Samuel L. Jackson & LL Cool J star in action-thriller movie 'S.W.A.T.'

Jet, August 18, 2003

This movie is based on the hit 1970s police series of the same title. In the film, Jackson is commander Dan "Hondo" Harrelson, who is assigned to recruit and train at least five top-of-the-line cops for a new Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) unit in Los Angeles. He recruits Deacon "Deke" Kaye (LL Cool J, who now uses his real name James Todd Smith), one of the city's most outstanding beat cops. He also pulls in Jim Street (Colin Farrell), Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez), Michael Boxer (Brian Van Holt) and T.J. McCabe (Josh Charles).

The team members go through a superstrenuous program and get their feet wet immediately in a high profile case--a notorious drug lord, Alex Montel (Oliver Martinez), boldly offers, in front of reporters, a $100 million bounty to anyone out there who can free him from police custody.

As the S.W.A.T. team escorts Montel out of Los Angeles and into the custody of federal agents, they are doggedly pursued by a vicious and extremely well-armed group of mercenaries.

Along the way to completing missions, Hondo has to deal with his longtime nemesis, Capt. Thomas Fuller (Larry Poindexter), a man who is doing everything he can to ensure that Hondo fails. But Hondo won't be deterred by detractors as he pushes forward to create the best team the LAPD has ever assembled.

The $100 million offer is broadcast all over the Los Angeles area and lots of little mini-wars erupt among the city's gangsters. Complicating the S.W.A.T. mission is the fact that one of those attracted to all those millions is Street's former partner Brian Gamble (Jeremy Renner). What makes him so dangerous is that he has tremendous insight on how the S.W.A.T. team operates.

Jackson said of his character: "Hondo finds meaning and pride in his role on the force and by creating a new S.W.A.T. unit. They are truly a cut above. The best of the best. I really hope S.W.A.T. does well. There are high hopes for it. It could be a great little franchise sort of thing (with numerous potential sequels). We could do a S.W.A.T. every year or so."

Jackson told JET that he was especially happy the movie would be a nice showcase for the directing talents of Clark Johnson.

Johnson has amassed a very impressive resume both in front of and behind the camera. Many television fans will remember him for his starring role as Det. Meldrick Lewis in the NBC drama "Homicide: Life on the Street." He directed episodes of that series as well as "NYPD Blue," "West Wing," "The Wire," "Third Watch" and the HBO film Boycott.

He's played "so many cops in my career as an actor that I know more about cop work than some real cops do," he said.

He went on to say, "As we were working on the script, I would ask questions as if I were an audience member--such as 'how would a S.W.A.T. team board a plane with hostages on board?' We did research and it led to one of my favorite scenes in the movie, a training exercise aboard an old plane in the Mojave Desert. We show, step by step, how they go in there and defuse the situation without harming innocent bystanders. It was a great deal of fun showing the audience how the team functions. If you're going to make an action movie about S.W.A.T., you should come away knowing more about what these guys do. And it should be plausible."

Johnson was especially effusive in his praise of Jackson. "If you look up the word 'cool' in the dictionary, you see Sam's picture," he said. "He is about the coolest actor on the planet. And he brings all that to the role."

For Jackson the biggest attraction to the role was the drama of being part of a S.W.A.T. team and the team's philosophy. "They're put in situations that are very tense, mostly life-threatening, but their approach is always as members of a life-saving organization, not a life-taking organization," he said. "We generally see S.W.A.T. guys as snipers who are assigned to take the shot if they have it. But that's not their job. Their job is to make sure everybody comes out of the situations safely. It takes a special kind of guy to be under that kind of pressure and still have the sensibility not to act like a cowboy."

Producer Neal H. Moritz said LL Cool J was chosen as Deke "because I just felt we needed somebody with a lot of physical strength as well as a natural sense of humor, and LL completely fit the bill."

LL Cool J said, "Deke is very tenacious, very focused, but he's also very aggressive and the uniform makes him feel invincible. Since he's the only married man on the team, with three kids, he also comes with a heightened commitment to protect the innocent and make the world a safer place for everyone."

Irish heartthrob Colin Farrell, who starred in Minority Report and Daredevil, said there are similarities between both his character and the one played by Jackson. "Hondo decides on Street because he can see how hungry he is for second chance. They're alike in that way. Hondo was pushed out of S.W.A.T. by Fuller, so he's essentially saying to Street, 'I'm getting a break, so I'm giving you one, too."