Tyler Perry plays Crusading Detective/Psychologist Alex Cross meets his match
when he goes against the psychotic, mob hit man, Michael "The
Butcher" Sullivan (Matthew Fox).
As Cross investigates the hit man's gruesome murders, Cross vows to hunt down
the killer if it's the last thing he does. However, Sullivan is a mastermind
and continues to evade Cross while pushing him to an ethical breaking point as
a cop and a father. As Cross closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence
that points to the unimaginable—a revelation that could change everything
and a role previously held by Morgan Freeman in “Kiss the Girls” and “Along
Came a Spider.
“I
am sure a lot of people were confounded when they heard Tyler was doing this
character after Morgan Freeman did the role in earlier movies,” says director Rob Cohen. “Tyler usually
sticks to his own productions but if you read Jim’s books, the character is a
40-year-old guy who is a big and physical; that’s Tyler. He’s truer to the
Patterson character from the books than what was previously done on screen with
Morgan.”
For his part, Perry admits to a little
bit of trepidation stepping into the role.
“Knowing that Morgan Freeman had done this role was very, very intimidating but also thrilling to know I took on something that Morgan said yes to,” says Perry.
“Knowing that Morgan Freeman had done this role was very, very intimidating but also thrilling to know I took on something that Morgan said yes to,” says Perry.
“Tyler
is physically perfect,”
says Patterson. “And he’s going to blow people’s minds how good he is in a dramatic
role because people have seen him do comedy and a little bit of drama but
nothing like this.”
“Jim
knew that this movie was important because it’s the origin story of the
character. Since he created the
character nearly 20 years ago, television is now chock full of procedural
investigations that are ‘walk-and-talks’ so we had to take this to another
level,” says producer
Bill Block.
“It’s
more of a man-hunt movie,”
says producer Paul Hanson, “and from a
visual standpoint, there are locations that would be nearly impossible to
recreate which adds to the cinematic experience. But to create that experience we needed
someone who could envision things we couldn’t imagine and we got pretty lucky
that Rob Cohen said yes.”
Cohen saw the potential in the script
but realized that the Cross character had to be re-imagined from the books as
well as the two movies (Along Came a
Spider, Kiss The Girls). While the
director, renowned for his direction of numerous action-oriented movies,
realized that the cinematic experience he wanted to create could only truly
come alive with some out-of-the-box casting.
Cohen met Perry in 2010 when he saw
the actor in the stage production of “Madea’s Family Reunion.”
“I
wanted to see what the Tyler Perry phenomenon was all about and after the show
when we met I was amazed at how big he was and I told him, ‘You could be an
action movie star’ and he sort of laughed and said ‘well, maybe we’ll work
something out.’” says
Cohen.
“Then,
as luck would have it, Bill Block called me about this movie and wants to know
what I thought about Tyler playing Cross and I told Bill that with his acting
chops, his physical size and commanding voice that Tyler doing the role is a
great idea.”
Those qualities that Perry possesses
are exactly what Patterson envisioned when he created the character of Cross
nearly 20 years ago.
“Morgan
is a great actor. But Tyler is much
closer to the Alex Cross in books, physically and age-wise, in terms of his
ability to do action,”
says Patterson.
Perry had to undergo some rigorous
training in the self-defense art of KravMagra used by hundreds of law
enforcement agencies. “I trained about
three times a week and it’s the most ass-kicking workout I’ve ever
experienced,” says Perry.
Perry also went on ride-alongs with
Atlanta homicide policeman to get some first-hand experience and from the
movie’s armorer Darcy Leutzinger, learned how to handle weapons.
With unstoppable action, and unforeseeable
twists, this suspenseful action thriller will keep you on the edge of your
seat.
“ALEX
CROSS”
is released and distributed by Solar Entertainment Corporation.
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