Hollywood’s
brightest young and veteran stars Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Kevin Costner,
Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman star in “Criminal” - the story of the right man in the wrong body.
“Criminal” finds
an ex-convict’s brain being implanted the memories of a top CIA agent in a
last-ditch effort to stop a diabolical plot. At first, it appears the operation
has failed. But Jerico (Costner), unsure of what has happened to him and in
fear for his life, escapes and finds himself on the run. At large in London,
Jerico begins to experience memories that are clearly not his own – memories
that take him into an overwhelming world of family, love and responsibility
that he’s never known. As Jerico enters
a secretive world of international spies, ingenious hackers and powerful
tyrants, he roams a London he’s never known but mysteriously can navigate.
Says director
Ariel Vromen: "Our main character, Jerico, is a person who starts with no
feelings and no real emotions and then he goes on an incredible journey. He
acquires all these memories from CIA agent Bill Pope’s mind and he has to react
to an entirely new view of life. Because of the massively high stakes, that
core emotional story is surrounded by a plot that has great suspense and lots
of action. That really appealed to me.”
Leading the
film’s star-studded cast is award winning Kevin Costner in one of his most
challenging and unusual roles. As Jerico, Costner had to inhabit two minds at
once – that of a hard-bitten, unfeeling criminal capable of anything and that
of a patriotic spy and family man driven to be a good man – and find the ways
they fuse in one man’s reeling mind.
Costner says of
his reaction to the script: “I'm always attracted to projects when they are
multi-layered and this story is very much that. “Criminal” is definitely an
action movie but I responded most strongly to the complexity of my character,
to all the confusion and turmoil that is scrambled up inside Jerico as he comes
to terms with what he is experiencing."
He goes on:
"When we meet Jerico, he is in prison and has spent most of his life
there. An injury he suffered as a child rendered him a sociopath, so he has no
understanding that the things he does are wrong. He just reacts, sometimes
violently, sometimes humorously. He is so unpredictable that he is not even
allowed near anyone in jail. But after his operation, Jerico starts going back
and forth between who he was and who Bill Pope is. He’s very mixed-up and suddenly
he’s comprehending things and having sensations that he’s never experienced
before on every level. And that’s what I had to figure out how to portray.”
Gadot was drawn
to Jill’s own transformation in the course of the story. "With Bill, Jill
had settled for a convenient life, staying with a husband who she had trouble
communicating with because it was comfortable. When her husband dies, Jill has
no choice other than to fight for the truth,” Gadot observes. Her
character has to span both fear and inexplicable attraction in her relationship
with Jerico, a process Gadot says Costner helped tremendously. "Kevin
brings his own charm to the hardcore character of Jerico. He is an incredible
actor and by the end of the film, he goes through an amazing transformation."
Gadot notes that
part of the fun of her character is that she is in the dark about who Jerico is
and what he wants, though the audience knows. "My character is suddenly
confronted by a total stranger who knows every detail about her. She is
mystified and the audience will be on the edge of their seats because there is
so much going on at every level."
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“Criminal” is now showing (April 13)
in cinemas from OctoArts Films International.
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