Dame Helen Mirren, one of the stars of the upcoming Red, based on a DC graphic novel by Warren Ellis, told attendees at the San Diego Comic-Con today that she was ‘sh*t scared’ about plunging into a genre film after an Oscar-winning turn as the Queen of England.
“It was such a different role,” said Mirren who plays an ex-CIA assassin alongside Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, among others. “As an actor that is what you long for. Something to really kick your last role. It’s also nice to find a new audience.”
Mirren, sporting a RIP Harvey Pekar t-shirt, also confessed that the hardest thing about shooting a gun on film, as she does quite a bit in Red, is to keep a straight face explaining that the honest reaction is to flinch or stick out your tongue.
Bruce Willis, who plays former CIA agent Frank Moses, leads a retired team of CIA operatives that bands together to find out why the agency is interested in bumping off former agents. He told attendees that making the film, with its all-star class was a fun experience.
“It was lot of fun and very ambitious,” said Willis. “John, Mary-Louise (Parker) and I spent the most time together. It was like recess.”
He joked: “I think over 75 movie stars are in RED!”
One of those stars is Karl Urban who plays William Cooper, an active CIA agent tasked to hunt down and kill Willis’s character. However, Urban hinted that his character’s motivations might not be so black and white.
“Through the course of the film, and interaction with Frank (Willis), I start to learn more about what is going on,” said Urban.
Graphic novel author Warren Ellis said that his job was to stay away during filming and let the film crew make their vision.
“They gave us a lot of money… a lot of money,” he joked. “I could buy most of you now. I went away and they made the film. Mostly, I stayed out of the way. It was an adaptation, not a translation. I stood back and let them get on with it.”
The film was broadened beyond the scope of the original 66-page graphic novel. According to artist Cully Hammer, the movie is funnier and lighter, but still faithful to the source material.
“Frank is a really wonderful character,” said producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “We took that character and put him in a larger venue. The key to this movie is fun.”
Summit Entertainment also brought online the new trailer which can watch using the player below!
