Aaron Taylor-Johnson has spoken about returning to film in his hometown of London for the new heist thriller Fuze, marking a reunion with director David Mackenzie.
Set in the capital, the film centres on the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb at a busy construction site, triggering a large-scale evacuation.
As authorities scramble to contain the threat, a criminal plot unfolds in the chaos.
Taylor-Johnson stars as Major Will Tranter, a bomb disposal expert caught at the centre of the unfolding crisis.
Speaking to The London Standard, he said the project appealed to him both for its setting and its origins as a long-time passion project for Mackenzie, with whom he previously worked on 2018’s Outlaw King.
“This was one of those scripts that came to me a couple of years ago, so straight out of the writers’ strike, actually,” he said. “And it was the first script that David Mackenzie had a couple of stories that he wanted to do.
“And I've worked with him before, and he brought this one, and it just felt there was some real sort of originality to it. And he said it's been something he'd been working on for over 15 years.
“In fact, it's sort of inspired by when Hurt Locker came out and all those sort of things. So, it was really interesting to me that it was kind of a passion project of his, and then just sort of doing something in London. I wanted to film in London.”
He added that the contemporary feel of the script was a key draw.
He continued: “I wanted to film something that felt sort of fresh, new, current and in terms of it sort of just being, you know, not a period movie and so it just, it just felt like a different character for me and a different kind of genre and, I just love working with Dave Mackenzie.
“So, this was one of those and to do a second one is kind of cool.”
Theo James also stars in the film alongside Taylor-Johnson.
The cast, including Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Saffron Hocking and Elham Ehsas, joined Mackenzie at the film’s London premiere at the Odeon West End on Thursday.
Fuze will be available to watch in cinemas across the UK from Friday, April 3
