Dave Bautista's latest film, The Killer's Game, will have fans of the original book "feel[ing] like they just did Acid."
The movie follows Batista's Joe Flood, a hitman with a strict moral code who is told he's going to die due to a terminal illness. It turns out that was a misdiagnosis––but Joe doesn't learn this until after he's already put out a hit on himself so that his girlfriend can collect his life insurance.
The original story was actually written all the way back in 1997 by Jay Bonansinga. One of the key differences between the two is how over-the-top, comedic, and bombastic Lionsgate's take on, while the book is a little more toned down.
Dave Bautista's The Killer's Game Is a Wild Ride
The Direct's Russ Milheim attended the red carpet premiere for Lionsgate's The Killer's Game, where Jay Bonansinga, the original book's author, shared that fans of the original story are in for a ride.
In fact, they are "gonna feel like they just just did acid," according to the writer.
"Well, if they're fans of the book, it's gonna feel like they just did acid. Because it's my book, times 1000. My book has this, like, droll, dark comedy. I wrote it in 1994. I mean, I was beset with, like, the Cohen brothers and Tarantino at the time. So, I wanted to try to write that, a literary version of that. But then this hook just changed everything because it gave it some meat."
Star Dave Bautista, who plays leading hitman Joe Flood in the movie, revealed that the most unique part of working on this film was "the way we did the action," which included a separate "action unit" running all the time:
"The most unique part, I think, was the way we did the action. Because we didn't have a lot of time to shoot this film, so we shot it in two units, and there was always an action unit going on... A lot of times when I had to kind of fill in the gaps of the action, it was stepping on, it was learning the choreography, like really fast, like on the day, like it'll be in the moment. But [Director] JJ [Perry] was just so prepared and knew exactly what he needed. So I'd step in, and he'd teach me the action like that. We'd knock it out, we'd shoot it, and it was done."
"I've never done a film like that," Bautista explained, noting how little time and rehearsals he had due to the movie's smaller scale:
"But I've never done a film like that because typically, you know, on bigger films, the luxury of bigger films is that you have more money. When you have more money, you have more time, more days, more people, and more time to rehearse and prepare, and we just didn't have that. So this was a very hectic schedule, a crazy process. But yeah, it was kind of filling in the gaps as you went. It was really rough."
Joining Bautista is Terry Crews, who joins the fun as Lovedahl, a hitman out to get Joe Flood.
Crews found it very strange that he was able to "[be] a bad guy" and live all the way through the movie:
"I would say being a bad guy and living because usually, you know when you play a bad guy, they kill you. It's very unique. I made the cut. You know, usually like, 'Oh yeah, I'm a bad guy. When are they going to off me? I did a movie with Keanu Reeves, man, I took, like, 1700 bullets. It was nuts. But this one, they left me alive so we could do it again. This is what I love."
Director JJ Perry pointed out how unique it was for him "to direct a love story" after coming "from the action world:"
"[It was unique for] me to direct a love story. Because I come from the action world, sometimes I'm directing action second unit, directing for other directors, but it's just the action scenes. But this was an opportunity to kind of put my thumbprint on it. So, I paid attention and really try to keep the tone right. And, you know, you guys will be the judge."
Perry was happy to describe the movie as "a date night movie" that also "tested really strong with ladies:"
"I think it's one of those movies, a date night movie that has a train wreck with a fun action movie. So I think everyone's going to like it. It tested really strong with ladies, which I was super excited about. So you know, hopefully, everybody's gonna go out and see it and take their mom and dad."
Don't expect there to be a deeper meaning hiding behind the bombastic action, however.
The director admitted that "it's just a fun [story]" meant for audiences to "escape:"
"It's just a fun [story]... There's no real--I don't have a political message, my brother. I just want them to enjoy. I want them to step out of this trippy time we're in right now and be able to escape for an hour and 45 minutes."
The Killer's Game producer Steve Richards pointed out that while this might be an intense action movie, they "really set out to design it around the love story:"
"Well, we really set out to design it around the love story. And, you know, big action was extremely important to deliver on. But we really thought what would sell it is the love story, and there's a great twist. So it's those elements, I think, that make it unique."
Another hitman in the film (in which there are many), is Marko Zaror's Emilo' El Botas,' an assassin with a knack for dancing to music while he dispatches his targets.
"It was a challenge," the actor admitted, calling out how different it was to be "like a lover" and "dancing" while also being a cold-blooded assassin:
"It was a challenge, and it was something that I had never done before. So, for me, it was a big step in understanding wow. You know, [my] previous movie, you know, I was on assassin, very straightforward, right? But then now it is totally the opposite. I'm like a lover. I'm a lover [and] I'm dancing, but I'm killing people... It opens your eyes to the fact that you can explore so much with the movement. There are many ways that you can approach an action character, that it could be fun, you know. So that's kind of what I've learned through this process."
The Killer's Game hits theaters on Friday, September 13.
