Netflix Superhero Film “Project Power” | Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

[Pennywise]

There was another clip of Dominique Fishback’s character beatboxing in a classroom, but I don’t think I can post it as there’s swearing at the end.

 

[Pennywise]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt talks up his new sci-fi thriller 'Project Power'

Gordon-Levitt, 39, spoke, via a Zoom call, about the science-fiction-tinged “Project Power,” in which he plays a detective searching for the source of a drug that gives people superhuman powers, from his home in Los Angeles.

Q: You’ve been picking your acting jobs very carefully these days. What attracted you to “Project Power?“
A: The people I work with sent me the script, said “Jamie Foxx is doing this, it seems fun, and it’s New Orleans.” It was a pretty easy decision. I had just done “7500,” which was a very, very challenging, very heavy movie, so I wanted to do something easy and fun. I’ve been a fan of Jamie since I was a kid, so I was delighted at the opportunity to work with him, and there’s this young actress Dominique Fishback, who is a fantastic up and coming talent, in the film. I had a great time.

Q: For folks who don’t watch trailers, and don’t want to know much about a film’s plot, what would you say about it to draw them in?
A: First and foremost, it’s a ride and a good time. There are some underlying themes that are quite substantial, but this isn’t a movie that’s going to hit you over the head with a message. It does ask some questions: Who has the power in the world? Why do those people have power? How do they keep that power? Who are the people who are not allocated that power ... and is that fair? Those themes run through the movie, but they’re very lightly touched upon. Mostly it’s just a lot of fun.


Q: How would you describe your character Frank?
A: Frank is a detective in New Orleans. I think a lot of what drives him is his love for his city. He makes it pretty clear that he takes a lot of pride and feels very protective of his city and of the people of his city. And when this kind of super powerful global-scale organization comes in and tries to do testing on the people there, he gets very protective.

Q: Frank gets to have a very interesting power in the film, which won’t be given away here. Were you satisfied with that power or was some different one more attractive to you?
A: (Laughs) I think Frank was happy with his power. I would probably want something different than his, but I’m a different person.

Q: You’re an actor in this film. But you’ve directed a few short films and the feature “Don Jon.” Has directing changed you as an actor? Has it made you better understand what an actor does and what a director does?
A: I think I actually became more ready and willing and excited to relinquish control (to the director). An actor really isn’t in control of a movie. An actor needs to provide ingredients for a filmmaker to then make the thing that an audience experiences. Acting and directing are two really different experiences. When you’re directing, you have to keep every single little thing in mind, and when you’re acting, the whole game is to forget all of that, and just have one thing in mind.

Q: You know how movies are made. You know what goes into them and what they’ll probably look like. What was going on in your head while you were watching “Project Power” the first time?
A: I was having a blast watching it. I take it as a really good sign when I’m able to watch something that I’m in, and get genuinely absorbed in it, and not sit and nitpick and critique. When I saw the finished movie, I was just having fun watching a movie, which is the best you could ask for.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Sounds like JGL doesn’t really enjoy directing. That’s a shame because I really liked Don Jon and I was hoping he’d helm something else eventually. But at least he’s acting again after that hiatus.

 

[Pennywise]

https://mobile.***********/TheNuGeekz/status/1291494003972743168

 

[Pennywise]

Mattson Tomlin on Bringing PROJECT POWER to Netflix - Nerdist

In an age of superhero movie saturation, Mattson Tomlin is very aware that getting an original movie made is getting harder. So Tomlinson came up with a plan. “I was kind of a baby writer,” Tomlin told Nerdist. “Things felt promising, but I wasn’t quite there yet. So I had to zoom out and look at what gets made now. What gives me the best shot at getting a movie off the ground?” The answer was Project Power, Tomlin’s gritty take on cape comics inspired by movies like 8 Mile and Collateral.

Tomlin is a realist. He new big two superhero movies were where the money was but that wasn’t his path… yet. “I knew that I wasn’t going to be invited to the Marvel or DC table anytime soon, like I wasn’t at that level,” The writer explained. “So the answer was, okay, I’m going to write my way to that table. I’m going to do it with original characters. I’m going to go with my own original idea.” That idea centers around a young woman named Robin (Dominique Fishback) who sells the mysterious street drug known as Power, which gives users a specific set of powers for five minutes.

Superpowered street drugs are a classic comic book and sci-fi movie trope. They’ve been seen in Robocop 2, New X-Men, The Flash, Hourman, and multiple Batman tales. So for Tomlin, it was a balance between homage and bringing in something new. “I’m looking at my bookshelves right now and they’re about 10 feet tall and they’re only comic books,” Tomlin said. “I’m a huge comic book guy, I love those characters. I love those stories and I love the medium. I think it’s my favorite medium, honestly. But it was also clear to me that there’s a mold that Marvel and DC are in that I can’t compete with. Of course will be respect and homage to the comic books and what’s come before, but I have to figure out a way to put my own spin on that.”

Tomlin continued, “I knew I didn’t want to do something that was like an original superhero that was kind of so straight down the middle of line, that felt like instant death. Well, what are movies that I like? What are stories that have really stuck with me? Is there a way to attack that superhero genre from this other angle? One of the first movies that came to my mind was 8 Mile. I just love that movie so much. Then I was like, ‘Wait a minute, 8 Mile but with superpowers. I have no idea what that is. I don’t know what it looks like. But I know that’s something that nobody else is doing right now.'”

Tomlin’s take on the superpowered pill also differs from the traditional trope as the pills in power give each person a different power. But no matter how many times you take it, you’ll always have the same set of supernatural skills. The writer explained his process behind the choice. “When I’m looking at a story and kind of what it is that I want to do, I’m always thinking, ‘What is this about?’ Every element has to say something,” Tomlin said. “So taking the pill and not knowing what’s going to happen to you, there’s a really obvious metaphor in life for that. But then just kind of figuring out that there’s a way to reveal something about these characters with that. What should that reveal? Well, it should reveal this innateness, this thing inside of them.”

The writer also saw the Jamie Foxx-led movie as a chance to subvert expectations of who we usually see in superhero movies. “I realized that I wanted to tell the story through Robin, through this young Black woman,” Tomlin said. “That’s not a point of view that you see in these movies that often. Again, it was an opportunity to say something a little bit different; and to be this fight the system movie in a way that reflects what’s going on in the real world.”

Jamie Foxx Predicts ‘Project Power’ Co-Star Dominique Fishback Will Win An Oscar: ‘I Learned From Her’

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

No reviews for this yet?

 

[Pennywise]

No reviews for this yet?

Not yet.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Not yet.

Hhhhhmmm, I seem to remember us getting Old Guard and Extraction reviews a little earlier.

 

[shauner111]

And Old Guard was dog ****. So I don’t think it matters.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

And Old Guard was dog ****. So I don’t think it matters.

Disagree on that one

 

[Pennywise]

Hhhhhmmm, I seem to remember us getting Old Guard and Extraction reviews a little earlier.

Yeah! For Old Guard at least, it was four days before release.

 

[Pennywise]

Here’s one review so far:

Movie Review: Humor buffers dark drama of 'Project Power'

 

[Pennywise]

A few more reviews:
'Project Power' review: Jamie Foxx and a new super-power drug star in an old formula - CNN
Jamie Foxx finds his sweet spot in Netflix's magic-pill thriller Project Power: Review

 

[TMP98]

Reviews seem mixed

 

[Pennywise]

Yeah, seems to be on the negative side.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Despite the mixed/negative reception I'm still very much looking forward to watching this tomorrow, but man is it really asking too much that any of these Netflix original movies to actually live to there potential and end up being something more than just the next forgettable movie of the week? Seriously, and this is coming from someone who has enjoyed a lot of there originals movies, but I'd be lying if I said that the majority of them weren't just in one ear and out the other, and that is getting really frustrating IMO.

I can't even imagine how dissapointed I would be if The Devil All The Time ends up being the next one to get middling reception considering how great it looks and the talent involved.

 

[Pennywise]

'Project Power': When Marvel and DC Didn't Call, Mattson Tomlin Wrote His Own Superhero Movie

Tomlin first wrote the script in 2016, after which it appeared on the Black List in 2017 and sold to Netflix as a spec script. Since then, Tomlin said, a lot changed with the script — mainly, the tone.

“I think that the biggest change was obviously plot stuff changes — the story kind of evolved, but a big change was the tone,” he explained. “And I credit Henry [Joost] and Ariel [Schulman] for that, the directors, because they really wanted to make something that was on the one hand gritty and on the other hand fun, and those two things don’t necessarily always go together… But I would say that my original script had a lot less fun and was much more in the vein of ‘Collateral’ or ‘Training Day.’ I’ve got to give the guys credit — I think they made the right decision pushing me into that zone.”

I would love to read the original script, as something in the vein of Collateral and Training Day sounds awesome! In fact, before the first trailer, I thought the tone would be much darker and grounded.

Also, Tomlin mentions in a few interviews that he greatly expanded the role of JGL’s character after he was cast. Ironically, a lot of the reviews basically call his character the worst part of the film! Probably not a good idea, lol!

Still love you, JGL!

 

[Persona]

Despite the mixed/negative reception I'm still very much looking forward to watching this tomorrow, but man is it really asking too much that any of these Netflix original movies to actually live to there potential and end up being something more than just the next forgettable movie of the week? Seriously, and this is coming from someone who has enjoyed a lot of there originals movies, but I'd be lying if I said that the majority of them weren't just in one ear and out the other, and that is getting really frustrating IMO.

I can't even imagine how dissapointed I would be if The Devil All The Time ends up being the next one to get middling reception considering how great it looks and the talent involved.

I think about it this way... if I was watching every movie from home for the first time, would Netflix have less hits (as in, films that I liked and found memorable) than any other studio? I personally don't think so. Most studios have maybe at max 3 really good films in a given year (even studios like Neon and A24 that have great quality control), and for me Netflix averages that and sometimes surpasses it like they did last year with The Irishman, Marriage Story, Atlantics, and I Lost My Body (I also liked El Camino a good bit).

I think there is a perception thing because Netflix releases more original content than anyone and a lot of it is kind of target market filler plus people can easily watch most of that stuff if they want whereas for other studios they were only going to the theaters for the movies they really wanted to see.

Netflix has not had any homeruns for me yet this year but they've been my primary source of movies I have liked in 2020 due to the covid situation. I have liked Da 5 Bloods, The Old Guard, What Did Jack Do, and especially Time to Hunt. Looking forward to The Devil All The Time, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, and Mank. The way things are going, Netflix probably gonna have 60-70% of my Top 10 this year, and they had half of it last year.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Eh. 6 Underground: Bayhem on Tap got bad reviews and I still loved that. In contrast, Old Guard got good reviews and while I enjoyed it, I still found it a little lacking as an action movie. So I’m still looking forward to this. They pretty much had me at JGL with superpowers in New Orleans.

 

[terry78]

Netflix doesn't have that same epic feel as going to s theater does when a film is released, it just doesn't. I'm not cool hitting theatres yet so I'm stuck either way, but that's how it is.

 

[Stringer]

The reviews are more positive than what I was expecting looking at some of the responses in here.

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

Well I didn't drift off like I did with both Extraction and The Old Guard. The Major and the kids motivations seemed more real than the Detectives and the corporate types.

 

[Sithborg]

Well, I enjoyed that. A lot of creative displays of various powers.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Detective Conan]

Just finished it; it was fun, but a little too generic for my taste. I mostly just watched this since the same screenwriter is working on the new Batman movie, and I wanted to get a feel of his writing.While I was never bored it didn’t blow me away either, but I appreciate the film’s tender moments even if it does fall a little flat.

I also thought the action looked pretty cool, and VFX was on-point but even with all that this is still ultimately a mid-tier Netflix movie for me.

7/10.