From the producer and writer of "The Transporter" comes the thriller TAKEN, starring Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, an ex-government operative who has less than four days to find his kidnapped daughter, who has been taken on her first day of vacation in Paris.
According to the film's co-screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen, it was co-writer and producer Luc Besson who came up with the idea for TAKEN. "Luc had met with a Paris police officer who told him about this underworld of kidnappers who take young women," Kamen recalls. "The girls would then be auctioned off in these gorgeous mansions just outside of Paris."
Besson and Kamen turned this idea into a compelling story, with big set pieces, practical action, martial arts, and what Kamen calls "crazy/crazy" stunts - and very few computer generated effects. "It's the same mix we've used in films like 'The Transporter' and 'Kiss of the Dragon,'" he adds.
Their protagonist's history as a former government operative appealed to Kamen, who had read about the startling exploits of several real-life operatives when Kamen was doing graduate study work in Afghanistan. "I learned about guys doing covert operations - real 'cuckoo stuff' - in that part of the world. I was particularly impressed with their self-reliance and skills. They're not the kind of guys who call the police when they're in a jam. They look at problems as things to be solved, as opposed to getting someone else to solve them for them. They don't adhere to the conventions of society."
Kamen and Besson wrote Bryan Mills with many of these qualities in mind. Bryan doesn't seek help - not even from an inner circle of covert ops pals - when Kim is kidnapped. Bryan relies only on his own skills, and he makes good use of them all hunting down her kidnappers.
To direct TAKEN, Besson hired Pierre Morel, who had helmed the internationally acclaimed action film "District B13," which introduced the martial art parkour - a gorgeously choreographed, propulsive fighting style - to movie fans around the globe; Besson had produced and co-written the 2004 release. (Morel was also a noted cinematographer, who had shot "Unleashed," also written and produced by Besson.)
Morel's on-set demeanor impressed Kamen, who likens it to that of his lead character, Bryan Mills. "Pierre is really calm and cool," Kamen notes. "He comes in, knows what the job is, and knows what he has to do to make it happen."
Morel, though, says that along with that calm comes a responsibility to keep the energy high on the set. "Even though a lot hinges on the editing, the rhythm has to be there when you're shooting. If it's not, there's no second chance. I always ask the actors to keep up a high tempo and to be as realistic as possible. And personally, I'm really charged up in the way I shoot, so I think a lot of the movie's energy comes from that. If you take your time over things, when you start to edit, you have to trim it back down and so you lose the rhythm."
Liam Neeson, who has worked with renowned directors like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and Ridley Scott, says he was impressed with the young filmmaker. "Pierre has had movies in his blood for a long time and is hugely experienced, especially as a director of photography. I particularly liked the originality of 'District B13,' which showed he had a director's eye and an incredible sense of rhythm and energy, which was vital on the set of TAKEN. I also liked the fact that Pierre operates the camera himself."
Neeson, a distinguished actor and multi-award nominee, is a fascinating and unconventional choice to portray an action hero. But at the same time, the gravity and complexity he brings to the role of Bryan Mills provides added depth to TAKEN, which constantly flirts with the codes of the genre. In a manner that's original for a thriller, Bryan is initially defined by his love for his daughter rather than his past as a secret agent. This aspect of the character and of the story was a significant factor in Neeson agreeing to take on the role. "I liked the idea of making a thriller that had good pace and aimed high on an emotional level," he says. "Above all, we see Bryan as a father who idolizes his daughter. But then, even though it's never been a fantasy of mine to play [an action hero], one gets a real kick out of shooting real movie baddies and driving like a racing car driver."
Neeson empathized with his character's horrific situation. "As a father, you can't imagine anything worse [than your child being put in danger]," says Neeson. "Of course, you wonder what your own reaction would be in that situation. You picture what you'd do to her kidnappers and you soon come to the conclusion that you'd do anything in your power to save your child. I found this particularly interesting territory, because I'm traditionally against violence, especially the kind of violence Bryan resorts to in the movie. But it's a case of 'them or me' and Bryan takes that situation to its logical conclusion. "
The actor enjoyed bringing to life the character's physicality, for which he underwent a rigorous program prior to the start of production. "I keep pretty fit, but I had to crank up the level and intensity of my training," he says. "Action scenes are particularly tricky. You have to pay close attention to how you move, your body position, and never take your eyes off your scene partner. It requires a lot of energy, besides the safety issues. Each time, it's a real challenge.
"The little boy in you comes out with all the hand-to-hand combat scenes we filmed. With good stuntmen, especially, the fight becomes a dance that you perform with great pleasure."
To bring maximum impact to these combat and action set pieces, Morel carefully rehearsed them with Neeson. "We did a huge amount of rehearsal for Liam, because I wanted him to do as much as he possibly could without resorting to stunt doubles," says the director. "Of course, he doesn't jump off the bridge or throw himself in front of cars, but he did all the fight scenes after spending hours rehearsing each routine. It was particularly demanding for him because I didn't want to speed up the action too much in the camera. Liam really did learn to fight strong."
In addition to making sure that Neeson had the requisite physical skills to convey Bryan's impressive martial abilities, Morel and Neeson worked hard to realize the overwhelming emotions Bryan experiences when Kim ("Lost's" Maggie Grace) calls him with the shocking news of her imminent kidnapping. Neeson's Bryan is in Los Angeles and Grace's Kim is in Paris - and Morel shot the sequence in both locales. He explains: "We started in Los Angeles by shooting Liam's reaction, as if he was listening to events live. Maggie Grace came on the set and said all her lines up to the scream, when she's kidnapped, standing by the camera, which enabled Liam to react in real time. It was magical. The timing that was laid down gave me much greater freedom in Paris. I could adapt the physical action of the kidnapping, but I needed to have Liam's emotions in a single shot, that he gave me in just two takes."
Morel avoided a stylized or what he calls a "cosmetic" look for the Paris-based sequences. "I wanted Paris to look the way it really is," he explains. "The idea was to be as realistic as possible, to achieve a kind of unlit look. I wanted a kind of faux picture-postcard view of Paris, avoiding the usual clichés of a character posing in front of the Eiffel Tower or Trocadéro, but ensuring that it was immediately obvious that the action was set in Paris. So, we looked for typically Parisian locations while avoiding the tourist traps. That meant we ended up filming on the Champs Elysées the day after the presidential elections, with half the streets blocked because the new president decided to parade down the avenue. We filmed the scene surrounded by riot police."
Filming in Paris, much of it at night, and almost all of it involving action and stunts, was certainly challenging for Neeson. But as he points out, working in the French capital -and for the first time with a French crew - also had an important upside. "One good point of working in Paris is the greater female presence in the crew. I'm very sensitive to the energy men and women combine to create on the set, but British or American crews are almost always overwhelmingly male. I was also grateful for French working hours, which are very civilized. Between fight scene rehearsals and filming, my days were pretty exhausting, but we had a whole night to recover. Not to mention the pleasure of the quality of life in Paris."

PIERRE MOREL (Director) helmed the acclaimed action-thriller "District B13," which introduced global audiences to the propulsive thrills of the martial art known as parkour. The film was produced and co-written by TAKEN producer/co-writer Luc Besson.
Morel was cinematographer on the thriller "Unleashed," produced by Besson and starring Jet Li and Bob Hoskins; and on the action film "War," starring Jet Li and Jason Statham.

ROBERT MARK KAMEN (Co-Writer) received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, before setting his sights on Hollywood.  Kamen sold his first screenplay, "Crossings," to Warner Brothers in 1978.   His first produced feature film was the critically acclaimed "Taps."  Kamen then wrote the hugely successful "The Karate Kid," which turned into a three-film franchise, all of which he wrote.
Kamen then wrote the films "Gladiator," "The Power of One," "A Walk in the Clouds," and the blockbuster "Lethal Weapon 3." By the mid '90s, he had established himself as one of the most sought after writers in Hollywood, with credits such as "The Devil's Own" and "The Fifth Element."  He also assisted Luc Besson in writing "The Professional."
Kamen co-wrote with Besson "The Transporter," "Kiss of the Dragon," "Transporter 2," "Bandidas," and the upcoming "Transporter 3." He was artistic consultant on "Unleashed."

LUC BESSON (Producer, Co-Writer) was born in Paris on March 18, 1959, and spent most of his childhood living in the idyllic settings of various Mediterranean hideaways where his parents worked as diving instructors.
With Besson's surroundings and family influences, it seemed assured that he would embark on a similar maritime career. From the age of 10, after an encounter with a friendly dolphin, Besson was determined to become a marine biologist, specializing in the study of the species.
Besson studied for this life plan throughout his teens until, at 17, a diving accident prevented him from ever diving again. His long-held dream cut short, Besson redirected his sights, deciding that he would become a filmmaker.
Besson dropped out of school to seek work in the French film industry, and started making his own experimental films in super-8. At the age of 19, he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived for three months working in the American film industry.
In 1983, after three years of experience as an assistant director, Besson made his first feature, "Le Dernier Combat." Selected for competition in the Avoriaz Science Fiction Film Festival, the film won two major awards from the festival jury, which included Alan J. Pakula and Jean-Jacques Annaud among its members. It was nominated for a Cesar Award and went on to win 12 awards around the world.
Besson's second film, "Subway," starred Christopher Lambert in a Cesar-winning performance (one of 13 Cesar nominations garnered by the film), as a thief on the run who becomes involved with a fantastic subculture of Parisians living in the city's underground. The film gained Besson an international reputation, and is today regarded worldwide as a cult classic.
Besson's 1988 film "The Big Blue," expressing the dreams of Besson's Mediterranean youth, cast Jean Reno as an Italian diver with an unquenchable love for the sea. Besson's first film to be made in English, boasting an international cast, was distributed in the U.S. in a version that suffered various unauthorized alterations, including a changed ending and changes to Eric Serra's score. The intact version of Besson's film, nominated for seven Cesars, was a huge success throughout most of the world and is one of the top five films in French history. His original director's cut was released on DVD last year.
Besson's "La Femme Nikita" was the director's first global sensation, a film that inspired remakes in both the U.S. and Hong Kong. The story of a feral, drug-addicted girl forced to train as a government hit-woman made international stars of leads Anne Parrilaud and Jean Reno, and spawned a new form of thriller: the neo-noir action film. This influence still reverberates throughout world cinema.
In 1991, Besson's "Atlantis," hailed by U.S. critics as an undersea Fantasia and an aquatic dream, was filmed in 16 months all around the world. An exercise in pure film imagery, "Atlantis" dispensed with dialogue and narrative in order to wed Eric Serra's wall-to-wall score to undersea images - a cinematic translation of the filmmaker's own love for the world hidden beneath the ocean.
In 1993, Besson began pre-production on "The Fifth Element," working for over a year refining the script from his own story, and with an international team of artists visualizing its 23rd century setting and characters. When budget concerns put the project at a standstill, Besson turned his hand to another original screenplay, "The Professional." "The Professional" returned to the themes examined in "La Femme Nikita." It starred Jean Reno and Natalie Portman in the story of a hit man who is civilized by his paternal love for a young girl orphaned by a renegade government agent, played by Gary Oldman. The picture was an immediate worldwide success and garnered Cesar nominations for Best Picture and for Besson as Best Director.
In 1997, Besson's sci-fi opus "The Fifth Element," starring Bruce Willis, was released to critical acclaim and box office success. Besson also won a British Academy Award for producing "Nil By Mouth," with Gary Oldman.
Besson's eighth directorial effort, the historical epic "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," starring Milla Jovovich in the title role, came in 1999. That year, he also produced "Taxi 2," directed by Gérard Krawczyk, and "The Dancer," helmed by Fred Garson. In 2001, he produced "Kiss of the Dragon." Then came "15 Août," "Yamakasi," "les Samouraïs des temps modernes" and "Wasabi," a film shot in France and Japan, starring Jean Reno, directed by Gérard Krawczyk.
He produced the thriller "Unleashed," directed by Louis Leterrier, co-wrote and produced "The Transporter" and "Transporter 2," produced and directed "Angel-A," wrote and produced the adventure "Bandidas," executive produced the acclaimed thriller "Tell No One," produced and wrote "Taxi 3" and "Taxi 4," produced the American remake of "Taxi" and produced, co-wrote the screenplay (based on his book) and directed the animated feature "Arthur and the Invisibles."
Besson's many upcoming projects include the Jim Carrey comedy "I Love You Phillip Morris," on which Besson is an executive producer; and "Transporter 3," which he is co-writing and producing.
He is the founder, with Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, of a European cinema studio named Europa, where he will not only produce between 4-8 films a year, but be involved in film distribution and foreign sales, video, and music publishing.

THE ART OF ORIGINAL FILMMAKING

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