By Fred Topel | Images property of Rogue Pictures.
The Hitcher
If The Hitcher works, it will be because Dave Meyers set up some kick ass thrills, Sophia Bush and Zach Knighten made us care and Sean Bean scared the crap out of us. It's Brad Fuller's job to put that whole package together. As a producer for Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay's production company, he brought together the film's elements.
Interview: Brad Fuller on The Hitcher
"With Sophia it was very simple," Fuller said. "She was an actress we had heard about and we get a lot more from sitting down with an actor and actresses then actually auditioning them. That’s how we found Jessica Biel from Chainsaw. That’s how we found Jordana Brewster for the other Chainsaw. We had heard wonderful things about Sophia and she came in and we just kind of fell in love with her. It was early on. When this script was being developed she was the person we had in mind and we kept her up to speed with what is happening with it. It was always Sophia’s movie. By design she fits the bill for us. We thought she was likeable and at the same time can carry thar gun and blow his head off. That worked out."
Bush, however, set the bar very high for a male costar. "Zach had a much more torturous process to getting this role. Sophia is really hot and you’ve got to choose a guy who you believe is such a cool guy because she can get any guy she wants. You’ve got to get a guy that’s a real guy’s guy. When you’re casting actors, that was always a real hard thing for us to find, a guy who you believe is going to drive a 442 and land Sophia and be in those situations. Zach kept coming back. We didn’t want to cut him and we kept on seeing other actors for lack of a better term, bigger names and people who are more well know. Zach, to his credit, doesn’t have many credits. He did one show and that was pretty much it. But, he just kept coming back and every time he came back, he was better and better. At the end of it you can’t think of the role any other way. He was the only guy who nailed it six times. How do you not give the guy the role? He kept coming back. No one else had that longevity."
Finally, the perfect villain fell into place. "For Sean too, it was very simple. For the Hitcher we were looking for a Sean Bean type. We didn’t think we’d actually get Sean. [We needed this great elegant actor who could play this role. We’d checked on Sean and his dates weren’t working and it wasn’t good. Sean had just worked with out partner Michael Bay on The Island and Drew [Form] and I went to Michael and said, ‘Come on let’s get Sean. Let’s try to figure it out.’ We moved some dates around and then his dates opened up and we just got lucky."
The Hitcher opens to theatres this Friday, January 19th.
For the trailer, poster, more interviews, movie stills and more movie info, go to The Hitcher Movie
Page.
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