Jimmy Bobo (Sylvester Stallone), a New Orleans hit man and Detective Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang), a New York City cop, form an alliance to brings down the killers of their respective partners.

It always begins with the written word. And in the case of “Bullet to the Head” the story originated with the works of the highly acclaimed French author Alexis Nolent, whose pen name for his genre works is Matz, and illustrated by Colin Wilson, and their very popular graphic novel, A Bullet to the Head. Says Nolent, “I’ve always been a big fan of buddy movies which is a genuine

American specialty. I was playing with the idea of writing one and I wanted to push things a notch or two further from what I’ve seen. I loved movies like ‘Midnight Run’ and ‘L.A. Confidential,’ taken from the book by James Ellroy. I thought it would be an interesting idea to have a killer – a hit man

– teaming up with a cop; to have a bond that goes through the lines of the law and the principal of ethics and everything. So that’s how I played with the idea and developed it.”

“The story was set in New Orleans, with a secondary side story. One of the characters comes from New York City, and the other one comes from New Orleans. I’ve always been a big fan of New Orleans and the music of New Orleans, and there exists this well-known corruption there, and it was a good narrative concept to play with. So those are the ingredients I used.”

“The hit man (Sylvester Stallone) is really the main character because he’s the one who acts in the first place and then has to react and go through all of the motions of understanding what is going on and what needs to be done to basically save his skin and be successful at reaping revenge.”

“The cop (Sung Kang) of course is a little bit more square than the hit man. The hit man is the one who thinks outside the box. But the whole principle of Bullet to the Head was these two characters that seem to have nothing in common, have much more in common than they ever thought they would to the point where the cop probably has more in common with the hit man than he had with his partner. And the concept of the buddy movie is really an iconic American phenomenon. And I definitely wanted to set it in New Orleans.”

So it’s no mystery why the teaming of three icons of the American cinema, all of who really got started in the early 70’s, came together for “Bullet to the Head.” Director Walter Hill, known for male-dominated action films, once said in an interview, “Every film I’ve done has been a ‘Western,’ which is ultimately a stripped down moral universe that is, whatever the dramatic problems are, beyond the normal avenues of social control and social alleviation of the problem, and I like to do that even within contemporary stories.” Hill is best known for such iconic films as: “Hard Times,” “The Driver,” “The Warriors,” “48 Hrs.,” “Streets of Fire” and “Geronimo: An American Legend.”

“Bullet to the Head” producer Joel Silver, along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, can be credited with re-inventing the action genre. Silver added the component of pairing two disparate characters playing opposite one another in these films, and another whole new genre – the buddy film – emerged. He’s made one mega-hit after another. Along with producer Lawrence Gordon, Silver produced “48 Hrs.,” pairing Nick Nolte with Eddie Murphy, under the direction of Walter Hill,

and “Streets of Fire,” also directed by Walter Hill. At Silver Pictures he produced “Commando,” the “Lethal Weapon” franchise where he teamed Mel Gibson with Danny Glover, the first two films in the “Die Hard” franchise, and the “Matrix” franchise.

Sylvester Stallone has had at least one hit film every decade for the past 40 years. He became one of Hollywood’s highest paid actors, and while he’s tried his hand at comedies and dramas, his most notable successes have continued to be in action films. Starring alongside Henry Winkler in “Lords of Flatbush” brought Stallone to the attention of Hollywood. But stories of how he got his script of “Rocky” made with producer Irwin Winkler, and with himself in the starring role of Rocky Balboa, are legendary. Scoring 10 Academy Award nominations, “Rocky” won 3 Oscars including the Best Picture Award in 1976 thus triggering off one of the most financially successful movie franchises in history. He was on fire and made one film after another. With the mega-hit “First Blood,” where he played the character of Green Beret John Rambo, in a powerful and polarising take on the Vietnam War, it marked the beginning of yet another popular franchise. This was followed by a slew of other films including “Demolition Man” and “Assassins,” both for producer Joel Silver. But in the spirit of personal re-invention, it was 2010’s “The Expendables,” which Stallone wrote, directed and starred in with a cavalcade of other “B” movie actors, and which grossed in excess of three hundred million dollars worldwide, that Stallone was back on top once again.

The film began production on location on June 27th in New Orleans, Louisiana. The screenplay, by Alessandro Camon, is based on the graphic novel Bullet to the Head, written by Matz and illustrated by Colin Wilson, and tells the story of a New Orleans hit man (Stallone) and a New York City cop (Kang) who form an alliance to bring down the killers of their respective partners.

Joel Silver, Chairman of Dark Castle Entertainment, previously produced the Stallone films “Demolition Man” and “Assassins.” He said, “Sylvester Stallone is an iconic action star the world over and I’m thrilled to be working with him again.”

Director Walter Hill “…worked with Joel when he was a young producer. He’s always had a great entrepreneurial talent, a great ability to think cinematically, and he combines a ‘dream the big dream’ mentality with the practical nature of making sure things get done. Even the smallest details.”

“Sly and I had talked to each other over the years about working together but it just never quite worked out,” said Hill, adding, “I like actors that can communicate with a large audience – and Sly’s so wonderful at sharing his emotions; rage, sorrow, pride, joy – he’s got a great heart, great eyes and that great voice. If you’re a director, this is like someone giving you a key to a Ferrari.”

“I thought it would be really interesting to re-boot a classic genre and work with a classic director like Walter Hill,” says Stallone, adding, “I thought it was kind of interesting to do a kind of buddy antagonistic movie, where the characters are not buddies at all, but rather adversaries that have to work together, out of which an interesting relationship evolves.” Interesting that Stallone and Hill are working together for the first time. “Working with Walter was very ironic,” says Stallone, “because right after ‘Rocky’ in 1976-77, the first film I was presented was ‘The Driver’ with

Walter at the helm, but I was convinced to do another film. Years passed and Walter brought ‘48

Hours’ to me, and something else came up and I chose not to do it. ‘What a fool I was’ to have passed on that film. But finally we came together and now I’ve done what I should have done in

1977.”

“Joel Silver took ‘Bullet to the Head’ into a whole different level,” offers Stallone. “The longer I stay around this business the more I realise that producers like Joel Silver are incredibly rare; he’s unique and extraordinarily creative. I think it’s important, when you try to up-date a classic film genre – in this case film noir – that you cast contemporary actors that really speak the language and who are part of the very contemporary scene. And it was Joel who had the vision to cast Sung Kang, Sarah Shahi and Jason Momoa, all of whom are fresh and new. And then he cast the always dependable veteran actor Christian Slater.” Added Stallone, “It’s unique that I was surrounded by this kind of group of contemporary actors, and I brought the baggage that I bring, and hopefully we brought together this creative bouillabaisse and we came up with a good meal.”

 

Classification 18

 

Films released by KRS