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GREGORY HOBLIT:
“The script is the blueprint for the movie. Once it gets on its feet in the hands of gifted actors, it becomes organic and takes on a life of its own.”
RYAN GOSLING:
“Willy’s supposed to be the good guy in the movie, but he’s not really that good. It’s not his nature to be heroic or do the right thing. He leans more towards the narcissistic, self-serving, selfish side of things. I found having a character like that, who’s not virtuous, interesting in this genre.”
ANTHONY HOPKINS:
“I’m a fan of movies like Jagged Edge or Presumed Innocent; they’re not just courtroom dramas, but whodunits. You watch it unravel. You watch it begin to evolve, if they’re well constructed. In this, because Crawford is always on top with the funny remarks, always knocking Willy off-balance, Ryan decided in the first scene we did together, the interrogation scene, not to be fazed by Crawford, but to duck and weave around him, which was very clever.”
GOSLING:
“Anthony is intimidating because he’s so good. I did more acting in trying to pretend that I wasn’t enjoying what Anthony was doing. It’s hard to be in scenes with him, because you’re sitting there and you just want to watch him as if he was in a movie, and then you have to remind yourself, ‘You’re in this film too.’ I found that really difficult, plus I was taking acting notes at the same time. I was trying to break down why he’s so great and thought if I could be there on set, and could watch it happen, I’d be able to figure it out, but it’s just that he’s great, there’s no secret to it.”
HOBLIT:
“This movie is like a chess game. It’s got moves and countermoves and finally checkmate. Crawford is the chess master who’s thought out every possible move, from beginning to end, and Willy is like one of those speed players you see in Central Park, an Energizer bunny up against this stolid, methodical guy.”
GOSLING:
“Anthony doesn’t like it when people start taking everything so seriously, and I’m certainly a victim of that. So if everything got a little too important, he would start barking. And it’s like everything he does in life, he does it great. He sounded exactly like a dog. You could just about tell the breed.”
HOPKINS:
“On The Elephant Man because they were so intense on that, I used to do a cat. I’d meow and the soundman would go, ‘Quiet everyone, there’s a cat on the set!”
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THE CONCEPT:
