Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon, 1-4, Conspiracy Theory, Maverick, Superman) was intrigued by the idea of somebody who's broken and dead inside who can be fixed and brought back to life. "Compressing the story that takes place within two hours builds up the tension because you've got a clock, an individual and a system he's got to fight. It shines a light on who you really are."
"16 Blocks is about a relationship between two people: one, a man who had everything and quit; and the other, a kid who had nothing and never quit," says screenwriter Richard Wenk.
The first person screenwriter Richard Wenk told the story of 16 Blocks to in 2002 was Director Richard Donner who responded with typical enthusiasm.
"When Richard (Wenk) told me the story, I thought it was a helluva film. I'm always looking for something a little different, that has substance," says Donner. "I always wanted to do a big small picture in which you are totally committed to the people. It was a character driven piece and I happen to love that. It's not a piece of action that you're trying to squeeze some characters in."
Wenk's concept of the remaking of a man, followed by the idea of compressing the story into a real-time film, clearly captivated the renowned director. Says Donner, "The story is basically about a man, played by Bruce Willis, who has all the opportunities to have a life and threw them away; and a second man, played by Mos Def, who has a straight desire to live even though he's never had anything. He's very positive and affirmative, whereas Bruce's character is positive negative. Mos' character is driven by his beliefs, his ideals and his innocence. And he affects Bruce's character to where he has the desire to live again, and a greater desire at respecting life and maybe fulfilling his obligation to what he turned his back on for many years of alcoholism."
Wenk says, "I liked the idea of a man who had everything and quit, who meets someone who never had everything and never quit. And the effect that would have on somebody who really felt that he couldn't change any more. Jack was broken and with the help of Eddie, remakes himself in the course of 118 minutes. And it's done by the example set by this kid who oddly believes in things - signs, hope and second chances - he affects this guy who never believed that at all."
After Donner and Wenk developed the screenplay, it was brought to the attention of Millennium Films, where Producer John Thompson was equally captivated.
"It's really a character piece that happens to go through a lot of action," says Thompson. "We read the script, we love Richard Donner's work and we're all big fans of Bruce Willis. But what really
convinced us to do the movie was the relationship between the Bruce Willis character, Jack, and Mos Def's character, Eddie. We like to call it a ticking clock character piece."
"This is the first time Bruce has played such a character. He brings really good acting, a lot of depth and pain of a man who has suppressed something, kept it suppressed and pushed it into the bottom of a bottle and it hasn't sneaked out yet," says Donner who adds, "Eddie sees only the bright side and has an incredible drive. He looks for the sun all the time and for signs - the signs of life. The signs become a very positive thing with Eddie. Everything is a sign. Good sign, bad sign. Jack's a very bad sign for him in the beginning, but he turns from a no exit to full speed ahead."
"Mos will seem in the beginning as a person who's just a little bit behind until you realize he's very much ahead. He ignites something in the Bruce Willis character which ignites something in the David Morse character. It's a very layered character piece even though it's a ticking clock, action-laced picture," says Thompson. "The basis of our story is that Jack gets put in the wrong place at the wrong time and soon becomes an adversary to Frank Nugent, which makes our picture tick."
Interjects Donner, "As the picture progresses, Jack Mosley's psyche and his attitude to life changes, but his body doesn't correspond and goes off in another direction - it just gets more tired and more abused. But the psyche of the man changes, and that's really what the story's about."
Says Van Wyck, "I think the theme of this movie is, just like Eddie says, 'every single one of us can change. And if we're not happy the way our life is going, we can change. You just have to believe that you can change."
Says Thompson, "I think the audience will not only be charged up from the trip they just went on, but they're going to be affected by the emotional explosion that occurs at the end of this film."
Says Morse, "I guess what we hope is that the audience will get to go for a really fun ride in terms of this chase that happens in real time. But more than that, I think they're going to be surprisingly touched by what happens to these men in the course of this chase. It's going to be an unexpected journey."
Wenk speaks, "16 Blocks is about consequences. The police are in the consequence business. When you do something wrong, it's the cop's job is to make you pay the consequences. The problem is sometimes they believe, as Nugent does, that it doesn't apply to him"

Casting the actors
"Willis plays a character who is broken by crossing too many lines," explains Wenk, who before he started writing the screenplay, talked to a lot of detectives and police officers in New York City. "The one theme kept coming out in their conversations was that they all had lines that they would not cross. They were all different and they didn't really know where the lines were. But when you got to one, that's when you can't go on any more, you can't bend the rules any further. And sometimes when they cross those lines, they break. And sometimes they ignore them."
Donner agrees, "There's a line that everybody has, and when it's crossed, something happens in their life that changes it radically. With Jack, it was his relationship with Nugent and the other guys. They're cops in the rough city of New York who'd done police procedures their own way to bring the bad guys in."
To prepare for his role, Willis spent a couple of nights patrolling Brooklyn with the film's NYPD technical advisor, ESU police officer Mike Keenan, who took him to the aftermath of a shootout.
Says Thompson, "Bruce is taking this character Jack Mosley to a place that is very remote from Bruce Willis. He's an alcoholic and a broken spirited person and not in the best of physical shape. His character undergoes a change that I think is the fun part for the actor in which to triumph, especially the spirit, as well as the triumph of a drama."
"I think it's the most interesting and compelling part that Bruce has played since 12 Monkeys," says Producer Jim Van Wyck, who believes that the theme of the movie is about the ability to change.
Donner has made nine pictures with Van Wyck, who worked with him in a variety of capacities, from DGA Trainee to Producer and First Assistant Director. "Dick is simply the best director in the world," says Van Wyck, who also AD'd the picture for Donner. "The biggest thing for him is the performance. What he looks for are characters who leap off the page and he loved the character of Jack Mosley who's got to go the toughest 16 blocks in his life. Dick loved that arc of Jack's character and the fact that Eddie, this street kid, is the catalyst that makes him come to life.
"I've never seen Bruce play a guy that was more into the bottle than he was into life. He doesn't really have a lot of purpose in the beginning. Both physically and mentally, he's pretty much a defeated guy. Watching him go through bizarre and strange events and get his legs under him and protect this young street kid is illuminating," says Van Wyck.
"Eddie is constantly saying that if you always do what you always did, you're always going to get what you always got. And if you don't like that and you want to do something about it, then you have to change. I think that has a lot of validity in terms of this picture. At the beginning, Jack is really on the skids. He's not really capable of doing much and is barely surviving. Then Eddie, the prisoner he has to take 16 blockSsalso needs help. He's been on the streets all his life. He's made a choice. He's decided he wants to change.
"During the course of this movie, what I think is really wonderful is that you get the feeling that Jack is saving Eddie's life three or four times. In truth, Eddie is really saving Jack's life, giving him back his physical and emotional well-being, giving him his legs back. I love that great arc to the characters and the camaraderie between the two of them. I think that's probably the best part of it," sums up Van Wyck.
After seeing him in "Brown Sugar," Mos Def was Donner's first choice to play Eddie. "Mos is an amazing young actor. If you read his lyrics, he's a poet, a prophet, a philosopher. There's a lot of pain and yet a lot of naivety, not dissimilar from the character he's playing. From the day Richard started to bring this character to life on paper, I started to see him and then when I saw Mos' work, this kid was born to be
Eddie. It's almost like he doesn't have to find the character. It's found him. His character sees signs that were signs for us. His face is mesmerizing, his smile is extraordinary and when he and Bruce are on the screen, it's like it's made in heaven, as far as I'm concerned."
Donner, who gave David Morse his first feature film role in Inside Moves--"he blew me away and we've been friends ever since"--was reunited with him in 16 Blocks. Morse plays NYPD Homicide Detective Frank Nugent, a 20-year-old friend of Mosley's. "They started together on the force and came up as partners. Their experiences together created an incredible bond, which, at the same time, is an incredible burden because, as in all people who do critical work such as police officers, everybody has a breaking point. And Morse's character hasn't found that breaking point. But Willis' character found it in a very horrific way. Once exposed to it, it broke him and in so doing, their lives were separated for the first time."
"There are a lot of cop shows around, but this one had such energy and a heart to it you don't often feel in scripts," says Morse. "Bruce and I talked about our relationship a lot. We tried to find the same kind of depth of relationship between Bruce's and my own as he had with Mos Def. We were beyond buddies. We were partners. There is a depth to that kind of relationship and your dependence on each other that is not equal anywhere else in your life. It wasn't that one thing happened that we did bad; it was a lifetime of things that felt like we believed we were doing that right thing, and it just caught up with him at one point, and he couldn't take it any more. Our relationship split, and I kept going my way, and he kept going his way."
He describes his character. "Nugent has a high image of himself. He goes as far as he has to go to get things done. Sometimes that means people get hurt and sometimes it doesn't. It's part of doing the job. In this picture, what started off with a simple task to get rid of an informer who was gonna bring down everything around me, thanks to my friend, doesn't turn out like that. Bruce is really going after a unique human being and bringing that guy to life and it's not a guy we've seen him do before," smiles Morse.
Van Wyck concurs. "In our picture, Nugent went a little too far and that sent Jack into a downward spiral because he was part of it and they went their separate ways. Nugent carried on and Jack lost himself in the bottle. Dick loves that relationship. They've got so much history together. And now when they meet up and become adversaries, they still care for and respect each other."
David Zayas, who plays Detective Bobby Torres, another member of Nugent's coterie, was a full-time cop in New York City for 15 years before becoming an actor. . "It's a lot more fun doing it in front of a camera than doing it in real life," says Zayas. "I always use something from my experience. As a police officer, you learn how to observe people and behavior, which is always good for any role you do, whether it's a cop or a priest. My character is in a unit that has gotten itself into a little predicament and we're trying to stop Eddie from testifying in the grand jury, which if he does, will land most of us in jail." Zayas observed that in the 15 years he was real cop, he was associated with
cops that, for the most part, did everything honestly. But he admits there are individuals who make bad choices and bad decisions.

Director in Action
As the story takes place during a sweltering Manhattan summer, the hot sweaty realism created a terrific backdrop against which Donner worked with his actors.
Donner's voice radiates across the set before a take, "Sweat 'em up and let's go. Remember, it's hot, sweaty and miserable," as the actors faces are spritzed with water to emulate perspiration. The spritz was hardly needed in New York where temperatures soared to the high 90's.
For the most part, he directed the picture in story sequence, following the evolution of Jack and Eddie's getting to know each other. The action is secondary in terms of the story.
Donner was also adamant about the timing of the film. "He wanted the timing to be real so, for the person sitting in the cinema, the time spent in the cinema is the time lived in the film," relates script supervisor Kathryn Buck. "We worked that out which meant that everything is very condensed. There are very few cut-aways or time lapses, which means that continuity is crucial," notes Buck, whose responsibility is to keep meticulous notes and keep track of all the elements so that they married together seamlessly. Shooting the film in story order was a bonus. "To be able to shoot in continuity means that the actors can drive the development of their characters more accurately and allowed the screenwriter to make last minute changes which improved the story."
The Cinematography
Director of Photography Glenn MacPherson describes 16 Blocks in terms of a documentary. "Dick wants it to feel like you're actually there, it's happening now and it's real. My job is not to make anything look too pretty, just keep it raw," says MacPherson, who, for practical and aesthetic reasons had the streets wet down throughout the picture. "Should it rain, the production wouldn't have to shut down until the streets dried. A street that is not wet is just flat and uninteresting to me. As soon as you wet it down, it's got a mood to it, it's dark, it's got reflection and highlights. It's got a life happening, so photographically I love it," smiles MacPherson.

Filming 16 Blocks
"The big challenge on this movie was to figure out how to make it look like it all took place in a two hour period when we actually shot over a 55 day period in two cities under sun, rain and even hail," says MacPherson.
On dull days, MacPherson emulated sun using a 120-foot high Dwight Crane--a mobile lighting system-- with six HMI lamps at 12,000 watts apiece. (These lamps are so strong, they've been known to ignite a piece of paper held 40 feet away or buckle a mini-van door). Shade was provided by suspended 40 by 40 foot (framed) blacks. "Hopefully the drama will be so strong, none of this is noticeable," says the Director of Photography, who often used multi cameras to cover a shot. He had 12 cameras set up for the one-off bus wreck. "Multi cameras provide lots of useable footage and add to the excitement and action. 'Reality is the key world of this movie."
During post-production, MacPherson is using a digital intermediate process to color correct the film. "It gives me control over individual parts of the frame in which I can subdue or increase the contrast and even out the whole picture."

Bruce Willis in Character
Jack Mosley is the antithesis of every character Willis has played. He had distinct ideas of what he wanted to look like. "Mosley doesn't care about other life, much less his own. He has no mission in life. He's physically disabled, has a bad knee that's aching and six years of alcoholism, which clearly wasn't the best thing for him," says Donner.
Wenk concurs, "Bruce's character is the antithesis of what he usually plays --- he's fat, out of shape and can't shoot straight. In 16 Blocks, he changes his image from action hero to anti-hero.
The picture inspired him to branch out, reaching deeper into a very complex character role."
To visually capture this character, Willis wanted to look as if he was one step from the grave. His skin was flushed to make him look like he could drop dead any moment from a coronary. Key Make-up artist Jordan Samuel added broken blood vessels and spider veins, a sure sign of chronic alcoholism. Samuel based it all on an aging makeup which made Jack Mosley look a lot older than he would've looked had he not been a drinker. To complete his look, Willis asked for a moustache, and, after meeting with the screenwriter, a wig built in England was styled after Wenk's hair -graying and receding.
To make his eyes look bloodshot and irritated for close-ups, a menthol tear blower-- a small cylinder of menthol crystals--was used. When the menthol fumes are blown into one's eyes, they become watery and bloodshot.
"When you look at Bruce and you see the red under his eyes, the receding hairline and the little paunch and the walk with the limp, and he's out of breath, you realize he's playing something a little more special than he normally does," observes Van Wyck.
Willis endured other hardships to create his character, such as placing a small stone under the arch of his right foot to facilitate a limp. "From an artistic perspective, it was an interesting choice. Bruce really went for it and was prepared to do whatever it took," says Samuel.

Technical Advisor
To maintain Donner's zeal for authenticity, the production hired NYPD Detective Mike Keenan, a veteran of 22 years with the New York City Police Department, assigned to the Emergency Service Unit (ESU), to check the veracity of police-related procedures, uniforms, weapons, props, vehicles to realistic dialogue to making sure the right gun is in the right holster.
With 250 SWAT team members on set, Keenan had his work cut out for him, giving each one a job to help the director tell the story in the background. "I'm just giving the director a little detail," he says. Such details included preparing the SWAT team to storm a bus or showing the actors how not to disturb a crime scene by treading in the blood or kicking shell casings on the floor. "It's important to look down and be aware of the environment," says Keenan who was technical advisor on the television show Third Watch for six years. In 16 Blocks, he also showed the actors playing NYPD, ESU (Emergency Service Unit) cops, Narcotics and Homicide Detectives on how to position themselves for a raid, how to enter an apartment and make it secure before the Narcotics or Homicide Divisions arrive to start the investigation.
Each day on set, Keenan received what he called "Jim Van Wyck's list," indicating his duties for the day's scenes. "I'm trying to help Dick Donner and Jim Van Wyck tell the story and make it as real as we possibly can," says Keenan.
Van Wyck says, "We watch a lot of cop shows and we think we know what police do, but until you have someone like Mike, you don't really know all the real fine details of how police officers conduct themselves, how they hold guns, how they move. Dick is very actor and performance oriented, and consequently he wants the actors to have the knowledge and the freedom to be as real as possible. Mike's done a great job for us. Everything helps to make every set up as good, as authentic and as rich as we possibly can."
Keenan was helped by Weapons Wrangler John "Frenchie" Berger who provided and supervised an impressive collection of guns: Glocks, Berettas with silencers; sawed off shotguns, sniper rifles, MP5 submachine guns (carried by the SWAT teams) who also had shotguns. The snipers on the roof had Remington 700's. Nugent's character had an ankle holster with a PPK, a tiny pistol, and Willis' character used a Smith and Wesson 38 caliber snubnose in addition to a Glock.


The bus stunts
Director Richard Donner
Screenwriter Richard Wenk