Matthew Fox: I don’t think I’ll do television again
Matthew Fox talks to BBC Movies about playing a Secret Service agent in ‘Vantage Point‘, working with the Wachowski brothers on Speed Racer and what life might be like after ‘Lost‘.
Did you have any reservations about being in an ensemble cast rather than being the star after a massive TV show like Lost?
No, I don’t ever think about that at all. The role is never the first way into a project for me. It’s always about the whole project, the entirety of the film and its potential. The director is probably the biggest piece of the pie of all the elements that vaguely come together in some way towards you feeling compelled to pursue the project, or accept an offer. Then the role comes after the director sort of says: “This is how I’d like you to serve the story”.
What form did the script take when it was presented to you?
It was one of those reads that was difficult. It was well executed and very original, and has this theme of perspective running though it, which I personally find pretty fascinating. I think about it a lot in my life, just how different things can look to different parties, depending on who they are and where they’re standing and how they want to perceive it. But the actual structure of the script was pretty straight through. It began with the event and then the re-telling of the event through these different perspectives. You also knew that it was the kind of project that post [production] was going to be a very intense experience, because there’s almost an infinite amount of ways that you could end up structuring the film.
I saw the movie about 10 days ago and was really happy with how it all turned out. I think [director] Pete Travis is just a really smart, very dedicated director. I loved the movie he did before, Omagh. I remember the first time meeting him thinking he was just somebody I really wanted to work with and felt that he was going to make a really cool film.
‘Vantage Point’ No1 At Box Office
‘Vantage Point’ secured the top spot at the weekend box office, earning an estimated $24 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The previous No.1 movie, 20th Century Fox’s ‘Jumper’, dropped to second with $12.7 million, raising its domestic total to $56.2 million in two weeks.
Paramount’s family fantasy ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ was a close third with $12.6 million.
Disney’s dance saga ‘Step Up 2 The Streets’ and Warner Bros.’ romantic comedy ‘Fool’s Gold’ rounded out the top five.
‘Vantage Point’ On February 22
In Columbia Pictures’ “Vantage Point,” Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox), are two Secret Service agents assigned to protect President Ashton (William Hurt) at a landmark summit on the global war on terror.
When President Ashton is shot moments after his arrival in Spain, chaos ensues and disparate lives collide. In the crowd is Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) an American tourist video taping the historic event to show his kids when he returns home.
Also there is Rex (Sigourney Weaver) an American TV news producer who is reporting on the conference. It’s only as we follow each person’s perspective of the same 15 minutes prior to and immediately after the shooting that the terrifying truth behind the assassination attempt is revealed.
see the movie stills from ‘Vantage Point’
