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Take Me Back to Chicago
January 4, 2007

I had a chance to talk with filmmaker Andrew Davis last week, the director of such memorable action thrillers as The Fugitive, Chain Reaction and The Package, not to mention two good Steven Seagal flicks—Above the Law and Under Siege. His latest film, The Guardian starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, will be released on DVD by Buena Vista on January 23.

We spoke a lot about The Guardian, of course, which is loaded with supplements, including a director’s commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, an alternate ending and a tribute to the real-life Coast Guard rescuers who are the subject of the film. But Davis was at his most lively when talking about his hometown of Chicago, the setting for many of his films, including his very first, 1978’s Stony Island, which has yet to receive a release on any home entertainment platform. Also known as My Main Man from Stony Island, it’s an R&B musical/drama that stars Dennis Franz, Rae Dawn Chong and Susannah Hoffs (whose mother, Tamar Simon Hoffs, co-wrote and co-produced the film with Davis). More impressive credits abound as it scored by David Sanborn and shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Tak Fujimoto.

“It’s my first movie and I want to get it out on DVD,” Davis told us. “People will get a chance to see a real interesting view of growing up in Chicago.”

Davis kicked off his career as a second-unit cameraman on the seminal 1968 docu-drama Medium Cool. That said, he’s always on the lookout for “the real thing” when he’s making movies. And just as Stony Island offers the feel and grit of its low-budget Windy City locations, The Guardian’s Coast Guard training sequences “are as real as it gets,” according to Davis.

“Filmmaking is all about where you put your energies, but it certainly creates a statement to the cast and crew when you inject real life stuff onto the set,” says Davis

Posted by Laurence Lerman on January 4, 2007 | Comments (0)