Tagline: Always protect the family.
Survival is the goal. By any means necessary. Actress Wanda De JesUs and Rick Gonzalez are an electrifying duo who will stop at nothing to protect one another and those they love from a team of relentless assassins in this heart pumping action drama — Illegal Tender.
In a homage to the classic mob films of the ’80s, writer/director Franc Reyes (Empire) teams with two-time Academy Award-nominated director and accomplished producer John Singleton (2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers, Hustle & Flow) to create an ultra-contemporary action drama full of suspense, intrigue and heart.
Our modern day heroine, Millie DeLeon (Wanda De Jesus), is a beautiful, highly educated and sophisticated upper-class widow, raising her two privileged sons alone— one is a college honors student and the other is in elementary school. Life appears idyllic for this American family.
But things change quickly when Millie bumps into a woman from her past, bringing the reality of imminent danger to the forefront once more. Millie knows assassins will soon be coming to kill her—they’ve been tracking her with tireless precision for years.
To her credit, she has managed to elude them, evading death skillfully, without alarming her children—until now.
As always, when Millie is spotted, she decides to relocate the family. But this time, her oldest son, Wilson DeLeon, Jr. (Rick Gonzalez)—now a strong-willed young man with a mind of his own—decides to stay against his mother’s wishes. They lock horns, and after trying unsuccessfully to convince him to flee with her, Millie leaves town with only her youngest son.
But, Wilson, Jr. is ill prepared for the danger that confronts him when two well-trained assassins enter their home with bone-chilling ease, looking for Millie. A gun-toting Wilson, Jr. confronts them and protects his girlfriend, Ana (Dania Ramirez), in a bloody melee that wounds the attackers. Wilson walks away from this situation a changed man – with a newfound strength and a commitment to protecting his family at all costs.
Shortly thereafter, Wilson, Jr. learns that the attacks are the consequence of bad blood between his father and the mob. Now, his family’s ghosts are coming back to haunt him. His father, Wilson, Sr. (Manny Perez), made a fortune 20 years prior as a drug dealer in New York, enabling him to provide a much better life for his family than would otherwise have been possible for a working class immigrant. And like so many young men who risk their lives in exchange for the financial perks of the drug trade, Wilson, Sr. had planned on getting out one day. But that dream ended tragically when he was double-crossed by his trusted associates and murdered, leaving his young wife and baby to make it on their own.
Now two decades later, his educated and savvy wife, Millie, has emerged from that tragedy a rich woman committed to creating a world full of hope and possibility for her children. Yet Millie is certain the assassins will stop at nothing to recoup the money she invested in stocks long ago that has flourished over the years.
Fed-up with living in fear, Millie attempts to stop the killers from tormenting her family by facing her would be assassins head-on to end the terror once and for all – even if it results in her own death. It’s a fight that Wilson, Jr. determines she must do together. It’s a family affair.
Franc. Reyes takes audiences on a riveting and bone-chilling thrill ride through the streets of New York and deep into the underbelly of Puerto Rico, where the film was shot, to create this unforgettable action drama.
Am I My Brothers Keeper?
Two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker John Singleton and Franc. Reyes first met at the wrap party for Spike Lee’s film 25th Hour. At that time, Reyes’ debut feature, Empire, was in theaters (and on its way to becoming the highest grossing feature to premiere in Sundance history). Singleton also was gearing up to produce the film Hustle & Flow, which went on to garner tremendous critical-acclaim, an Academy Award and box-office success.
From there, Singleton produced another critically acclaimed film, Black Snake Moan. Meanwhile, Reyes was developing ideas and scripts for other future projects. Over a three-year period, the two intermittently exchanged phone calls. In 2006, in a Los Angeles coffee shop, the two finally bumped into one another.
“I respect Franc. as a filmmaker,” says Singleton, who after seeing Empire, hoped the two would one day collaborate. “I asked him what he was working on, and he told me about this story he had in his head. I loved the idea because it was about a mother and son, and I’m always trying to explore human connections in my films.”
Like Singleton’s two-time Academy Award-nominated debut feature, Boyz N the Hood, a coming-of-age story about a father trying to raise his son amidst the challenges of crime-infested South Central Los Angeles, Reyes’ Illegal Tender echoes similar themes. The challenge for Reyes was Singleton’s request to write and complete his screenplay in a three-week time frame, which was during the Christmas holiday. “I was writing five, six, seven hours a day,” says Reyes—who started writing on December 27 and finished on January 17. “When I took it to John, he said, ‘Let’s do it!’ I couldn’t believe it. I said, ‘This is crazy, ’cause who does that? Nobody does what John did.”
Reyes’ ability to attract a formidable talent like Singleton as a behind-the-scenes partner for his sophomore directing effort is indicative of Reyes commitment to artistic integrity and his mastery at translating his vision to the screen. “Franc. did a great job on Empire,” says Singleton. “We always said we were going to work together, so I’m glad this opportunity availed itself.”
Working side by side during production—with two very different styles—Reyes and Singleton developed found a happy medium that enabled them to collaborate with freedom and ease throughout the process. “John goes at 100 miles per hour,” says Reyes, “and you have to be on your toes when he’s around.”
Inspired by Singleton, Reyes also drew upon his upbringing as one of eight siblings from a large family to guide and shape his emerging directing style. A self-taught writer and director, Reyes was responsible for overseeing a 100-plus film crew for the movie. “When you come from that background, you always want to please everybody and make sure they’re alright,” he says. “I have a lot of patience for that kind of stuff.”
Their brotherly camaraderie translated particularly well on the set—where they kept the often painstaking filmmaking process fun. Says Singleton, “This was not a traditional Hollywood set, because people usually come in, do their jobs and go home. But we had a great time. We laughed a lot and made a classic film. We’re definitely bringing the hotness with this one!”
Mi Familia: Cast Members Come Together
It was the excitement and buzz generated by Empire that made Reyes one of the most sought-after young filmmakers in Hollywood, by both actors and behind-the-scenes craftsmen alike. Golden Globe-and Emmy-nominated actress Isabella Rosellini, multi Grammy Award-winning musician Ruben Blades, three-time Golden Globe-nominee Sonia Braga and Latin superstar La India all lent their artistry to that first project. In this latest film, the critically lauded Wanda De JesUs joins rising star Rick Gonzalez and a cast of cutting-edge young actors to bring Illegal Tender to the screen.
The leading role of Wilson DeLeon, Jr. is portrayed by actor and Reyes’ friend Rick Gonzalez, whom Reyes credits as being the inspiration for the film. “One day Rick called me up and said ‘People are asking me to do movies with Reggaetón music in them,” Reyes recalls. “Why don’t you do something? Everyday would call and ask me, ‘How far did you get on the script? What’s happening in the story?’” He chuckles, “If it wasn’t for Rick, this story would not exist.”
Gonzalez describes his character as being initially unprepared to face the challenges that await him. “When you grow up in the inner-city, you have a third eye,” explains Gonzalez, a young actor of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent who grew up in New York. “But Wilson’s a guy whose been raised in a privileged suburban neighborhood, so he’s a bit of a mama’s boy—he’s gotten everything he wants.”
Portraying this unlikely hero became a tall, but welcomed order for Gonzalez, who makes his debut as a leading man in the thriller. “It was tricky trying to balance his rage, vulnerability and fear,” explains the actor, who exudes both a soft-spoken, thoughtful demeanor and the vitality of a native New Yorker. Gonzalez cites his most difficult scene as the one where he is first confronted by the assassins at Wilson’s home. After wounding them in a bloody, action-packed skirmish, the killers try to escape in the midst of the pandemonium. Wilson, Jr. is faced with a moral dilemma: whether or not to kill them.
Wilson realizes, the real stakes are the repercussions of letting them live, which may jeopardize the safety of his mother and his beloved younger brother, Randy, played by Antonio Ortiz.
“I love him,” says Gonzalez of his little co-star, Ortiz. “In person he’s such a little ray of sunshine; he’s gregarious and full of life.” To bond on the set, they did secret handshakes created by Ortiz. The two told jokes, had play fights—all to keep their communication open. From Wanda De JesUs, Ortiz says he learned to show emotion and to remember his lines. “I kept stuttering around her, because she was a famous person,” Ortiz recalls. ”Then my mom told me she was a person just like me, and we got through the rest of the movie.”
The toughest part of filming for Ortiz was a shoot-out scene where the filmmakers asked him to cry. “I’m in the closet gunshots are coming into the room,” he recalls. “So I pictured myself not having any toys—no skateboard, no videogames, nothing for the rest of my life—and then I broke down and started crying.”
“When you’re put in a position to fight or flee, what does it look like?” Gonzalez asks. “For me, it was very primal and came from a place of pure instinctual passion.” Singleton hopes this will be a seminal role for Gonzalez and believes his solid performance will generate mature parts for him on other films. Says Singleton: “Rick Gonzalez is a cool cat. His work is tight, and he’s someone that I wanted to work with even before this project, so it was just amazing timing that the right opportunity came up.”
With the film’s leading man in place, the challenge became finding an actress to portray Millie DeLeon whose chemistry would gel seamlessly with Gonzalez during their on-screen odyssey from conflict to camaraderie.
With the dearth of roles in the film industry for Latina actresses, Reyes and Singleton were deluged with auditions from talented and deserving artists who read for the role. But it was the combination of Wanda De JesUs’ pedigree and her unforgettable audition that sealed it. In the middle of one scene during her audition (in an unscripted and completely spontaneous moment), De JesUs slapped Gonzalez in the face.
Recalls Singleton, “When she slapped him, it was like a gunshot. Frank and I looked at each other and we were like ‘Whoa, man!’ Rick just took the hit and kept on going. But it pulled something out of him as they continued the scene. You really felt they were this estranged mother and son pair, and we knew Wanda had the part.”
To create a dynamic that lent itself to the range of emotions shared between De JesUs and Gonzalez, the actors spent days doing improvisations, discovering how their characters would react in different situations. “Rick and I were committed to exploring the full range of sensibilities in this mother and son relationship filled with high stakes. With that, came the trust and intimacy that occurs when actors take that kind of risk.”
For Reyes, it was particularly gratifying to work side by side with an actress of De JesUs’ caliber, whose approach to acting has been developed through years of uncompromised honesty in her work on stage and screen. A New York native, De JesUs honed her craft as a theater actress working on dozens of Broadway and off-Broadway productions. She has also crafted memorable screen roles opposite world-class actors including Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro and Laurence Fishburne.
“I’ve loved Wanda for years,” says Reyes, “and when I bumped into her a few years ago, I said to her, ‘We’re gonna work together one day,’ so I was really jazzed that it happened. It’s always amazing when I’m sitting in front of people that are brilliant, because I’m a fan first,” Reyes continues. “It was wonderful to soak Wanda in and learn from her, because she has been in this business a long time and is incredible.”
Singleton agrees: “Wanda is so beautiful and so intense. One of my favorite scenes is when she sees this woman from her past and realizes the killers will pursue her soon thereafter. She communicates this tension with no words, which is so incredible. Her vulnerability and strength both show. I hope this picture does a lot for Wanda and that people discover her in a whole new way,” Singleton adds.
For De JesUs, the question her character must answer in the film is ‘what are you willing to do to protect the ones you love?’ She shares, “I wanted to live in that question, in order to explore the psychology of someone who has to look over her shoulder at all times. What is it like to be in survival mode, constantly? The answer for movie audiences comes in the form of this beautiful, educated, and self-assured woman who uses her intelligence, tenacity and firearms when needed to keep her family alive and intact.
“She’s alone,” continues De JesUs. “For 20 years, she has had to incrementally run her own witness protection program. She doesn’t advocate violence, but when left with no other recourse, she will use any means necessary to protect her family.”
While Millie DeLeon may be an archetype in Hollywood, this is not the case in the Latin community—where women not only run their households, but have also become very successful businesswomen and community leaders. Portraying a woman of this stripe was important for De JesUs, who has built a stellar reputation among her fans as a quality artist who chooses roles that both stretch her talents and forward well-rounded and realistic images of Latin women in America.
Dania Ramirez plays Ana, a middle-class college girl from a sheltered background who begins losing her boyfriend to a world she knows nothing about. “She’s trying to figure out whether this relationship is worth all of the heartache that she’s being put through,” explains Ramirez. “She doesn’t completely understand what Wilson is doing, but she knows that she doesn’t want to be with a gangster—and that’s who he’s becoming in order to set things right.”
Ramirez and Gonzalez were eager to finally work together since the two had read for many roles but they never resulted them working on the same project. “I love, love, love Rick,” says an exuberant Ramirez. “He’s so wonderfully committed and talented, what else can I say?”
Summarizing the dilemma that her on-screen love interest is faced with at having to protect his family at such a young age, Ramirez says, “Everyone in the world can relate to dealing with difficult consequences. A lot of times, the people we love must end up having to clean up the mess made by those who are no longer with us.”
Having returned from France only two days before shooting began, Ramirez says it was exciting to begin the rehearsal process with Rick. However, the challenges of a fastpaced first shooting day were quite overwhelming. She recalls: “We shot four to five scenes, including one where we greet each other and are very much in love, to one where I’m angry and emotional,” she recalls. “I felt I was in an emotional rollercoaster, going from happy to sad to in love to angry. It was absolutely exhausting!”
Manny Perez portrays Wilson DeLeon, Sr., the industrious, young drug lord who is double-crossed and murdered in the 1980s, before he can reap the benefits of his labor. “I loved this character because, despite the fact that he is putting bread on the table illegally, he loves his family with all his heart and wants the best for them,” says Perez. The actor patterned some of Wilson Sr.’s qualities after his own father, who passed away a decade ago. “My dad was a very strong man,” shares Perez. “He was dead poor, but when he spoke, people listened. When he stood and looked at you, he looked right through you, but at the same time he had heart.”
A Filmmaker’s Vision: Rising Up and Getting It Done
Bringing such a talented group of filmmakers and actors together on his second film, Illegal Tender, could only have been accomplished due to the tenacity of Reyes. His unique brand of storytelling combines glimpses of his experiences growing up in New York’s tough Spanish Harlem and South Bronx communities with an honest, irreverent and innovative approach to the medium of film. De JesUs says that like the great director Martin Scorsese, one the most beloved and admired filmmakers to Reyes, the themes of his films deal with the underworld and the concept of people trying to get out. “His characters are always seeking to elevate themselves to a different existence,” De JesUs weighs in.
This driving need to elevate above the challenging circumstances of his youth is a core motivation for Reyes stories, and a prime example of art imitating life. “I grew up around guys who were drug dealers and they would say to me ‘Get out of the neighborhood; go and do your thing,’” Reyes reflects. “I was always pushing forward, always trying to find a way to communicate and believing that there was nothing I could not do. I developed an inner strength.”
Citing Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Spike Lee and Woody Allen, Reyes says, “Those are the guys I grew up watching…they turn me on as filmmakers and they tell their version of New York stories. With my films, I’m telling stories about my own experience.”
Set against a hard-hitting, urban, inner-city backdrop, Reyes has crafted a David and Goliath story about slaying the forces of adversity, against all odds. He comments, “It has to do with being in the ghetto and making it out of there, even with all of the forces that are in your way.”
Illegal Tender is also a love story that Reyes hopes will be an ode to women everywhere who watch it. Reyes says, “It’s about a lioness and her cubs and by hook or by crook, they’re going to make it. Because it’s always about the woman being strong, she’s the mother of the earth.”
Principal photography for Illegal Tender began in May 2006 on location in New York City, where the production shot for two weeks before heading to Puerto Rico’s Old San Juan. There, a crew of 100-plus shot for an additional three and a half weeks. Contemporary New York streets double in the film for the Bronx in the mid-1980s, while Queens’ neighborhoods double as upscale Connecticut enclaves.
“John made it possible for us to enhance a number of key scenes that really come to life on screen,” says executive producer Dwight Williams. “He insisted that Franc.’s film maintain the highest quality he could afford.” Williams singles out the complex stunt scenes that Singleton had Reyes storyboard, choreograph and rehearse, just as he would have for a larger budgeted film.
Despite the challenges of shooting in a small country rife with tourists—making the shoot logistically difficult due to crowded city streets—veteran producers Williams and Preston Holmes helped Reyes and Singleton deliver the picture they envisioned. From the quaint cobblestone streets of Old San Juan to the narrow, logistically challenging streets where some of the action sequences were filmed, production managed to stay on schedule with the help of a well-trained Puerto Rican crew.
“The Puerto Rican government provides a 40 percent tax credit to productions shooting there,” explains executive producer Preston Holmes. “So production is booming there, so much so, that we reversed our production schedule so that we could shoot in New York first, allowing crews to free up in PR.” The plan worked without a hitch and filming went smoothly.
Illegal Tender (2007)
Directed by: Franc Reyes
Starring: Rick Gonzalez, Wanda De JesUs, Dania Ramirez, Tego Calderon, Manny Perez, Gary Perez, Carmen Pérez Røsnes, Mercedes Mercado, Zulay Henao, Jessica Pimentel
Screenplay by: Franc Reyes
Production Design by: Keith Brian Burns
Cinematography by: Frank Byers
Film Editing by: Tony Ciccone
Costume Design by: Rahimah Yoba
Art Direction by: Liba Daniels
Music by: Heitor Pereira
MPAA Rating: R for violence, language and some sexuality.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: August 24, 2007
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