Taglines: Bobby Mercer is not the kind of man who asks twice.
Four Brothers movie storyline. On a cold, snowy night in Detroit, an El Camino car follows another around town. The car that the Camino is following parks and the driver gets out and walks into a convenience store. The driver is Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan), a good-natured, elderly woman. She catches a young boy named Darnell (Tahliel Hawthorne) stealing a candy bar and reprimands him before telling the cashier, Samir (Pablo Silveira), to call the police. We see that Evelyn is bluffing but she uses her threat to talk sense in Darnell who promises to never steal again before he leaves the store.
Evelyn admits to Samir that Darnell just needs an older brother as she walks to the rear of the store to pick out a Thanksgiving turkey. The El Camino occupants (Richard Chevolleau and Awaovieyi Agie) get out of the car and enter the store, clad in black hoods and wielding shotguns. They demand money from Samir as Evelyn hides behind a counter. She listens as Samir hands over the money before they shoot him dead and gasps, a sound that the hoodlums hear. Outside the store, a second gunshot is heard before the robbers leave the store and take off.
Four Brothers is a 2005 American crime thriller film directed by John Singleton. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund. The film was shot in Detroit, Michigan, Regent Park, in the East End of Toronto, Ontario, and Hamilton, Ontario. The movie plot is loosely based on the classic Western The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).
About the Story
“The Mercer brothers are tough, street-smart guys,” says Mark Wahlberg, the star of the new film from director John Singleton, “Four Brothers,” the story of four adoptive brothers who come together to avenge their mother’s murder. “They would probably be dead or in jail if it wasn’t for their foster mom. They may have gone their separate ways as adults, but they all realize the positive impact she had on their lives. And my character, Bobby, feels like he owes it to her to reunite his brothers and avenge her death.”
Academy Award-nominated director John Singleton directs the film. “Even in lawless societies, there’s a code – a set of rules that people live by. Wrongs have to be made right,” says Singleton. “In our film, each of the Mercer brothers has gone his own way, but they come back together to make right the wrong of their mother’s death. What unites the brothers is the code instilled in them by their mother.”
Lorenzo di Bonaventura produces the film. “The Mercer brothers – two black, two white – are linked by their adoptive mother. When these guys lose her – a woman who was only trying to do good in her life and the only person who ever believed in them – they set out to avenge her murder,” he says. “To me, that’s the critical element – this uncompromising action picture has a deeply emotional core.
“Evelyn Mercer was the glue that held these four boys together,” di Bonaventura continues. “They are brothers because of her. They have a family because of her. Now they must make a conscious decision to exact revenge for her murder.”
“I’ve never had something horrific like this happen to my family,” says Wahlberg. “I’ve thought about it a lot; how I would respond, how I would handle it. I think it’s a lot easier to say you would be able to forgive and forget when it hasn’t happened to you.”
Singleton adds that as the brothers avenge her death, they grow closer as brothers. “I’ve always believed that none of these guys entirely embraced the idea that they were brothers. But when they’re stripped of their emotional guard by the death of their mother, they’re able to discover how much they really care about each other.”
According to André Benjamin, the cast also became closer as filming progressed. “After hanging out with each other, feeling each other out, we fell into the characters that we play in the movie,” says Benjamin, who takes on his first starring role with “Four Brothers.” “It wasn’t anything we were trying to make happen – we just found those roles naturally. I’m an only child in real life, so I don’t know what it’s really like, but I can tell you that Mark was just like an older brother to us.”
“When people see the billboard for this movie,” says Tyrese Gibson, who plays Angel Mercer, “they’ll say, `How are they four brothers, when you got two white boys and two black guys?’ But a brother is not always somebody that’s the same race or even the same blood. We are brothers; you’ll see it in the chemistry and in the energy between us. No one will ever be able to take that away from us.”
Singleton says that he was immediately struck by how the script worked on so many different levels. “What really appealed to me was the fact that this wasn’t a straight genre piece, but a character-driven film with action and drama,” says the director. “Its different elements combine to lift it into a higher realm of storytelling that makes for one really action-packed ride.”
Previously the director of the acclaimed film “Boyz N the Hood” and the international hits “Shaft” and “2 Fast 2 Furious,” Singleton is also a filmmaker with his finger on the pulse of today’s audiences and rising filmmaker talents. He recently put on the hat of producer to bring the independent film “Hustle & Flow” to the screen. In “Four Brothers,” Singleton brings this story sense and stylish vision to a film that cuts across genres.
Wahlberg believes that Singleton’s vision for “Four Brothers” will bring the story home to audiences. “I think John’s the right guy to balance out the edge, the emotion, the humor, and the action in this material. He knows this world; it’s right in his wheelhouse,” says the actor.
di Bonaventura agrees. “John brings a sense of reality and humanity to his films,” says the producer. “I’ve always been motivated by pictures from the ’70s- it was a time when many movies seemed to reflect society back on the audience and had something to say about who we were and where we were going. I think that’s valuable and I’ve always tried to make movies that echo that sensibility. John has the ability to make movies on a contemporary level that speak to the audience in the way that I feel the ’70s movies did. There’s a truth to them; you can really feel the experience of his stories and characters. John brings that to the table in a big way.”
In addition to the tautly written script, Singleton says that the opportunity to work with Mark Wahlberg sealed his decision to direct the film. “When you find a good script, the next choice comes down to casting. I was really excited to be able to work with Mark. We’ve known each other for a number of years and have always talked about doing a movie together,” says Singleton.
Joining Mark Wahlberg – who portrays Bobby Mercer, the eldest of the four brothers in the film – are Tyrese Gibson as Angel Mercer, André Benjamin as Jeremiah Mercer, and Garrett Hedlund as Jack Mercer. Together, the four actors have a very commanding presence; however, the filmmakers emphasize that each actor also brings something unique and special to the table. “Mark is an incredibly smart and versatile actor who brings a lot of heart and soul to the roles he takes on. Bobby Mercer is a tough, no-nonsense guy, skilled in the ways of the streets.
He’s a guy who doesn’t listen to reason all that well, but he has that internal moral compass which I think all heroes need to have – which is, a sense of justice. Mark breathes life into the character, playing him with passion, honesty, and strength,” comments di Bonaventura. “André has a quiet, sensitive intelligence that is perfect for the role of Jeremiah, the most grounded of the brothers. Garrett brings a whole lot of edge and sex appeal as well as a playfulness to the role of Jack.”
As for the role of the charismatic rogue Angel, Singleton says that Tyrese Gibson embodies the role. “I couldn’t think of anyone better than Tyrese to play Angel,” he says. “Tyrese has a really cool demeanor about him; he can do a lot of wild things in a movie and people will still follow his character. He’s a very funny guy, on-screen and off-screen; whenever we do a movie together it’s an adventure.”
About the Brothers
The filmmakers took their time to find the four actors who were right for the ensemble. “We went into this with a very open mind about who was right and who wasn’t,” says di Bonaventura. “It was always essential to think about it as a foursome and not as individual characters; as a result, there were some actors we loved individually, but who didn’t feel right to the ensemble. The great thing about these guys is that, in addition to being talented and creative actors, when you see them together, they really look like they belong together. We were incredibly lucky to find the right group of guys who had the right chemistry.”
For Mark Wahlberg, the character of Bobby Mercer is, in many ways, very close to his heart. “I grew up in a very poor neighborhood, the youngest of nine kids and was constantly surrounded by family, mostly brothers,” says Wahlberg. “This feels very much like home to me; it feels like going back in time, except that now I’m the oldest, which I love – now I’m the boss, I’m making all the rules, I’m the one beating everyone else up!”
Comments Singleton, “The thing about Mark as an actor is that he’s from the streets. He reminds me of the actors from the early days of Hollywood that were boxers or wrestlers before they came into the film business. Mark had a really hard past before he came into acting and this is a role that really lets him access his background.”
“Bobby and I are the craziest ones,” says Tyrese Gibson, who plays Angel Mercer. “Angel’s got more of a conscience than Bobby; Bobby is just crazy. He really doesn’t think about the outcome of his actions.”
André Benjamin read the script and loved it, but admits he was initially undecided about accepting the role of Jeremiah – his biggest role to date. While surfing the Internet for some music, a CD popped up for a group called The Brothers Four. He’d never heard of the country band, but was convinced it was sign that he should come on board.
“The thing I like about Jeremiah is that he isn’t a one-beat character; he has different layers,” explains Benjamin. “He grew up with his crazy brothers, and they all ran the streets. But Jeremiah got older, settled down, and had a family. He’s the responsible one of the four brothers. But at the same time, he had to be able to snap. I think that was the challenge.”
“André and I have known each other for over ten years and he’s always been interested in acting,” adds Singleton, “and the camera loves his face; it’s cool because he’s really learning the craft, and he’s taken it to heart.”
Garret Hedlund plays Jack Mercer, the baby brother of the pack. “He’s a great young actor,” says Singleton. “This kid, he can do no wrong.”
“As the youngest brother; Jack gets hassled and teased a lot by his older brothers, so he moved out to New York to pursue his rock career,” explains Hedlund. “But these are brothers by choice, not by blood. And he’s dedicated to them and he’s loyal to them, which keeps him attached.”
“I like the fact that Jack is the outcast among his brothers – as the youngest sibling in my family, I think that’s the way it is sometimes,” Hedlund adds. “It doesn’t mean that your siblings don’t love you – in fact, when you get down to it, it’s probably a sign of an even greater love. But there’s a lot of teasing that goes on – like Bobby teasing Jack – and it can be merciless.”
Four Brothers (2005)
Directed by: John Singleton
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, André Benjamin, Tyrese Gibson, Sofía Vergara, Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Garrett Hedlund, Tony Nappo, Kenneth Welsh, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Screenplay by: David Elliot, Paul Lovett
Production Design by: Keith Brian Burns
Cinematography by: Peter Menzies Jr.
Film Editing by: Bruce Cannon, Billy Fox
Costume Design by: Ruth E. Carter
Set Decoration by: Clive Thomasson
Art Direction by: Andrew M. Stearn
Music by: David Arnold
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexual content.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: August 12, 2005
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