Listen: “Olympus Has Fallen” Press Conference

The action-packed Olympus Has Fallen, about a former Secret Service agent who has to stop the takeover of the White House, opens in theaters this Friday. We’ll have our review on Thursday afternoon, but while you wait, you can listen to the press conference where the cast and director talked about the project.

The press conference, held yesterday, featured director Antoine Fuqua and cast members Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Dylan McDermott, Rick Yune, Morgan Freeman, and Angela Bassett. Be warned that there were some spoilers in the press conference.

In Olympus Has Fallen, Butler plays a disgraced former Presidential guard who gets trapped in the White House after it is taken over by terrorists. Eckhart plays the President, Freeman is the Speaker of the House, Bassett is the Secret Service Director, McDermott is a former Secret Service agent, and Yune is a…complicated character.

Listen to the press conference below or download here.

[audio:http://dankoelsch.com/movieviral/olympuspc.mp3]

Questions Asked:

0:00 Did you have any reservations about political leanings? [Answered by Fuqua]

1:11 How did terrorists get American military weapons? [Fuqua]

1:56 Do you prefer roles that are mostly action or dialogue-driven? [Butler]

4:23 What is your most memorable moment? [Fuqua, Yune, Butler]

6:30 Did you do research to play the Speaker, and what was it like to work in Louisiana? [Freeman]

8:31 Did experience from “Private Practice” help with role? [McDermott]

9:51 What did you do to get in shape for the role? [Butler, Yune]

14:40 How do you think Obama and Secret Service will react to film? [Fuqua]

15:38 How do you feel you’ve evolved as a thespian for this role? [Bassett]

16:20 What was reception like at Camp Pendleton screening? [Butler]

19:47 How much of the White House layout did you already know? [Fuqua, Bassett]

21:44 Would you talk about working opposite each other? [Bassett, Freeman]

23:31 What’s your secret to remaining humble? [Freeman]

23:56 Is North Korea the new Soviet Union for films? [Fuqua]

26:20 How do you separate your President from others on screen? [Eckhart, Fuqua, Butler]

29:02 Can you talk about splitting Presidential role? [Freeman, Eckhart]