VIDEO: END OF WATCH's Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña On Shooting Own Footage For Movie

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña take you on a LAPD ride-along in their new film END OF WATCH, but to accomplish the first-person experience, the actors took on the role of camera man. According to END OF WATCH director, Gyllenhaal and Peña were not keen on the idea initially, but the actors deny that accusation in our interview.

 

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña play LAPD officers and partners in END OF WATCH. Best known for his gritty-urban films (Street Kings, Harsh Times) set on the streets of Los Angeles, END OF WATCH writer/director David Ayer wanted to give his next film a very realistic portrayal and opted to shoot with multiple cameras including hand-held and strapped on cameras which the actors had to operate. The writer on Training Day and The Fast and the Furious accomplished the first-person view with his adopted methods, but sometimes at the expense of the actors. The boys strapped cameras to their bodies and carried around miniature cameras to capture their every move.  Director David Ayer lets us in on a little secret - Jake and Michael were not thrilled about adding cameraman to their resumes… at first.

During Pili Montilla's sit down with Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, Gyllenhaal refutes the charge that they weren't willing, and joked that David "likes to stir things up."  Peña did fess up about his one complaint of having to change in and out of the camera vests, but once he saw the footage he was shooting he was sold on the idea.

END OF WATCH is in movie theaters September 21, 2012.