Currently in theaters is the action packed cop thriller 21 Bridges, produced by The Russo brothers and starring Chadwick Boseman.
Directed by Brian Kirk from a script by Adam Mervis, the cast also includes Sienna Miller, Stephan James, Keith David, Morocco Omari with Taylor Kitsch and J.K. Simmons.
21 BRIDGES follows an embattled NYPD detective (Chadwick Boseman), who is thrust into a citywide manhunt for a pair of cop killers after uncovering a massive and unexpected conspiracy. As the night unfolds, lines become blurred on who he is pursuing, and who is in pursuit of him. When the search intensifies, extreme measures are taken to prevent the killers from escaping Manhattan as the authorities close all 21 BRIDGES to prevent any entry or exit from the iconic island.
Joe and Anthony Russo produced the film with Boseman and his writing and producing partner Logan Coles, while Mike Larocca serves as the executive producer via their AGBO banner. Executive Producers include Rachel Shane and Adrian Alperovich of MWM Studios.
For Shane and Alperovich, this is their second film to hit theaters in less than three months. Also in theaters now is their other production, “Motherless Brooklyn,” which was directed and stars Edward Norton along with Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Willem Dafoe. On TV, the company is producing the third season of Emmy Award-winning television series “Genius,” which will delve into the life and work of Aretha Franklin.
Blackfilm.com spoke with Shane and Alperovich as they discussed their involvement with 21 Bridges and what more MWM has instored down the road.
When did you get involved with the film?
Rachel Shane: The Russos developed the project as producers. Chadwick also came on board with Logan (Coles) as producers as well and Chadwick starring in the film. It was set up with STX and through our relationship with STX, we had the opportunity to get involved with the project and just the combination of Brian Kirk, the director, the Russos, and Chadwick it was essentially a no brainer for us. We were all in.
With this many producers involved, what’s your role as producers?
Rachel Shane: Well, we’re EPs. We’re not capital producers on this project. We’re co-financier’s and producers, and we’re basically overseeing it alongside STX. We had a lot of involvement with scripts, once we were into revisions as well as casting approvals and ideas and being on set in an executive producing role.
With the film set in New York, did you shoot some of it here?
Rachel Shane: Yes. We shot some of it in NY. I actually was on set the day that we were closing down the Manhattan Bridge at four in the morning, which was really fun. You’ll see that in the movie.
Are there really 21 Bridges in NY?
Rachel Shane: Yes. It’s factual. We also had two advisors who are policeman and they were with us every day of the shoot and also in prop and they really prepared the actors who were acting as cops to be as accurate and true as possible.
Adrian Alperovich: They were homicide detectives and had experience doing emergency services. So both of those things fit right into what’s going down that evening in the movie.
What stood out more when you read the script the story or the landscape in terms of the city?
Rachel Shane: In terms of shooting it, we made sure that’s why we shot elements in New York. We had a lot of things like that to make sure that the title matched what we were telling, and that those bridges that Manhattan, for a certain amount of hours in the evening, were shut down in order to capture and go after these two perpetrators of a massive crime. It’s the high concept of the movie, but ultimately, I think what really drew us to the project was the characters and the blurred lines and the complexity of Stephan and Chadwick’s characters for the most part.
How do you as producers try to make it commercial, but not too predictable with the story?
Adrian Alperovich: I think the movie is very rich and complex. You’re meant to evolve with the story of the movie. You’re not supposed to know everything. At the beginning, it’s not a simple two dimensional story where you recognize all the archetype characters. There are no archetype characters in this movie, that everyone’s got a lot of things going on. Most of the characters are both good and bad at the same time at different extremes. And it reflects a more sophisticated approach to character building. So not only were we drawn to that but we think people will appreciate seeing whole characters living out this story and having different motivations that conflict with each other inside themselves and then even people who are pitted against each other find commonality too, which for me is, in storytelling and movie going, I love to see that.
What scene was the hardest to shoot?
Rachel Shane: The whole second unit action portion of the film, and there’s some really great chase stuff on foot. Between Chadwick and Stephan. I don’t want to say it was the most challenging, but it was definitely much more complicated than some of the other elements in the film. We were working with the best of the best and that is pretty cool to see what they were able to accomplish.
As part of MWM Studios, you also released Motherless Brooklyn, which is in theaters now. Is it just circumstance that both of these films are in theater now or is the company producing a lot more projects?
Rachel Shane: I think a little of both. There’s been an uptick. It’s not necessarily all intentional. Motherless Brooklyn was shot before 21 Bridges. It just so happens to be that the release dates from different studios were at the same time. That’s why these two things are converging at the same time. We do have another movie, My Spy, coming out in January, which was also shot around the same time as 21 Bridges and we’re in production right now on The Eyes of Tammy Faye in Charlotte, North Carolina. So that’s something that we’re doing with Fox Searchlight. We also have Genius: Aretha that is going into production in December. So there’s a lot of activity.
What is the goal of MWM Studios being that you have different projects happening?
Adrian Alperovich: We love great stories. We want to work with great storytellers and give them a platform to amplify their vision. And that’s what Rachel does.
Rachel Shane: We’re not genre specific. Even something like 21 Bridges, where on the surface, you would think it’s a very straightforward genre thriller, it is not at all. Between the people involved from the Russo brothers to Chadwick, the storytelling is actually quite complex and layered, as are the characters. That’s really what attracted us to 21 bridges and as an example, Motherless Brooklyn, the same thing. It is a noir, it’s is a very specific genre, but there’s an elevated element to it in terms of this underdog character with Edward. And The Eyes of Tammy Faye is also a fascinating story that’s not being told. For us, it’s, it’s something again, that’s being explored and looking at the humanity behind these people. I think that under covering what makes people tick, essentially and strong characters is really a through line to which we’re telling stories.
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