Danny Glover is Col. Isaac Johnson
We all remember Danny Glover as the lovable co-hero of the Lethal Weapon movies, or even as the second guy fighting the Predator. But Shooter isn't the first time he's played a villain. He's not so nice in The Color Purple, Witness or even Switchback. But he likes it.
Danny Glover on Shooter
"I had a great time," said Glover. "I knew that I was going to have, once I talked to Antoine [Fuqua], we talked over some ideas about this guy, I knew I was going to have a good time doing this, playing this role. Certainly playing someone who has incredible power and uses that power indiscriminately with impunity, and he knows that."
Fuqua called Glover's character the perfect politician, because he totally convinces Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) to come out of retirement and help his country, though he has every intention of framing and killing him. Glover thinks Americans can relate to this political doublespeak.
"We're at this point where people are trying to figure out what is happening. What is happening in the world. What is really happening in the world. You don't want to jump out on a limb and be a conspiracy theorist. When I think about conspiracy theories, I think about it in reference to a particular incident, someone is assassinated. But there are patterns that happen in real politics, the real world that basically have our stamp because they're done in our interests but we don't know what's going on. I think in some way, the war on terror is a way of assuring us that they know what's going on. I think the bottom line is that this stuff is going on for a long time. This is an action film, it's a movie. I don't expect people to all of a sudden now adopt some other kind of way of thinking because they saw this movie. Of course not."
A diplomatic ambassador in real life, Glover knows a few characters like Shooter's Col. Johnson. "I based it on a story a congressman told you and I don't want to share that."
Like most movie villains, Johnson believes he is doing right by conspiring to assassinate a world leader and killing his fall guy. "He protects his interests. Is there a rightness in the cause? You could wave a flag anywhere that you want to wave it. There's a lot of flag waving going on right now. Some of it mindless. The question about him protecting the interests and looking out for the particular interest that he has done, and he gets the job done. His thing is that he gets the job done and he prides himself on his ability to get the job done and putting all the pieces together, do all the necessary things to hide, to expose, whatever he needs to do."
Then, like playing a serial killer in Switchback, Johnson is just fun. "This is interesting because of the elements within the story itself. There's something about his body language that is I think in some ways seductive. Something about his character is very seductive. And I think in the real sense that he has a way as a character. The character in Switchback had a different kind of power over life and death, this man makes decisions and has power at the highest level."
Shooter is out in theatres now.
For the trailer, posters, stills, review and more movie info, go to the Shooter
Movie Page.
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