movies blog | September 30, 2010 | 3 comments

Rian Johnson Gives Us His "Brick" Picks

Rian Johnson, the writer and director of the Joseph Gordon-Levitt film Brick, breaks down one of his favorite scenes from the film -- the knife guy chase.

 

"Because Brick is so dialogue-heavy," he told Current, "this is one of several sequences peppered throughout the film which are completely talk free, to give our ears a break."

In the scene, Cody Lightning's character "the lug" chases Gordon-Levitt's character Brendan down a school highway.

"I had the idea of building the entire sequence like a drum solo, with Cody's footsteps being the kick drum and Joe's the snare on top," Johnson said, "and the whole thing ending with the cymbal crash of Cody going into the pole."

Both actors are actually "excellent drummers in real life," Johnson said, so they got the metaphor. But one of the tricks he used to keep the rhythm was to record a metronome click on his phone, which the actors listened to just as they started rolling, "which helped."

"We nearly killed Cody twice," he said. "First when we spread these insane friction-reducing plastic beads on the pavement for him to slide on -- they worked too well and he slid off the set and into a fence. And then by dropping a camera mag on his head."

All in all, that scene -- the first shot captured for the film -- was "a good first day," Johnson said.

 

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