- Title: USA: WORLD PREMIERE OF FILM 'MURDER BY NUMBERS' STARRING ACTRESS SANDRA BULLOCK
- Date: 2nd April 2002
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (April 2, 2002) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BEN CHAPLIN SAYING : "I try not to worry about the message or anything like that. I hope they're entertained first, though they'll probably be disturbed a bit. I just think it's reassuring you in a way you know, if you think you can get away with murder, then think again." (4.36) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL PITT SAYING: "The age range that I'm in, the characters that I get are mostly teen movies and stuff. So I don't really get a chance to show depth or have something challenging. (4.50)
- Embargoed: 17th April 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAA1BUX6J4TE6BQPFEP86BKJ556
- Story Text: Sandra Bullock stars as a forensic detective in director Barbet Schroeder's latest psychological thriller, "Murder By Numbers," a movie in which killers don't fit the profile and detectives don't go by the book. The ensemble cast greeted fans and answered questions about the film at the world premiere of the movie in New York on Tuesday (April 16).
Sandra Bullock shares the spotlight with an ensemble cast in her latest movie, "Murder By Numbers," a disturbing psychological thriller beautifully rendered by Single White Female director Barbet Schroeder and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. The movie co-stars Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt and takes a controversial look into the minds of two underage killers and the pair of detectives who piece together the misleading trail of evidence the teens leave behind. The cast took to the red carpet in New York city for the world premiere.
According to Bullock, who plays detective Cassie Mayweather, the film reveals the troubling likenesses between the hunter and the hunted.
"Everyone in the film had some damage to them and it was just interesting to me to see how they all sort of unwound around each other and how their lives sort of intertwined. And how we really are very similar, I mean, she's very similar to the people she's hunting down for murder. I love that."
"Murder By Numbers" is not your typical murder mystery.
From the get-go, the audience is let in on the identity of the killers. The suspense lies not in whodunit, but rather how and why the killers tracked their prey. For director Barbet Schroeder this is one way to keep an audience guessing.
"I want the public to be entertained. I want them to be totally at the edge of their seats and I want them to be in full suspense and the trick in order to achieve that is not to do the usual tricks, to do the unexpected, never to have something that is expected, that has been done before, that is going along a formula. So you have to constantly subvert the genre and find new tricks to renew the formula."
While it subverts the genre, the film also makes use of some time-tested devices, including the idea of the shadow self. Young stars Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt play off each other as disturbingly close friends bonding over a murderous fantasy. This dynamic compelled Gosling to take on the twisted role of Richard Haywood opposite Pitt's Justin: "I saw this really interesting relationship between Richard and Justin and I thought it was actually a neat opportunity to kind of play two characters. I felt like Justin was playing Richard and Richard was playing Justin and vice versa because they're really only halves of people and together they make one. I thought it was interesting. It's like if Richard is a bullet, then Justin is a gun and they're only dangerous when they're together."
While Justin and Richard are bound by their plot, Cassie is bound to her victim by way of her own troubled past. To prepare for the complex role, Bullock didn't have to stray too far from home. "Everyone when you get to a certain age has come close to a lot of those things. I did a lot of research about forensics. I did a lot of research on battered women, you know post traumatic stress disorder. All those things are research, they're homework. I mean you just bring to the table what you have, you know, what my issues are, and sides of myself that I've never found an opportunity to explore on film. Not that I'd ever want to again, but you know you sort of address issues that you have."
For Ben Chaplin, Bullock's rookie partner, the film may be disturbing, but it leaves an aftertaste of justice.
"If you think you can get away with murder, then think again."
"Murder By Numbers" opens nation-wide this Friday (April 19).
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