The Little Things – which currently sits at the top of the US box-office after opening in cinemas and on HBO Max in the States – offers a throwback to the kind of adult-orientated material that was box-office gold in the ’90s.
The serial-killer crime thriller stars Denzel Washington as Joe ‘Deke’ Deacon, a county deputy sheriff investigating a murder with detective Jim Baxter (Rami Malek). The chief suspect? Albert Sparma (Jared Leto).
A classy affair starring a trio of Oscar-winners, The Little Things was actually written by writer/director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Highwaymen) way back in the ’90s. It’s long path through development saw directors like Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood attached. Almost three decades later, Hancock finally felt like he was in the right place to tackle the dark material himself.
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“This is not the kind of film that Hollywood makes anymore,” producer Mark Johnson tells Total Film. “Warner Bros used to make a lot of crime-thriller detective movies, but not really any more. Quite honestly, the reason it’s a big studio film is Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto, otherwise it would have been an indie. It’s a dream cast.”
“John Lee fashioned a good script, and good scripts are hard to come by,” says Washington, insisting it really was that easy. And when he signed on, Malek followed.
“Denzel, for me, has always been in a class of his own,” explains the star of Mr. Robot and Bohemian Rhapsody. “I grew up with Malcolm X being one of my favourite movies. This guy is Hollywood royalty. And the script was one of those page-turners.”
It was Leto who actually needed a bit more convincing, despite the lure of working with Washington. “I’d spent enough time on the dark side already,” he tells Total Film. “But as I talked to John Lee about the character and the film, I just thought there was an opportunity here to do something that I hadn’t done before, and to really dive deep into the transformation and build a character that was a lot of fun to inhabit.”
The Little Things is out in the US now, and is scheduled to release in the UK in the spring. For much more on the film, pick up a copy of the new issue of Total Film magazine when it hits shelves (real and digital) this Friday, February 5. Check out the new covers below, as revealed by Jared Leto:
I had the pleasure of sitting down with @totalfilm Magazine to talk about bringing my character, Albert Sparma, to life in #TheLittleThingsMovie. Working with John Lee Hancock, Denzel Washington, and Rami Malek was incredible and unforgettable. Coming to UK Cinemas soon. pic.twitter.com/jBjZPSOJOyJanuary 30, 2021
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