The Most-Watched Thriller On HBO’s Max Features “The most badass woman in film”
It’s heating up around the country as we’ve officially entered summer, and it’s heating up on Max as this 2008 film climbs up the streaming charts. Timur Bekmambetov‘s Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy, is the number one thriller on the streamer and the number nine movie overall. The film hit Max on June 1, and with Jolie’s birthday on June 4, it’s no surprise it’s dominating the charts.
In Wanted, per Max, “after his estranged father is murdered, an office drone joins secret assassins who take their orders from Fate itself.”
Wanted was adapted from a comic series written by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones. A total of six issues were published from December 2003 to February 2005. Reportedly, Millar had the idea for Wanted when he was a kid after his brother told him there were no superheroes anymore. According to his brother, they had all disappeared after a great war with supervillains. So, Millar decided to imagine a world with a new kind of hero.
In Bekmambetov’s adaptation, James McAvoy plays Wesley with Angelina Jolie playing the sexy assassin Fox and Morgan Freeman playing the eccentric Mr. Sloan. Wanted was Bekmambetov’s first English-language film, with him previously helming the Russian horror films Night Watch and Day Watch. Since Wanted, the director has gone on to direct films such as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Ben-Hur (2016), and Profile.
McAvoy, who is now a Hollywood star, almost didn’t get the role of Wesley because he looked too much like a geek.
In an interview with ComingSoon.Net in 2007, McAvoy said,
“I screen-tested for [Wanted] over a year ago and they never gave me the part. Then, it was about seven months later when they went, “Look, we’ve been trying to find someone who’s muscle-y who looks good and all that, but it just didn’t work with someone like that so they said, ‘Could you come and do it?’ They basically just said, ‘You’re the runt of the litter and that’s what makes it work’ so yeah, and that’s why I like it. So while I’m doing all this physical work, it’s important for me to remain small. I’m sure they want me to get all big, but it’s important to remain believably geeky.“
Jolie had a much different experience with casting. According to Variety, she ended up joining the film after writer Dean Georgaris (who joined the production to do rewrites) tailored the script and the character of Fox precisely for her.
Viewers love that Wanted has hit Max, taking to Twitter to share their fan cams of Joile’s Fox, their love of Jolie’s performance, and the chemistry between Jolie and McAvoy.
Read a few of those reactions below:
Wanted is streaming now on Max.
What do you think of Wanted? Are you going to do a rewatch now that we’ve reminded you of this Angelina Jolie classic? Let us know over on Twitter or Instagram @DreadCentral.
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