Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Photo

<p>Beck (Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock), left, and Travis
(Seann William Scott) attempt to

Beck (Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock), left, and Travis (Seann William Scott) attempt to

Stars unlikely pair on, off set

‘Rundown’ teams The Rock with Seann William Scott

Maybe opposites really do attract.

From Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, to Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, the entertainment industry has shown that the pairing of two seemingly contradicting characters seems to be the formula for box-office success, at least in the non-buddy, buddy-action film genre, if there is such a thing.

If that’s true, then Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) and Seann William Scott might just have a hit on their hands with their upcoming film, “The Rundown.”

For the uninformed, the non-buddy, buddy-action movie is probably better described as a flick where an overly obnoxious individual gets paired up with an all-too-serious counterpart, the two ultimately working together to achieve a common goal. In this case, it’s to find a golden cat hidden in the Amazon forest.

In Universal’s “The Rundown,” Beck (Johnson) is a bounty hunter paid to catch Travis (Scott) in Brazil and return him to the United States to his wealthy father, who has little tolerance for his son’s playful antics. But Beck has even less patience for Travis, who tries to convince Beck to join his treasure hunt for the golden idol. Of course, as in any non-buddy, buddy action movie, the two become good friends by the end of the film, starting a relationship that seems like it could possibly even lead to a sequel.

Although according to the actors, neither one set out to re-create other successful non-buddy, buddy-actions films, like the “Rush Hour” series, the comparisons seem to be inevitable for the two.

“I think that this film is a little different in terms of these guys. Beck is not super-super cool, whereas Chris Tucker is super-super cool,” Johnson said.

“What was really flattering to me was I read a review and this guy wrote that this movie reminded him of ‘48 Hours,’ and not necessarily of the movies that have come out in the last five to seven years. … It was a non-buddy, buddy-action movie where none of the characters took themselves too seriously,” he continued.

According to director Peter Berg, his biggest goal was to create an original project that would be different than the buddy films of the past.

“The only thing I set out to do was to make a fun movie, and we’ll do whatever we can to find some humor,” Berg said.

Although people will still likely compare Johnson and Scott to the cinematic duos of the past, something that visibly sets the two apart could be that Johnson and Scott, who hadn’t seen each other’s previous films before shooting, had become close friends in real life by the end of the project, despite an accident on the set that caused Scott to get stitches.

 “I was in shock, because when he (Johnson) pulled out the knife in rehearsal, I thought ‘that looks real,’ and then when he cut me, I was like, ‘Oh f---!” Scott said.

Nevertheless, the two appear to have found a solid relationship that according to Johnson and Scott, both still value greatly.

“There are many great things that came out of this movie, and one of them is that I gained a friend, Seann. Probably for three to four months, we made it a point to hang together, go out. And I would’ve thought the same thing, like ‘I have nothing in common with this guy,’ but we’re actually alike in many ways,” Johnson said.

HPC Winter 09 Button