MR. BROOKS’ IMAGINARY FRIEND – OR IS THAT FIEND?
OSCAR® WINNER WILLIAM HURT PORTRAYS MARSHALL

One of the most vital, and unusual, characters in MR. BROOKS is Marshall, Mr. Brooks’ alter ego who exists only in the most shadowy corners of his mind, and reveals the wicked impulses that cause Mr. Brooks to murder strangers. To play Marshall, the filmmakers knew they would need a truly gifted actor – someone who could make the part feel scary and real while also keeping him within the dream-like realm of a figment of imagination. It was Kevin Costner who first brought up the name of Academy Award® winner William Hurt, which whom he had starred in the now-classic “The Big Chill.” “Kevin was adamant that William Hurt would be his perfect alter-ego,” recalls Raynold Gideon.

The reaction among the filmmakers was unanimous. “To have an actor of William Hurt’s caliber take on Marshall was just a thrilling idea,” says Bruce Evans. “When he said ‘yes,’ it brought so much to the film.”

Hurt’s recent work has taken him from the crime kingpin in David Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence” to a founding CIA agent in Robert DeNiro’s “The Good Shepherd,” but Marshall was a role unlike any other – a rare chance to play a psychological demon in the flesh. Hurt was immediately intrigued by Marshall. “He is a pure concoction of Mr. Brooks’ psyche,” he notes. “But I played with the layers of his motivation. Is he simply accommodating Mr. Brooks’ perverse whimsies, or does he have a supernatural motive of his own that takes precedence?”

As for how he prepared to enter a man who is wholly imaginary, Hurt explains the symbiosis with Kevin Costner that was necessary: “I decided that the only way to go about it was just to key off of Brooks’ apparent needs as expressed by Kevin’s work. A lot of it was up to Kevin, so my problem was kind of answered. It was a great exercise as an actor to be so aware of what another actor is doing, to forget ‘yourself’ or lose ‘yourself’ in that, which is really the point of all work.”

Jim Wilson was impressed by how well the two actors synched in both their passion for acting and their work ethic. “They are both very committed actors who do a lot rehearsal -- very intense, true rehearsals,” he explains.

Hurt also notes that while we don’t all have an evil “Marshall” in our heads, we do all have various hidden sides to ourselves who sometimes make appearances. “We all have different voices in our heads, and that’s what Marshall represents in the film: our panel, our inner review board that’s there all the time,” he says.

While Marshall may discourage any introspection on Mr. Brooks’ part, Hurt himself was fascinated by the character’s complexity and inner battles. “He does have this part of himself that is truly sorry about the whole thing,” he observes. “His wrestling with his conscience is really important in this. Then there’s the whole introduction of his daughter and the notion of repetitions through the generations, of karma. I think where the crucible really lies for Mr. Brooks is in his relationship with his child.”
ALL IN THE FAMILY: DANIELLE PANABAKER AND MARG HELGENBERGER AS THE CONFLICTED DAUGHTER AND LOVING WIFE

Playing Mr. Brooks’ prized, only daughter is rising young actress Danielle Panabaker (“Shark,” “Sky High”), in what is by far her most adult role to date. Vying against dozens of other up-and-coming actresses, Panabaker won the role with a standout audition that proved she could go head-to-head with Kevin Costner as the daughter who’s more similar to him than he’d like to admit. Recalls director Bruce Evans: “In her audition, Danielle read the powerful scene where Mr. Brooks asks Jane if he really loves her -- and she just broke our hearts. We knew right then she was Jane.”

Even before she finished the script, Panabaker knew it wouldn’t be easy to see this brutal serial killer as a father, but she relished the challenge. The contrasts between the two sides of Mr. Brooks frightened her, yet also compelled her. “I really didn’t want to stop reading this screenplay,” she says. “There’s something very dark and twisted about the story that also makes it really fascinating.”

She was especially engaged by the fact that Jane, like her father, has a lot more going on behind the privileged surfaces of her life than meets the eye. “There are so many different layers to Jane,” observes Panabaker. “When we first meet her, she’s just coming home from college to see her parents and she’s got all these secrets and worries. Then, she gets more and more interesting as the story goes on.”

Things got even more interesting on the set, as Panabaker worked closely with Kevin Costner to develop a highly unusual father-daughter bond. It was an inspirational experience for the young actress. “Kevin is such a fantastic actor and gave me so many tips I would never have thought of,” she says. “Every time he says something, he brings a whole new depth and a whole new reality to things. For example, the moments of playing with his glasses were all his idea – and they’re so real. It really establishes the connection between father and daughter and is also a little foreboding. It’s typical of how Kevin is always thinking beyond the scene to the bigger picture.”

For Panabaker, the bigger picture of MR. BROOKS is one that will continue to haunt her for a while to come. “It’s definitely one of those movies that even after you’ve left the theatre, you’ll be asking questions and you’ll still be thinking about it a long time afterwards,” she sums up.

Completing Mr. Brooks’ picture-perfect family is the light of Mr. Brooks’ life – his gorgeous, loving wife Emma, who seems completely under his spell. “If Mr. Brooks didn’t have his wife, Emma, he’d probably self-destruct,” says Raynold Gideon. “When he comes home to her it’s all loving and beautiful and that’s what holds him together.”

Starring as Emma is an actress who has risen to international popularity on the hit television crime-solving phenomenon “CSI”: Marg Helgenberger. Like her cast-mates, Helgenberger found that the script kept her up late. “It’s one of the only scripts I’ve read in my life that I really didn’t think I could put down,” she says. “It has style, suspense, thrills and the characters really get under your skin because they are such complicated and tortured souls.”
Perhaps the least tortured soul in the entire story is Emma herself, who in her role as the sexy and devoted wife, manages not to see through her husband’s facade to the darkness and criminal mind within. “Emma is very strong, independent and knows who she is,” observes the actress. “She’s all about her family and she truly believes she has a very happy marriage. Sure, her husband might go off for hours at a time, but there’s a real trust there for her because she feels it’s such a healthy relationship.”

Helgenberger continues: “Yet, I think there’s something else there, whether she’s conscious of it or not, where she knows there’s something wrong, something that her husband is troubled by, but she accepts that as a part of him. He’s the kind of man where you keep peeling back layer after layer and never get to the core, and I think she finds that attractive. There might be questions she doesn’t ask, but I also think this is typical of any long-term relationship where some kind of dysfunction sets in – where you settle into a certain routine in your day-to-day relationship and don’t push the edges.”

Working with Kevin Costner made the experience even more exciting. “Kevin is someone who really enjoys the craft of filmmaking, of telling stories, of creating real characters -- and it was a great to work with somebody for whom you have so much admiration,” she says. “He also has a very interesting combination of laid-back boyishness mixed with searing intensity which I find very intriguing.”

Costner was equally impressed. “While Marg might not be a surprise to audiences who know her, she was a real surprise to me because I really appreciated her acting and how beautifully she embodied the good wife,” he says.

Helgenberger notes that the character of Mr. Brooks out-does most of the criminals she chases after on “CSI.” “Mr. Brooks is always one step ahead of the cops,” she says. “In the six years I’ve been on ‘CSI,’ I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anybody as brilliant or who thought out his crimes so well. But Mr. Brooks is also more than just the ultimate bad guy. He’s more complex and interesting than that.”