Aaron Johnson And Taylor Kitsch Research 'Dark Stuff' For SAVAGES
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- Category: Interviews
- Created: Friday, 06 July 2012 20:59
- Published: Friday, 06 July 2012 20:59
- Written by Ethan Falk
Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson immersed themselves in some pretty dark and heavy material to prepare for their roles in the upcoming Oliver Stone thriller, SAVAGES. The actors as well as Stone had to dive head first into the twisted world of Mexican drug cartels and it’s violent nature.
SAVAGES, based on the Don Winslow novel, follows the lives of Cali pot growers: Ben (Johnson) and his best friend and Chon (Kitsch), an ex- Navy seal. They run a laid-back, lucrative business producing some of the finest marijuana in Laguna Beach. This business isn’t just the only hot thing they share. They both happen to be romantically involved with the same girl, O (Blake Lively). Unfortunately, this love-fest gets broken apart when Mexican drug cartel leader, La Reina (Salma Hayek) and her muscle, Lado (Benicio Del Toro), kidnap O after the boys refuse to team up with La Reina’s drug trade. Subsequently, Ben and Chon must put their lives on the line to restore the love-triangle.Oliver Stone likes his actors to give their characters depth and subtext, so he sent his SAVAGES cast into research mode prepping to become part of drug trafficking and lifestyle. Stone, Johnson, and Kitsch visited marijuana grow-ops in Southern California, met with DEA agents, and studied Cartel behavior to create realistic portrayals.
Being from England, it was quite the journey for Aaron Johnson to embody the free-spirited, Orange County-pothead. While he embraced the Southern Cali lifestyle and the “fantastic plants” during the visit to the grow-ups, he found the discussions with the DEA often disturbing, he told CineMovie at a recent press event.
“We had meetings with DEA agents and looked at situations like the kidnappings in cartels, quite intense. There was some really dark stuff we had to take onboard. You open your arms to that and grasp as much knowledge as possible and use it in your preparation.”
After starring in a couple box-office bombs: (Battle Ship and John Carter), Taylor Kitsch is hoping to reinvigorate his career with SAVAGES. Kitsch was excited to leave the green-screen to focus on some deeper character material. To help him internalize Chon’s identity, he shadowed a Navy SEAL in Texas for a long time, but rehearsals proved valuable and “intense” for the preparation to play the dark character.
“So many of our questions were done and dealt with in rehearsal, and then you just go and play. He’ll call you out when necessary, and you’d collaborate like anything else. I just love that he (Stone) holds you accountable. I just think that gets the best out of you.”
Director Oliver Stone studied all facets of the Mexican drug cartel including traveling to Mexico and meeting with a “few who are heavy down there,” according to the SAVAGES director. Not only did he immerse himself in the drug cartel lifestyle, but the discovered the politics equally corrupt.
“What was clear to me, when I was in Mexico, was the connection between the money and the political parties. There’s too much money in Mexico. There’s a huge amount, washing around, and they need to put the money in a legitimate economy.”
To further his knowledge of the drug business north of the border, Stone also visited local Southern California marijuana growers. However, he describes the local independent growers as “very good people” in a boutique-style business who sell quality product of which he personally sampled.
“They grow great stuff. It’s the best I’ve ever had, in 40 years.”
Stone also found during his intense research that Mexican cartels find it in their best interest to “keep it south,” unlike in the movie. Such a move, according to Stone, would create consequences with the U.S. government. Although the events in SAVAGES are “hypothetical,” as he put it, the possibility isn’t too far-fetched.
“They are here and they are growing. We know that. There’s been buzz. We know that they have Indian land, and they may have deals here in California because the best laboratory in the world is now here. All of these possibilities exist, but quite frankly, from all my research, I couldn’t find anything like this that had already happened. No one was talking about that.”
However, many are talking about SAVAGES which opens July 9, 2012.
Follow Ethan on Twitter @EthanFalk