Bastille Day
Short description
Michael Mason, an American pickpocket scraping by in Paris, lifts a bag he assumes holds nothing more than a wallet. What he takes instead pulls him into the attention of the CIA and the French authorities, and he quickly becomes the most wanted man in the city. Sean Briar, the field agent assigned to the case, comes to see that Michael is a pawn in something larger and that the thief may be the only person able to trace those behind it. The two men, with the young Frenchwoman Zoe Naville, have roughly a day to expose a conspiracy that reaches well beyond a stolen bag. James Watkins directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Baldwin.
The film stars Idris Elba as Briar, Richard Madden as Mason and Charlotte Le Bon as Zoe, with Kelly Reilly, José Garcia and Anatol Yusef among the supporting cast. It was released in April 2016, running 92 minutes, and was made for about 20 million dollars. Its worldwide takings of roughly 15 million dollars left it short of its budget, and audiences have been moderate on it: on IMDb it holds 6.4 out of 10 from around 55,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.3 from about 1,500 votes. A film critics' rating of 5.2 from 82 reviews sits below both audience figures. The action thriller was Watkins's third feature, following Eden Lake and The Woman in Black.
What's left behind the scenes
- At one time, it was believed that Pierre Morel would direct the film.
- Before filming began, director and one of the screenwriters James Watkins advised the lead actor Idris Elba to re-watch films featuring famous anti-heroes such as Dirty Harry (played by Clint Eastwood) and Popeye Doyle (played by Gene Hackman).
- This is the second film by James Watkins to feature Kelly Reilly. She previously worked with this director on the horror film "Paradise Lake" (2008).
- Scenes on the streets of Paris, near the Bank of France, were filmed near the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. Filming directly in Paris would have been incredibly complex logistically, while in Greenwich, filming took place on private property, which greatly facilitated the work for James Watkins and his crew.
- The preparation of Idris Elba and Richard Madden for filming the rooftop chase scene took 6 weeks.
- The opening and closing credits are accompanied by a performance of "The Road Less Travelled" by Idris Elba, who plays the main role in the film.
- Of all the preparation for the role, Richard Madden, who played Michael Mason, enjoyed learning how to pick pockets the most. Madden was advised by a professional pickpocket, who taught the actor sleight of hand and techniques for distracting victims.
- Adèle Exarchopoulos was initially cast in one of the roles in the film, but she left the project and the role of Zoe Neville was played by Charlotte Le Bon.
- Due to the terrorist attack in Nice on Bastille Day, which occurred between the film's theatrical and home video release, the DVD of the film was released in the UK under the title "The Take".
- Richard Madden began preparing for the stunt and fight scenes approximately six weeks before filming began. For this purpose, an obstacle course was specially built, on which he trained.
- A mock-up of the Metro shopping complex was created for filming the explosion scene.
- The actors performed almost all of the stunt scenes, including the fight sequences, themselves. Refusing to use professional stunt doubles added to the film's authenticity. Stunt coordinator James O’Donnell prepared the actors for the stunts over several weeks, planning the sequence of movements and rehearsing everything with the actors involved in each specific scene. Idris Elba and Richard Madden understood the importance of both physical and emotional preparation and gave it their all.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
