Oscar winning star of 'Law Abiding Citizen', Jamie Foxx, talks to RTÉ.ie about his new role as a District Attorney in the new crime thriller co-starring Gerard butler.
RTÉ.ie: Tell us about working with Gerard Butler on 'Law Abiding Citizen'?
Jamie Foxx: At the end of the day the film all comes down to Gerry Butler. We’re going to live this movie through him. We’re going to live through his emotions. We’re going to live through his love of his daughter and his wife that he lost and also the anger that engulfs his whole being and so it’s really on him. He’s doing a great job and then we react off of him.
RTÉ.ie: The two of you apparently had some fun on and off the set!
JF: His take on life is great he just, he embraces it and then he’s a spiritual cat as well. He went to India and got in touch with his spirituality which is great!
RTÉ.ie: How did you find working with director, F. Gary Gray?
JF: His eye is incredible. When you see the movie it looks great. Right off the bat you see it’s epic. He shoots it epic and not a lot of directors are able to do that. And his sensibility of how actors work is incredible. The way the film looks, its heavy it’s deep. And the way he’s shooting you get the feeling that the city of Philadelphia is a character. Those courtrooms we’re coming in and out of - he makes them come to life. Some of the shots are just incredible.
RTÉ.ie: How did you prepare for your role as a hot-shot District Attorney?
JF: I talked to DA's and I talked to defence attorneys. They have a very, very different outlook on each other. My defence attorney teams, they hate DA’s because they think that DA’s are all about what they do – putting people in jail, the system. And DA’s despise defence attorneys because they handle some of the most scummy, law breaking people in the world. It’s an interesting world. They’re gladiators, and you know, they have to fight it out every day in court. You have to have that tough skin.
RTÉ.ie: Was this helpful in developing your character, Nick Rice?
JF: Well, we all understand that he’s a highly competitive guy. He’s doing everything he can to get his conviction rate up to 99 – 100% and he’s moving up the career ladder, but the problem with that is when you start to take all of the emotion out of it, situations like Clyde’s (Gerard Butler's character) can happen. I spoke to the defence lawyers to find out how they felt about prosecutors and they talked about how arrogant they thought they were. I used that to develop the character, especially in the beginning of the film.
RTÉ.ie: When you were doing your research into the justice system did you learn anything new?
JF: Well, the thing is, the justice system is not a perfect system. It has a lot of flaws to it and it’s the best system we’ve got, but at certain points its justice just can’t be served the way we want it to be served all the time.
RTÉ.ie: Audiences are reacting strongly to some of the more shocking scenes in the film, do you agree?
JF: I think so and I think that’s what we need. We’ve become so sensitive and I just want to collectively kick the whole society in the balls right now with a big steel shoed shoe. I know the chances that F Gary took and to see the smiles he would have on his face and when Gerard’s character kills the guy in the cell, they were all laughing, “this is crazy!” You know it's just time for that.
RTÉ.ie: Having worked on so many films over the years, do you prefer comedies or dramas?
JF: Dramas are great but when you’ve got a great comedy there isn’t anything like it!
RTÉ.ie: 'Law Abiding Citizen' is released on 27 November 2009.
