A certified ensemble of hit filmmakers takes the romantic-action genre a notch higher in “This Means War” starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy where best friends CIA agents and best friends discover that they are dating the same woman which ultimately affects both their professional and personal lives.
Filmmakers director McG whose worldwide hits include “Charlie’s Angels,” “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “Terminator Salvation,” screen scribe Simon Kinberg who penned the incredibly thrilling films “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “”X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Jumper” and “Sherlock Holmes,” and Will Smith as the film’s producer lock forces to create another unprecedented romantic-action-comedy movie in “This Means War.”
In “This Means War,” Reese Witherspoon plays Lauren, a very decisive woman, but in her romantic life she’s just a disaster. The man she moved from Atlanta with ended up leaving her, shattering her heart and crushing her spirits. Having been unable to date, her best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler) finally decides to help her to enter the dating world again.
Lauren meets Tuck (Tom Hardy), on a dating website and they have an awkward first date that ends up going really well; then she ends up meeting Chris Pine’s character, FDR, in a video store. They’re both excited about their new relationships, and there’s this great reveal where they show each other a picture of their girl, and it’s the same girl bringing up all that territorial male dominance stuff.
Director McG shares on working with his three stars – Reese: “It’s never an easy sell to get anybody involved in a movie. Reese is very accomplished, both as an actress—she won an Academy Award—but also as a comedienne. She won the Academy Award for her turn in “Walk The Line” and she’s very funny in the Legally blonde movies. She can do a great many things. The one thing she hadn’t done was be a screen siren and I wanted her to bring that energy to the role. I thought Reese had a certain confidence in me, largely because of what I was able to do with the girls in Charlie’s Angels. There was never anything misogynistic or mean spirited in that movie but it was decidedly sexy, with all of the women being very intelligent and powerful. I think everybody knows that Reese is an intelligent, powerful, capable woman. Now let’s show the world exactly how sultry she can be when she chooses to be.”
“Chris Pine was very entertaining and engaging in Star Trek; he was great in Smokin’ Aces; but it was primarily his turn in the Lieutenant of Inishmore, which is a Martin McDonagh play that played here in Los Angeles that I saw two or three times. He was astounding; his accent was spot on, his physicality, his commitment to the role—he’s infinitely more talented than people could ever imagine, and more clever and considerate. Plus he’s different to Tom Hardy, which is what I was looking for: two alpha males who are always interested in finishing first, but who do so in an entirely different way,” director McG says of Pine.
On Tom Hardy: “Tom, and of course he’s known for Bronson and his character in Warrior and now he’s doing Mad Max. He is so physical and powerful and intense… but he’s also got a
brilliant mind. Just from speaking to him that he’s very kinetic, very clever, that his mind is moving at a thousand miles an hour. There’s the broad level the film plays on, but also the more subversive level for those who care to look more closely. I think people need to understand his dimensionalized ability and performance range. He was very game and he’s great – I can’t imagine anyone other than Tom and Chris for these roles,” concludes the director on working with Reese, Chris and Tom.
Reese, on the other hand sums the director’s works as joyful – “He’s wonderful: he’s enthusiastic, he’s decisive, he knows his shots, he knows what he wants, he knows how to create great action sequences, and he’s also hysterically funny– he comes up with witty lines off the top of his head. It was great to work with somebody who’s so excited to make a movie instead of hand-wringing and miserable. And it comes out in his movies – they’re joyful.”
“This Means War” opens February 22 in theaters from 20th Century Fox.