Director John Hillcoat On Why He Needed An Epic Ensemble Cast To Pull Off "Triple 9"
The Australian filmmaker—who's made three movies set in different times and places—on going grim in today's crime-riddled Atlanta.
In the first scene of Triple 9, director John Hillcoat hides a bunch of famous faces under masks: Anthony Mackie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Aaron Paul, and Clifton Collins Jr. all hide their faces for a bold daytime bank robbery scene in the middle of downtown Atlanta, while another famous face—Norman Reedus—guides them through the heist and the subsequent getaway. Over the next 20 minutes of the film, we get hit with even more recognizable stars: Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson show up as the detectives investigating the crime, Kate Winslet and Gal Gadot appear as members of a Russian-Israeli crime family pulling strings on both sides, and Michael Kenneth Williams makes a memorable cameo as a transvestite.