\n<\/p>\n
\n\tA ticking bomb in the heart of London sets the stage for \u201cFuze,\u201d a taut new British crime thriller from director David Mackenzie. The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, combines the urgency of a heist film with the dread of an unexploded World War II bomb unearthed at a bustling construction site.<\/p>\n
\n\tWritten by Ben Hopkins, the feature stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Sam Worthington. As the military and police scramble to evacuate the city against the clock, chaos unfolds across London\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor Mackenzie, whose credits include the best picture-nominated \u201cHell or High Water\u201d and \u201cOutlaw King,\u201d the concept was born years ago.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI wanted to mash up the tensions of the heist movie with an unexploded bomb movie,\u201d Mackenzie tells Variety <\/em>in the TIFF Studio. \u201cIn the U.K., there\u2019s always a discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb somewhere. Evacuations are forced, and they\u2019re often blown up in situ. It felt like a very real thing to lean into. With \u2018Fuze,\u2019 I just wanted to make something purely entertaining, visceral and cinematic \u2014 not trying to be a message film. It\u2019s a high-tension, hopefully enjoyable ride.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAt just over 90 minutes, Mackenzie calls it his leanest feature yet: \u201cI genuinely want the audience to feel a sense of relief that it\u2019s over and to have had a good, entertaining experience of a thrilling, high-tension, modern heist movie.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMbatha-Raw, who plays Chief Superintendent Zuzana, says she was drawn to the project\u2019s realism and immediacy.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen I read the script, it felt so propulsive, almost like it was playing out in real time,\u201d she shares. \u201cI hadn\u2019t played a police officer before, and I was excited to tackle something this grounded and gritty. I got to meet with London-based police officers and observe command centers like the one my character oversees. That was a fascinating insight.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMbatha-Raw praises Mackenzie\u2019s style: \u201cHis long takes and constantly moving camera feel so authentic and exhilarating. Watching it with an audience for the first time, I was on the edge of my seat \u2014 even though I knew what was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWorthington, who reunites with Mackenzie after several collaborations, said his character X didn\u2019t exist in early drafts.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI just phoned David and said, \u2018What can I do in this one?\u2019 He told me all the roles were gone,\u201d Worthington recalls. \u201cBut when I read it, I thought I could do something with this henchman figure in Theo\u2019s gang. I asked him to let me create something, and David gave me that trust. That freedom allowed me to help serve the story and be a foil for Theo.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWorthington, best known for his role as Jake Sully in James Cameron\u2019s \u201cAvatar\u201d franchise, added that Mackenzie\u2019s confidence in his actors keeps him coming back: \u201cHe trusts me, which is fantastic. Then you can just go and create.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlongside Taylor-Johnson and James, the cast builds tension through two opposing forces \u2014 the bomb squad and the robbery gang.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey\u2019re both really strong actors, deeply committed to what they\u2019re doing,\u201d Mackenzie says of Taylor-Johnson and James. \u201cAaron brings a very real representation of the Army EOD squad, while Theo delivers this visceral energy as part of the robbery crew. It was great to work with them both.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile Mackenzie called \u201cFuze\u201d his \u201cpure cinematic entertainment\u201d effort, he teased a passion project long in the works: an adaptation of a generational spaceship travel novel spanning 100 years.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly complex, a 190-page script at the moment,\u201d he admits. \u201cIf realized properly, it could be a heck of a trip. That\u2019s something I\u2019d still love to find a home for.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFor Mbatha-Raw, the role marked another chance to explore range. \u201cI\u2019d love to do a two-hander on film \u2014 something really intimate and soulful. I\u2019m always looking for characters with depth,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd for Worthington, with off \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d on the horizon, \u201cFuze\u201d proved another chance to collaborate with a trusted director. \u201cIt\u2019s all about whether a movie connects with an audience,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it does, you hope you get the chance to keep telling these stories.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWorthington also offered an update on James Cameron\u2019s sprawling \u201cAvatar\u201d sequels. He confirmed that Avatar 2 and 3 were shot together, with portions of 4 filmed as well to accommodate the younger cast\u2019s aging. \u201cThere was a scene or two where the kids had to be the same age, so we shot that back in 2018 or 2019,\u201d he explains. He added that Cameron has written Avatar 4 and 5 in full, teasing that the saga will jump forward in time if audiences continue to embrace the films. \u201cWe\u2019re not arrogant enough to assume they\u2019ll keep connecting, but if they do, we get to keep telling the story.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWorthington also addressed the uncertain future of Kevin Costner\u2019s \u201cHorizon\u201d saga, in which he had a significant role. He confirms that Costner had mapped out and written four films, with Worthington having read all of them, but the project\u2019s continuation now rests in limbo. \u201cThat was Costner\u2019s passion project \u2014 he\u2019d been working on it for 10 years,\u201d Worthington says. \u201cIt all comes down to whether the audience connects. The passion is always there, but sometimes it\u2019s just about whether it\u2019s the right time for people to embrace it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A ticking bomb in the heart of London sets the stage for \u201cFuze,\u201d a taut new British crime thriller from director David Mackenzie. The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, combines the urgency of a heist film with the dread of an unexploded World War II bomb unearthed at a bustling construction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[11998,11996,11997,5794,11681,11995],"class_list":{"0":"post-19568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-fuze","9":"tag-gugu","10":"tag-mbatharaw","11":"tag-sam","12":"tag-tiff","13":"tag-worthington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}