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Dreams Are Made Of This
For young actor Shawn Roberts, acting opposite Gibbo and being directed by Martin Campbell in Edge Of Darkness are a dream come true.
In Edge Of Darkness, Mel Gibson plays Craven, a Boston Homicide detective whose grown daughter is gunned down on his doorstep. Craven then goes on a rampage to identify and hunt down her killer, which leads him to the top-secret nuclear facility where his daughter had been working.
Within this feature film-length re-working of the BBC mini-series, both directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), a sinister and tense atmosphere is created. Punctuated by sudden violence, Edge Of Darkness is reminiscent of edgy paranoid thrillers such as The Parallax View and Manchurian Candidate, as well as similarly themed movies such as The Limey, Taken, Get Carter and other Gibson vehicles Payback and Ransom.
In the course of his revenge-fuelled investigation, Craven tracks down his daughter's boyfriend, played with a nervy toughness by Shawn Roberts. It's a case of kick-ass first, ask questions later.
Quickly making a name for himself as one of Hollywood's young leading men, the Canadian-born Shawn Roberts is currently filming a lead role in Resident Evil: Afterlife and he recently co-starred in I Love You, Beth Cooper for director Chris Columbus.
In addition, Roberts has starred in horror flicks such as George A. Romero's Diary Of The Dead and Skinwalkers. Other film credits include Land Of The Dead also directed by Romero, X-Men and the successful Canadian teen comedy Going The Distance.
Roberts was raised in Stratford, Ontario and began acting professionally at age 12 when he landed a lead role on the TV series Emily Of New Moon which was produced by Academy Award-winning producer Michael Donovan. Following the completion of the show's successful run, Roberts has worked continuously in film and television.
The young actor's enthusiasm for his new movie release bubbled down the phone line as we discussed his small but plum role playing opposite Hollywood heavyweight Mel Gibson.
"I play the role of Daniel Burnham, the boyfriend of Mel's character, Craven's daughter Emma. Craven pays me a visit to find out more about us and we have a couple of conversations. I'm introduced, basically in a state where I am waiting for a knock on the door that will determine my own fate."
Roberts admits that he didn't watch the original mini-series for reference, but adds that he was well-versed in the storyline. "Of all the people in the story, I am the one who pushes him [Craven] forward, so to speak. His daughter has been murdered, and so he's the kind of guy willing to go the extra mile to find out what happened. I, of course, am on the other side, fearing for my own life. So the tensions are high on both ends."
As for playing opposite Mel, Roberts describes it as an incredible opportunity. "It was a little nerve-racking, actually. We got to sit down and go through the scenes a week or two before we went to film them. Mel is exactly the kind of guy that you wanna be working with and everything you hoped he would be. He's charming and fun and has this unique sense of humour and he helps to create an atmosphere that's really great for good work. And Martin [Campbell] is just incredible, giving us the time to be able to do our best work, as well. Everybody is clear about what we are doing and what the shots are. Communication was really clear and we got the opportunity to take the time and talk things through. It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
It seems director Martin Campbell has a knack for combining big action set-pieces with an intimate, human-interest storyline. Roberts agrees, adding, "It was definitely one of the biggest independent movies I have worked on. At the time we were filming it was independent, and just the scale and magnitude of the production was incredible. A lot of the stuff that we shot in Boston was on location, like in a real house with neighbours and dogs barking and such. It was very real. As the production came together, we got the opportunity to go back and add a little more to the scenes, with some re-shoots. Martin wanted to add to the scenes, to amp up the tension."
While Roberts doesn't have any participation in any of the elaborately-staged action sequences, he claims the size of his role (only two scenes) didn't have any bearing on his decision to sign on. "Well, it was a Martin Campbell film starring Mel Gibson. That was enough for me to take whatever steps necessary to try to get on board. We were on the same page from the get-go. Martin's such a loving and warm man and why wouldn't anybody be jumping at the chance to work with this guy? We clicked from the first meeting and next thing you know we were in Boston shooting it and then back in LA for the re-shoots, recreating the house on a sound stage. It was just one day after the other of things that I have dreamed about since I was a kid."
Edge Of Darkness is in cinemas from February 4, 2010.
Picture caption: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images