Comic-Con Report: Death Sentence

Posted by Kevin Carr (kevin@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 1, 2007

Photo by Tiffany Koury (c) Berliner Studio/BEImages

Movies can be very cathartic. They allow us to experience the good and the bad of life without actually putting ourselves in any danger. They also allow us to examine what we would do in a terrible situation without actually experiencing it.

James Wan’s upcoming film “Death Sentence” does just that. It takes a look at a regular family man, played by Kevin Bacon, who turns to vigilante justice after his son is murdered and the killer set free for lack of evidence.

At the San Diego Comic-Con, I got a chance to sit down with the director and stars of “Death Sentence” to get an early look at the picture.

“It’s in the classic action-revenge -thriller genre,” Wan explained. “But unlike other revenge films, I tried to infuse this with something different, to give it a twist to a familiar storyline. The story’s basically about a guy, a father, a loving husband, an everyday man. One day, he witnesses his son being killed right before his eyes, and he decides to take the law into his own hands. But what he finds out is that revenge cuts both ways.”

If this type of story sounds familiar, it’s because the original novel was written by “Death Wish” novelist Brian Garfield. However, Wan explains there’s a difference. “Charles Bronson in the first ‘Death Wish’ films, instead of going after the main people who hurt his family, he just goes after every punk that’s out on the street,” Wan said. “This film’s not like that. It’s about a man dealing with the dark circumstances he’s in.”

Playing one of the punks is Garrett Hedlund, whom some might recognize from earlier films like “Friday Night Lights,” “Troy” and this spring’s “Georgia Rule.” His character of an amoral killer is a bit of a diversion from “Georgia Rule” in which he played a virginal Mormon against a loose and lively Lindsay Lohan. It wasn’t a hard decision to try something different.

“Nobody had to twist my arm,” Hedlund said. “Coming off that film, the ensemble was great. I’ve been looking for a role like this to do.”

To get into the character of a killer, Hedlund drew from reality. “I’d seen this guy somewhere. I’d seen him in a jail,” Hedlund explained. “My manager had asked me if I really wanted to play a schmuck like this, a guy who has no sympathy and nobody gives a shit about. I’d seen this guy bumping around, and he had a shaved head and a goatee, wearing the handcuffs, and I said I think I wanted to do this one.”

The press was given a sneak peek at some scenes from the film, including the moment when the original murder takes place, plus two sequences where Kevin Bacon is hunting the killers. The most noticeable thing about these clips was the heavy use of visceral action, which is a slightly different path than Wan is used to. Best known as the director of the original “Saw” and this spring’s “Deadly Silence,” Wan has taken a step away from the horror genre, but he has kept his intense approach the same.

“I knew it was going to be hard to compete with these summer blockbusters,” Wan said. “So I tried to go completely the opposite way and try to make a film with no visual effects, no CGI, and keep the action as realistic and intense as I can.”

Taking the brunt of the action is Kevin Bacon, who found himself interested in the role as a troubled father facing the ultimate horror. “Yeah, that’s the worst thing you can possibly imagine, someone doing something to your kids,” Bacon said. “I certainly felt that I could relate to that piece of it.”

This isn’t the first time that Bacon has played an intense character who resorts to violence. He played a serial killer in “The River Wild” and a convict in “Murder in the First.” While these roles take a toll emotionally, Bacon finds solace in his family when it’s time to leave the character behind. He recalled seeing a photograph of himself on vacation after wrapping “Murder in the First.”

“I’ve got a picture of myself on a beach in Hawaii, holding my daughter who at that point was about six months or a year. And I’m emaciated, my head is shaved, but you can see in my face that the guy is gone. I’m able to just put them away and say good-bye once the shooting is over,” Bacon said.

“Death Sentence” deals with emotionally charged issues and will make us question what we’d do in the same situation. It’s a new path for horror director James Wan, and what I consider a welcomed return to old-school visceral action.

“Death Sentence” opens in theaters nationwide August 31 from Fox Atomic.

Read more articles by Kevin Carr