Assassins Morgan Freeman and Common Hit the Big Screen with Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy
Visionary director Timur Bekmambetov (creator of Day Watch and Irony of Fate: The Continuation, the two biggest films in the history of Russian cinema) powers this twisted and visceral adventure of 25-year-old Wes (James McAvoy), a slacker who hates his life—with good reason, because it sucks.
At work, his ball buster of a boss lives to torment him in front of his fellow cube-dwelling drones. Back home, his skeezy girlfriend is a sexual magnet for everyone except him, including Wes’ supposed best friend. No wonder this loser is on his 10th prescription for panic attack pills, which he downs like candy between cardboard meals of vegan tofu wraps. Wes’ pathetic excuse for an existence might just as well come to an end and save him a lifetime of prolonged misery.
Fortunately for Wes, his life is over—his old one, anyway…and all because of a girl. Enter hot Fox (Angelina Jolie), who crashes into Wes on the business end of a smoking gun. Seems Wes’ long-lost and mostly forgotten dad was killed while working for the Fraternity—a centuries-old league of supersensory trained assassins pledged to carry out the unbreakable orders of fate. Their motto: Kill one, save a thousand.
The Fraternity finds unity in and lives by its mission: to preserve balance in the world by eliminating those who are predicted by the Loom of Fate to disturb this balance and to cause harm. They consider themselves operatives of fate, instruments of destiny. The head of the Fraternity is the same man who reads the will of the Loom: Sloan. Having already played God twice, it wasn’t a stretch to see Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman as the master architect of an ancient society.
Freeman says, “I’ve been in many, many films, and so I’m always looking to find something different to try. As an actor, you don’t want to do the same thing ad nauseam. When I read Wanted, I thought the concept was compelling, and Timur’s a very interesting filmmaker. Combine that with the rest of the cast—and the fact that I haven’t done too many action movies— and I was eager to participate.”
Producer Platt comments, “Morgan, as both a human being and as an actor, possesses such integrity, such a strength of character that I’d believe anything he would tell me. He’s someone you would want to be your father, which in our story is very important for Wesley. There is a strength and force that emanates from Morgan without him even trying. We needed someone who could also articulate the mythology of the Fraternity in such a way that the audience would follow and accept it.”
“As a person, Morgan Freeman is very levelheaded and very noble,” says Bekmambetov. “We must believe what he says. He is a businessman, and the head of the Fraternity. He is able to engage Wesley, and so us. That was most important for Sloan.”
Grammy Award-winning and platinum-selling musical artist Common has made recent inroads into films, with roles in two 2007 actioners that had plenty of firepower (American Gangster and Smokin’ Aces); this perhaps made him a logical choice for the role of The Gunsmith. Common offers, “For me, coming from a musical background and being cast in a film with James and Morgan and Angelina was unbelievable. When I heard their names, I knew I had to be part of it. Being among these people, these great actors, just being able to watch and learn…it is an invaluable experience.”
In talking about his character, Common explains, “The Gunsmith is a master at weaponry, guns in particular. He knows everything there is to know about guns—how to create them, assembly, new shooting techniques. Despite that, he has a good heart and is incredibly serene and focused.”
Wanted is based on the series of comic books by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones; the story is by Michael Brandt & Derek Haas; the screenplay is by Michael Brandt & Derek Haas and Chris Morgan.
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