A remake of the 1972 film of the same name, The Mechanic is an action movie starring Jason Statham (The Expendables) as the titular mechanic; Arthur Bishop; a man who fixes problems for his company, by expertly assassinating his designated targets; be they illegal arms dealers, car-jackers, gang-bangers, or even very close friends.
After taking out one of his closest friends, Arthur then begins to train his victim’s son (who is played by 3:10 to Yuma’s Ben Foster) to become a deadly assassin himself; gaining a companion, and alleviating some of his guilt, but putting himself in a dangerous position should the son ever find out what really happened to his father.
With the best-friend/father providing the catalyst for the entire movie, we thought it only fitting to catch up with the actor who plays him; screen legend Donald Sutherland (who’s career spans nearly 50 years, and includes numerous titles such as Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, Mash, Kelly’s Heroes, and The Pillars of the Earth); and talk about the original film, working with Jason Statham, and what makes this version so good.
Good Film Guide: Were you a fan of the original film?
Donald: No. I only saw the original film three days ago.
Good Film Guide: And how to you think it compares to this version?
Donald: It doesn’t. I mean favorably it doesn’t; it compares in that there’s a skeleton that’s similar, but this? this film’s fantastic.
Good Film Guide: How so?
Donald: Well it’s an action film with terrific action, that’s beautifully realized by Simon West [the director]; it’s breathtaking, and all of it is true to the narrative; none of it seems exploitive or unnecessary, and the sex too, that grows right out of the narrative, but the key is the narrative itself, and the narrative is founded on a psychological truth about the relationship between fathers and sons; which is so brilliantly evoked it took my breath away.
And the work of Ben Foster and Jason Statham is just great, I mean Ben is a brilliant actor; and to take that mess of a kid who resents his father, and wishes he had been able to show his father how good he is, and smug, and will show his father arrogance and resentment, and death and revenge, and wants to get even for his father’s death and all that crap, that relationship is clear; and Jason; I worked with him five years ago on The Italian Job [2003] and he came in as a performer, a person who could do action, but he was obviously someone who wanted to develop as an actor; that scene at the end where he’s in the truck with Ben Foster, and his expressions of grief and loss, and anguish, guilt and regret, are so clear and specific that it breaks your heart; he does that as an actor, he doesn’t pretend or lay it on, he’s wonderful.
“The original film doesn’t even compare to this version of The Mechanic.”
Good Film Guide: So when you worked with Jason on The Italian Job, did you ever think that he would come along this far?
Donald: Well I didn’t actually work with him; he was there, but I was working almost entirely with Mark Walhberg [The Fighter]; I don’t remember saying anything to him other than ‘hello’, but he was head to head with Edward Norton [American History X] a lot; Edward was unhappy on that picture; they were conspiratorial, and maybe he was picking Edward’s brain, because Edward’s very articulate. But whatever it was he just worked really hard and he did a wonderful job.
Good Film Guide: Now you’re character wasn’t actually in the film for that long, but you had a really strong on-screen relationship with Jason; how did you make that relationship appear so strong?
Donald: I loved him; I saw the character loved him, and that’s how it is; but it’s the director who makes it that strong. I play the character, and I play the character’s relationship with him, but it’s the director with the way that he moves… I mean if you look at Eisenstein and Battleship Potemkin, look at film function and at the way he analyzes how you cut; it’s montage, the way you put images together; he [Simon West] was able to do that in a way that in the end, the key to the film was father’s and sons; it’s about father’s and sons, it’s not about killing people anymore, it’s not about vengeance and death, it’s about father’s and sons, and that’s painful.
Good Film Guide: So if you had to sum up in one sentence why people should see the Mechanic, what would you say?
Donald: They should see the film because… it’s wonderful. I think people will go see it, and they’ll phone their father or their son and say “hey, do you want to go see a movie?”, and they’ll watch it because it’s great.
The Mechanic gets its theatrical release on January 28th (this coming Friday) in both the U.S. and U.K., and our full review of the film can be found here: The Mechanic (2011): Movie Review
