SUCOPRESS/Raquel Laguna. French filmmaker Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire directs Tye Sheridan and Sean Penn in ASPHALT CITY. In this interview, Jean-Stéphane talks about the biggest challenge making this movie, about shooting in New York and about what he learned during the filming of this drama. ASPHALT CITY follows Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan), a young paramedic assigned to the NYC night shift with an uncompromising and seasoned partner Gene Rutkovsky (Sean Penn). The dark nights reveal a city in crisis; Rutkovsky guides Cross, as each 911 call is often dangerous and uncertain, putting their lives on the line every day to help others. Cross soon discovers firsthand the chaos and awe of a job that careens from harrowing to heartfelt, testing his relationship with Rutkovsky and the ethical ambiguity that can be the difference between life and death. Gbenga Akinnagbe, Michael Carmen Pitt, Katherine Waterston, Mike Tyson, Raquel Nave and Kali Reis also star in the movie. ASPHALT CITY, in theaters on March 29th, 2024.
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00:00 What was the biggest challenge for you making this film?
00:03 Working with Ty Sheridan, I think that was a big challenge.
00:07 Worse.
00:08 Stuff, you know, because I wanted for this film to be realistic.
00:11 So I wanted to really understand the life of the paramedic
00:14 and do ride along for like two years.
00:16 And I asked also the actors, you know, to do the same
00:19 because we all wanted to really be very realistic
00:22 and honest and authentic, you know, telling this story.
00:25 So it was a challenge because it's always difficult
00:27 for the actors.
00:28 It was really difficult, not for the acting, you know,
00:30 with Ty and Shonda, it's no problem.
00:32 But then they had to learn all the gesture,
00:34 all the stuff from the paramedic,
00:36 how to do an IV and stuff or whatever.
00:38 So, and they played the game, but that was kind of a challenge
00:42 because we also shoot long shots, you know, long sequence shot,
00:45 trying to get immersed kind of the audience
00:47 into this kind of course.
00:48 And we shot 23 days in New York,
00:52 which is not that much, you know, for this kind of movie.
00:55 So that everything was a challenge in this movie.
00:58 What did you learn as a filmmaker,
01:00 as a filmmaker in this movie?
01:03 I learned a lot because I think we don't know much
01:07 about this paramedic life and stuff.
01:09 And I thought it was a good way to get into the city
01:12 and know the city from New York on the inside
01:15 and mostly know the job of these guys.
01:16 You know, I moved in New York like 15 years ago,
01:18 but you don't see the reality of New York behind the stage.
01:23 I would say, you know, in the backstage of the city,
01:25 you know, when it's suffering
01:26 and when people need help, you know, we call the 911.
01:30 So I learned a lot about the real life, real New York City.
01:33 I knew the New York City, you know, from the cinema
01:36 or the films we all love, you know, in the 80s and 70s and stuff.
01:40 So we have an image of New York, you know, from the movies.
01:43 And then when you move here, you see a different reality.
01:45 And I learned a lot through the movie also
01:48 because you don't have access to this kind of New York.
01:50 You don't have access to this kind of reality.
01:53 We see the ambulances, we don't know who's inside, you know,
01:55 I would just hear the siren and stuff.
01:57 But this film, I learned a lot about this reality of New York.
02:01 And I learned a lot about also the reality of being a paramedic.
02:05 You know, you have to understand that there are people,
02:08 you know, who try to save lives every day.
02:10 And they have to also take care of their own life
02:13 because it's kind of difficult, you know,
02:14 to face all this reality of New York
02:16 and the violence, social violence every day, you know.