Taking on the role of the “man on fire” is two-time Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington, who previously worked with Tony Scott on the thriller CRIMSON TIDE. Scott recognized certain qualities in the actor that would serve him well as Creasy. “I love Denzel’s obsessive quality and his internal darkness,” says the director. “There’s a hardness to Denzel that’s really interesting. He knows how to draw it out and use it effectively. Denzel really brings across how Creasy closes himself off as a defense mechanism against the world. So when his heart does begin to thaw, it’s all the more moving.”
“Creasy has lost himself in alcohol, lost his purpose and life, and couldn’t cope with what he had done as a government operative/assassin and what he is good at,” says Washington. “He is detached, and that’s what happens when you kill people for a living. Creasy is a lost soul who no longer has the ability to love, and through this little girl, he finds himself and reconnects with his soul and life.”
Indeed, despite his initial resistance to Pita, Creasy cannot resist the youngster, who is bubbling over with life and spirit. “She’s just exploding with possibility, emotion and curiosity – all the things Creasy has rejected and denied himself,” says Washington.
Tony Scott and producer Lucas Foster cast Dakota Fanning as Pita after they saw her work opposite Sean Penn in the drama I AM SAM. Their pursuit of and faith in the young actress was more than rewarded. “Dakota is among the most talented actresses I’ve ever worked with, and she’s only nine!” says Foster. “She’s like the sun – a burst of energy.” Adds Scott, “Dakota is uncanny – she’s nine going on 19. She has an instinctual understanding of human nature. We’d be watching Denzel improvise or pull and push scenes in different ways, and she was always able to go with the flow.”
Fanning describes Pita as a girl who “loves life and loves to swim.” In fact, the character’s aquatic abilities play a major role in bringing her and Creasy together when the hardened bodyguard reluctantly agrees to coach her in a swimming competition. While Washington trained to move and think like a bodyguard under technical advisor and executive protection expert Don Rosche, Fanning worked for months on her swimming, Spanish lessons (Pita, with a Mexican father and American mother, is bi-lingual), and piano lessons. She also spent considerable off-screen time with her on-screen parents, Marc Anthony and Radha Mitchell, to help them bond as a family.
Bringing Creasy together with Pita and her family is Rayburn, an old friend of Creasy’s who has found success south of the border. At first, Scott had Oscar winner Christopher Walken in mind to play corrupt lawyer Jordan Kalfus (a role eventually taken by Mickey Rourke). “But I told Tony that I was fed up with playing bad guys,” says Walken, with a laugh. “I wanted to play the good guy!” Scott was more than happy to oblige and gave Walken the part of Rayburn. “Chris can read the phone book and make it interesting and funny. He brings a lot of dynamic shadings to Rayburn.”
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