Tribeca Film Festival 2019 VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Thomas Jane & Luke Kleintank On ‘Crown Vic’

Thomas Jane and Luke Kleintank star in the new crime drama film Crown Vic that premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and the pair had a lot to dish about the project.

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Crown Vic, which is written and directed by Joel Souza, centers on Los Angeles policeman Ray Mandel (Jane) and his attempt to catch two cop killers on the loose.

“I play Nick Holland and he’s a rookie cop and it’s kind of his first night out on the job with Thomas Jane’s character Ray Mandel, and Nick comes from a stock of a family of cops, Kleintank explained. “His father’s a lieutenant and so it’s his first night out and he’s expecting to be going along with this cop, and he’s gonna be teaching him the ropes. It’s gonna be kind of a training session, he’s a little nervous — as any rookie cop would be — and they get involved in a lot of drama throughout the night.”

“Ray’s been on the force for 25 years and they’re phasing him out, you know,” Jane revealed of his character. “He’s always been a beat cop, had no interest in becoming a detective, as he found his place and he was very good at it, but you know now he’s getting ready to retire. Cops have a short life on the street so it’s Ray Mandel’s first night as a ‘TO,’ as a training officer, so this guy’s my very first rookie.

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Jane added rookies are referred to as “the boot” in L.A. before commenting on what Crown Vic reveals through its portrayal of police work.

“What I loved about the show is we don’t take any sides as far as making a comment on whether or not police are good or bad or need to be reformed or any of that stuff,” Jane said. “We just look at the human beings who wear the badge that made it very interesting because it’s is a very complex job.”

Kleintank admitted the sequences that involved a lot of running were the most difficult.

“Running for me was pretty a pain in the ass,” said Kleintank. “We had… we were in the actual gear, the vests, the guns, the mic… all of it. And actually I think it was a little less, we didn’t have everything, we didn’t weigh as much as the actual cops. So running take after take after take, chasing these guys, he doesn’t run because he’s the veteran, you know what I mean, so he’s smart, but that was my toughest part.”

Jane, meanwhile, raved about working mostly at night.

“Waking up at 5:00 p.m. and having a little food and a coffee and then going off to work, I could do that everyday of my life, I got to tell you,” he said.

Jane stressed how special working on the film was because of the balance it showed between showing the types of crimes and tragedies cops witness every day and portraying how it affects them emotionally.

“You see families that have been murdered, you see horrible accidents that shouldn’t have happened,and it really starts to weigh on you,” Jane confessed. “So the fun, the challenge for me was to find that sweet spot between being a human being and affected by what we see and pushing that away you and being able to live with it.”

Read full interview transcript below:

Q: Who are your characters in the film?

A : Kleintank: I play Nick Holland and he’s a rookie cop and it’s kind of his first night out on the job with Thomas Jane’s character Ray Mandel, and Nick comes from a stock of you know kind of a family of cops, his father’s a lieutenant and so it’s his first night out and he you know is he’s expecting to be going along with this cop, and he’s gonna be teaching him the ropes, it’s gonna be kind of a training session, he’s a little nervous and you know as any rookie cop would be and they get involved in a lot of drama throughout the night. There’s these cop killers that are on the loose and there’s you know just the kind of routine of what cops go through and there’s a lot of twists and turns throughout the throughout the story.

Jane: My name is Thomas Jane I play Ray Mandel. Ray’s been on the force for 25 years and they’re phasing him out you know, he’s always been a beat cop had no interest in becoming a detective, as he found his place and he was very good at it, but you know now he’s getting ready to retire you know cops have a short life on the street you know so it’s Ray Mandel’s first night as a tio as a training officer so this guy’s my very first rookie. In Los Angeles they call the rookie the boot, and we had a lot of fun it’s sort of like polar opposites you know one guys first coming in and the other guys coming out and it’s a different era, it’s a different time you know, the cops are trying to change their image you know. What I loved about the show is we don’t take any sides as far as making a comment on whether or not police are good or bad or need to be reformed or any of that stuff, we just look at the human beings who wear the badge that made it very interesting because it’s is a very complex job and do a movie that explores the complexities of being a policeman in 2018 Los Angeles was very attractive.

Q: How did you develop your chemistry with each other?

A: Jane: Well you know that’s all in the script, we had a terrific script by Joel Souza, who also
directed the thing and we’ve got just kind of came around naturally you know, there wasn’t a lot of improv on this job, I think the words were fantastic and was just a matter of finding the rhythm and I had a really fun time working with this guy.

Kleintank: Well we did a lot of rehearsals, we kind of sat down and we kind of went over the script a lot at the hotel, we were staying at, but we shot most of the stuff in the car, I think it was over the span of what 1/2 days. So it kind of felt like a play so we just kind of take after take after take, we were riding on the back of a picture car, when you’re in the car with someone and the windows are closed, there’s kind of a silence and there’s just kind of this feeling back and forth and the dialogue was already there, but it was I don’t know man I think yeah he’s right it’s all in the dialogue.

Q: What was the toughest scene for you?

A: Kleintank: Running for me was pretty a pain in the ass, we had we were in the actual gear, the
vests, the guns, the mic, all of it, and actually I think it was a little less, we didn’t have everything I think, we didn’t weigh as much as the actual cops so running take after take after take, chasing these guys, he doesn’t run because he’s the veteran you know what I mean so he’s smart, but no that was my toughest part.

Jane: I try not to watch the movies that I do because I had the experience of creating the whole thing, and that movie that’s in my head is never gonna be the movie that is finally shown and the movie in my head is usually much better. Scenes between me and Luke were extremely fun to do, their personal, the characters are very different and it was just this wonderful dynamic that I remember having that I was actually sad when it was over. That’s right we filmed at night, the whole entire show was at night and believe me that is my sweet spot, you know I can do that for the rest of my life, you know the crew doesn’t like it very much and you know I guess normal people don’t like it, but I love it I love it that was my favorite part you know, waking up at 5:00 p.m. and having a little food and a coffee and then going off to work, I could do that every day of my life I got to tell you.

Those scenes weren’t hard you know, but they’re emotional so I guess the toughest part is Ray Mandel and I think any cop who’s been on the beat long enough, needs to find that way of separating their emotions from the job right, so however, you do that is gonna be a sort of personal, but you need to find a way to survive, you need to find a way to go home at night and can put it aside for a few hours so you can do it again the next night and then you see some horrible stuff, you see families that have been murdered, you see horrible accidents that shouldn’t have happened, and it really starts to weigh on you so the fun, the challenge for me was to find that sweet spot between being a human being and affected by what we see and pushing that away from you and being able to live with it.