Josh Hartnett talks 'Operation Fortune'
Action-comedy reteams star with "Wrath of Man" director Guy Ritchie.
Video Transcript
- You can't catch this fish with conventional lures.
- I'm sorry? The lure being?
- Danny Francesco.
- The movie star?
- Greg Simmons' favorite movie star.
- And how do we get him?
[DING]
- Blackmail.
JOSH HARTNETT: It was actually written, the arc anyway. And all the dialogue changed when we were on set, and a lot of the scenes as well. I'm sensing a pattern. I think this is the way Guy likes to work. And I like to work that way too. It gives you less time-- I mean, Hugh and I talked about this in a couple of interviews. It gives us less time to sort of sweat and be freaked out about the end product because we have no idea what we're going to shoot.
So-- so we just have to kind of go with it, which it works out. The dialogue in the film is 90% different from what's on the page in the script. What I really love about Guy, and he's right to do this because it's a visual medium, you read a script and it looks great on the page, but if you get it up on its feet and it's not working, well, change it. There's no shame in that.
- You're an actor. Act.
- OK. [CLEARS THROAT] I'm ready.
JOSH HARTNETT: It's a lot of fun to be able to make fun of or just have fun with something that you're related to and you know a lot about. I've never met anyone quite as narcissistic, maybe sociopathic, maybe bonkers as Danny in this industry. But there are stories of people and I've met some people that are close. And it is fun to make fun of. And I think that people-- it's also people's perceptions of actors that you want to play with a little bit. This is kind of how people see us. I mean, everybody hates actors. We're-- we're the worst.
I've been talking about this sort of moment in my life for 15 years now. And just, like, every time I talk about it, it gets more muddled in the press. And I feel like I kind of have said everything I can say about it. This has always been an industry full of opportunity. And I've been extremely lucky to have 25 years in this business, and make great films with really interesting directors, and be able to play a bunch of disparate characters. And I'm really happy to be working with the people I'm working with right now. I find it remarkable and very lucky that I'm here after 25 years. It's bizarre. I never actually planned on this being a career, necessarily. It's now my life.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
