Shooting Action

An Interview with Renny Harlin

by Scott Essman | Published February 3, 2007

Finnish director Renny Harlin has been actively making big-budget, action films in the U.S. since the mid-1980s, when he made a splash with the high-profile sequels A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Warriors and Die Hard 2: Die Harder. Since then, Harlin has gone on to direct numerous mainstream action pictures, including Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Deep Blue Sea. From the set of his latest movie, the auto-racing-themed Driven, written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, Harlin reflects on conceiving action sequences for his films, making them happen on set, and why he longs to someday cross genres.

MovieMaker: What are you criteria for choosing a movie? Why the penchant for action films?

Renny Harlin: When I started out as a film director, which was my lifelong dream, I wanted to make action films because I found them exciting, interesting and challenging. It was like a big sandbox with all the toys you could play with. It was also a way for me to use my imagination and visual sense to give people something really entertaining. When it comes to Driven, for me, this is a lifelong dream. I have been a racing fan since I was a kid. A couple of years ago, Sly and I-who are friends-put our heads together and said, 'We both love racing; we travel around the world to all of these Formula One races; why don't we try to put together a movie about this?'

MM: Was it tough to sell Driven as more than just another car chase flick?

RH: Yeah, but we had two selling points: First of all, it is not like a traditional Stallone movie, because it is really about the ensemble of four ambitious men - the drama between the different drivers against the backdrop of racing. Also, there hasn't really been this type of a race car movie since Grand Prix. The technology we have now, in terms of both digital sound and visuals allows us to give the audience an experience that is absolutely beyond what they have seen before. Having now shot 52 days of our 70 days, I can tell you that the audience is going to experience what it is like to be strapped in a car, in the driver's place, going 240 miles-per-hour on a track. It's the ultimate ride. I haven't had this much fun in years. I feel so alive and I am so excited every day I go to the set. Just seeing the results of what we are shooting, I cannot wait to show the audience what it is going to look like.

MM: How do you go about writing the action sequences into the actual script? Or is this something that is done at a later point?

RH: I've never seen a script that describes the action in terms of how it is going to be shot. What I always do in the early stages of pre-production is storyboard everything, build miniatures of the sets, and use little miniature cameras to look around it. I always look for that angle that would give a most unusual way of seeing the subject, and it doesn't have to be the point of view of the human eye. On the contrary, it should be the point of view of something where the human eye can never be. In Driven, I am trying to make the camera like this strange bird that is following these cars and flying around them and giving the audience a head-spinning experience of what it's really like to be there instead of being an observer.

MM: Give me an example of the thought process you go through when designing one of your much revered action shots.

RH: I am doing a sequence in one of the races where there are two guys competing for the victory. The other one wins just by a matter of inches as they come down the main straightaway, 240-mph towards us. One car passes the other just by inches right before the finish line. I have this wide straightaway, and I have the race cars. What I am going to do is place the camera on a crane in the middle of the raceway. The cars are going to be coming toward me [at] over 200 mph, and my camera is low-right on the level of the asphalt. The cars are going to split the camera, left and right. As they come toward me, I crane up fast and tilt down, so that I see them under me as they are about to cross the finish line . But right there -where they would obviously zip past me so fast you could never tell what happened-I am going to morph into digital cars. You will never be able to tell whether they are real or digital. The time freezes on these cars that are just smoking past the camera. They go past the finish line as if you had shot it 5,000 frames-per-second. In extreme slow motion, you see the smoke from the tires and how the cars are reacting to the G-forces. You see, extremely slowly, how they go over the finish line. You see clearly that the other car wins by inches. Then, in a flash, you go back into normal time and the cars rocket past you.

MM: What is it like directing Sylvester Stallone, a man who obviously has a ton of experience both in front of and behind the camera?

RH: My main direction to Sly is don't do the Rambo, low-voiced, tough guy thing. Just be you-a normal, nice, vulnerable human being. His character is a failure in this movie. He's not a champion, but he's learning that it's not about who crosses the finish line first. It's about coming to terms with your demons and finding some kind of meaning in your life.

MM: With so many large-scale, action films under your belt, do you ever have an urge to work on a smaller film in some other genre?

RH: I would love to make a movie that has no explosions, no effects; [a movie that is] totally about people. When I read about Cameron Crowe doing this great movie, I was not jealous, but I thought, 'Somebody, please give me that chance one day, to be able to tell that type of story.' I have had this conversation with Sly many times. He said, 'You're great with drama, but how can you give up this big stuff?' Ultimately, I have to come to terms with that and say 'What do I really want to do with my life, who do I want to be, and who do I want to be remembered as?' Maybe there's a balance and I could do both.

For more information on Renny Harlin, link to: http://www.rennyharlin.com

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Comment by Redding Speed on 12/28/08 at 10:46 pm: Nice resume of movies. He’s directed some great hits!
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