Originally written 2 years before 1995’s exemplary Se7en, Hancock’s film went through a plethora of filmmakers (Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, and Warren Beatty, to name a few) before he took the reins himself, resulting in a throwback-minded, stock standard film that mainly survives off its impressive casting. The delivery of a line by Rami, two different ways, will draw two very different responses. It was worth the wait. He’d ask, do you want to direct it? One size does not fit all here. A movie directed by John Lee Hancock (“The Blind Side”) with Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto is by no means a modest production. Denzel is directing a movie right now, so I wouldn’t expect him to be available to do tons of stuff. But Jared was a big fan and he’d said, “I’m more interested in doing my music now, but if you have something…” Hat in hand, I went to Jared and said, “It’s not the lead, but an important part.” He read it, and said yes. That always disappointed me. I wrote it right after A Perfect World. I was proud of Warner Bros for making The Little Things. Warner Bros continues to negotiate in an attempt to placate Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto, the trio of Oscar winners who were as blindsided after wrapping the film. ... Hancock loses the grip he had on Deke. But writer/director John Lee Hancock borrows the most from David Fincher ’s Se7en (1995) and Zodiac (2007) in terms of tone and theme. Hancock may have been influenced by what was going on with the LAPD at the time. Mindful that actors like these can make lots in box office bonuses and cash break gross deals, they propose a replacement formula that is less lucrative than the deals given on Wonder Woman 1984. DEADLINE: They all seem so different. HANCOCK: It might be anecdotal, in terms of the number of people who see it. This flophouse, now a Whole Foods is there. Whether it’s fulfilling is up for debate or merely up to the viewer, especially given that it’s open to interpretation what point it’s making. Everybody loved the script, but if they don’t make it, I’m not sure they will let it get outside the walls. But they had a job to do and I thought, I have a job to do, also. Review (Đánh giá) The Little Things: Denzel Washington chói sáng trong phim mới của đạo diễn John Lee Hancock, phim có nét giống Se7en (David Fincher). Anything he does is Joe Deacon and not giving him too narrow a lane and block in a way that allows him to change things up, is better for the movie, me, and him. Writer-director John Lee Hancock's 'The Little Things' centers on a serial killer stalking 1990s Los Angeles. What changed? I guess that makes The Little Things seem to be influenced by Fincher’s Zodiac, as well. In the new movie, the main suspect taunts the younger cop, luring him out to the middle of nowhere to reveal a final victim, but the young cop similarly murders the suspect in a moment of rage. Have you ever had a journey like this before? HANCOCK: No. A Perfect World had come out, with Clint Eastwood. Also, this didn’t come from these people I know from Warner Bros. It helped me and I’m sure it helped him also. When I wrote it, it was a contemporary piece. It was the right place for that movie, because so many people saw it. You always hear about Jared as a true method actor and that is true. Netflix passed along numbers when they did their quarterlies. It then falls on me to be sure the movie gels and is as good as we all think it can be. DEADLINE: And then WarnerMedia makes The Little Things the first of a 2021 slate it will release day and date on HBO Max. HANCOCK: As the pandemic raged on, and appeared never-ending, and then the news came out about Wonder Woman, I can’t say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind that there might be some similar move for Warner Bros on The Little Things. The first stop was Denzel. You could cast someone else and think, I could see them hanging out. Next thing you know, we’ve got three Academy Award winners and we set a production date and went into prep. This time, we travel back to 1990s Los Angeles to investigate the ending of The Little Things. That film’s soft international opening shows nobody wants to go to the movies while this pandemic rages, but filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villenueve were pissed. I was trying to turn away from that and come up with a third act that would be surprising and hopefully still be fulfilling. It says I have a coat on. To make this grand statement with all these different movies for 2021, we are the test case. The parallels are coincidental? We met at a conference room in a hotel and he said, I want to make this movie. Los Angeles is nicknamed the City of Angels, but that’s anything but true in the hardboiled portrayals of LA in cinema. HANCOCK: It’s somewhat similar to The Highwaymen. HANCOCK: Casey Silver was the producer and he’d been with it for 17 years and I’d been with it 15.