading of the screenplay. Afterwards, I also cast Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who I met in person and who was recommended by Warner Bros. I met with him and loved him for the part. Idris Elba I've been a fan of for a long time, I absolutely wanted him in the movie one way or another, and I just felt he was the right guy to play the layers in a realistic fashion that the character of Roque has. I'd been a fan of Zoe (Saldana) for years. I followed her work in the independent world, and also the more recent commercial stuff. I think she's a brilliant actress. She's underecognized at this point, hopefully she'll show people how great she is, and she looked exactly how the character looked in the comic books, so it was a win-win situation there.
Chris Evans was born to play this part, Jensen. He is that guy. He played it perfectly. He's a great character actor, so I'm really happy to have him as well. With Jason Patric, both the studio and I wanted somebody who'd never played a villain before. You can go with the list of usual suspects to play the villains, but we wanted someone fresh who hadn't played that part. Getting a character actor like Jason Patric whose work in the independent world has been so astonishing, and for him to bring his skills to a commercial movie like this... to make the character of Max as eccentric as he is in the comic books, there is nobody better than him. I cast a Spanish actor Óscar Jaenada for the role of Cougar."
When you have a comic book film there's three things people look for: character development, action sequences, and the mix of both together so they make sense. Are you going to present this movie more as an intro, leaving stuff for a potential sequel?
"Unlike all the comic book movies, this one doesn't have superheroes or superpowers. It sets itself apart by being very mature. The characters are real guys going through extraordinary circumstances. From that point that was my way through: be truthful to the comic, the characters, their look and personas, and also the look of the comic. The authors have a very brilliant use of primary and secondary color palettes and the use of those colors to underline theme and environment. When you see the comic it's very remarkable stuff. The tone of the movie is going to be very exceptional because you will have a lot of very kinetic, high intensity action moments with a lot of realism married with fun, character-driven dialogue straight from the comics. All that fun dialogue between the guys, even the villain, it's all there."
How do you balance the drama with the comedic aspects in the film?
"I let the actors breathe life into the comedy and control the action with as much detail as possible."
Have you been given a lot of leeway from executives at the studio as far as shooting your style?
"Oh yeah, they gave me complete carte blanche and I'm able to shoot this movie the way I want to. There's been no restrictions."
What's the rating on the movie going to be?
"PG-13."
There's always the idea that an "R" rated film would look more realistic or do you want to tame it down a bit.
"I want this movie to be PG-13 and the simple fact is any 14-year-old teenager can go into a comic book store and buy the comic of the losers and I want that same teenager to be able to go see the movie. It's only fair. You have to tone down the gore of the violence, but not the violence. It doesn't take away from the action and intensity. Sometimes cutting away from a gunshot wound makes it more intense. It's working in my favor."
Is this the sort of movie people can look at without thinking it's from a comic book?
"Hopefully this film will be different. It's almost like the films from the 80s that Joel Silver produced like "Lethal Weapon" and "Die Hard". The tone of those films back in the day was light and fun with a lot of humor, but at the same time you had cool, grounded action. Then the action sort of veered off into extravaganza in the 90s and kept the fun tone. You can see that in movies like "Bad Boys". Nowadays the action is very realistic but the tone is very dry and serious. I feel like this film will be different because it has the fun lightness with believable action. My intention is not to make a comic book film because unless you have frames in the movie it'll be hard to tell, but there will be aesthetic winks to the comic in terms of form and aesthetic. It will have a light comic book feel to it. Remember when they did the first 'Hulk' and they had the actual screen divided like in a comic book? Very direct, on the nose references? For me it's not so much that, because it doesn't have the Marvel superhero tone to it."
What was the reason behind the back and forth changes in the release of the film? It went from April 9 to June 4 and now April 23 ?
"Marketing strategies really, but we landed on the best date possible for us."
Your name has been attached to a lot of other comic book properties, obviously 'Ronin.' What's the next project you want to get into?
"I really like 'Ronin.' I've been working on it at Warner Bros. for almost three years now. I really hope the movie will come to fruition. I'm working hard on the screenplay. It's a very complicated film to make and the screenplay has to be right. I feel like we're at point now where the studio is very enthusiastic about it. I'm certainly very eager to make that movie. You never know, though. I still have six or eight months to finish this film and figure out what my next film is going to be. 'Ronin' has been something I've worked on very hard and I hope it's going to pay off. If not, I'll be working on other projects."
What is your new film 'Pendragon' about?
"It's the King Arthur story. It's an original screenplay and a very fresh take. It will be like no other incarnation before it. All the favorite characters of the classic story are present."
The Losers is set to be released on April 23rd, 2010. The film stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Holt McCallany, Oscar Jaenada, and Jason Patric.
Many thanks to Wilson Morales and Blackfilm.com for sharing this in-depth interview with us!
Be sure to check out the full interview at the link below.