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"Taken" BEHIND THE SCENES by Tim Nasson January 13, 2009
Watch "Taken" Trailer According to the film's co-screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen, it was co-writer and producer Luc Besson who came up with the idea for "Taken." "Luc had met with a Paris police officer who told him about this underworld of kidnappers who take young women," Kamen recalls. "The girls would then be auctioned off in these gorgeous mansions just outside of Paris." Luc Besson and Kamen turned this idea into a compelling story, with big set pieces, practical action, martial arts, and what Kamen calls "crazy/crazy" stunts - and very few computer generated effects. "It's the same mix we've used in films like 'The Transporter' and 'Kiss of the Dragon,'" he adds. Their protagonist's history as a former government operative appealed to Kamen, who had read about the startling exploits of several real-life operatives when Kamen was doing graduate study work in Afghanistan. "I learned about guys doing covert operations - real 'cuckoo stuff' - in that part of the world. I was particularly impressed with their self-reliance and skills. They're not the kind of guys who call the police when they're in a jam. They look at problems as things to be solved, as opposed to getting someone else to solve them for them. They don't adhere to the conventions of society." Kamen and Besson wrote Bryan Mills with many of these qualities in mind. Bryan doesn't seek help - not even from an inner circle of covert ops pals - when Kim is kidnapped. Bryan relies only on his own skills, and he makes good use of them all hunting down her kidnappers. To direct "Taken," Besson hired Pierre Morel, who had helmed the internationally acclaimed action film "District B13," which introduced the martial art parkour - a gorgeously choreographed, propulsive fighting style - to movie fans around the globe; Besson had produced and co-written the 2004 release. (Morel was also a noted cinematographer, who had shot "Unleashed," also written and produced by Besson.) Morel's on-set demeanor impressed Kamen, who likens it to that of his lead character, Bryan Mills. "Pierre is really calm and cool," Kamen notes. "He comes in, knows what the job is, and knows what he has to do to make it happen." Morel, though, says that along with that calm comes a responsibility to keep the energy high on the set. "Even though a lot hinges on the editing, the rhythm has to be there when you're shooting. If it's not, there's no second chance. I always ask the actors to keep up a high tempo and to be as realistic as possible. And personally, I'm really charged up in the way I shoot, so I think a lot of the movie's energy comes from that. If you take your time over things, when you start to edit, you have to trim it back down and so you lose the rhythm." Liam Neeson, who has worked with renowned directors like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and Ridley Scott, says he was impressed with the young filmmaker. "Pierre has had movies in his blood for a long time and is hugely experienced, especially as a director of photography. I particularly liked the originality of 'District B13,' which showed he had a director's eye and an incredible sense of rhythm and energy, which was vital on the set of TAKEN. I also liked the fact that Pierre operates the camera himself." Liam Neeson, a distinguished actor and multi-award nominee, is a fascinating and unconventional choice to portray an action hero. But at the same time, the gravity and complexity he brings to the role of Bryan Mills provides added depth to "Taken," which constantly flirts with the codes of the genre. In a manner that's original for a thriller, Bryan is initially defined by his love for his daughter rather than his past as a secret agent. This aspect of the character and of the story was a significant factor in Neeson agreeing to take on the role. "I liked the idea of making a thriller that had good pace and aimed high on an emotional level," he says. "Above all, we see Bryan as a father who idolizes his daughter. But then, even though it's never been a fantasy of mine to play [an action hero], one gets a real kick out of shooting real movie baddies and driving like a racing car driver." LIam Neeson empathized with his character's horrific situation. "As a father, you can't imagine anything worse [than your child being put in danger]," says Neeson. "Of course, you wonder what your own reaction would be in that situation. You picture what you'd do to her kidnappers and you soon come to the conclusion that you'd do anything in your power to save your child. I found this particularly interesting territory, because I'm traditionally against violence, especially the kind of violence Bryan resorts to in the movie. But it's a case of 'them or me' and Bryan takes that situation to its logical conclusion. " The actor enjoyed bringing to life the character's physicality, for which he underwent a rigorous program prior to the start of production. "I keep pretty fit, but I had to crank up the level and intensity of my training," he says. "Action scenes are particularly tricky. You have to pay close attention to how you move, your body position, and never take your eyes off your scene partner. It requires a lot of energy, besides the safety issues. Each time, it's a real challenge. "The little boy in you comes out with all the hand-to-hand combat scenes we filmed. With good stuntmen, especially, the fight becomes a dance that you perform with great pleasure." To bring maximum impact to these combat and action set pieces, Morel carefully rehearsed them with Neeson. "We did a huge amount of rehearsal for Liam, because I wanted him to do as much as he possibly could without resorting to stunt doubles," says the director. "Of course, he doesn't jump off the bridge or throw himself in front of cars, but he did all the fight scenes after spending hours rehearsing each routine. It was particularly demanding for him because I didn't want to speed up the action too much in the camera. Liam really did learn to fight strong." In addition to making sure that Neeson had the requisite physical skills to convey Bryan's impressive martial abilities, Morel and Neeson worked hard to realize the overwhelming emotions Bryan experiences when Kim ("Lost's" Maggie Grace) calls him with the shocking news of her imminent kidnapping. Neeson's Bryan is in Los Angeles and Grace's Kim is in Paris - and Morel shot the sequence in both locales. He explains: "We started in Los Angeles by shooting Liam's reaction, as if he was listening to events live. Maggie Grace came on the set and said all her lines up to the scream, when she's kidnapped, standing by the camera, which enabled Liam to react in real time. It was magical. The timing that was laid down gave me much greater freedom in Paris. I could adapt the physical action of the kidnapping, but I needed to have Liam's emotions in a single shot, that he gave me in just two takes." Morel avoided a stylized or what he calls a "cosmetic" look for the Paris-based sequences. "I wanted Paris to look the way it really is," he explains. "The idea was to be as realistic as possible, to achieve a kind of unlit look. I wanted a kind of faux picture-postcard view of Paris, avoiding the usual cliches of a character posing in front of the Eiffel Tower or Trocadero, but ensuring that it was immediately obvious that the action was set in Paris. So, we looked for typically Parisian locations while avoiding the tourist traps. That meant we ended up filming on the Champs Elysees the day after the presidential elections, with half the streets blocked because the new president decided to parade down the avenue. We filmed the scene surrounded by riot police." Filming in Paris, much of it at night, and almost all of it involving action and stunts, was certainly challenging for Neeson. But as he points out, working in the French capital -and for the first time with a French crew - also had an important upside. "One good point of working in Paris is the greater female presence in the crew. I'm very sensitive to the energy men and women combine to create on the set, but British or American crews are almost always overwhelmingly male. I was also grateful for French working hours, which are very civilized. Between fight scene rehearsals and filming, my days were pretty exhausting, but we had a whole night to recover. Not to mention the pleasure of the quality of life in Paris."
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