Bright (read my review) is one of those films that immediately draws attention from its premise alone: A human cop and his orc partner patrol the crime-ridden streets of L.A. with a stolen magic wand at the center of it all. Whether this is an idea that grabs your interest or not, it’s an undeniably ambitious concept and there’s a reason that there was such a tremendous bidding war over Max Landis’ bonkers script. The film’s director, David Ayer (End of Watch, Suicide Squad), has also gone through an interesting trajectory as a director, with Bright almost feeling like the culmination of his career in many ways. Bright manages to explore themes like racism, corruption, and abuses of power in a wholly new light and the film couldn’t be arriving at a more perfect time. With Ayer’s highly anticipated film recently hitting Netflix, we got the chance to catch up with the director to discuss Bright’s unique world and so much more, like Ayer’s interest in tackling a full-on horror film!
Something that Bright excels at is its masterful world building for the film’s alternate take on reality. The opening credits of the picture show sprawling shots of graffiti that attack or show allegiance to various orc, elf, and fairy gangs. It’s a deeply effective introduction that establishes a complex world in an economical fashion. Ayer outlines how it was essential to have something like this to acclimate the audience to this universe:
“It was just something that I felt that the film needed. It’s this nice, gentle on-ramp to get the audience into the world and give them a taste of the conflict and history that the movie takes place in.”
The film’s tone is also another extremely tricky element of the production. Bright turns into a highly delicate balancing act where it’s very easy to push the film’s sillier elements too far. Ayer explains that a lot of this balance came down to his instincts on the day of shoots:
“It’s really by the seat of my pants. That’s why I’m kind of grateful to Netflix because they didn’t try to ride me on tone. It’s sort of day-by-day and you just feel it out on set. I know when something is lacking humor and needs a joke, or when it doesn’t. It’s something that I think you learn as a filmmaker over the course of several movies. It’s funny because it’s instinctual, but I don’t know if it’s the sort of thing that you can teach to people.”
This attention to world building and detail is also crucial in Ayer’s creation of the many races within the film, but particularly with the orcs. Ayer describes that the search for the right look for these creatures was one of the harder aspects of production:
“It was just a lot of research. We did a lot of illustrations. We didn’t want them to feel like other versions of the character because orcs have been around for a long time. The other thing was to make sure that Joel [Edgerton] felt open and believable. You still want to make sure that you can pick Joel out from underneath all of that and that the makeup isn’t too overloaded. That was probably the most tactical aspect—just making sure that the makeup was working—and we have an Oscar-winning team to make sure that we got it right.”
Ayer is also the first to admit that he was surprised to find himself directing another film about cops in Los Angeles. Whether intentional or not, Ayer has helped the genre evolve in a number of ways and Bright feels like another crucial piece of the director’s filmography. Ultimately the ambitious leaps within Bright’s script were just too much to ignore:
“It’s pretty funny because I never thought that I’d be doing another L.A. cop movie. I had done more than enough, but the script really sort of haunted me. It was saying something that I also wanted to say. So then it became a matter of thinking about it all and being like, “Okay, maybe this isn’t a typical cop movie because there’s an orc, and elves, and fairies and magic.” So I thought, okay, maybe I can get away with doing one more of these.”
Ayer talks about how he was particularly humbled when he learned that Max Landis penned Bright’s script specifically with him in mind to direct. “Yeah, it’s crazy because my agent sent me the script and right there on its cover page it says that it’s dedicated to me.” Landis’ bold move paid off and it definitely got Ayer’s attention. ”That’s the first time that anyone’s ever done that for me and it certainly got me to read it.”
Ayer mixes all sorts of different genres within Bright, but there’s been an increasing amount of horror and supernatural elements in the director’s films. This naturally stemmed into the discussion over whether Ayer is interested in cooling down in this regard or embracing genre filmmaking even more. Horror, in particular, came up:
“I could see doing more of it. It’s just more tools for the storyteller. If you have fantasy elements or something with horror—horror is such a fascinating genre that I could see myself doing something that’s just a pure horror film.“
The idea of Ayer attacking an actual horror film is pretty damn exciting and while he didn’t mention if he has interest in some of the darker potential DCEU projects, like Justice League Dark, it’s encouraging to hear how open Ayer is to the genre.
Ayer does an impressive job as director on Bright, but he also speaks very highly of the collaborative process with writer, Max Landis. Landis even glowingly approved of Ayer’s re-write of his original script. When approached on the topic, Ayer explained that a lot of these changes were cosmetic and meant to cater to casting and production concerns. “A lot of it was just tuning it to the actors. It’s like tailoring a suit to fit someone well.” He continues to get into the production side of it. “You figure out if you’re not going to be able to afford that certain set piece, or if you want to put more elements like that into the film. It’s a living document in a lot of ways.”
On that note, Ayer also spoke praises towards Will Smith’s performance and how he couldn’t picture anyone else in the role of Ward. “He was really it.” Ayer points out the friendship that the two of them built during Suicide Squad as a large factor here. “We came off Squad and had a really great time working together. We have a real shorthand between each other as director and actor. We had this momentum coming off of Squad and it just felt natural to keep that going.” It seems more than likely that Smith and Ayer will continue to collaborate in the future.
Ayer manages to cram an incredible amount into Bright’s two hours, but our conversation eventually shifted towards if there were any mythical creatures that the director wishes that he could have fit in the film. It turns out that thoughts of lizardmen will haunt Ayer for the immediate future:
“I tried to do lizardmen, but that was tough. They didn’t quite work as well on camera as I had hoped. It’s very, very hard to create those kinds of characters. We nailed the orcs. We nailed the elves. The centaurs are definitely pretty cool looking and I’d like to see more of them.
“There are nine races in this world though, so there’s still more that we haven’t seen!“
This discussion of this world’s nine races started to segue into the film’s representation of magic, which also pushes some innovative ideas. This mystical energy almost reads like drug addiction. Ayer had much to say about how his film portrays the fantastical element:
“Well, it’s the idea of unlimited power. This classic idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s also the reason why the government in this world cracks down on magic because it almost destroys everything. Normally magic is this great, fun thing. Not in this case. It has the power to rip society apart.”
In spite of how Bright goes to some very outlandish places, curiously enough, Ayer’s greatest takeaway from the film was his relationship with the actors. “It’s the chemistry between Will and Joel. Just seeing those two guys in the car together, whether it’s their humor or just seeing them riff off of each other as actors, it’s all great.” He continues to praise their energy and adds, “I love actors. That’s my favorite part of filmmaking; just getting to work with incredible actors and when I can mid-wife an incredible scene between two amazing actors, that’s really my greatest pleasure.”
When the conversation started to shift towards the future of Bright and its universe, Ayer seemed hopeful to return to this world in some capacity. He’s quick to point out the vast possibilities of Bright’s universe, but is realistic to understand that more stories are up to the viewers:
“There’s definitely room to explore this world more. It’s interesting. The movie that I made definitely gives you a few peeks through different keyholes and shows off certain things, but there’s a lot more. It’s ultimately going to come down to how this is received and if the audience wants more.”
Films and properties are basically designed to be franchises and sequelized universes at this point, but Bright is something that feels especially conducive to this treatment. It’s of course too soon to tell if a larger Bright-verse is in the cards, but at least it’s good to know that Ayer is in support of one.
Who knows, maybe 2019 will be the year of the centaur?
