“American Ultra”
has thus far been shrouded in mystery, with fans only knowing the
barest of details beyond the title. Now, MTV News can bring you the
first picture from the film, as well as the first two teaser posters,
featuring stars Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg.
Director Nima Nourizadeh broke down the plot of the dark comedy for
us, and told us a little bit about what to expect from Eisenberg and
Stewart in the movie. (Hint: action! Romance! Adventure!) But to start
things off, let’s meet our stars.
Meet Mike and Phoebe, in this very first still from the film.
They look pretty spooked, don’t they? Sit tight, there’s good reason for that.
This is Mike. “He’s got this life that seems pretty kind of lame to most people if they would see it from the outside, but he seems super content,” Nourizadeh said. “He doesn’t have a lot of responsibilities in life, he’s just been going out with this girl Phoebe.”
Eisenberg wore a wig for this role, an accessory that Nourizadeh said
helped him slip into the part. “You look at Jesse and he’s got like long
hair and he’s just like a stoner, slacker guy…As soon as that wig’s on
his head you just had a much more slower, low-key vibe about him.”
“His main motivation in the movie really right now at the beginning anyways is to propose to her. He’s in love with her, that’s his life, he wants to propose to her.”
Stewart’s hair, too, was a big part of bringing her character to life.
“We dyed her hair like orangey-red, and that made her look so different.
So there’s a kind of slightly scruffy look to her but she still looks
so amazing,” Nourizadeh said. “When you watch the movie, you know,
you’ll see like Kristen playing the character that you wouldn’t expect
her to necessarily. I think she’s funny. There’s stuff that when you
watch the movie, you go, ’Ah, that’s a good one. I’ve never seen her
like that!'”
Nourizadeh also offered some clarity on the plot of the movie.
Eisenberg’s character, Mike, is planning to propose to Phoebe (Stewart).
But when he goes to take her out of town, he starts having severe panic
attacks. Soon, it’s revealed that Mike is a sort of sleeper agent, and
the government is trying to eliminate him. Uh-oh. How will these two
stoners in love, who Nourizadeh says are “not, like, super in touch with
what’s going on necessarily,” outsmart the forces that are trying to
take them down?
The director stressed that “American Ultra” is a genre buster,
crossing conventions left and right. There’s action, adventure, comedy
and love. (Yes, prepare to see Stewart and Eisenberg kick some ass.)
“You start with this kind of like sweet love story,” Nourizadeh said.
“I don’t want to turn people off with that, but what’s really unique
about this movie is the fact that it’s like this kind of crazy
action-comedy, but really at the core there is this like romance and
there’s this love story where all he wants to do is to propose to her.
Really if you look at it, the action that comes into play is basically
the stuff that’s softening it. It’s like the hurdles that you have to
like overcome.
“His world just gets turned upside down and he starts to realize who
he actually is. For a lot of the movie, he’s just like unaware of what’s
going on, why these people are trying to kill him, and he soon finds
out. It’s just this weird sort of entertaining, well-rounded, totally
unique movie, I think where you know you’ll be laughing one minute,
you’ll be hopefully quite shocked at some of the action that we did.
It’s violent, it’s graphic, it’s funny, it’s silly at times, you know
it’s just got so many things going on that its hard to actually define
really.”
“American Ultra” hits theaters August 21.
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