Movies - Blacklight : Discover the trailer of the new Liam Neeson action movie 

By Mulder, 09 january 2022

"Blacklight is a very timely story. It's about what's going on behind the scenes, the interference of the federal government, and how the powers that be manipulate the American public to do things with impunity or to make people believe things that aren't necessarily true and aren't necessarily in the best interest of the country. I received a script that was based on the activities of COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program in the 60s and 70s) - a series of secret and illegal operations orchestrated by the FBI and designed to monitor, infiltrate, discredit and disrupt American political organizations. It's an interesting page in American history that has been somewhat forgotten, so I've taken elements of it and integrated them into today's context. Blacklight focuses on a "regulator" with no official status, Travis Block, who is interested in the inner workings of the federal government. His job is to find agents who are in trouble - when they are undercover - and exfiltrate them. It's a simple job, on paper, but the agents are hard to locate and often in grave danger." - Mark Williams

Blacklight is an upcoming American action film written by Nick May and directed by Mark Williams. The film stars Liam Neeson. Blacklight is scheduled to be released in the United States by Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment on February 11, 2022 in the United States and February 23, 2022 in France.

The production of Blacklight used LED Light Wall projectors and the Unreal Engine, an innovative video game engine that allows for the filming of exciting, fast-paced action scenes. Melbourne, the capital of new technology and creativity, is pioneering this cinematic revolution - and Blacklight is one of the first productions to do so. By using virtual filming techniques, Mark Williams has succeeded in imagining chase scenes of wild ambition.

"Mark and Guy Norris, our 2nd team director in charge of the action scenes, came up with the idea of a multi-part sequence where we see a garbage truck destroying everything in its path, chased by Block (Liam Neeson), driving his precious Dodge Challenger," says producer Paul Currie.

"We also wanted to have some interaction between Liam and the other lead actor, but when you mix high-risk action scenes with dialogue, the shooting conditions become extremely difficult," Currie adds. "With virtual production, we were able to get the shots we needed safely and shoot exciting action scenes based on the psychology of the characters.

Shooting these scenes using virtual production technology at the Melbourne Convention Centre had many other advantages: it solved scheduling constraints during the holiday season, allowed actors and stuntmen to focus more on their jobs, and allowed the production to significantly reduce crew travel during the Covid-19 pandemic. "With this technology, we get more authentic acting and more exhilarating and memorable action scenes in a safe and controlled environment," the producer adds. "Because we had already shot Liam's most important dialogue scenes, we could focus totally on the action when we were on location.

The action is so central that the production really focused on getting the best people possible. The team was led by veteran Hollywood stunt director Mark Vanselow, who has worked with Liam Neeson on 15 projects. It's safe to say they understand each other. Vanselow knows the actor's style of action inside out, so he creates scenes that look natural on film.

The production assembled a talented Australian team around Mark Vanselow, including stuntman Jon Iles, martial arts expert Richard Norton and action director and stuntmaster Guy Norris. Jon Iles was hired as a military and weapons consultant. Developing realistic and accurate protocols for the FBI and believable weapons handling were essential to make the characters believable. Combat coordinator Richard Norton worked with Australian stunt legend Guy Norris. They had already collaborated on Mad Max Fury Road and Suicide Squad. Each fight scene was designed and developed by the team before being rehearsed by Mark Williams and Liam Neeson.

Several young actors who were not used to action or fight scenes trained with Richard Norton or Jon Iles when they were not on set. They worked on their fighting techniques and weapons handling, especially for the major confrontation at Robinson's house. Guy Norris also served as 2nd team director for the spectacular garbage truck scene that took place in the streets of Canberra.

Synopsis: 
Travis Block intervenes on behalf of the FBI when all other options have been exhausted. His methods often involve the hard way. When he is ordered to silence an agent who wants to expose the Bureau's methods to the press, he realizes that he has become a pawn in a terrible scheme. Determined to get the truth out, he sets out to fight the people he's used to working with. But when his adversaries attack those closest to him, Travis turns his methods against his former employers and shows no mercy.

Blacklight
Directed by Mark Williams
Screenplay by Nick May Mark Williams
Story by Nick May, Brandon Reavis
Produced by Mark Williams, Paul Currie, Myles Nestel, Alevé Loh, Coco Xiaolu Ma
Starring Liam Neeson, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Taylor John Smith, Aidan Quinn
Cinematography : Shelly Johnson
Edited by Michael P. Shawver
Music by Mark Isham
Production companies : Zero Gravity Management, Footloose Productions, The Solution Entertainment Group, Sina Studios, Fourstar Films, Elevate Production Finance
Distributed by Briarcliff Entertainment, The Solution Entertainment Group Sina Studios; Metropolitan (France)
Release date : February 11, 2022 (United States), February 22, 2022 (France)
Running time : 108 minutes

(Source : press kit)