Suiting Up Fake Cops in Real Trouble in "LET'S BE COPS"
Real life buddies, Damon Wayans, Jr. and Jake
Johnson find themselves playing real buddies in reel trouble when their
onscreen characters in "Let's Be Cops" get tangled a real life web of
mobsters and dirty detectives where they must put their fake badges on the line
and pin down the baddies who are after them.
Justin
Miller (Damon Wayans, Jr.) and Ryan O’Malley (Jake Johnson) have been
languishing since their school days ended. Justin toils at a videogame company,
where his bosses prefer zombie antics instead of Justin’s recent game proposal
that features real-life cops. Ryan, still reveling in his glory days as a
college quarterback, bounces from job to job – his appearance in a herpes drug
commercial was a career highlight – without success.
A
wrongheaded visit to a masquerade party changes everything. Thinking it is a
costume bash, Justin and Ryan sport LAPD uniforms Justin had used in his recent
videogame pitch. After being laughed out of the black tie party, they notice
something has changed as they walk down the streets of Hollywood: women swarm
them, bad guys follow their every command and bartenders give them drinks on
the house, all because they are mistaken for cops. For Ryan, this is the
ultimate high, though the shy Justin is less enthusiastic at the prospect of
real police busting them. Soon, Ryan has purchased a police car (off eBay!),
lights and a radio scanner – and the boys are rolling up to real 911 calls.
A
key design element was the police uniforms, overseen by costume designer Debra
McGuire, who has created wardrobe for iconic television series (“Friends”), as
well as hit film comedies (“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”). For
McGuire, the most challenging factor would be to make the notoriously bulky
police costumes breathable for use during the hot Atlanta shooting days.
“Police
uniforms are quite uncomfortable,” she says. “They are made of thick polyester.
So I made Damon’s and Jake’s uniforms from the lightest weight cotton
imaginable. But still, when you have to wear a bulletproof vest and a gun belt,
it’s still going to be awkward. We called it ‘cop couture’ and those uniforms
were designed to look tight and unwieldy in the beginning, then smooth out as
the guys became more comfortable being cops.”
Whatever
the challenges, the filmmakers always strove to bring together rich, outrageous
character comedy with explosive action “It all works together – the action,
comedy and the friendship between Justin and Ryan,” director/producer/co-writer
Luke Greenfield notes. “I want the movie to take audiences for a ride.”
"Let's
Be Cops" opens November 5 in cinemas from 20th Century Fox to be
distributed by Warner Bros.
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