Jason, you usually act alongside the sexy females and all of that. How was it acting opposite Izabela Vidovic, who plays your daughter who is coincidentally the cutest co-star you have ever had?
Jason Statham: She taught me everything I know (laughs). She’s so bossy! You would never know! “Get off the horse! Get back on the horse!” There were whip marks! Eventually I came around… Yeah, we had a great time. There is something quite sweet when you actually get good chemistry with somebody and I think we got very lucky, right?
Izabela Vidovic: Yeah, we did.
You have acted alongside Sylvester Stallone in several movies, but on this one he was working behind the scenes as a screenwriter. How was it working with him in that capacity?
Jason Statham: As for Sly, I have done three films with him so I’ve got this ever present voice: (imitating Stallone) “Hey Jason, make sure you do this fucking properly!” He’s always there putting the fear of God in me. But he’s such a prolific writer and I think it’s easy to forget how many films he’s actually written. He really does care and he writes with a lot of heart instead of just concentrating on a couple of characters. He fills the whole story with great roles, and I think he does it very, very well.
Kate, you gave a terrific, lean performance as Cassie Bodine. Could you tell us more about your physical transformation and what it entailed?
Kate Bosworth: Uh, very little sleep (laughs). The physicality was something that the role required. She’s someone who’s abusing herself every day and that starts to take its toll. Gary and myself and the makeup artist wanted to make sure that she was far gone enough that there was a real danger to her physicality and an edginess to her. There’s a discomfort and constant agitation to her, but she wasn’t so far gone that there was not a point of no return. We wanted to make sure that she was going to be coming back because of her realization by the end. So it was just figuring out the kind of volume for the look. Clearly meth is a very destructive substance. It shows physically very quickly and it’s a quick demise, so it was just a conversation about how rough we wanted her to look and to maintain the sense of hope in her as well. But it wasn’t something that I thought twice about, you know? It was something that was required.
Gary Fleder: To add one thing, I think it’s amazing that Kate never judges this character. I think that this easily could’ve been a caricature, but I think what makes her a character is that Kate never once judged her as being a bad person. My thing was that Cassie peaked in high school when she was 18, and now she’s pushing 30 and she’s got this kid and this husband that owns a junkyard. With no silver lining ahead and no hope ahead, what do you become? How do you self-medicate? So I think that’s why the one character with an arc in this movie really is Kate’s character. She’s got the one whole arc.
For the actors, how was it to see Jason in action?
Jason Statham: What, in the bedroom? They weren’t invited (laughs).
James Franco: It was awesome!
Kate Bosworth: Yeah, it was very impressive because you had so much experience in the physicality. I do think there’s an inherent athletic approach to the process of filmmaking. We are all kind of in the trenches together and figuring it out, and just the way you approached the character in the athletic process that you took, that was impressive to me. There’s a joy to him and an optimism that’s very important.
Jason Statham: Thank you Kate.
Izabela Vidovic: Well, it was awesome (laughs). I got to learn a lot because he just went for it. There was no waiting around or anything. I think that because he has the physical endurance of a professional, there’s so much to learn from and he’s done it for a while. I’m not saying you’re old or anything…
Jason Statham: Well, it sounded a bit that way (laughs).