The A-Team Press Conference
Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, Quinton Jackson, Liam Neeson and Jessica Biel have a riot with director Joe Jackson.
The day after the huge London premiere of The A-Team, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, Liam Neeson and Jessica Biel held a press conference with their director Joe Carnahan.
Despite a day of junkets, the gang were on brilliant form, in particular Bradley and Quinton. The warmth Carnahan feels for his cast shines through, and it's not hard to see where the chemistry onscreen comes from.
In amongst continuous bouts of laughter, we learnt plenty, including the news that Sharlto's legendary audition tape will be on the DVD, Vanessa Redgrave's opinion on the movie, and why Liam and Quinton are the biggest party animals of the team.
So Joe, after many aborted attempts to bring it to the big screen, how does it feel to be the man who's done it?
Joe: It feels fantastic. I mean, that reception we got last night in Leicester Square was the most extraordinary thing. And when you make a movie like that, to have it received with that level of enthusiasm is wonderful.
How easy did the camaraderie come to you all?
Liam: It was a no-brainer. It's the thing I'm most proud of, the chemistry onscreen. It was a joy to go to work every day with these boys, it really was. Egos were all left at the door.
Sharlto, you were a massive fan of the show - what did it feel like to know you were going to play him?
Sharlto: It was moving in a way, to be honest. The show was a big part of childhood, and Murdock particularly was a character that was a big inspiration for me to get into film in the first place, by making old movies with my friends when I was ten years old. It was a real honour. I just tried to play a Murdock I would like, because I was a really big fan.
Jessica, the line "they're trying to fly the tank". How do you prepare?
Jessica: [deadpans] Joe just told me exactly how to say it. That's the hardest thing to do on a film like this, to imagine these incredible things happening before your eyes.
Bradley, how was it bringing Face to the big screen, as he's got a beautiful and hilarious streak of vanity going on?
Bradley: You know, maybe I missed the boat, but I didn't see it that way. Maybe I was too busy tanning... I didn't really see him as vain, but I guess he was. I just figured he was bored in prison, being indoors, and just wanted to get some sun. And he was in shape because he was a lethal A-Team member. But I didn't really see him as an exfoliator! Although I did put lotion on the elbows.
Liam: The most off-putting thing I heard said about Bradley was "torso-tastic".
Did any of you sustain injuries on set?
Liam: Oh yeah.
Bradley: Liam and I bore the brunt of most of that stuff.
Liam: The first week I tore my rotator cuff, getting out of the van... Deeply, deeply embarrassing.
Bradley: I tore my hamstring heading back to my trailer. [laughter] After lunch. It was a brutal shoot. My trailer was way, way back.
Joe: What is Rampage doing?
Bradley: He's sleeping.
Quinton: Yeah, I don't understand why you all have a premiere, and then early the next morning you have a junket. In the fighting world, they don't do that! We don't make you go to the weigh-ins, and then early the next morning, fight! I don't understand this world, I'm sorry.
Liam: Rampage and I haven't slept at all.
Quinton: Liam and I, we like to have fun, and the nightlife. You might find Liam and I in the clubs, drinking and dancing, drinks in our hands, but Bradley and Sharlto are probably reading a book or something.
Liam, as a reformed smoker, what was it like having to endure those enormous cigars?
Liam: I tell you, it was tough. I am a nicotine addict, but I've been off cigarettes 16 years. Joe insisted I smoke real cigars, which I think is absolutely right. And because there was no trade embargo with Cuba, because we shot in Canada, we had Cuban cigars. After day one, I got what cigars were about. So it was dangerous for me for a couple of days.
Joe: But up until that point, he had what looked like a rubber dog turd in his mouth.
Liam, have your boys seen the film?
Liam: I went to see the film with my boys, and my mother-in-law, Vanessa Redgrave. Three-quarters of the way through, she was like this [sits forward, stares intently]. I said, Vanessa, are you following this okay? She said [in Vanessa's voice] "I'm a little bit confused, but I love every second of it!" We called Joe, and he was all "oh my god, you brought Vanessa Redgrave?" I've got a little bit of cred with my boys.
Murdock was a big influence on Sharlto growing up. Do any of you have similar influences, or anyone you'd like to portray onscreen?
Bradley: I'm never going to be able to recreate Angie's performance, but Murder She Wrote.
Quinton: We should do MASH next. I could be an extra in that.
Bradley: You could be one of the Koreans.
Quinton: I like Kim Chee.
Joe: Who's Kim Chee?
Quinton: It's a dish. You put it on your rice Joe. It makes your breath smell Joe.
How about you Joe? Any other shows you'd like to give the big screen treatment?
Joe: Riptide? I dunno, I keep hearing people say it's a remake, but you can't remake a television show. You can distill five years into a two-hour movie, but it's difficult. They called me about The Equalizer, and I thought, you know I'm good. I always loved the 6 Billion Dollar man. I always thought that would be a great movie.
Quinton: What about Knight Rider? I could be KITT.
Joe: You'll be like, eff you Michael.
Quinton: You need some gas, asshole.
Jessica, what was it like being in a mainly man's world on set?
Jessica: It was really interesting, and I really quite enjoyed it. I really like action movies, and I don't really feel an insecurity about being onset with lots of men. Obviously, everyone you can see is really a lot of fun, and we just goofed around and had a good time.
Sharlto, were some of your funny moments scripted or improvised?
Sharlto: There was a huge amount of improvisation, and that was one of the reasons why I wanted to do the movie. When I spoke to Joe and sent him the tape I made in my hotel improvising stuff, he was very comfortable with it. In particular, Bradley and Rampage are amazing improvisers, and it really surprised me. Some of my best moments, not only as Murdock, but in the whole movie, were improvised.
What parts of the original characters did you borrow from?
Liam: We all paid homage to the original actors, but after that, we made Joe's movie. You can't be burdened by George Peppard... it's the 21st century. But we tipped our hat to various iconic moments.
Joe: There's a sense of, if you start to treat the nomenclature of The A-Team like the Dead Sea Scrolls... you have to be able to have some fun with it.
Bradley: The Dead Sea Scrolls are hilarious, Joe. I don't know what you're talking about.
Joe: Because Joe was the co-writer of the script, he would never say, okay it's in print, that's what we're going to shoot. It was always alive. We'd have the written material, then Joe would go, I have a better line, try this.
Quinton: Yeah, I stopped rehearsing. I just showed up.
Sharlto, as a South African, how difficult is it to do an American accent?
Sharlto: I grew up just fascinated by accents and dialects. One of the things that interested me were actors who would do different caricatures, like Robin Williams, Dwight Schultz, Eddie Murphy, and Jim Carrey to a certain extent. Because I wasn't pursuing acting as a career, I had slacked off on it. When I was in school, I would do about twenty different caricature dialects, and I'm starting to get back into that. I studied speech and drama at school, I like phonetics, dialects from a creative point of view, and technical point of view.
Joe, how difficult was it casting the film?
Joe: What's interesting is when I got Liam. Liam's what is known in the business as a actor-attractor. When he signed on it became evident to people it was going to be something interesting. We're not going to lampoon the A-Team - you can't satirise a satire. You always watch actors, and I was a big Patrick Wilson fan, Brian Bloom, who wrote the script with me, was in Once Atime In America when he was 12 years old, Gerald McRaney - guys who do sensational work for you. That's always a treat. Nothing can beat working with the actors.
Liam: Brian, by the way, played the really nasty baddie, and improvised.
Bradley and Sharlto, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz have cameos - what was it like to work with them?
Bradley: I didn't get to meet Dwight, although I would've loved to, because I loved Murdock when I was a kid. Dirk was great. We did a scene when we were in a tanning booth when we were in prison, and I remember being in make-up, and watching him and his black speedo being sponged with brown tan, as I was simultaneously, and I thought, this isn't something that happens every day!
Sharlto: It was a pretty moving experience for me, as I had just come off District 9 and had started meeting a lot of Hollywood people, and he was somebody who had been such a part of my childhood, and it was such a moving moment. We actually had lunch, and I was really getting on with him, and I thought, he's not going to really see much of what I'm doing with his character today. So I showed him the test that I had shot, me improvising, and he turned to me with tears in his eyes, gave me a hug, and said you are Murdock. He put on his site, Murdock is dead, long live Murdock, which was moving. He called me after the film, and said he was so proud to see the character come to life, and it meant a lot to me.
What was on this audition tape?
Sharlto: There were a couple of things that wouldn't end up in the film. An example, like hygiene issues, he would get stuck in the bathroom and would have to call BA, talking to a plant, his invisible dog that kept barking at BA, and he thought the dog was racist.
Joe: Sharlto left out the best bit. You know in hotels you get tortilla chips, and one was sticking out like a shark fin, so Sharlto was freaking out because a minature shark was swimming in his salsa. I just cracked up. I thought, anyone who would go to that trouble while they're on a promotional tour for another movie deserves a shot. They have to be on the DVD.
Liam, how do you feel about the UK Film Council being abolished?
Liam: I just heard about it last night. I know we all have to tighten our belts, but I think it's quite appalling. I haven't quite formed my opinion, after my knee-jerk reaction last night, but my god, of all the things to tighten. It makes me worried about this government.
Joe: Couldn't the Royal Family kick in?
Subscribe to the SG News Feed
