Gray days in Philly for “Law Abiding Citizen”
Gray days in Philly for “Law Abiding Citizen”
Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:31am EDT
By Martin A. Grove
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – So many films take tortuous years of dealmaking to reach the screen that it’s reassuring to find a project that came together practically overnight.
Such is the case with “Law Abiding Citizen,” a psychological thriller starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler opening Friday via Overture Films.
“It was a call from Jamie Foxx,” said director F. Gary Gray (”The Italian Job”), when asked how he got involved. “We’ve always wanted to work with each other. He told me it was a project he thought I should strongly consider.”
After Foxx called last October, Gray read Kurt Wimmer’s screenplay. “I loved the concept and thought it was really unique.”
Next step: Meeting with Mark Gill, the CEO of indie production company Film Department, and “Citizen’s” producers, including Lucas Foster (”Mr. and Mrs. Smith”).
Gray (explaining): “The rest is history. We had a lot of meetings in-between. I put together my visions for the material. It was relatively simple.”
Butler plays the title’s upstanding citizen who’s terrorizing Philadelphia from behind prison bars to avenge his family’s murder 10 years ago. Foxx is the assistant D.A. who gave one killer a plea bargain deal and now finds his own life in danger.
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