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‘Bullet Train’ director teases the ‘special sauce’ of this week’s action epic

The film's setting goes a long way, and we don't just mean from Tokyo to Kyoto.

Brian Tyree Henry as Lemon, Bullet Train (2022)
Image via Columbia Pictures

Bullet Train is set to pull into theaters in just a couple of days now, and the Brad Pitt-led action comedy is set to be one of Hollywood’s heavyweight summer hits. With a supporting cast consisting of Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Brian Tyree Henry, among others, and a curiously comedic turn from Pitt, it certainly has all the necessary ingredients.

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The film follows Ladybug (Pitt), an assassin looking to quit the job, who finds himself aboard a Kyoto-bound bullet train, which houses a briefcase he’s been directed to recover. As it turns out, he’s not the only assassin looking for this briefcase, and some claustrophobic violence quickly ensues.

When it comes to creativity, some folks may tell you that the most interesting results often arise out of creative restraints, and it seems we can expect to see such results once the film releases. Speaking to GamesRadar, film director David Leitch recalled a conversation with one of his producers, in which he realized that the train setting could very well bolster the film’s many action scenes rather than hinder them.

That was Kelly who really convinced me that the constraints were going to be the special sauce of the movie. She’s right. Ultimately, as a choreographer, you want to give yourself problems and making the fights interesting in that small environment was really fun. We got inventive: we put the quiet car in there, we put the mascot car in there you fight in different pieces of the car to make it interesting. That allows you to have all of these props you wouldn’t normally have.

And with Pitt, King, Henry, and others as the enrapturing chicken wings, we’ll soon see how well they gel with this special sauce when Bullet Train releases to theaters on Aug. 5.