1Wayne Kramer the director of The Cooler grew up with 70’s gritty crime flicks such as Straw Dogs and wanted to make something like that as an antithesis to the PG-13 fare that was around at the time (I’m looking at you Bourne franchise, Ocean’s 12 franchise, etc). He wanted to create a throwback to crime films aimed at adults. There was a lot of grit missing. With this in mind he set out to write his version of a mean crime tale based in New Jersey. In Media 8 entertainment he found a rare thing in a production company; they gave him complete creative control which is apparently a rare thing in Hollywood. With a secured budget, the writer-director, story boarded the whole movie himself so that each shot would be done just as he’d envisioned it. The script was a gritty, action crime drama which told the story of an undercover cop who has to recover a stolen gun. As he kept hammering at the script Wayne Kramer realized that his script felt like something out of a fairy tale, with this in mind, he set out to tweak it accordingly.
Next came the casting. They wanted actor Thomas Jane to play the MC (Joey Gazelle) but a scheduling conflict prevented him from taking the part, so they went with Paul Walker (RIP) who gladly took on the role (even though in The Fast and The Furious franchise he’d played an undercover cop) He felt, the role of Joey Gazelle was different, darker, grittier. Next on the cast was the excellent actress Vera Farmiga (as Teresa Gazelle, Joey’s wife). Cameron Bright was to play their next-door neighbor Oleg. And so, with an estimated $17 million-dollar budget they started the shoot.
The movie was shot in Prague, for the scenes in the suburbs, they shipped over American furniture, appliances and products. Five percent of the movie was actually filmed in New Jersey, examples: The exterior of the diner was filmed in Jersey, the interior was filmed in Prague. The hospital setting was re-arranged thus becoming the police precinct, driving scenes were shot up close in order to disguise the Prague architecture. There’s a fantastic shoot-out scene which takes place in a skating rink. This scene is the stand out in the flick. This scene alone was going to cost the studio $100,000 just to light up the rink. In the end they went with a stylized black light which gives a cool neon scheme to the scene.
You should seek out this criminally overlooked gem.
Quote from the movie:
[Outside of a strip club]
Nicky Gazelle: “Do girls really get naked in there?”
Joey Gazelle: “You'll find out when you're twenty-one.”
Nicky Gazelle: “I've seen Mom naked. It's no big deal.”
Joey Gazelle: “Trust me on this one. It's always a big deal.”
Contains information gathered from IMDB.