With Triple 9 now in theaters, I recently sat down with director John Hillcoat (The Road, Lawless) for an extended video interview. During our wide-ranging conversation he talked about working with the all-star cast, the discrepancy between production and marketing budgets, his first cut of Triple 9 vs. his finished film, deleted scenes, if his filmmaking process has changed over the years, and a lot more. In addition, Hillcoat talked about being attached to Drive and The Revenant and what happened to his versions of both projects.
If you haven’t seen any of the trailers, Triple 9, scripted by Matt Cook, follows an interconnected web of thieves and corrupt officers who plan to murder a cop in order to draw attention away from the heist they’ll be pulling on the other side of town. The film features an all-star cast made up of Norman Reedus, Aaron Paul, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, KateWinslet, Anthony Mackie, Gal Gadot, Teresa Palmer, and Norman Reedus.
Finally, if you missed my interviews with Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Chiwetel Ejiofor or Norman Reedus for Triple 9, click the links.
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John Hillcoat:
- Was it tough to get financing for Triple 9?
- Explaining the discrepancy between production and marketing budgets.
- How tough was it to put this cast together, and who of the cast helped draw in international money?
- How long was his first cut of Triple 9 vs. his finished film?
- Were there characters that really suffered in terms of deleted scenes?
- What did he learn from family and friends screenings that impacted the finished film?
- On almost directing Drive and The Revenant.
- Is he currently looking at scripts for what he wants to do next?
- Has his filmmaking process changed over the years?
