Archive of films Killing Season / Killing Season

Belgium / USA
2013, 90 min

Section: Special Events
Year: 2013

During their first on-screen encounter, two of today’s greatest acting icons, Robert De Niro and John Travolta, play veterans of the Bosnian War who fought on opposite sides. The American and Serb soldiers clash once again in a tense, action-packed game of cat and mouse set in the gorgeous yet inaccessible Appalachian Mountains.

Synopsis

During their first on-screen encounter, two of today’s greatest acting icons, Robert De Niro and John Travolta, play veterans of the Bosnian War who fought on opposite sides. American Benjamin Ford (De Niro) and Serbian army veteran Emil Kovac (Travolta) clash once again years later in order to settle old scores in the best way they know how – mano-a-mano using both physical and psychological force. The archetypal story of two men gripped by mutual hatred while respecting each other’s abilities is here submitted in an attractive form: a tense, action-packed game of cat and mouse set in the gorgeous yet inaccessible Appalachian Mountains. Working with actors of such caliber is every filmmaker’s dream, as Mark Steven Johnson confirms: "It’s a bit like you’re pinching yourself under the table. But that goes away very quickly when you realize that both of them are just sincerely the two most incredible gentlemen.” Thanks to Travolta’s and De Niro’s acting virtuosity, the highly skilled director was able to elicit the full range of motives and emotions in his characters, including dark humor, fear, and melancholy, thereby transforming a simple genre flick into a far more complex experience.

About the director

Mark Steven Johnson (b. 1964, Hastings, Minnesota) studied journalism at Winona State University in Minnesota before transferring to California State University, Long Beach to study film. He debuted in pictures as a writer-director with Simon Birch (1998), a loose adaptation of the John Irving novel A Prayer for Owen Meany. He came onto the scene five years earlier, however, with the script for the Donald Petrie-directed comedy Grumpy Old Men. His next two films together grossed $400 million at the box office: Daredevil (2003) starring Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell, and Ghost Rider (2007) with Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Three years ago he shot the romantic Kristen Bell comedy vehicle When in Rome. His action thriller Autobahn is currently in the works.

Contacts

Media Pro Distribution
Strada Maior Ion Coravu nr. 53, sector 2, 030 853, Bucharest
Romania
Tel: +40 315 853 014
Fax: +40 318 256 013
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.mediaprodistribution.ro

Bontonfilm, a.s.
Na Poříčí 1047/26, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 257 415 111
Fax: +420 257 415 113
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.bontonfilm.cz

About the film

Color, DCP
World premiere

Section:	Special Events

Director:	Mark Steven Johnson
Screenplay:	Evan Daugherty
Dir. of Photography:	Peter Menzies
Music:	Christopher Young
Editor:	Sean Albertson
Producer:	Paul Breuls, Ed Cathel III
Production:	Corsan, Millenium Films, Nu Image
Cast:	John Travolta, Robert De Niro, Milo Ventimiglia, Elisabeth Olin
Contact:	Media Pro Distribution, Bontonfilm, a.s.
Distributor:	Bontonfilm, a.s.