The end of the world is quickly approaching, apparently, and Hollywood has ceased to let us forget about our impending doom with the release of countless apocalyptic and alien invasion themed films like 2012 and Cloverfield.
So, it isn’t surprising that Hollywood has launched yet another doomsday film. Battle: L.A, which invaded silver screens on March 11is at first glance another typical invasion film, but when the cast of Battle: L.A. talked to Technician, they assured us that the film would exceed our expectations.
Directed by Jonathon Liebsman, the film stars Aaron Eckhart of The Dark Knight, Michelle Rodriguez from hit television series Lost and R&B artist and relative Hollywood newcomer Ne-Yo.
The film follows a platoon of heroic marines on what seems to be an ordinary day, but quickly turns into an unimaginable event that no one could ever be prepared for. Sgt. Michael Nantz (Eckhart), Cpl. Kevin Harris (Ne-Yo) and Sgt. Elena Santos (Rodriguez) dodge flames of explosions and risk their lives to save the world from relentless aliens that tear through the coastline of Los Angeles.
Despite the overused and predictable theme of alien invasion, Battle: L.A. takes a different approach by focusing on more than just the gore and explosions that popularly encompass these films.
“It has heart,” Ne-Yo said.“The other movies are more focused on watching something like the Statue of Liberty explode. You actually give a damn about the characters.”
It’s hard to imagine America being overtaken by aliens, but Eckhart claims this film makes the unimaginable a reality, putting the viewer in the action by using “Call-of-Duty-inspired filmmaking.”
“It’s really realistic,” Eckhart said of the films unique point of view. “You’re going to feel like you’re in the action.”
Liebsman put a strong emphasis on making Battle: LA as real as possible.
“The way Jonathan [Liebsman] shot the film is creatively unique from other movies in the same genre,” Ne-Yo said.
“I made a big point that it should feel like a war movie with aliens,” Liebsman recently told Cinemablend.com, “not an alien movie with marines.”
Ne-Yo said Liebsman’s vision kept him and fellow actors on their toes.
“He’s a slave driver,” Ne-Yo said, “He is the kind of guy that was going to push and push and push ‘til you wanted to punch him in the face.”
Even though the constant perfectionism was enough to drive the cast to insanity, they believe Liebsman’s style of direction brought out the full potential in their performances.
“He’s a pro,” Eckhart said. “This guy knows exactly what he wants and how to get it. He’ll be one of the greats.”
To prepare for the film, Eckhart, Ne-Yo, Rodriguez and other cast members experienced firsthand what being a marine entails. They felt the burn and exhaustion as they trained with marines for 3 weeks.
“They trained us like we were really going to war,” Ne-Yo said. “They understood that we had to go through this to get the real deal.”
“Lets just say those abs were from training,” Rodriguez said of boot camp. “It was pretty hardcore—they made me run two miles every day for three weeks, and I hate running.”
Although their boot camp was, according to Rodriguez, “gnarly”, the cast agreed the intense training gave a perspective that was necessary for the realism Liebsman worked to create.
“When this movie comes out,” Ne-Yo said. “A seasoned marine could see this and not think we were fake.”
Eckhart adds that the boot camp enabled him to act to his greatest potential and make his character as real as possible.
“When people see this movie, I feel like they will think that we gave 100 percent to this film,” Eckhart said. “We did everything we could to make you believe that this was happening to us and I think that’s our job as actors and I’m proud of that.”
The pursuit of reality didn’t just stop at boot camp. The actors also educated themselves about the weapons they would be using throughout the film.
“We got to put [guns] back together, which was sick,” Rodriquez said. “It was awesome. I love guns, they’re great—but when they’re not killing people of course.”
Eckhart experienced the harsher side of the pursuit for reality when he fell seven feet off a rock while filming.
“I busted my arm three weeks before we wrapped,” Eckhart said, “But I kept on going and managed to finish the scene.”
The footage of Eckhart’s injurious fall was actually included in the final film, further underlining the crew’s attempt to capture reality.
Rodriguez was also floored by the unique creation of Battle: L.A.
“Who gets to shoot a .50 Cal?” Rodriguez said of learning about the weapons in the film. “Even though it was blanks, it’s still got massive power. It was awesome.”
