By Uschi Levy, MWN
Starring Brad Pitt and featuring an all-star cast, ‘Bullet Train’ is an action comedy that tells the story of Ladybug, a contract killer who wants to give up this life until everything changes on a bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto.
The movie is directed by one of the most important men in the entertainment world, David Leitch.
Leitch was a stuntman for Brad Pitt on several occasions. He went on to write and star in ‘Confessions of an Action Star’, a parody of action movies and the film industry. Years later he moved into directing films such as ‘John Wick’, ‘Atomic Blonde’, ‘Deadpool 2’ and ‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.’
Metro spoke with Leitch about the experience of directing ‘Bullet Train.’
In addition to directing, have acted several times. If you had to choose a character to play in ‘Bullet Train’, who would it be?
There are so many great characters in this film… What a question! Who would I like to play? I think I’m going to go with Momo Mond because, you know, you could be inside that costume and no one would see me coming. It could be a lot of fun.
In addition to being an actor and director, you’ve been a stunt double for several very important figures, including Brad Pitt. Did you do Brad’s stunts in this film?
I didn’t do stunts for Brad Pitt in this film. We had a great young stunt double, Kyle. He did everything we had to do that Brad couldn’t. But the reality is that Brad is such an incredibly gifted physical actor that 95% of the things you’ll see he did by himself.
You’ve directed a lot of action movies. What would you say was the main difference between this action movie and the others you’ve done?
Well, I think this film brought me back to my roots, but as a more experienced filmmaker. ‘John Wick’ and ‘Atomic Blonde’ were really from my original voice… it wasn’t in service of a sequel and it wasn’t in service of expanding our universe like ‘Hobbs & Shaw’, which were satisfying and beautiful experiences and where I met great people.
But now, and with all that accumulated experience, it was my turn to be the bold visionary… and apply it to this film. The truth is that here you can see me as a filmmaker without restrictions. And that’s why I achieved this crazy tone of the film… a tone that people are responding to with excitement.
It’s a movie that I would want to watch. You have fun. You laugh. But it also has really cool characters that have a lot of feelings and that you identify with. Those things are really important to me… that irreverent action, those moments of shock. Ultimately, the things that you go to the movies for. So, yeah, I think it was fun to fully express myself again.
‘Bullet Train‘ is now showing in theaters.
