Irish director's 'A-Team' set to be summer blockbuster

“There was a lot of debate about where to go with the casting. We all knew the most critical thing in terms of the film working would be the chemistry between the four leads,” says Carnahan.

“With regard to Liam Neeson, we all knew that Liam is a major dramatic actor. The minute you cast a guy like him you’re sending a message to the world at large that this is going to be a specific kind of movie.

“We’re choosing to step away from the more campy aspects of the TV show. But you never want to go in and start gutting people’s childhood memories. There are things about the show that I knew would be important and we’ve kept them in.”

Opting for a more realistic tone without trashing the lineage of the film was a tightrope walk.

“I wanted Liam to have the white hair his character is supposed to.  I wanted B.A. Baracus to have the Mohawk, and I wanted to use the original catch phrases,” he says.

“We held on to a lot of them. We even used pop music as they’re building the devices that will save the day (just like in the original show). “

But Carnahan has wisely resisted the temptation to craft a movie for the film’s most die-hard fans.

“When you set out to appease the fan boys it’s always a dead end. And listen, their lobby isn’t big enough to warrant the attention, you know what I mean?

“Making a movie is like raising a kid. You teach him to walk, you teach him to talk, you give him some money for bus fare and by the end you just want to kick him in the ass to get him out the front door.”
 
 

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Nster.com