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| Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum |
Columbia Pictures wanted a fresh
take for its new action-comedy “21 Jump Street,' so an intense search was held
for a director that could make the new vision pop on the screen. They got two
for the price of one: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, who had previously
helmed the acclaimed animated hit “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”
Could
the directors of a family friendly animated film possibly be the right choice
for this R-rated live-action action-comedy? “We felt like we wanted to do
something that was the exact opposite of what we had just done – although, to
be fair, `Cloudy' is an action comedy, just geared to a different audience.
Still, we had a lot to prove,” Miller explains. “So we made a whole
presentation that showed what we would do. We knew we had to do a little
razzle-dazzle.”
Whatever
skepticism the producers may have had was washed away by the meeting. “When they
came in, they were incredibly prepared,” says producer Tania Landau. “They had
a PowerPoint presentation. They had created a book with every point of the
movie and how it should look. I was blown away. The guys were so creative and
enthusiastic – we were all in sync.”
One
of the reasons that Lord and Miller were so excited by the material was that
they wouldn’t just be directing the movie – they would be living out the themes
of the story. “When I was growing up, I watched ‘Jump Street’ because the cute
girls in my high school were watching it – I wanted to be up on the storylines.
So, this project is like coming full circle – I become a cool person by making
this movie,” says Lord.
In
“21 Jump Street,” Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) were enemies
in high school who became unlikely friends in Police Academy. While they may
not be the best cops on the beat, they have a chance to turn it around when
they join the police department's secret Jump Street unit, run by Captain
Dickson (Ice Cube). They trade in their guns and badges for backpacks and use
their youthful appearances to go undercover.
With
Hill’s comic sense under Lord and Miller’s direction, combined with producer
Neal H. Moritz’ action chops, the project had the perfect mix of talent. “You
have Neal Moritz’s `Fast and Furious' action side, and Jonah Hill style
comedy,” says Miller. “Those things combine, explode, and recombine their atoms
to make the perfectly formed movie.”
“Neal
has produced lots of great and successful action movies,” says Hill. “So I felt
that he would be a great partner in making this because I have made a lot of
comedies and he has made a lot of action movies and together we could hopefully
make a great action comedy."
“Every
time I do an action movie, I feel like we have to top the last one,” says
Moritz. “But it’s not about bigger explosions or bigger car crashes – that
doesn’t work. The action has to be character-based, it has to be something you
haven’t seen before. For `21 Jump Street,' because it’s an action comedy, we
tried to have the action be clever and humorous, to really come out of the
characters and their relationships.”
Opening
across the Philippines in May, “21 Jump Street” will be distributed in the
Philippines by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing
International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers,
exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH
and join our fan contests.
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