On October 9, Finnish director Renny Harlin's 30th movie releases with The Beast hitting theaters. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Joel Kinnaman, The Beast is a high-octane action movie that has the President of the United States (Jackson) and a Secret Service agent (Kinnaman) stuck in the presidential limousine as they attempt to escape an attack.
The Beast is wall-to-wall action, and the Deep Blue Sea and Die Hard 2 director used some interesting techniques to make the filming experience feel as realistic as possible. While a large portion of the movie takes place inside the moving fortress, Harlin wanted it to still feel like it was as big and loud as it would have with the set pieces.
"If you think of the 1970s and 80s and 90s, they were starting
with Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood and many others, and then moving on to Bruce [Willis] and Sly [Stallone] and Arnold [Schwarzenegger]," Harlin explained in a recent interview with For The Win. "You know just the fact that I all I have to say is their first names, it just shows there used to be this genre."
And Harlin has a point. In the last five years, action movies have felt few-and-far-between, with the majority being tied to a series or from an existing universe like Marvel, James Bond, John Wick or Mission: Impossible.
"You could just wait for the action movie of this year from that guy, and it was really enjoyable," he said. "That doesn't exist anymore because the studios are investing in IPs and known material and comic book movies, and there's nothing wrong with that."
Harlin, who has started a podcast called Harlin House to discuss just these types of topics, lamented the fact that true action feels more like an Indie movie now, but hopes that things can change in the future.
"I hope that studios will come to their senses and still make action movies. Otherwise, it's Indie filmmakers that will keep making those because action travels. People love action. People will watch action movies, in any language, anywhere in the world."
The Beast is out now.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Renny Harlin on 'The Beast' and the future of action movies
