Lad with.
Levin k left behind a decorated military career in the Black Ops to live a simple life working construction. But when his boss's daughter, who was like family to him, is taken by human traffickers, his search to bring her home uncovers a world of corruption far greater than he could have imagined. So sets the stage for the new movie A Working Man starring Jason Statham, now in theaters.
You should have put to the left and be dead. Oh you dead, you'd be dead.
From the director of The Beekeeper, a nineteen year old cost Kidnam.
She's a good kid. She's a great kid. She's like family to me.
Come went back to five and this is you have a.
Trafficking I'm gonna find a better go for long? How do they get to work?
To work? So it cuts you around heart, Good luck, get the work, Jason Statha, Oh that is not doing.
People whose mommy dressesn't funny.
Work.
Look at those bricks. You're a working man. That's right. Let's play.
And i'd so please to be joined by its writer and director David Ayir. David a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you for coming on tonight.
Thank you so much for having me, David, You.
Along with Sylvester Stallone, wrote A working Man, and given that, I've seen The beat Keeper also with Jason Statham, I've also seen Suicide Squad that you directed. I've seen Training Day squat The Fast and Furious that you wrote. I say all that to say, you know a little something about action movies and what works. What are some of the rules that you swear by in making a good action movie.
I think it's also having a lot of heart in it. It's having great characters, you know, so that when the action kicks off, we care about who's doing it and why it's happening. And in this case, you know, Jason's really the king of the genre. I mean, he's his own action genre. And just giving him the opportunity to show up as an actor and really have some love on screen and really give him a righteous mission, I think is what sets this film apart.
In watching A working Man, and you kind of hinted at it right there, I'm reminded of this rapport that you have with Jason Stathan, but also Michael Penia. What is it that you like about working with them individually or even collectively.
You know, if Jason it's this is a guy that does his own stunts. This is a guy that has an encyclopedic knowledge of action. He's been doing this a long time and he's really good at it. And the thing that I've learned is just how good of an actor he is and how much heart and soul he has. And it was a great thing to team him up with such a strong actor like Michael Penya, who is just an incredible actor, really strong. He can take a room over, take the scene over, and he just grounds everything.
So anytime I can put actors like that together, you know you can see the result.
Jenny's missing, What do you mean missing?
Sure?
Friends?
On fri.
Saturday, we were worried, so we called the cops. And then that's on the.
She had a piano.
Side on something like we invited half our family.
My cousin Degnor is a police captain in Philly, and she says, they don't work these cases.
They take a report and forget about it. Can you help us, like and keep you sut of running swool? No help us find Jack? My dad was green Bray.
Come.
I can see you guys coming a mile away. You want bad guys? You bought the planes you get those bad guys? How much different person?
Now, since you mentioned Jason Statham and how he does his own stunts, how does an idea for an action scene, be it in A Working Man or any other movie? For you completely that sophisticated fight choreography? How does it go from the page to the Do you just leave the section blank and say, okay, insert Jason fight choreography or is it more sophisticated? What type of direction do you give?
You know, you try and create kind of the atmosphere and tone in the script itself, but then it always takes on a life of its own. And I don't think people understand how much work goes into these things. You know, the stunt team gets together early on in the process before you shoot, and they'll just experiment and they'll videotape it and they'll cut things together, and you go and you watch and you give notes, and everybody has ideas and you know, maybe we can throw a
bag of cement at this guy. Why don't we throw a bucket of nails? So everyone's kind of adding to it. And then once you're on set, that's where it really comes to life, and that's where the challenge is because it's it's hard, you know, you shoot this stuff over days. It's a lot of punches, a lot of repeats, and there's Jason in the middle of it doing everything.
Anyone who's seen your work or knows your work knows that there's going to be a lot of action, as I talked about. Anyone who's seen ad Jason state Atham's work knows that there's a lot of action. But a working man. Although it is definitely an action movie, tell me if I'm wrong, I would say it's equally about family. Not to say that it's a family movie, but the theme of family is ever present, is it not.
That's exactly it.
You know.
Jason is this you know, troubled guy with the past who gets adopted by this loving family that takes him in and gives him opportunity and helps him rebuild himself. And we love them for that. So when it comes his turn to help them, we're really rooting for that to happen. We're really rooting for him to bring their
daughter back, you know, who is like his daughter. And even the bad guys have their families and their relationships and their history and their rules and their traditions, and I think that's just part of the human side of things. And when you can bring that to a film and have some incredible action, I think you're going to get a really satisfying experience for the audience.
Dodible action, no doubt. And there was a lot of heartfelt moments in the movie which actually surprised me. But was there anything which surprised you either in the writing, creation or the filming of the movie which you said, well, I thought I had what idea going in, but now it's something else.
I would say. It's Ariana Reeves, who plays Jenny, the girl that gets kidnapped. I always saw Jenny as a fighter, as someone that could fight back, but Ariana brought this level of humor and presence in spirit to the role that I wasn't expecting, and by the end of it, you almost believe that she could rescue Jason.
How do you know when you are screen testing actors beyond those you've worked with that someone has that special quality or can deliver a particular scene in your mind, or they're just reading some sides. But how do you know you have the right actor or actress?
You know it's it's something you know when you see it, I really feel. And it's one of the toughest parts of the process is casting, because there's all these incredible people and they really put their heart and soul in it, and you have to narrow it down to a few choices and then ultimately one choice. But it's every role requires this own special thing and sometimes you don't know what that is until you actually see it and you go, Okay,
there it is. That's the person, and that's what happened with Adriana.
He is David Ayer, writer and director for the new movie A Working Man starring Jason Statham, now in theaters. David, thank you so much for coming on tonight and I can't wait for everyone else to see it as well.
It's a good one.
Thank you so much for having me.
You're listening too.
Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty