INTERVIEW WITH LISA JENKINS
by Francesca (Buffybot) – June 27th, 2010

This interview is an EXCLUSIVE OF EVIL HAND ISSUES. It's STRICTLY forbbidden to use and the reproduction on other sites, blogs, mailing lists, etc...

 

For those who don't know what the movie is about, Minuteman tells the story of Captain Lance Deakin, whom after returning to civilian life as a Texas rancher has to fend off attacks from former members of his unit  as he struggles to uncover the truth of what he did as a soldier in Iraq. The military performed experiments on Lance and his men to turn them into super-soldiers and brainwashed them to remember their top secret missions as the hyper-violent content of a video game called MINUTEMAN. Lance must uncover the truth in time to save the woman he loves.

Lisa Jenkins, Producer of the movie, has kindly given me some of her time to answer some questions about the movie and Christian.

Francesca: I did some research and I found out that the game was actually created to be integrated into the movie and you were very strict on how you wanted the movie to be. How did the director come up with the idea of a videogame?
Lisa: We developed the idea and script in-house, so Mark and I worked closely on giving this film a real technological edge. We hired students from SMU’s Guildhall to help us design the game and choreograph it to match cut with the film. This was definitely the most challenging part of making the movie.

Francesca: Is there anything in particular that intrigued you in the movie?
Lisa: It’s a mind-bender that’s very very topical and that’s why we developed the project because we were all intrigued by the subject matter.

Francesca: I also found out you were thinking about releasing a commercial version of the game. Will it have the movie characters in it?
Lisa: We are working with Longhorn Skull Productions in developing the full game with another partner and hope to have it released by the time we finish the Minuteman sequel.

Francesca: As you might know, Christian gave his voice & look to a character in the 24 videogame. Is that the reason you chose him for his role?
Lisa: Christian was the perfect actor to play Peacemaker for several reasons. He just truly fit the part. He’s plays the dangerous bad boy and women will love him.

Francesca: Let's talk about the cast. Christian and Riley already knew each other, so was it a coincidence they ended up starring in the same movie?
Lisa: Actually Riley is the one who suggested Kane for the role. They are old friends and  Riley made the call and Christian read the script and he really got excited about the film and the role of Peacemaker. The timing of everything worked out perfectly. Christian was in Austin performing with his band Kane while we were shooting. He drove up to Dallas in between shows and we shot him out in 2 days. Those 2 days might have been the best days on the set! We had a lot of fun.

Francesca: How was working with Christian?
Lisa: Christian is just a real actor. He’s passionate about his job and really takes it seriously. He’s extremely professional also and has a great work ethic. He came to the set early just to introduce himself to the other actors and crew. He’s really into stunts and actually showed up with a trunk full of gear and props of his own that we used in the film.

Francesca: Would you like to work with him again?
Lisa: Yes. Absolutely! I would love to also include some of his music in the next Minuteman. I grew up in the South and he’s just a good ole’ simple Southern Boy with Southern charm. Everyone on set loved being around him.

Francesca: Do you have any funny story from the set to share with us?
Lisa: Lots of funny stories but not many that we can print. We did have a crazy thing happen during a stunt in the car with Marshall Teague and Christian Kane. Teague turned off the airbag switch while they were in the car performing a big slide. When the car came to a screeching hault, ONSTAR came on and asked if anyone had been hurt because the airbags had not deployed. Christian got on the line and starting talking to the ONSTAR girl. She got really excited when she found out who she was talking to and that we were right in the middle of filming a movie!

Francesca: What are you working on at the moment?
Lisa: We had some really good sales at the Cannes Market with our foreign distributor, Archstone Entertainment. We are now working on the domestic side. I’m reading a lot of scripts right now getting ready for the next film and we are talking about the Minuteman Sequel.

Francesca: Can you already tell us when the movie will be released?
Lisa: We should know very soon…

Francesca: What kind of response do you expect from the viewers?
Lisa: We have gotten really good responses from screeners already. There’s some heavy subject matter in the film, so it’s definitely not for everyone but I think we hit a very wide audience.