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Go on. Get down. Get down.
So Gerard, you play Agent Mike Banning in the movie and I'm sure you did a lot of research on the Secret Service.
What was the most interesting thing you found out?
We used a lot of the knowledge, that we got from, them and we put it into the
movie. To make it not just interesting for me as a character but interesting from an audience
point of you. Like what is the protocol after a terrorist attack. If you are the counter
terrorism agent in the White House, what do you do with the air vents?
How do you establish outside lines of communication? You assess the enemy. How many
are there? What do they want? How do you start playing games with them? We put all that into
the movie, so that you could really see what somebody would have to go through.
But to me, the thing that I picked up more then anything, which helped me in my performance,
was talking to the guys- cause I spend a lot of time with these guys.
And it's what's going on in here and here. When they start talking about engaging the
enemy. Those moments of those people, who would hurt them, or their colleagues or the civilians
of the country that they live in. You see this passion, this danger coming out
in their eyes. Aand they are so humble theses guys, they are amazing, I love
them- but when they start talking about that then that's what I wanted to click
into, that's who I want to play. I want that guy who knows what it means to
have to take on an enemy with emotion. Yeah they have to be focused, but there is
definitelly a level of payback and you know they're gonna suffer for what they did
to me and what they did to people that I love.
Does the idea of the movie scare you? The idea of what? Of the movie- does it scare
you? I think that
it really makes you think. At the end of the day it's entertainment.
And it's exciting entertainment. You're hiding the reality, but you base it in a possibility. So
you always want to reflect the background of the world that you live in. If we made
it about Spanish terrorist noboday would care. They'd be like 'Really?' So it reflects
the kind of the the political climate that we live in. And right now, terrorism is a big
problem in the world and the threat that we have to our political institutions.
So you're in there already, you're attached. You know, this is it, so I like the idea of
how provocative it is. But then when you spend time making the movie you go
'Wow, this is scary. It's a scary world we live in.' But I live in those
fantasies anyway. I was in NY during 9/11, I was in London during the 7/7 bombings, I
was even at the Rodney King riots in LA back in '92.
I was there for them I seemed to be in all the wrong places. So I spend a lot time
in my head imaging worst case scenarios and what that would be like.
We are talking about the safety of the President of the United States. We are talking about
hell of a lot more than that.
Do you think the President will watch this movie?
I think he has watched this movie. I think all the Presidents have watched this movie.
I have friends at the the White House that have worked with the different presidents
so I know that both Bush Senior and Junior have watched it and even Jimmy Carter and
his wife watched it. And I think, yeah, actually, in fact, I spoke to Bill Clinton,
he saw it. He loved it. He even introduced me at this foundation
and he said, 'Listen this man saved our country. He is a true hero.'
And he loved it. And I am pretty sure Obama has seen it as well. I mean, the response we
got from Washington, I gotta say I was nervous. We took it to Washington, we showed it to
politicians, to Secret Service, we showed it to journalists and
just Washington residents. And I was a little nervous, when I sat there.
And they loved it, because they understood the tone of the movie. That it is provocative,
but it is entertainment It's an idea.
And they laughed at all the right places and gasped at all the right places and cheered
and screamed. It's a very vocal movie it really draws you in and you're very much
at the end of your seat, no matter who you are.
You play the absolute hero in this movie. Are there some little heroic things you do
in your day to day life? I try, I mean, in my life, I've had
to extend myself a few times to kind of dangerous levels and things that I've gone
past, that I've seen. Like car accidents and fires that I had to jump into. One guy
pulled over, jumped out of his car, his car was on fire and I grabbed the fire extinguisher
and jumped under his car- it was a truck actually- and start putting out the
fire in the truck. I saved a boy when he was drowning.
I've done a bunch- and I am always kind of, if somebody is stuck I can't go by
because I always think of them as my family. If it's like an older woman who is struggling,
I think 'That could be my mother, or my grand or my whatever.' So whenever I see that, I always
have to lend a hand and I think we all should. And I've been helped by the way and I have
been in trouble myself a couple of times and have been very much helped my strangers.