What is Brooklyn’s Finest about?
It’s about the pressure that police officers are under, the choices they make under that pressure, and the result is what we witness in the news. Brooklyn’s Finest is like the headline to me, to that.
What made you want to direct it?
When I got the script it really hit on the three different stories, three different kinds of pressure that a person can be under that would cause them to make bad decisions as a police officer. I got excited about it and I was like, “Ok I did it on the West coast now I can do it on the East coast!” I started to see these actors in my mind, the guys who are in film and I got excited about it, talked to the producer Avi Lerner and told him I wanted to shoot it in New York. Avi said, I had to shoot it in Detroit and I said it’s called BROOKLYN’S FINEST, it’s not going to happen. Then he said ok you shoot it in New York!
Tell us about the character of Eddie Dugan
Richard Gere’s character is Eddie Dougan and to me he is the most complicated in the sense he is the most internal. He’s hard to figure out in the film and I believe that he is hard to connect to which is what I wanted. Me and Richard talked a lot about it and I said he is a ghost. The guy’s lost his soul already and now he is just wondering through life. He has a marine tattoo and our concept was as a marine, he’s seen too much where he has lost his way so he just wants to get through the day, retire and figure out his life.
And Don Cheadle’s character, Tango?
Tango is a guy who always wants to do the right thing, that’s part of his fatal flaw. He wants to do the right things all the time. He wants to put the bad guys away and he won’t steal any money so he’s not a dirty cop. He just gets too close to what he’s chasing and when the system comes and wants to manipulate the relationship it puts him in a difficult position. Now you have to choose between your job and your friend, and even though your friend is a criminal, but your job and the oath you took is to abide the law, serve and protect.
Caz and Tango, Don’s and Wesley’s characters, spend the most time together on screen. How was that?
Seeing Don and Wesley talking back and forth in scene, being in the frame together was exciting for me. They could be talking about baking a cake and I was just loving it because they are cool guys! They are great actors and you can see them doing their thing. They were like that off camera, just kicking it and talking. It’s great having those kind of guys because they help me as a director. If I’m looking at something and I am having one of those days you can turn to them and go “Don and Wesley” and right away they click into some of the things I might be missing and they fix it.
How was shooting in Brooklyn?
I believe in real locations as much as possible because creatively it helps me be in the world. It helps the actors really smell it, walk it, be it everyday. You engage with the people who live there and they bring an energy to what you’re doing, an authenticity, so first that’s it. But what’s also important to me is when I see an opportunity for neighbourhoods that people had forgotten and abandoned. People are suffering and struggling and don’t have a lot of hope. You want to film there so they can see something positive.
What can audiences expect from Brooklyn’s Finest?
I hope they walk away with the sense of a real cinematic experience. I grew up watching the Godfather film and Cool Hand Luke, where people talked and there wasn’t a lot of action and stuff going on. It was more concentrated on the characters. I hope they connect with the characters and that they walk out understanding or discussing those characters and those situations and feel like they got their money’s worth as a full movie, a full experience.
Brooklyn’s Finest is on general release now.
