By Fred Topel | Images property of Rogue Pictures.
The Hitcher
Sean Bean has a lot of experience playing villains, from Patriot Games to Goldeneye, National Treasure to The Island. He even turned on Frodo in Lord of the Rings. His latest villain may be his toughest, because the title character in The Hitcher doesn't do a lot of work with words.
Interview: Sean Bean Rides As The Hitcher
"There wasn’t a great deal of back history to the guy," Bean said. "Not a lot of information about where he came from which I thought was quite interesting really, because it allowed me the freedom to create what I wanted and to invent as a person. And I always thought that it was somewhat scarier that you don’t know anything about him or where he comes from. I always find that the less you know about people, the less you trust them. I usually like to have something to go on but for this particular movie I would say he was like an angel of death, wandering the freeways and that quite appealed to me."
The original Hitcher was Rutger Hauer, another great screen villain. That was 20 years ago though, so Bean is this generation's Hitcher. "I saw the film when it first came out about 20 years ago and it made a big impression on me. It was a very well constructed film and Rutger Hauer gives a very good performance and I remember being scared by it, and I thought it made an impact but I really didn’t want that running around my head and cluttering things up when we were making our version of it. So, I think working with Dave [Meyers] and obviously, Zach [Knighton] and Sophie [Bush], I think we created quite an interesting new version. And I really didn’t have any reservations or concerns about being compared to another actor. I just wanted to start from scratch and do it my way."
His way meant scaring the kids for real. "The first scene we did in Austin, Texas was a night shoot, was the scene in the car where they are picking me up at the garage and we shot the interior of the car which is quite a long scene and it was quite good that we didn’t really know each other by then at all. But it actually worked because we weren’t supposed to know each other so I’m glad we did that."
For his big introduction, a shadowy figure standing on the road in the rain, Bean enjoyed getting wet. "It was quite warm in Austin that time of year. It always feels good to me."
Once he brings out the big guns, it was all old hat to Bean. "I sort of used weapons a few times before but they are all the same really. I felt quite comfortable with that."
The Hitcher opens to theatres on January 19th, 2007.
For the trailer, clips, more interviews, movie stills and more movie info, go to The Hitcher Movie
Page.
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