‘London Calling’ Interview: Josh Duhamel and Allan Ungar

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Josh Duhamel and director Allan Ungar about their work on ‘London Calling’, developing the screenplay, Duhamel’s character, Tommy and Julian’s friendship, working with Jeremy Ray Taylor, and Ungar’s directing style.

Related Article: Josh Duhamel and Elisha Cuthbert Talk True Crime Movie ‘Bandit’

(L to R) Director/co-writer Allan Ungar and Aidan Gillen behind the scenes of the action comedy ‘London Calling’, a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

Moviefone: To begin with, Allan, can you talk about developing the screenplay and the tone you were going for?

Allan Ungar: Yeah, it’s funny, I got the script when Josh and I were on our last day of ‘Bandit’. I was battling jet lag. I was exhausted and it took me three weeks to read it, which is generally a pretty bad sign, but I fell in love with it. I think the element of a father-son story disguised as an action-comedy really appealed to me. So, we worked on the script for about a year because we were finishing post on ‘Bandit’, so it wasn’t something I could do every day. It harked back to the films that I grew up on, like ‘Midnight Run’, the buddy cop genre. My cinematographer and I talked about tone when we were talking about the look of the film. So, thinking back to a lot of the seminal, Tony Scott, Michael Bay movies of the 90s was a pretty big influence. Then sort of borrowing a little bit from the Guy Ritchie genre because I feel like he’s his own genre in a way.

Josh Duhamel as “Tommy Ward” in the action comedy ‘London Calling’, a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

MF: Josh, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and what excited you about playing this character?

Josh Duhamel: From the beginning, he was talking about ‘London Calling’. I figured he was going to go make it with somebody else and he comes to me and finally I got to read the script he’d been talking about for a couple of years, and I just fell in love with it. I love the idea of this guy who was a little past his prime. In his mind, he’s still fully in his prime, but I think like any athlete, they always think they can still hang with the young ones, but they just lose a step. This guy is at that stage in life, and I’d loved that idea that he must face that reality then gets forced to LA to flee what happens in London. In the process reluctantly he must take this kid on a hit with him because his dad wants to toughen him up. Rick Hoffman plays the worst father of all time, by the way. In that interaction with this kid that he doesn’t want to be with, he finds that he’s really been lacking as a father and sees his son in this kid. Throughout all the follies, throughout the movie, he really starts to take a liking to this kid.

(L to R) Josh Duhamel as “Tommy Ward” and Jeremy Ray Taylor as “Julian” in the action comedy ‘London Calling’, a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

MF: Josh, can you talk about Tommy and Julian’s friendship and working with Jeremy Ray Taylor?

JD: I really love Jeremy Ray Taylor. He’s such a talented kid, thoughtful, has a great sense of comedy and understands what each scene is supposed to bring and how deep he needs to go. It’s fun to work with him. So, I think that was a big motivator for me is knowing that this kid is really going to go there, and you must hang with him. I think it was that dynamic that really made it fun. Like Allan said, it felt like a buddy cop movie, but it was really an action comedy between these two guys who were unlikely.

(L to R) Josh Duhamel as “Tommy Ward” and Rick Hoffman as “Benson” in the action comedy ‘London Calling’, a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

MF: Allan, can you talk about working with the cast on set? Did you stick to the script or was there room to improvise?

AU: Well, it’s funny you say this because when Josh and I first worked together on ‘Bandit’, he calls me very particular, or I’m “Mr. Particular”. So, I kind of map everything out. In a way, it’s rigid. Look, there’s positives and negatives to that. Day one of ‘Bandit’, I learned of Josh’s style, and it made me a better director. So, coming into this, I knew that there’d be opportunities to play because you find magic in the moment. When you bring an actor on like Josh, Rick, or Jeremy, you must let them interpret a little bit and to play and give them that freedom and flexibility. So, coming into this, we had wanted to find something to do together after ‘Bandit’. When I flipped it to him and I knew he was in, I was like, “Okay, we need to find a really eclectic rogues gallery of characters, because all these characters are so unique in their own way.” I always like to say that every character in this movie thinks they’re the hero of the story and they’re all kind of good guys in their own way, except Julian is the only pure character. So, going through the process, we just wanted everybody to have their own sense of identity and flavor that they could bring something different to the table.

(L to R) Jeremy Ray Taylor as “Julian” and Josh Duhamel as “Tommy Ward” in the action comedy ‘London Calling’, a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

MF: Finally, just to follow up, Josh, what’s “particular” about the way Allan directs?

JD: This guy believes in no stone unturned, believe me, and I love that about him. He’s the most prepared, tenacious guy that I’ve ever worked with. But also, you can tell he’s a total sweetheart. In the beginning, I guess when I first met him on the phone talking about ‘Bandit’, he sounds like a grown man, but he’s young. I think he was in his late 20s when we first started working on ‘Bandit’. So, a total film nerd, a guy who doesn’t leave, like I said, any stone unturned. I love that, because I know that he’s thought everything through, which gives us as actors room to play, because I know that he’s made that space for us and he’s just a fun guy to work with and super talented. I think people are going to see that in the movie.

Josh Duhamel as “Tommy Ward” in the action comedy ‘London Calling’, a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

What is the plot of ‘London Calling’?

After fleeing the UK from a job gone wrong, a down on his luck hitman (Josh Duhamel) is forced to babysit the son (Jeremy Ray Taylor) of his new crime boss (Rick Hoffman) and show him how to become a man.

Who is in the cast of ‘London Calling’?

• Josh Duhamel as Tommy Ward
• Aidan Gillen as Freddy Darby
• Jeremy Ray Taylor as Julian
• Rick Hoffman as Benson

‘London Calling’ opens in theaters on September 19th.

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