Opening this weekend is director Michael Bay’s fantastic dark comedy Pain & Gain.  The film is based on a crazy true story and stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as two bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.  Pain and Gain also stars Anthony Mackie, Rebel Wilson,  Tony ShalhoubEd Harris, Rob Corddry, Ken Jeong, and Bar Paly.  For more on the film, watch some clips or the red-band trailer.

Last week at the Miami press junket, I landed an exclusive interview with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.  They talked about the crazy true-life story that inspired the movie, the long process of bringing the film to life, how it was always going to be rated R, the cast and their great performances, how the craziest stuff in the movie is real, and so much more.  Hit the jump to watch and definitely check it out this weekend.  It's absolutely worth seeing.

And if you missed what they had to say about Captain America 2 and Thor 2, watch it here.

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely:

  • Talk about the crazy true-life story that inspired the movie.
  • 1:20 - The movie is set in the 1990s, when limited internet access may have prevented some of the crimes.
  • 2:10 - McFeely says three-quarters of movie is real and some of the stuff you think is over the top is actually true.
  • 3:10 - "The barbecue thing is real... The Home Depot is real... The ninja outfits are in a different location, but real."
  • 3:40 - Bay has wanted to make Pain and Gain forever.  The writers began to doubt it would ever be his next project.
  • 4:50 - The structure of the story as always been the same from their initial plans, and it was always meant to be R.
  • 6:00 - Their primary source was investigative magazine articles by Pete Collins.
  • 7:00 - The cast and performances impress.  Maruks says they had Wahlberg in mind based on his cleverly clueless performance in Boogie Nights.
  • 8:40 - Talk about the premiere in Miami.

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