Set Visit: The Losers

Jeffrey
Dean Morgan interview / Zoe
Saldana interview / Chris
Evans interview

This past Labor Day weekend, I went to Puerto Rico with a group of journalists to check out the set of THE LOSERS. It’s based on a comic book, though it may not be one you’re familiar with. In the film, five members of a US Special Forces Team are sent into the jungle in Bolivia. They’re betrayed from the inside by a mysterious man named Max (Jason Patric). They team up with Aisha (Zoe Saldana), a woman with a murky background and an agenda they haven’t figured out yet.

The film is directed by Sylvain White (STOMP THE YARD) and produced by Akiva Goldsman, who is no stranger to the comic world. In fact, he’s currently producing another big screen adaptation, JONAH HEX. (We checked out that set as well. We’re sure you checked out the Megan Fox shots.) The comic book it’s based on is a Vertigo title by Andy Diggle with artist Jock. And even that is a retelling of an earlier DC title by Robert Kanigher.

We were taken to a dock which doubled as the Port of Los Angeles. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays leader Clay told us that this was the site of the final battle, a spectacular 45 minute action scene. The real-life working port is run by homeland security and we had to have badges on at all times. They had to stop a number of shots because of the noise of overhead flights. The scene we watched had the team (including sparring partners Chris Evans as Jensen and Colombus Short as Pooch and the strong silent type Oscar Jaenada as Cougar) piling out of a van, guns blazing, to save one of their own. Morgan describes this as a sort of DIE HARD/LETHAL WEAPON style piece with similar humor. While we couldn’t hear much of the dialogue through the ear protection we were given, we could tell there was quite a bit of banter.

The cast was really fired up about this one. That’s not always the case, and certainly surprising considering the unfathomable humidity. I think you could have bitten a chunk out of the air. They were hanging out between takes, joking, playing with the puppy that Morgan rescued…and commiserating about their bruises. Zoe Saldana was pretty proud of hers, telling us that she considers them badges of honor and pulling up her pants leg to show us one. “Be sure, this ain’t Jane Austen,” she told us. Morgan joked that he spent nights icing his body instead of going out on the town. He said they were trying to make him jump off a 120 foot platform into the ocean for the last shot of the film. No word on whether or not that happened.

While on set, we got a chance to chat with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Captain America himself, Chris Evans. We’ll be bringing you those interviews this week, so stay tuned. For now, check out the debut of six new character posters from the film! You can click on each one to enlarge…

THE LOSERS opens April 23rd.