Push showcases super human powers
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
February 4, 2009
 Clairvoyant super powers abound in the new Paul McGuigan film Push, starring Chris Evans, Camilla Belle, and Dakota Fanning.
Push, which opens Feb. 6, focuses on a group of young American expatriates who have telekinetic, telepathic, and clairvoyant powers. The group is hiding in Hong Kong from Division, a U.S. government agency. They seek out to find the only woman, Kira Hudson (Belle), who has ever escaped from Division, since she is their only way out.
The story follows Nick Grant (Evans) a second-generation Mover (telekinetic) and Cassie Holms (Fanning), a Watcher who has visions of the future. The brutal murder of Nick’s father, designed to be the perfect government assassin, pushes Nick to rebel and take revenge on Division. In their quest to escape, the group learns about R16—Division’s new experimental drug.
“No one knows that powers exist,” explained Evans. “Division is a secret branch of the government that operates under wraps. The general public is completely unaware that people with these abilities even exist,” he continued.
It was important to the director and to the rest of the cast to portray the special powers in a realistic way. “We didn’t try to make it over the top or do things with our bodies that made it look like something out of this world. It was all about approaching it in a very natural way,” said Belle. Push is less of a super hero movie and more of a human story, where the characters happen to have some different abilities.
With so many sci-fi movies to choose from, Push stands out with its location shots and action.
“I like to believe that we offer something in the way of special effects that I don’t think has been done before. Our director really tried to avoid relying on CGI and green screens. For the most part, the majority of our special effects were done with stuntmen and some clever camera work,” said Evans.
“It’s more of an escape than anything else,” said Belle, who, along with the rest of the cast, spent three months shooting on location in Hong Kong.
“McGuigan really captured Hong Kong. The city really becomes a separate character in this film,” Belle continued.
Both Evans and Belle had high praise for their young co-star, Dakota Fanning.
“She’s a little firecracker. She’s so cool and she’s so smart. Her maturity level is somewhere in the thirties where my maturity level is somewhere around 12. Together, we got along swimmingly. She’s always in a good mood. She loves making fun of me and kind of busting my balls,” said Evans.
Overall, Belle had fun with her character and with getting dirty in all of her action scenes.
“There’s a lot of fight scenes. She’s really tough and she always kind of keeps you guessing on whether she’s good or bad,” said Belle of Kira.
Many different clairvoyant powers exist in the movie, but Belle feels she ended up with the best one. Belle plays a Pusher, someone who can push thoughts into the minds of others.
“Djimon Hounsou and I have the same power in the film, and we both joked around with everybody that we had the coolest one and that we would definitely pick ours if that was the case. I’d definitely say being a Pusher is the most useful and more powerful one,” Belle explained.
Evans felt out of his element working in Hong Kong, since he was not able to rehearse as much as he normally does for a role. The experience, however, helped Evans to sharpen his character.
“In a lot of ways, I felt like I was running out. I had to operate in a vacuum. It’s very similar to Nick’s struggle. Nick lives in a vacuum, Nick lives on his own,” said Evans.
Breaking away from serious roles, Evans recently did a guest voice for Robot Chicken after meeting up with his friend Seth Green.
“My friends keep me in check. They pretty much tell me all my movies are terrible, I’m a horrible actor, and I should quit. But when I told them I did Robot Chicken, it was a different reaction. They thought that was cool and couldn’t wait to see it,” said Evans.
Be sure to check out Push, opening in theatres on Feb. 6.
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