Happy “Battle: Los Angeles” week, folks! We’ve been eagerly tracking this so-out-there-it’s-gotta-be-awesome project for awhile around these parts, and with Ne-Yo joining the cast it’s gotten even more interesting. Aliens, scandal-plagued rappers, Harvey Dent kicking ass -– as cameras begin rolling on the February 2011 flick, what more do you need?
One of the more interesting aspects of the film emerged earlier this year, when we interviewed filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman, who oversaw “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning” and this year’s impressive Sundance thriller “The Killing Room.” At the time, the only actor who had come on board the aliens-invade-Los Angeles film was Aaron Eckhart, and Liebesman said that the star was planning to channel Dirty Harry.
“He’s like a Clint Eastwood-esque leader of the platoon,” Liebesman said of the “Dark Knight” actor’s first true action hero role.
But on Tuesday, we caught up with Eckhart himself as he promoted his September 18th romantic film “Love Happens” – and he was quick to distance himself from any Eastwood link. “Let’s see… well… I don’t know about...,” the actor sputtered when we told him of his director’s comparison. “Uh, you know Clint Eastwood is Clint Eastwood. Nobody can do what he can do. But I’ll just try to do what Jonathan wants me to do.”
At least the duo have the same mindset in terms of what they’re hoping to make the movie like. “Jonathan’s gonna make it real, like a ‘Black Hawk Down’ sort of feel. Very real; we just got through boot camp,” Eckhart said of his training. “We start tomorrow.”
“It’s gonna be an intense, action killer movie,” he said excitedly of the film, which is currently shooting in the area of Shreveport, Louisiana. “It’s about a squad of Marines that goes and takes on aliens. It’s gonna be a kick-butt movie.”
Eckhart as a badasss: is it about time, is he too nice a guy, or did “In the Company of Men” and “Thank You For Smoking” hint at an inner Clint that has yet to be seen?
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