'A Most Violent Year': Discover the Real Story Behind the Gripping Drama (Exclusive)
"J.C. Chandor’s great talent is to create and maintain tension." So proclaims actor Alessandro Nivola of his director in this behind-the-scenes featurette from A Most Violent Year.
Starring Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, and David Oyelowo, the film is set in 1981 New York — when heating-oil truckers were getting carjacked for their fuel. It was a rough era for the Big Apple as crime rates were at their highest, and, as noted in the above footage, Chandor has direct knowledge of the subject matter.
Chandor and his cast have won very warm reviews for their work. “Gritty, suspenseful and almost poetic in its depiction of an unforgiving town,” wrote Philadelphia Inquirer critic Steven Rea. A.O. Scott of The New York Times warned the title is deceiving, calling A Most Violent Year “more brooding than brutal” and adding that the film is “pulpy, meaty, altogether terrific.”
Late last year over dinner, Chandor coyly apologized to Yahoo Movies over his knack for stressing out audiences, be it in A Most Violent Year or All Is Lost, his 2013 Oscar-nominated, panic-inducing shipwreck drama starring Robert Redford.
Chandor knows he’s making us sit at the edge of our seats. And no, he’s probably not actually sorry about it.
A Most Violent Year opens nationwide Friday.
