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American Morning
Controversial New Schwarzeneggger Film Opens This Weekend
Aired February 06, 2002 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It's 18 minutes after 8:00 in the East. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
Onto a controversial new film that opens this weekend. It's an action thriller that some say exploits the terrorist attack on America that happened on September 11th. "Collateral Damage" stars Arnold Schwarzeneggger as a vigilante firefighter seeking revenge after terrorists kill his family when they blow up a building in Los Angeles. Originally scheduled to be released in October, the film was delayed in light of the events of September 11th until now. The producers say the time now is right for "Collateral Damage," but not everybody agrees.
Joining us to talk about the movie is the director Andy Davis (ph), who also brought us a very fine film, "The Fugitive." Good morning, welcome.
ANDY DAVIS, DIRECTOR, "COLLATERAL DAMAGE": Good morning. How are you?
CAFFERTY: You had this film completed, edited and was in the can...
DAVIS: Correct.
CAFFERTY: ... when the terrorists blew up the World Trade Center.
DAVIS: That's right.
CAFFERTY: Do you remember what happened inside your head when that happened? Because, I mean, it must have been an absolutely bizarre moment for you.
DAVIS: Well I responded first as a human being, I hope -- you know...
CAFFERTY: Sure.
DAVIS: ... forgetting about making films, which seemed irrelevant at that point. But the events basically reinforced the tragedy of heroism for everybody. And I felt the film became more important and more significant because of those events.
CAFFERTY: How was it decided that this is the right time release it?
DAVIS: There were screenings held in Los Angeles in November. People saw the film; they responded to it by saying they felt it was appropriate that it was delayed, but now "...we really think it's a meaningful movie and we'd like to see it."
CAFFERTY: And it was based on running it before test audiences and then getting their feeling about whether or not it was going to be appropriate to show it now.
DAVIS: That's right.
CAFFERTY: What about -- movie studios usually spend millions and millions of dollars marketing a film like this, and with a star like Arnold Schwarzeneggger, this is, you know, top of the line film, big budget movie. What about the marketing approach? Did that come under discussion, scrutiny, following the events of September 11th? Was the direction of the campaign altered in any way?
DAVIS: Not really. I think the film basically is a story about the tragedy of what's going on in Colombia right now. And it's a story about a fireman who realizes that, you know, he is becoming the man he's chasing. It's an act of conscience. You know we had a screening the other night in Los Angeles, and Christine Lahti (ph), who's a wonderful human (ph) actress, said to me, "This film has a lot of soul. It has a lot of heart."
Women have responded to this film. It's not an exploitive film in that sense. It's a thrilling movie that has a very big story to tell.
CAFFERTY: All right. There are a couple of criticisms, and certainly you expected these. One of them has to do with the tag line on one of the movie posters saying something to the effect, "There's nothing more dangerous than a man with nothing left to lose." Schwarzeneggger's character is a firefighter. We lost a lot of firefighters in New York. Thoughts, appropriate? No, yes?
DAVIS: Well this is a man who saves lives. All of his -- that's his job. And he goes on a journey to find the man who killed his family, and he realizes that he may be becoming a monster like the man who's killing him. And he says, "I'm not going to let you turn me into an animal." You know? This is about violence begetting violence, and that's the message of the film. We have to stop hurting each other because if you hurt somebody, they come back at you.
CAFFERTY: Sure. The other protest was conducted -- a priest who works down at ground zero here in New York City with the workers who are still at work there these many months after the tragedy. He held a news conference this past week and he claimed that the film, among other things, stereotyped Colombians. And here's a little sound byte of what he had to say. I'd like you to watch it and then we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not drug dealers and terrorists and guerrillas they depict in this film.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAFFERTY: Valid criticism? Yes, no? I mean Colombians and the drug trade have been portrayed in the motion pictures and the media for a number of years prior to the events of 9-11.
DAVIS: This film was originally set in Libya.
CAFFERTY: Oh, it was?
DAVIS: And I made a film in Colombia in the young early 70s as a young (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and I fell in love with Colombia.
CAFFERTY: OK.
DAVIS: Colombia is a tragedy and I hope this film brings light to Colombia and says to people we can't let this become El Salvador, we can't let this become Vietnam. Colombians are beautiful people. There are all kinds of Colombians who are being caught in the middle of a very tragic war down there.
CAFFERTY: The events of 9-11 may or may not effect the box office for this picture. What's your sense of how the picture is going to do and why what's happened and the connection that this film has to those events?
DAVIS: Well, I think people understand what the term collateral damage means now. It's about innocent people being killed, getting caught in the crossfire of conflicts. And so in that sense, the film is more significant, it's more important.
CAFFERTY: Is there a new sensitivity in Hollywood to the kinds of pictures that will be green-lighted in light of September 11th?
DAVIS: I don't think that films that use violence as exploitive kind of entertainment are going to be tolerated. And I don't think that's what this film is about. I think it's about a real character who's going on a very heartfelt journey.
CAFFERTY: All right. I appreciate you coming in this morning. Wish you success.
DAVIS: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: Loved "The Fugitive," looking forward to seeing this.
DAVIS: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: Thank you. Andrew Davis, the director of "Collateral Damage" -- Anderson.
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