16 Blocks - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
BRUCE Willis has played many cops in his time but 16 Blocks promises to put an alternative spin on the high-concept action thriller.
The actor stars as a hard-bitten New York City police officer who is placed in charge of escorting a chatty, upbeat witness (Mos Def) downtown to court. But the walk, lasting 16 blocks, proves to be one of the longest and most dangerous of their lives, given that it’s in many people’s interests to dispose of the witness.
The film is directed by Richard Donner, a veteran of action films such as the Lethal Weapon series, and boasts a strong trailer.
But it is the look of the Willis character that is certain to make fans of his John McLaine persona rub their eyes in disbelief, given that he sports a moustache, has a gimpy leg and – most alarmingly for an action hero – a paunch!
Willis has referred to the extra pounds in interviews as ‘booze weight’, given that his detective also has a fondness for the bottle, but it was him who decided to pile on the pounds to create the look and attempt to bring something a little bit different to what could have been ‘just been another stupid run-down-the-street Bruce Willis film’.
The star was also pivotal in the casting of rapper-turned-actor Mos Def, with whom he has been friends for some time. Def is no slouch in acting terms, having previously impressed in both The Woodsman and The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, but Willis credits the singer with really bringing the film together once he came on set and delivered his interpretation of the witness character.
Says Willis in an interview with Chud.com: “He showed up with a character that was just genius. That’s not him. He doesn’t talk like that, he doesn’t act like that, he’s a very smart creative young man. It changed the fabric of the film, and it changed the way we all looked at the film. There is sort of a spontaneous chemistry happening in this film that I’m not sure would have happened if it were another actor.”
What’s more, given its themes of police corruption, the film is also said to be representative of the state of the world as it stands today – or as Willis offers, it’s ‘kind of a microcosmic view of the chaos in the world’ in which everyone needs money to survive even though it undoubtedly corrupts.
As part of his research for the role, the actor even attended the scene of a real shooting, which he described as harrowing but invaluable in terms of applying it to the world-weary view possessed by his character.