WE OWN THE NIGHT, an emotional crime drama about a man who has chosen to hide his past only to discover that he has to confront an inevitable future, takes its title from the motto of the 1980s-era NYPD street crimes unit. Written and directed by James Gray (The Yards, Little Odessa), the film was produced by Nick Wechsler, Marc Butan, Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix, and executive produced by Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban and Anthony Katagas.
"This is a film that is clearly rooted in a specific and familiar genre -- the police movie," explains Gray. "But normally the police movie focuses on procedure --finding the bad guy. I wanted to do something much more focused on character and emotion. The genre itself is essentially a point of departure to tell a story about a man caught by his destiny, his inevitable fate, and the complex and internally conflicted emotions that love, loss, and betrayal yield."
"A man's ability to change his own fate is much more limited than we would like to believe," says Gray, the writer-director. "Other factors play a big role in life -- the flow of history, culture, external events, instinct and love. This is what I wanted explore."
The idea for the film came from a New York Times photograph of a police funeral. "In the photo, all of these grown men were hugging…in tears after one of their fellow officers had been killed in the line of duty," recalls Gray. "And the image had such tremendous emotion."
In fact, 1988 was the height of New York City's crack epidemic, the homicide rate was soaring, and the overall crime rate was 73 percent above the national average.
At the same time, disco flourished as George Michael, Gloria Estefan and Taylor Dane rode the music charts. Nightclub life was thriving, particularly in the bustling Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach.
It was that intensity that Gray wanted to capture. "I was anxious to make something not just thrilling, but explosive, dramatic. And frankly, filled with action."
"But at the same time, this is a very personal movie," continues Gray. "That doesn't mean autobiographical. As I was writing the screenplay, I used elements that came from local news stories as well as things I learned by going on police ride-alongs. I found many stories about people who, because of their circumstances, hid their family connections to police. Everything you see in the film came from real events but I also used my relationships with my father and brother. So I did steal a lot from my background as well."
Nor does Gray shy away from looking to other films to inform his stories and influence his filmmaking style. "Besides research and my own personal experiences, I found tremendous inspiration in the work of certain filmmakers from the '50s, '60s and '70s. In The Yards, I looked to Italian Neorealism of the 1950s. In WE OWN THE NIGHT, I wanted to make a film that was more visceral, more atmospheric and more focused on this idea of the flow of history as an unstoppable force. I think many of us right now in these grim times feel as if we are caught by forces of history we are unable to control. And 1988 New York is a perfect metaphor for now -a time and place when things were seemingly out of control."
WE OWN THE NIGHT cinematic influences include the American films of the 70s that dealt with history, class and politics. "Obviously I owe a debt especially to "The Godfather," "Chinatown" and "The French Connection," notes Gray. "However, I also looked at certain European films of the 60s, particularly Visconti, and at Japanese films of the 50s, which were also focused on how history and fate affect destiny. And so of course I subjected my entire crew to late night screenings of all of these movies."
Gray's script and his solid relationship with outstanding actors attracted the attention of 2929 Productions, an entertainment company established by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. The company's president, Marc Butan, learned about the project and was immediately drawn to the characters.
"I thought the characters in this world were fantastic," says Butan. Elaborating on the story, Butan says, "It's a movie set in the cops vs. underworld wars, but it's also a story about Bobby's family situation. It combines action and drama in a way that serves both."
"And what James found in this era was that the Russian Mafia was on the rise as the Italian mafia was on the decline. The rules of engagement were breaking down between cops and criminals."
The challenge for a director who shoots his own script is maintaining control while also adapting to surprises along the way. As Gray explains it, "Every movie is like a wild horse that's going to get away from you…because it's a collaborative medium and the actors may take the scene in another direction. So a director has to be the ultimate filter - embracing the things that expand your original ideas, but at the same time, eliminating things that destroy or harm what you originally had in mind."

THE CASTING
Eager to re-team with Gray after working with him on The Yards were Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg, both of whom have earned considerable acclaim since working together on Gray's 2000 film. Phoenix has won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in the 2006 film Walk the Line and has twice been nominated for Oscars for his roles in that film and in Gladiator. Wahlberg was critically praised for his role as a tough-talking Boston sergeant in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning film The Departed, for which he earned both a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination.
Signing on as producers of WE OWN THE NIGHT, Phoenix and Wahlberg were enthusiastic about a second collaboration with Gray.
Says Phoenix: "James cares. He truly cares about film. In an age of such self-conscious irony, that is a rare quality. James is willing to dig through glass to uncover the truth in each moment, and he stimulates those around him to do the same. I couldn't wait to get back into the ring with him and explore the emotional machinations of this family."
"James is incredibly talented and working with him and Joaquin on The Yards was a great experience," says Wahlberg. "I was especially flattered that he wrote the part of Joseph in WE OWN THE NIGHT for me."
Producer Nick Wechsler, who worked with Gray on his two previous films, Little Odessa and The Yards observes, "James developed such a strong rapport with these two actors. He was thinking of them throughout his research and writing process--it was almost like a shortcut to making a successful movie.
Says Gray, "Mark has tremendous sensitivity, a real emotional truth about him. He has a kind of blue-collar earnestness that would remind you of John Garfield from late '40s movies.
"Joaquin is wonderful in a very different way," he continues. "He reminds me of Montgomery Clift or Al Pacino, someone who has got tons of internal conflict and is about to explode any second."
Gray wrote the part of Bobby and Joseph's father, the decorated deputy chief Burt Grusinsky, specifically for Robert Duvall. The six-time Oscar nominee won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984 for his role in Tender Mercies and has been the recipient of four Golden Globes.
"Joaquin calls Duvall the Jedi master," says Gray. "You can throw Duvall any curveball and he'll come right back at you in character and he'll do something amazing. The level of the craft is ridiculous."
Duvall was in Virginia driving home from a vacation when Gray called and asked him to take the role.
"I was glad I could play it - and work with these very talented people," says Duvall.
"Joaquin, or Wackeen as I call him, and Mark are really talented guys."
Duvall was especially motivated to work with Gray when James Caan, who co-starred with Duvall in The Godfather and co-starred in Gray's film The Yards, told Duvall about Gray's talent.
"And I found that to be true on this," says Duvall. "He's one of the best directors I've worked with in my whole career, as good as any of them."
According to Gray, Duvall is so comfortable and creative with improvisation that he raised the game of everyone around him. Although the two younger actors had obvious reverence for Duvall, Gray observed that, "Duvall can't stand that respect or distance. He likes to feel like he's in the trenches with them. But Joaquin would do everything he could do to really get Duvall's character angry with him. He even wore an earring strictly so that Duvall would look at him and think 'you little wimp.'"
"On the other side," Gray continues, "Mark Wahlberg was telling me 'Don't bother Duvall, Jim. He's a great actor.' And their dynamic mirrored the respectful dynamic of Burt and Joseph in the film."
The last piece of major casting would be Bobby's girlfriend, Amada. Gray was watching TV in a New York hotel room when he saw an interview with actress Eva Mendes, who had earned critical attention for her roles in Training Day and Hitch.
"She had a look of sophisticated bemusement in the interview," admits Gray. "And I thought I'd like to meet her and see what she's about."
What he found in her was sensitivity and self-awareness, both ideal qualities for the role of Bobby's loyal girlfriend who is unprepared for the deep sacrifices she will have to make in order to maintain their relationship.
To research her role as a party-girl who is caught up in the club world of the '80s, Mendes spent time with former Studio 54 owner Ian Schrager and "picked his brain." What she discovered was "a crazy free-for-all moment when there were zero consequences."
"Because I knew Joaquin and Mark I knew what they were capable of and Bobby Duvall is a legend," explains Gray. "But Eva pleased and surprised me most - and has a tremendous reservoir of emotion inside. It's a great thing to see."

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Cinematographer Joaquin Baca-Asay had impressed Gray with the work he did on the indie film "Rodger Dodger," which the director had seen when he was participating in a Sundance lab in Utah. He wanted to meet Baca-Asay because his photography was fantastic in a "very un-showy, very immediate way."
When the two of them met and began to talk, Baca-Asay recommended that they look at the artwork of Vincent Desiderio, an American contemporary realist.
"He made me go out and buy this artist's book," Gray recalls, "and of course there were fabulous and macabre paintings but there was this beautiful lighting to them. I thought, this guy is really interesting."
Capturing both the authentic texture and iconic imagery of New York in the late 1980s was the task assigned to production designer Ford Wheeler, who had been the set decorator on Gray's two previous films.
"Production design is an ability to understand character and interpret in terms of material possessions and environment," suggests Gray. "Ford had been with me from the first two movies and he really knew my taste."
Previously the set decorator on such director-driven films as Flirting With Disaster, Any Given Sunday and Birth, Wheeler was pleased to re-team with someone who has strong artistic tastes.
"James always wants a certain style," says Wheeler. "He likes the colors to be modest and have a painterly element. In fact, James and Michael Clancy, the costume designer and Joaquin, the DP and I all went to the Metropolitan Museum… and we looked at classical paintings and discussed the ways in which we wanted our movie to have those classical but beautiful elements."
Research for Gray and his team also included screenings of significant films, particularly those by Luchino Visconti.
"Visconti made two films, Rocco and His Brothers and The Leopard, which are two of my favorite films of all time," explains Gray. "His films have such humanity in them. And that's the thing I was anxious to do - to make a film without irony, without distancing you from the characters or making fun of them or being condescending. I wanted to make something sincere."
"James also made a book of different visual references - all sorts of things that represented the heightened reality he wanted for his 1988-set film," explains Wheeler, who came up with the idea that Bobby would have a Polaroid collection and would snap Polaroids of his friends when they were partying. "It's not a very original idea, because it's exactly what I did in 1988," he says.
Shooting in New York City was a priority for Gray and fortunately, the producers backed him up.
"New York just gives the movie the authenticity and realism it needs," says producer Butan. "Down to the faces of the crowd, the extras, the looks of the buildings…it needed to be real and gritty and differentiate itself from a lot of other films or television shows. The supporting actors and extras in our movie are real-deal New York."

THE STUNTS - MAJOR ACTION SEQUENCES
With several major action scenes to orchestrate in the streets, Gray turned to Manny Siverio as the film's stunt coordinator. Siverio, who has performed stunts on more than 120 films, is a veteran of such movies as The Peacemaker, Analyze This, Copland, Shaft and Inside Man, and was tasked with three major action sequences.
"In New York, the stunt community is large, but it's also small enough where we're all kind of family… we look out after each other," Silverio explains.
Among the major action sequences is a thrilling car chase in which Bobby and Burt are ambushed by Russian gangsters. In the course of the sequence, the gangsters cause an oncoming tractor-trailer to jackknife in front of Bobby's vehicle.
"Bobby has no choice," explains Siverio. "Either hit the tractor-trailer or jump the median into oncoming traffic." At one point, two stunt cars clipped each other, sending the camera car careening into the tractor-trailer with a loud crunch.
"That shot is in the film and I used all of it," recalls Gray. "Right up until the last frame before the trailer gets hit …because it's so intense. You've got all these cars coming right at the camera. It freaks me out.
"I don't know how Michael Bay does it," he laughs. "He has 60 cameras going and lots of explosions. I have a few little action scenes and I'm worried that everybody's gonna die and I literally can't watch it. I watch playback when I know that everyone is alive." Gray acknowledges that the threat and immediacy of the tractor-trailer stunt is inspired by William Freidkin's To Live And Die in LA. "I used Friedkin as a departure point," he says. "I love his movies."
"But I also wanted to make a car chase that was slightly disorienting because it focuses on the subjective - it is shot almost entirely from Bobby's point of view, and because of that, is as scary for the audience to watch as it was for us to film," continues Gray.
Digital Domain was brought in to add the rainstorm which makes the scene even more suspenseful and scary. Gray points out, "You physically can't shoot a car chase scene of this magnitude in a rainstorm. It would be too dangerous. But now technology has enabled us to add in the weather. I haven't actually seen anything like this on film before and I am really impressed by what Digital Domain has accomplished. We shot the scene on dry streets. They had to invent new computer software to add in the wet streets, the rain on the windshield of the moving car, the windshield wipers, even the camera blur from the water. I needed a really intense rain to show again that forces greater than Bobby intervene to shape his fate. And miraculously, Digital Domain was able to match my vision with some amazing work."

THE MUSIC
Music plays an integral role in WE OWN THE NIGHT as it establishes not just the period but also the tone of the film. An aficionado of blues, jazz, and classical music, Gray tried to evoke the '80s with disco music in the club scenes - but to underline the more austere emotions of the film, he turned to Wojciech Kilar, the legendary Polish maestro whose works have been performed by dozens of international orchestras and who has composed more than 35 film scores including those for Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Pianist, and Portrait of a Lady.
Music Supervisor Dana Sano, who is also re-teaming with Gray after their work together in Little Odessa and The Yards, filled the Brooklyn nightclub with signature songs by Blondie, David Bowie and The Clash, but compliments the director for his choice of classics from Louis Prima to Tito Puente for a party scene with families of New York police.
Distinguishing Gray as a "filmmaker, not a movie director," she admires his sophisticated musical taste and broad knowledge of obscure music from little-known foreign films.
Gray's attention to detail resonated throughout the production - from the camera department to props, where prop master Robert J. Currie was given the challenge of researching, finding or manufacturing authentic items from the late '80s.
"It's not like there's a 1988 police store out there," he laughs. "So we had to do a lot of research. And that's been the whole umbrella of this movie, paying attention to the detail and making it as authentic as possible.
It this combination of authentic period detail, rich human drama, and visceral action that Gray achieves in WE OWN THE NIGHT. "It's funny, so many things have influenced me while working on this story but I think the most important is Henry IV," he says, "Which is ultimately about a man who has to sacrifice a really fun but frivolous life to take his place in history. Henry IV located all these complex emotions and action choreography in such an elegant, simple story structure--WE OWN THE NIGHT isn't exactly Shakespeare but I wanted to try to harness that kind of basic archetypal story."

About the Filmmakers
JAMES GRAY made his directorial debut at the age of 25 with Little Odessa, a critically acclaimed crime drama about a hit man confronted by his younger brother upon returning to his hometown of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Starring Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Maximilian Schell and Vanessa Redgrave, the film received the Critics Award at the Deauville Film Festival as well as the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. That same year, he received nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay.
In 2000, Gray wrote and directed his second film for Miramax, The Yards, starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, James Caan and Joaquin Phoenix. The film was selected for official competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Born in New York City, he grew up in Queens and attended The University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television.

THE ART OF ORIGINAL FILMMAKING

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