Having helmed another Besson production, 2011sColombiana, Megatons excursion through action cinema continues withTaken 2.
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So what was it like taking on this second film?
Was it something you relished, or were you under pressure to do as well as the first?
The first one was great and a huge success.
And he said he wanted to do another one.
So I said yes.
And after this, I put my finger into the big machine.
Its always like this.
Every movies the same thing.
Youre given a lot of scripts and you say, Yes, no, yes, no.
But no, there was no pressure at all.
Everyone knew what happened on the first one.
But I didnt look back at the first movie.
I didnt watch it again.
I think it was the same for Liam [Neeson] we preferred to be realistic with the memory.
Did you consult with Luc Besson a lot after you read the script, or was that it?
But hes known me for 20 years.
He always respected the way I was, you know?
So when he gives me something, he trusts me.
I work a lot, and everybody around me works a lot to make the best.
And when Im not happy, Im exactly like him, Im biting.
Hes not here during the promotion.
He saw that I was a good guy to do the job, so he left me like this.
It always happened like this, onTransporter 3andColombiana.
Weve heard that the residents of Istanbul were determined not to let the film disrupt their daily lives.
How difficult was it to film around these people, and did it spoil any shots?
Everywheres the same its not only in Istanbul, its everywhere.
When I helped Xavier Gens to shootHitman, I was in South Africa, a township.
And we had exactly the same problem.
And we were shooting… it was like a nightmare.
You venture to do your best to avoid anything [bad].
After all, we are surrounded by professionals, who know their jobs very well.
Weve never had an accident [raps on the table] I hope this is wood on my movies.
Being in Istanbul was exactly the same deal.
You have to wait, and when theyre happy and let us go, we shot.
So it was the exact opposite to what wed do normally.
We did it, you know?
So they could afford to give money to have everyone stay at home.
We werent lucky like this.
I believe you had a quite unique way of filming the rooftop scenes.
Could you tell us about that?
The rooftop run was very funny, because its a real market rooftop.
Its a very traditional, 600-year-old building.
You cant walk on the tiles, you cant put anything a crane or whatever on it.
You cant film with a helicopter because its too low.
You cant do anything.
But this location was so great, its in the heart of everything.
So we were 200 people on this rooftop with one little staircase to get up there.
It was a mess each time.
We found a little drone helicopter in Belgium, and we filmed it using this.
Each time, you have to find a solution.
For example, Maggie [Grace].
She drives, but she has a Prius in LA.
This means that she drives like… a person who drives a Prius [Laughs].
And we had a stick-shift Mercedes, and so theres a big difference to how it drives.
I had to work with this top-rider car, where the driving seats on the rooftop.
All the actors are inside the car, and Maggies free to fake the driving.
The cars going very fast, doing 180 degree turns and everything.
Each time, youre finding different things.
But you have to manage.
Did you have any problems with the hand grenades going off on the rooftops of Istanbul?
How did you fake those?
Its several shots you dont see it, but its really about four different locations.
When theyre inside the hotel, thats all in a studio.
When shes going outside, thats on the rooftop in Istanbul, with the beautiful view.
We built just the last level of the hotel so she could go outside and there are mats.
The only thing that I couldnt do was the car exploding on the rooftop.
Its always a question of money and so on, and we had to fight with our line producer.
He didnt want me to do it until the end, because it costs money.
So I ended up using CGI the only CGI in the movie.
Then he told me, You should have done it [for real].
You could have used a wreck, and it wouldve cost less than 10,000 Euros to do it.
And I said, Fuck you.
Its just because of power on movies like this.
Its everywhere, in every job.
The ending does leave it open for a sequel…
No.
We shot two different endings, because we werent sure about this.
Nobody had written it.
When we edited, it was better [the way we have it].
But no, we or I dont want to make a third one.
I think that Liam, from working together for a week, he said the same thing.
The two movies are very complementary.
The first movie was very rough, very raw, very simple.
So when you shut the second one, you shut the book.
Liam is a huge actor.
I always remember the story about Dustin Hoffman… you know the one, fromMarathon Man.
Hes a huge actor, and when hes on the set, he doesnt need anything.
Youve worked with other action heroes, like Jason Statham.
How does Liam compare?
Jason, suddenly, became an action hero after Guy Ritchies movie.
He never moved to something else.
Liam, he didnt want to be an action hero, but it happened withTaken.
It definitely showed him as an action hero, and as a very normal [person].
Liam has always been an actor.
Bryans a reluctant action hero.
Bryans a father in the movie, so he has to be an action hero.
He doesnt feel like an action hero, he tries to do his best.
Hes not doing incredible things with his body, hes just trying to do his best.
Hes breathing like anybody after running, and hes tired and exhausted after a fight.
When I shotTransporter 3, its not the same target [audience].
Its younger people who care about that kind of hero.
People who watchTransporterare maybe asking a little less about reality, being serious and so on.
What were Liams concerns before taking onTaken 2?
I think he didnt want to do it.
[Laughs] It was really exactly that.
Liam chose the script because he liked it, and he liked the director, and thats it.
When he liked the script, he decided to do it.
And he could fight and be secure against Liam in a fight.
So I had to convince Liam to work with him.
We also had a talk about the leather jacket.
For Liam, it was armour, this jacket.
Before that, youre just a father, trying to escape.
You only wear it at the end.
That was our only concern about the movie.
Were there any other action films that inspired you when making it?
Not really, because Im not really a fan of action things.
My style of movies are closer to thrillers.
I like David Lynch, I like Stanley Kubrick.
Im a big fan of Kubrick.
I take a stab at be like a painter.
Like Tony Scott, or whoever.
People say, Oh, it looks like Tony Scott.
To show how a flashback could be used, for example.
We have the same kind of experimentation.
I just take a stab at do my best, and thats it.
I likeDark Knight,for example, and movies like this.
Because it gives me some new direction sometimes.
I worked with the director when shootingHitman, and every meeting was like a list of feature films.
Fuck no, you know?
I dont like to sap [ideas].
I just liked the way they were speaking.
But I prefer to talk about paintings than other movies.
Its hard to make movies.
Olivier Megaton, thank you very much.
Taken 2is out in the UK on the 4th October.Our reviews here.
