Mongoose brings iconic Hollywood action star Liam Neeson, who was recently seen in The Naked Gun, back to the movie screen, this time behind the wheel of a bright red Shelby Mustang. Mongoose follows Neeson's Ryan "Fang" Flanagan, a former Special Forces Army captain and highly decorated military veteran who finds himself being accused of a crime he did not commit, leading him and law enforcement on a crazy high-speed pursuit across state lines.
Joining Neeson in Mongoose, which hits theaters on October 30, are Marisa Tomei as Ryan's ex-wife, Tara, and Fantastic Four's Michael Chiklis as Major Walter Pope.
The Direct spoke with Mongoose stars Liam Neeson and Michael Chiklis, alongside director Mark Vanselow, to talk all about their new thrilling high-speed action film.
Do Fang's Driving Skills Carry Over to Liam Neeson?
"I Was Still Quite Scared."
- The Direct: "There's a lot of very skilled and talented, insane driving in the movie, and I'm just curious, you know, how would that skill translate to either of you if you were thrown into a high-speed car chase?"
Liam Neeson: Mark, I think, would have no trouble with that. I am not a car person. I never have been, even as a kid. Never once dreamed about having a particular car. There are certain sequences in our film where it looks as if I'm driving—I wasn't, but I was still quite scared. Especially driving down a highway in the wrong direction with other stunt drivers heading towards me was quite terrifying.
Mark Vanselow: As a stunt performer, that's kind of your bread and butter to be a driver. So you kind of work through different stages of that and get your level up. But ultimately, when you have something that's a specialty, you bring in a specialty driver. And so Eugene, who did most of the driving, was amazing in the movie, and Gavin, who followed up with him. So, they both did an amazing job on all that action.
Michael Chiklis Deeply Wanted to Be Involved With the Driving of 'Mongoose'
"It's a Bit of a tragedy..."
- The Direct: "There's a lot of very skilled, precise driving in this film, even though, sadly, you weren't able to partake. How does your skill in driving a car match up with what we see in this film?
Michael Chiklis: Well, it's a bit of a tragedy, actually, because I am a very skilled driver. I'll have you know. I'm serious. I'm being dead serious right now. I've done all of my stunts over the years and all of my stunt driving over the years. All the stuff that you see in 'The Shield' and other shows where I'm hitting it—That's me, and I love doing that. And I love fast cars. And I love doing it on camera.
The actor went on to express his envy of the team getting to drive those Shelby Cobras.
Chiklis: So I had a little envy going on there, especially with some of the Shelby Cobras. Come on, let's go. I could have had some fun doing donuts in that vehicle. I grew up in the 70s, man. I grew up with movies like 'Bullet' and 'Vanishing Point,' and that's what this reminded me of. And also shades of—there's a little bit of humor, so it's a little bit of 'Cannonball Run'mixed in there. It's not quite as kitschy and cheeky as that. It's much more on the bullet side, but still, there's a bit of that, and you know, I just thought this would be fun.
Visualizing the Action Scenes in 'Mongoose'
"It Kind of Boils Down to What's Practical In the Moment/
- The Direct: "Can you both talk to me about the first steps in visualizing what those exciting car action sequences are going to look like in the first place?"
Mark Vanselow: Thompson Evans wrote the script and did an amazing job creating all that action on the page. Then we worked with storyboard artist Graham to kind of put that into pictures for us, and then we got to the reality where, once we find the locations, you know, what we could do there, what we could do with the cars, and worked with our second unit stunt team and second unit director to create all that. So, it kind of boils down to what's practical in the moment once you get all the equipment there.
Our full interviews with the cast and filmmakers behind Mongoose can be seen below.
