In David Mackenzie’s Fuze, Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) arrives at a construction site to defuse an unexploded bomb from WWII while Chief Superintendent Zuzana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) works to ensure no one is in harm’s way, unaware that Karalis (Theo James) and X (Sam Worthington) are tunneling into a bank vault to pull off a heist while law enforcement has all its attention focused elsewhere.
Awards Buzz spoke with Mackenzie about returning to the Toronto International Film Festival with a second consecutive world premiere after last year’s Relay:
“They’ve both got Sam Worthington, and I’ve worked with an editor, Matt Mayer, on both of them, who I’ve not worked with before. I think the way we’ve edited them both is similar, that we’re always trying to slightly jump cut every scene or every shot so it’s got a propulsive energy. It’s a bit twitchy. I think Relay was more of a slow brew twitchiness whereas this is a bit more of a nervous twitch all the way through it. I think that’s what the aspiration for the experience is. It’s interesting, actually, talking today, because Relay’s relatively fresh in the people I’ve been speaking to’s minds. I do feel like there are connections between the two. They’re very different films, but calling it a sibling is quite a sweet way of putting it.”
He spoke about using the city of London as his latest playground:
“I’ve often thought that London is a place that doesn’t necessarily always look good on films. It can look downbeat. We chose this part of London mainly around Edgware Road, which is a very multicultural part of London with a range of economic status, et cetera. It’s a microcosm of London, but it’s also quite pretty. It was important to me to try and show London in a good light and to celebrate it, and hopefully we’ve achieved that. Obviously, the film includes closing down big parts of Edgware Road, which is a big street. That was a challenge, but we did it.”
Watch the video above to hear about incorporating genre elements into a purely entertaining film, learning about bombs, and how he views the course of his career.
Fuze opens in theatres on Friday, April 24th.
