There’s one last thing a police officer does before his work day is officially over, and that is write EOW and the time in his log book. It doesn’t matter whether the officer goes home, it’s called an “end of watch” regardless. But before those letters even hit the page, that officer most likely spent long hours in a patrol car with his partner – a relationship based on trust, and knowing each other so well you’re in sync with your thoughts, actions, and conduct yourselves throughout the day almost completely in tandem. For End of Watch stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, it meant getting to know each other as actors first, which could then lead to them becoming believable Los Angeles police officers.
“End of Watch doesn’t exist without the bond between Officers Taylor and Zavala,’ says Oscar® nominee Gyllenhaal. ”And when you read the script, you immediately feel that the story wouldn’t work nor would it move forward without that bond. That is what sets this movie apart from this genre as well. This is a story of real friendship.”
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“It’s pretty hard because you’ve got to be like brothers,” adds Pena. ”You need to get in this comfort zone that you can’t just make up. You actually have to have it.”
“Jake and Michael have given me more time than they probably have for any other movie in their careers,” says writer and director David Ayer, a reliable writer of intense police dramas including Training Day and Harsh Times, which was also his directorial debut. ”I had them for five months and over those months you begin to believe in the friendship and that these guys have been working together as a police unit. They really are the movie.”
The Seven Sees, with the help of Jake Hamilton from Houston’s Fox 26, caught up with the stars as they made their rounds from Comic-Con in San Diego to the Toronto International Film Festival.
End of Watch is in theaters Friday, September 21st and earns its R rating for strong violence, disturbing images, pervasive language including sexual references, and some drug use.
