Looking at the cast of Homefront there are a lot of interesting actors playing supporting roles to Jason Statham. Winona Ryder is bad guy James Franco’s badass biker mistress. Kate Bosworth is Franco’s meth’ed up sister making trouble. Not to mention Sylvester Stallone as the screenwriter. Then you have Frank Grillo as the tough guy Franco calls in to rough up Statham. We’ve been Frank Grillo fans for years, but especially after The Grey and Warrior. So when we asked to speak with Grillo about Homefront, we were thrilled he obliged. He’s still got a big year coming up with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and a new TV series for DirecTV, so it’s a particularly good time to talk to Frank Grillo.
CraveOnline: So how does it feel to be the guy they call in to rough up Jason Statham?
Frank Grillo: You know what I’m saying? [Laughs] It was fun. Part of the reason I did the movie was because I know Jason a little bit. He’s a physical guy and I love that stuff. I knew it would be a lot of fun. It was cool.
Did you get to ride the motorcycles for real?
Just very, very briefly. My character, the leader of the gang so to speak, actually gets driven around in a big badass SUV so unfortunately I didn’t get to ride as much as Gary Fleder, the director, told me I would but yeah, those guys did ride the bikes.
How did the fight scenes with Jason compare to the other action movies you’ve done?
I’m a fairly experienced mixed martial artist and boxer and Jason is also an experienced martial artist, [and] the guys who were training us, our stunt guys who created the fight sequences, were the guys I worked with on Warrior. So I knew them very well and trusted them. Really they created amazing fight sequences with him, really authentic and dirty and messy. I actually recently saw a cut of the film and Gary Fleder did a really great job. Jason and I had a lot of fun and I think that’s what the movie is. It’s a fun movie. It’s a fast 90 minutes.
How many days did you have to shoot the fight in the meth house?
We had a couple days. They gave us a couple days to shoot the fights. They were pretty complicated fight sequences so it took a couple days to make sure no one got hurt. You’ve got to create a dance basically so it just takes a fair amount of time. With Statham, that’s his bread and butter. I guess at this point, he’s kind of the king of that.
Did anyone take any blows by accident?
I did. I took a couple. I think he took a couple. It’s funny, because I just had this experience on Captain America, once you’re fighting, once you get a couple guys who are fighting, it’s pretty hard to hold back and make it real. So you’ve got to know going into it that you’re going to take a couple of lumps.
That’s what I thought.
Yeah, Jason and I were pretty beat up afterwards.
Did you ever have a chance to talk to Stallone about this character?
No, I did not. I wasn’t on the set, if he did come, I wasn’t there, but I spoke through Gary Fleder who was in constant communication with Sly. Sly was very specific about how he wanted this all to look. They respected that and we tried our hardest to make Mr. Stallone proud.
Yeah, I wouldn’t expect he’d come to the set but I didn’t know if he was involved to the extent of talking to the actors about what he wanted. I think you can tell the very Stallone values in the film.
Yeah, they’re very clear-cut. There’s not a lot of room for gray. It’s very black and white, but I think they don’t really make movies like that anymore, the ‘70s kind of action films, the Charles Bronsons. I think that’s what Jason Statham does. I think that’s what Stallone does is keep that alive.
Interesting you reference Charles Bronson. Is it true you were Joe Carnahan’s first choice when he was going to do Death Wish?
It’s interesting because I was, but it was a two-hander. It was all about Charlie Bronson in those films. In this movie, it was a two-hander in the sense that it was two brothers. I was going to play one of the brothers and then there was going to be another brother. I just don’t think, creatively, Joe and the studio saw eye-to-eye on who he wanted to cast and who they wanted to cast. Eventually it kind of fell apart but when I tell you, because I’m a fan of the Death Wish films, it is such a spectacular script, I hope it comes back around because it’d be a shame if they don’t make this movie.
How close did they get to casting the other brother?
You know, they came pretty close and I don’t know what’s happening with the film. It might go on to live with another director. Obviously Joe wrote the movie but it might go on to live with another director. Fox has a stable of actors at that level they like to use. It’s a crazy business, you never really know.
