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Priest

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : A warrior priest (Paul Bettany) disobeys Church law by teaming with a young sheriff (Cam Gigandet) and a beautiful priestess (Maggie Q). The three band together to track down a band of renegade vampires who have kidnapped the priest's niece before they turn her into one of them.

Opened May 13, 2011

Runtime:1 hr. 27 min.

 

Q&A with Actor Paul Bettany, Actress Lily Collins

 

(Q) : When you're making a movie like this how difficult is it to get into that mindset? Well today we're doing our Old West stuff, but tomorrow we're going back into that post-apocalyptic "Blade Runner" type world. Is that difficult to get into that mindset when you're on set?

(Paul Bettany) : I made this decision to do as many of the stunts as I could, as many as they would let me. I fought with the studio about it; finally they allowed me to do most of them. So when you're in the desert and you're traveling along on a motorcycle at 50 miles an hour along the salt flats, it's attached to a car and then you stand up on the bike and I'm jumping onto a train, I really didn't care about the genres.

Most of the time I was literally standing on the top of this motorcycle thinking "I'm 39 years old, I've got a beautiful wife, two beautiful children; what the hell am I doing standing on top of a motorcycle leaping onto a train?" So I really wasn't concerning myself with the genre mash-up at those points.

(Lily Collins) : For me a majority of the film or the entirety of the film I'm dirty, I'm bloody, I'm beaten around, and we have early mornings and late nights so a lot of the nights I wouldn't take the dirt off. So I was kind of living in the grit and it was more of a Western for me because I was really trying to stay in character the majority of the time.

But it was really fun and I had never done stunts either, so yeah when you're doing wirework and you're flying off of a train setting someone on fire and being thrown into fire yourself it's more about the safety of it and hoping you get through the end of the day.
 
(Q) : Yeah, you have a really neat fight scene where you do light somebody on fire. But let's take a step back for a minute and talk about the movie itself. It is a known property in that it is based on a collection of Korean graphic novels, or manga, but it's not household. It's not like "Thor," which is out this week which everybody knows, so maybe you can give us a little description of what the heck the movie's about.
 
(Paul Bettany) : The original graphic novel, which is created by Min-Woo, is set very clearly in the past, and this movie is set very clearly in the future. It was really taken as a sort of inspiration and a place from which to leap off in a new direction. We all have tattoos on our forehead as an homage to the original "Priest."

I have Isaacs', who I am not, where he had a scar of a cross on his forehead. Min-Woo came over during the prep for the movie and he was really inspired by the concept art and he's actually started writing again. He wrote a bridging story that bridges both his world, the past, and our world, the future, and I think it's really cool. It's really cool for "Priest" fans as well.
 
(Q) : So you don't need to read the books before you see the movie?
 
(Paul Bettany) : The world we are in is yes, it's post-apocalyptic. In this world there is no separation between church and state, there has always been a war between vampires and man, and in order to turn the tide of the war these super soldiers, these sort of Special Forces unit is created called the Priests. And we do in fact turn the tide of the war and now the war's over.

At the beginning of this movie the war's over, human beings have retreated behind these walled cities, and our guys, the Priests, have the asked to return into normal society. But they've been rendered useless for normal society by the things they've done and they've seen during the war. When you meet him he's itching for a fight.
 
(Q) : Luckily, well not luckily for you, but luckily for story your character, which is the priest's niece lives out in the badlands in a town called Augustine. There are so many Catholic references in this film. There's a drinking game you could play. But you're in the town of Augustine, and there's an insurgence of vampires that come and kidnap you, thus leading your character to dawn the cloak once more.
 
(Lily Collins) : Right, Lucy was born into a world where she only hears about vampires as myth, and she knows that her uncle is a priest and has fought vampires, but she's never witnessed anything because it's hundreds of years past. And she is captured by the vampires and used as leverage to restart the war because the vampires know that Priest is her uncle and will come looking for her and break the covenant. So she's kind of the victim throughout the entire film, but she starts out as a damsel in distress and ends up a fighter because she ends up using what priest blood is in her lineage and starts to fight for herself as well.
 
(Q) : It's a very, very visual film, and in fact sort of the backstory that Paul is talking about is shown in about a 10 minute or so animation sequence done by Genndy Tartakovsky. Genndy Tartakovsky is the guy behind shows like "Samurai Jack," he's the guy that made the "Powerpuff Girls" look awesome, and the first "Clone Wars" series, not the new "Clone Wars" series, but the first and dare I say better "Clone Wars" series. But there's this amazing 10 minute animation sequence that is just out of side.
 
(Paul Bettany) : Extraordinary 3D as well, the animation. It's fantastic.
 
(Q) : Yeah, it really is cool, which leads me to talk about the director, by the name of Scott Stewart. This is the second feature film he's made, the first feature film "Legion" also runs the special effects house called The Orphanage. And if you were to Google the Orphanage you would see that this guy has done special effects on every cool movie in the last 15 years. [the studio isn't in production anymore].

So what I want to ask you guys is, working on a film that has a lot of special effects when you're director comes from the world of effects, how does that differentiate itself? How is he able to express what the ultimate finished product is going to look like to you as the actors while you're on your mark and there's going to be smoke stacks and all kinds of crazy stuff happening?
 
(Paul Bettany) : You're keeping a real eye on the concept. Scott is very generous with his time and his stuff. He shows you everything and I found it really reassuring, because when you find yourself leaping through the air and coming face to face with a really unthreatening blue pillow that you then stab and fall to the ground and cut is heart out.

I remember this actually happened and I put my knife down having stabbed this pillow, and I walked over to Scott and Jonathan Rothbart, who is the visual effects supervisor, and I said "Are you sure that these pillows are going to start to look more like vampires when you're done?" That was the most nerve-wracking bit of it is you're waiting for something that's going to take nine months to kind of turn out so you're going to know whether this thing's going to work, whether they're going to look cool, whether they're going to look camera real.
 
(Q) : Can we talk a little bit about some of the weapons that you used? Because you were talking before about a knife that you had?
 
(Paul Bettany) : Yeah, that's the other thing I think to stress is Scott comes from visual effects and therefore is really obsessed with getting as much as he can in camera in as real a way as possible, including having these really cool gadgets. The knife that I have, which is actually based on a knife from the 1970s called the Double Shadow. You press this button on it and it splits in half and separates into to two pieces, and it really worked, which looks really cool. It's pretty spectacular.
 
(Lily Collins) : I got to use a butter knife.
 
(Q) : Was this during lunch or actually in the filming?
 
(Lily Collins) : No, Lucy starts taking notice of her surroundings when she's put in these situations where she might have to fend for herself, and her weapon of choice is a butter knife. It's the only thing available, so maybe I'll get better weapons soon.
 
(Q) : Can we talk a little bit about the fight training that you had, both of you? There's one moment where one of your costars, Maggie Q hurls rocks in your direction and it's so you can leap in the air and jump on top of them. All kinds of crazy stuff. So can we talk a little bit about some of the wirework and some of the martial arts training that you had?
 
(Lily Collins): I wasn't as lucky; I didn't get as much training. I seemed to be thrown into it the day of. The day that I'm thrown off a train with a wire and there are 70 miles an hour winds coming at me, 20 minutes before we shot they said "This is what it feels like. Go do it." Luckily Lucy has to scream and so when I screamed as Lily it didn't really make much of a difference.

But I did some training for the knife fight but as not as much as these guys. But the wire training was interesting because I was cinched in with a corset all day as well, so I had a harness, a corset, and they would always have to do these shots after lunch and it just was never the most comfortable situation. But you had more training than I did.
 
(Paul Bettany) : Previous to this I made a film about Charles Darwin and I was about 45 pounds overweight. Actually my trainer's here tonight, Mike Hood, and I worked out with him for eight months just lifting heavy things above my head and decimating the East Coast chicken population. So I did a lot of that and then we started mixing in some mixed martial arts into it and also a lot of wirework because the film was full of it.

It's clearly a really acrobatic thing to do with your body and I had never done it before so I really wanted to put some time in, because this is a peculiar thing to leap through space backwards, see the ground, and not try to put your feet under you. Because you want to put your feet under you but the moment you do you just flip out. It's a real skill and I was really faking it. There are clearly people that are great at it and I was having to learn really, really quickly; very steep learning curve. Amazing fun.
 
(Q) : Can you talk a little bit about the motorbike as well? When they have to rescue the damsel they have to go out into the hinterlands and they get on these. How would you describe the bikes?
 
(Paul Bettany) : They were death traps. They were. But they looked so cool and I love bikes. When I was a kid I used to steel my father's bike at night until he found out, and then he took the ignition key from me. He never used the bike so I got a hammer and I hammered off the ignition, and I used to wheel it out and then start it up and do stuff that it's surprising I'm still alive. So I love bikes.

This bike was a bitch. When they finished elongating it you couldn't turn on it, you could only go in a straight line, which is lucky because Priest doesn't turn left or right for anybody, so it's a good thing he just goes in a straight line. But it started getting really dangerous because the wheel arch is so long. One of our stunt guys playing me came off on the bike at 30 miles an hour, which is rough, and no helmet. Priest doesn't wear a helmet, clearly, and he came off it and that was the end of me being allowed to play on the motorcycles.

 

 

(Q) : There's a tremendous supporting cast in the film as well and you both have scenes opposite some really neat people. The big bad guy in the film is played by Karl Urban, probably best known as Dr. McCoy in the recent "Star Trek" film, he was in "Lord of the Rings," he was in the last "Bourne" movie as well; the guy is fantastic, he's really a lot of fun. And he is your nemesis with fangs torturing you a little bit with a big Sergio Lenoe type hat. Could you tell us a little bit about working opposite Karl?
 
(Lily Collins) : Karl, very much like Paul was so funny off set, so when the camera starts rolling it's really hard to then get scared of this guy because he's so funny and so nice off set. But he was very evil and mean in a taunting, playful way, just kind of smiling at you and being very taunting, and that makes it even creepier.

It wasn't that hard to get scared of him once he put the fangs in and the hat, and he's brutal towards me. He locks me in a cage, tries to seduce me, and starves me, and does lots of horrible things. But he's amazing and he's such a mentor also on and off set. He's very, very cool.
 
 (Q) : What the hell are priests doing killing vampires? What's going on in this movie? Why are men of the cloth shooting shotguns? What is that all about?
 
(Paul Bettany) : The priests don't use firearms. They use their hands and they have weapons that they specialize in. Like I say, it's an alternate universe, and in this universe you're not necessarily going to want to confess to. They're soldiers. They have one use and that's for putting a hurting on vampires.
 
(Q) : We're going to get to some questions from the audience in a minute, but we were talking about actors that you played opposite. Your nemesis in the film, the evil Monsignor, is of course Christopher Plummer. So what is it like working with Christopher Plummer, the man is a legend, and what is it like when he's wearing Monsignor's robes?
 
(Paul Bettany) : I've worked with Christopher twice now. The man's an icon and luckily I'm the kind of taciturn, tight lipped, stoic hero in the movie so I've got very little to say. He comes in and he just steels the whole scene, with is a relief. He's so on form and on top. He comes in and he gets everything. He does his stuff and he's like "I'm done. You want another one? It's going to be the same. I'm done. That was perfect, let's move on." He's great.
 
(Q) : I don't know that everybody here realizes that in three weeks you're going to Montreal to start filming on "Snow White." So we are in the presence of the new "Snow White," opposite of Armie Hammer and Julia Roberts as the evil queen.
 
(Lily Collins) : I get to be the victim of her evil wrath for the first time. She's never played an evil role, so she might unleash on me.
 
(Q) : It's fantastic and Tarsem Singh is directing it. He's the fellow who made "The Fall" and "The Cell," he's got one coming out called "Immortals." He's also directed every cool music video you've seen for the past 25 years. So congratulations on that. But you also have another movie coming out soon called "Abduction"?
 
(Lily Collins) : Yes, it comes out in September.
 
(Q) : There's a big cast. Alfred Molina, and Team Jacob is in it. Are you with Team Jacob or are you on Team Edward? Because you were against vampires here.
 
(Lily Collins): I was against vampires here. I'm a little biased I guess.
 
(Q) : So tell us about this movie because I don't know too much about it.
 
(Lily Collins): "Abduction" is very much like "The Bourne Ultimatum." It's a thriller/action film that starts out as what you think is a very typical teenage film but ends up being very dramatic and energy driven, and it's for every age. Basically, Taylor plays a boy named Nathan who finds out that his parents aren't who he thinks they are when he finds his picture on a missing persons website.

And I'm helping him with a school project and we become on the run while the international villains come after us for information about him and his parents. It's very action driven, we did a lot of stunts. There's a little romance, a little drama; it's going to be really fun.

(Q) :Guy: That's John Singleton who directed it?
 
(Lily Collins) : Yes, John Singleton directed it.
 
(Q) : I just want to say I'm a huge fan. You've worked with so many people and I'm a huge fan of "Dogville." I'm just curious what was it like with Lars von Trier? Of all directors, he's got to be one of the most out there.
 
(Paul Bettany) : It was really, really, really crazy, and it was in no way like anything that you would think. It was one of the most bizarre jobs that I've ever done in my life. But the man keeps turning out great movies and you can't argue with that. He has simply no interest in what the actors that he's working with think about the piece. He just doesn't care. You are just there to mix up colors for him and he'll put it all together later. It's weird because there's no cerebral enjoyment in making the movie.
You just show up and you do what you're told.

I don't know; I had this kind of myth that it was going to be this amazing organic process. Well you know what; it's not just a myth. My dear friend Stellan Skarsg?rd, who is the world champion vodka drinker, said to me "Paul, it's like a party, it's going to be great, everybody has so much fun." I love this man, I named my son after him, and I said "Okay, that sounds great. I'm going to go do it."

And after four weeks of not one bit of fun I said "Stellan, what the hell were you talking about? Where's the fun?" and he went "I've got to be honest with you. I was lying; I just couldn't bear to go through the thing without you." But his results are often amazing, they really are. The man's a genius. He is a twisted genius.
 
(Q) : I'm just curious to know what was it like when you voiced Jarvis, and what was Robert Downey Jr. like?
 
(Paul Bettany) : I wish I could tell you. I didn't really work with Robert Downey Jr. because he does all of his stuff and then they call me into a room and it takes me about half an hour, I say all the lines, and then I go home. I sit there with Jon Favreau, make jokes with each other, and then I go home. I've met him, Robert Downey, but at a totally different time. He seems like a lovely fellow but I didn't work with him on the job.

This is the thing, it's going to really upset you but it's the absolute truth so I'll tell you. I did that job, the first one; it took me half an hour. I went home, I totally forgot about it. I was making another movie and it came out and people on set were coming up to me saying "I saw 'Iron Man'; you're great in it!" and I went "I'm not in 'Iron Man.' What are you talking about?" They said "You are," and I went "I'm not."
 
(Q) : Were you surprised?
 
(Paul Bettany) : Well no clearly I remembered. At some point I went "Oh yeah! Yeah I am in 'Iron Man'!" My commitment to it is so fleeting but the reaction's huge, which is great. My kids, it doesn't matter what else I've done in my career, my kids are like "Dad you're Jarvis, it's awesome."
 
(Q) : Are you on board for the third one?
 
(Paul Bettany) : I talked about this in Russia just recently and I said these words. They said "Are you going to be in 'The Avengers'?" and I said "I don't know. Nobody has rung me up yet and I never find out until the last minute." And apparently in Russian that directly translates into yes, and we've signed the deal. I just didn't say that. Somewhere there's a tape of me just not saying that. So no, I have no idea.

(Q) : This question is for Lily. Would you have preferred to be the damsel in distress or the warrior in the movie?
 
(Lily Collins): I like that question. I like that she goes from being a damsel in distress to a warrior and she shows potential to be a fighter. I think the character arc of Lucy is very different, and she's not just the girl that gets kidnapped and screams.

I try to choose roles based on what different characteristics they have and I want them to be a strong young woman that other girls can relate to. And flying off a train and lighting someone on fire was awesome, and doing stunts was really great, but also being able to be rescued is fun. So I think it's a bit of both.
 
(Q) : Paul, I've noticed that you've gone towards the religious side in making your movies. In "Legion" you were an angel and now you play a priest. I don't know if that's your choice or if that's just the job opportunity.
 
(Paul Bettany) : Yeah they choose me. I was in a really visible movie called "The Da Vinci Code" where I was a monk, and perhaps people when they're writing these scripts go "Hey, how about that guy," and I somehow get into their head and they offer me these things. But I've got to tell you, this is the last one I do.

Unless we're lucky and enough people go to see this movie and we get an opportunity to make another one then I'll do it. But it's the last religious role I take just to avoid the question. A journalist asked me the other day "Is there something subconscious at work?" and I went "I don't know; it's subconscious." These people get paid; it's unbelievable.
 
(Q) : Does playing Darwin balance out playing some of these roles?
 
(Paul Bettany) : Exactly. That's my thing; I like to flip both sides.
 
(Q) : If we could all maybe barricade ourselves in this room and demand that there's a sequel to "Master and Commander."
 
(Paul Bettany) : I would love to do one. It's a really expensive film to make. Peter Weir is a genius. I love that film so much, I love all of the stuff that he fought to keep in the film that people wanted cut out of the movie that makes it actually really special and not just a run of the mill action drama. It's a very young profession, being a filmmaker. It's only been around for a few years when you think about it, and so I can absolutely say he is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
 
(Q) : He has a tremendous resume. A different range but all very unique, very visual.
 
(Paul Bettany) : Yeah, he's amazing. And I love that character. I love playing Stephen Maturin. He's a blast to play. There's clearly so much room to make another one and if it ever happened I would leap at the chance.
 
(Q) : The best self surgery scene in film.
 
(Paul Bettany) : Thank you very much.
 
(Q) : The storyline of this film "Priest" reminds me very much of the John Ford Western "The Searchers," so I was just wondering if the film was influenced by that.
 
(Paul Bettany) : The answer to you question is sort of manifold. I'm not sure legally one is allowed to say you're influenced by "The Searchers." I don't know of a Western filmmaker that is not influence by "The Searchers." It's one of the greatest movies of all time. It's one of my favorite movies. Of course it borrows from "The Searchers." Here's the truth though; Westerns didn't create revenge drama. There's a brilliant book by Alan Le May and it's a revenge story. It's about a horse trader who just wants his horses back and he wants justice.

And his wife dies in the process and he goes on a rampage and he kills everybody involved. Now that's a Western, but this was written in Germany in 1801 or something. And they made that book into a Western and then that in turn borrows hugely off Roman tragedy, and Roman tragedy clearly borrowed off Greek tragedy. The revenge plot is an ancient story, it's an ancient motor for a story and it's pretty great to have the hero, the good guy filled with rage. It gives everything texture. So while I take your point, I would also say it's hard not to be influenced by that movie, and believe you me, because I've looked into it, that movie is influenced by so many other pieces of literature. So it's a round world; we all steel from each other.
 
(Q) : Paul, you said you did your own stunts, correct?
 
(Paul Bettany) : I did 90% of them I would say.
 
(Q) : Was there any other stunt compared to the one from the motorcycle to the train?
 
(Paul Bettany) : Well actually the weirdest one for me was jumping off the train to save you. You're jumping off a train and you know you've got a wire on, but you can't feel it. I've got to watch this girl, she's going to fall off the train, I'm going to leap after her, and it's like I got a tick. And then you run off towards a crane, there's a crane down there and you fall, and then this thing saves you. Most of it was actually just trying to get your head around the fact that you would be safe.

There was one time I got hurt and we used a computer and I never let them use a computer again. Every other time I was able to look the guy, a big burly guy in the eyes, 250 pounds, look him in the eyes and go "Are you going to drop me?" He goes "I'm going to drop you." I go "Okay then." I never got hurt, and then one day we used a computer, pressed enter and the deceleration didn't work and I just fell. It really hurt.
 
(Lily Collins): But we got tested on the safety of that stunt where I get thrown off and then you jump off to catch me and you say "I won't let you go." And you let me go a couple times by accident, and instead of flying back and grabbing your hand I flew all the way out, so the wires did hold me down. The wires were very, very strong, but you don't feel them. So it is quite crazy when you've got 70 miles an hour winds blowing at you and there's nothing below you.
 
(Paul Bettany) : A lot of fun, but it's hard to get your head around it.
 
(Lily Collins): It's like bungee jumping almost.
 
(Paul Bettany) : Although I've never understood bungee jumping. I want to see bungee climbing. Where the challenge in bungee jumping? I want to see people almost get to the top of a cliff and they get dashed.
 
(Q) : The movie "Priest" is in a theater near you this weekend.

 

End.