TO live AND die IN LA
There’s a scene in The Little Things where Denzel Washington’s cop, Joe ‘Deke’ Deacon, visits the house of deliveryman Albert Sparma, played by a near-unrecognisable Jared Leto. A lead has established Sparma as a possible person of interest in the grisly killings that are terrifying LA County, and Deke, who’s working the case with Rami Malek’s cop Jim Baxter, wants to get a look at Sparma’s vintage Chevy Nova.
It’s nighttime, and Sparma catches Deke circling his vehicle and squinting through the windows. Deke says he’s interested in buying the car: “How’s the trunk space?” Few words are exchanged but the silences speak volumes as the two men size each other up. You might say this sequence is the equivalent of the coffee scene in Michael Mann’s Heat – the first electrifying meet of protagonist and antagonist, both played by Oscar winners, in a large-scale crime thriller.
“Some of the most fun scenes to write are the ones that have very little dialogue, because you’re putting the burden on the actor, and they know exactly what’s at stake,” says writer/director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Founder). “It was the very first time they were on camera together. We kept them apart. I mean, they both were like, ‘No, I’ll see him on the set, in character.’ And they’re smelling each other. They brought their A-game. It was a very exciting night, I have to say.”
“It was spooky,” laughs Washington. “Listen, Jared is . Very good, and very thorough. He and I didn’t talk much and stayed in character. We left each other alone.
