I rehearsed ‘Red’ fight scenes for three weeks: Bruce Willis (Interview)

MUMBAI - Bruce Willis is 55 and hasn’t stopped fighting. In his latest film “Red”, the Hollywood star says he will be seen in a major fight sequence for which he rehearsed for three weeks with actor Karl Urban.

“I have been a fan of Karl’s since he started working. We have this big fight scene in the film that has been compressed down to hopefully what looks like a real fight. We rehearsed the scene for three weeks and shot for two weeks,” Bruce told IANS in an email interview from the US.

“Karl and I learned most of the sequence using mixed martial art fighting– like what you see in cage fight matches. There are things I did in ‘Red’ that I haven’t done in a long time like running through a glass window, getting thrown around. But I really enjoyed fighting with Karl,” added the star.

“Red”, which is being distributed by PVR Pictures, is due to hit theatres in India Nov 12. The film was released in the US Oct 15. The action comedy is a screen adaptation of graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Cully Hanmer.

Willis is known for doing films like “Pulp Fiction”, “The Sixth Sense”, “The Fifth Element”, “Unbreakable” and “Die Hard”.

Asked why he agreed to “Red”, Bruce said: “I liked the script; I was one of the first people to get involved in it, myself and Karl Urban.”

“Red” has a star-studded cast led by Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich.

“Just before we started shooting, an unusual thing happened - a lot of movie stars signed up for the film - Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfus, Marie Lou Parker, that whole list and more, so it was like Christmas! Every four or five days some one or the other big movie star showed up,” he added.

“Red” is about Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) who used to be the CIA’s top agents and are now the agency’s top targets for the secrets they know.

Framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.

The film has been directed by Robert Schwentke and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian.

Even though the film is an action comedy, it supposedly also has a hint of romance; so what is the expected target audience?

“It’s definitely an ambitious movie because you try to put in all those things into a movie. You make a film about action, or comedy or humour, but we put it all into this film and somehow Robert Shwaynke, the director, made it work. So, I would say, it’s a film for everyone,” clarified Bruce.

The film was the closing film at the recently concluded 12th Mumbai Film Festival.

(Ruchika Kher can be contacted at ruchika.k@ians.in)