Michael Davis - Shoot 'Em Up

For the Writers Guild of America, West, Denis Faye talks to writer-director Michael Davis about his new film, Shoot 'Em Up (opening in the UK on Friday).

How do you go about conceiving your action sequences and how does that tie into plot and character?

I think you should, within an action sequence, try to move the story and the character along. Clive Owen, in my movie, is the angriest man in the world. The little injustices in life irritate him. If someone in front of him is a bad driver, he gets angry and he does something, running the guy off the road.

In the opening scene, I wanted to establish he is this angry man, so not only is he delivering a baby in the middle of a gunfight, but right as that is happening, he shoots off a guy's ponytail because he thinks the guy's trying to look young and cool when he's an old fart. In killing the guy, it's not just a kill, it reveals character. He shoots the ponytail off and blows off the back of the guy's skull, so within action, I'm learning who this guy is.

Shoot 'Em Up trailer