Roswell Fanatics

Hanks/Blair in Homeland Security ::09.27.06::
Posted by: Liam Source: Variety

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Colin Hanks and Selma Blair will join Antonio Banderas and Meg Ryan in George Gallo's romantic comedy Homeland Security.

The story follows an uptight young federal agent who finds himself having to spy on his sexually liberated mother and her new lover after the FBI links him to an international art theft ring. Shooting starts October 2ng in Shreveport, La.

Hanks last appeared in Peter Jackson's King Kong. He next stars in The Great Buck Howard. Among Selma Blair's upcoming credits will be Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy sequel which is scheduled for release in 2008.

As an added bonus, here's a look at an announcement poster for the film which recently appeared in Variety...

Director's passion, star chemistry liven up 'Homeland Security'
October 23, 2006

George Gallo's partial credits
"Homeland Security" 2007 (director, writer)
"The Whole Ten Yards" 2004 (writer)
"See Spot Run" 2001 (writer)
"Double Take" 2001 (director, writer)
"Trapped in Paradise" 1994 (director, writer)
"29th Street" 1991 (director, writer)
"Midnight Run" 1988 (writer)
"Wise Guys" 1986 (writer)

'Homeland Security' details
BUDGET: less than $30 million.
RELEASE DATE: some time in 2007.
LAST DAY OF FILMING: Nov. 10.
CREW EMPLOYED: about 150.
TOTAL NUMBER EMPLOYED: more than 1,000, including cast, crew and background extras.
PRODUCERS: Avi Lerner, Richard Salvatore, Heidi Jo Markel and Julie Gallo.
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Nu Image/Millenium Films, Equity Pictures, Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG.
SOME FILMING LOCATIONS IN SHREVEPORT INCLUDE: R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Phoenix Underground, Eldorado Casino, and homes on Cross Lake and in the Highland neighborhood.
Director George Gallo of "Homeland Security." (Alexandyr Kent/The Times)


In a George Gallo comedy, it not only pays to act like a criminal. It pays to enjoy it.

"Wise guys, they live on the edge," Gallo says on the set of "Homeland Security." "They are not the brightest bulbs in the sky. It's very funny to watch these edgy nincompoops think their way through situations."


Gallo's edgy nincompoop du jour is Antonio Banderas, who is reveling in the opportunity to play Shreveport's most wanted art thief.

The comedy, which is written and directed by Gallo and set in Shreveport, will wrap here Nov. 10.

"Homeland Security" also stars Colin Hanks, Selma Blair and the queen of romantic comedies, Meg Ryan, who plays Banderas' lover and Hanks' mother.

Hanks (star of "Orange County" and son of Tom Hanks), plays a young FBI agent who is assigned to follow Banderas, who is planning his next major heist. And unfortunately for Hanks' character but fortunately for audiences, Hanks must surveil the steamy couple everywhere they go, including the bedroom.

"The audience is in on the joke of all of his discomfort," Gallo says about Hanks' character.

The proof in Gallo's claim may be in the set's mirthful atmosphere. While filming a scene at a fake deli on Texas Street in downtown Shreveport, Gallo can hardly contain his laughter between takes.

For the first, Banderas sports shades, slicked back hair and a white cashmere sweater. He saunters into the deli and slaps the back of an unsuspecting Hanks.

Hanks stops enjoying his turkey sandwich and puts on his best poker face. Banderas sits across the high table, suggests he knows Hanks is trying to catch him, and cavalierly decides to talk about the most pressing offense: falling for the hot mom.

Staring directly into Hanks' eyes, Banderas confesses, "Your mom makes me feel alive," his voice a gravelly whisper. Hanks' steely eyes tighten, hinting he knows all too well how alive his mom has become in Antonio's arms.

Each time they reshoot the scene, Banderas needles Hanks a little more, drawing out his lines a bit slower, staring out the window a little more sensually.

"This is the best shot in the movie!" Banderas exults to the surrounding crew as he watches himself replay on a monitor. "He's telling the truth there. Totally."

Gallo slaps Banderas on the shoulder. The crew looks on in approval. The day is going well.

After one more take, Gallo announces, "I'm happy if Antonio is happy. I was just riveted."

Two more takes, Banderas is totally happy and laughing with Hanks. "It's the end of the night and I'm feeling sexual," he sings, quoting a Josh Rouse song, while walking back to the monitor. The crew laughs more.

Gallo simply loves what he gets from his leading man.

"(Banderas) gets to show a lot of colors that I don't think he's shown in other films, where he is just Zorro with the cape and this wonderful over-the-top character," Gallo says. "To me, he's playing a very real guy. Cary Grant would have played this part 30 or 40 years ago."

Gallo and Banderas seem to share the kind of camaraderie every creative team, movie stars or not, dreams about.

Heidi Jo Markel, one of the producers for "Homeland Security," is thrilled to see talent click.

"After this movie, I pray for really good comedies to come my way," she says. "Everybody is in such a ... great mood. They are happy. There is so much love."

Hours later while filming the beginning of a car chase sequence on Texas Street in front of Shreve Memorial Library, Ryan arrives at the set with Banderas. The two stars slip into a new Ford Mustang Saleen convertible, street lamps gleaming off the hood. A camera cranes down to the windshield.

Gallo yells for his assistant director to make the gawking library patrons step back from the first- and second-floor windows. This shot is for stars, not readers.

Ready for their first take, Banderas and Ryan smile at one another. He backs the car quickly up the street.

"Action!"

Banderas hurries the convertible up to a red light and stops. Now nicknamed Antonio Andretti by the crew, he spots an FBI agent tailing him in a Ford Focus. He looks at Ryan and says, "Make sure you're strapped in."

"Why?" she asks innocently, smiling brightly, oblivious to her lover's dark side.

"You want to have some fun?"

She does, and Banderas floors it, squealing the tires past the camera crane and under a red light.

"Whewww!" she screams.

After a camera flare and a dead battery ruin a couple shots, they finally get the right one.

"We got it!" Gallo announces, laughing with his cinematographer Michael Negrin.

With the word "lunch" echoing from crew radios, Banderas and Ryan walk up Marshall Street and disappear into the darkness.

Gallo knows the success of his film hinges on the stars' chemistry.

"A lot of directors will sit here and lie to you and say it's wonderful, and then you go see the movie and say, 'What was he talking about?' He robbed me of my ten bucks," Gallo says. "The chemistry here, honest to God, you really believe that these two are falling for each other."