Paul McGuigan: Push Powers - Part 1

We’re suckers for super powers here at UGO. Whether it’s the X-Men or Neil Patrick Harris on a unicorn, the fantastical and powerful has enthralled us since with could say “Peter Parker.” So when our intrepid movies editor, Jordan Hoffman, sat down with Push director, Paul McGuigan, all he wanted to know about was these phenomenal abilities portrayed in the film. Push stars Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning as a group a ex-expatriate telekenetics and clairvoyants hiding from the U.S. Government in Hong Kong. Hi-jinks ensue.

Here is part one of series:

UGO: So I wanted to get specific with you about the different members of the team. Those that have these abilities. The Division agents. Because super powers are internally fascinated with. We start as kids, and it doesn’t seem to go away.

Paul McGuigan: Yeah, it starts as when you’re a kid. I remember going to see Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. And from the cinema all the way down to the house we were doing the kung fu moves. And that was super powers, you know? And then from there, came Spiderman and Superman. With comic books, the imagination they afford you as a child is amazing. So when you think about it, it’s like you can do a storyboard, and then you yourself can fill in the gaps. The story and the characters will take you from one week to the next. And I just find it amazing that comic books have developed into such a big part of our cinema experience.

UGO: There are some who argue that even since ancient times they had the mythology of the gods on Olympus. And we consider our comic book heroes the myths of today.

PM: Definitely. I really defend the children of the day. It’s an easy target to say kids just vegetate in front of a screen with their iPods on and an attention span of a gnat. That’s bollocks. These kids have taken that still comic book image and taken 100 degrees further than we ever did.

I have a 14-year old, and he can express himself much more, emotionally and creatively, than I can.

UGO: Yes. We need someone to recognize texting as an art form. When will we have our first Shakespeare of the text?

PM: Yeah, that would be awesome. We’re animals, we just have to develop. Maybe our thumbs will get sharper so we can text better.

UGO: You mentioned evolution. Let’s talk about the specific powers that exist in the Push universe, and how it differentiates from others movies.

The Pushers...this is very similar to a Jedi mind trick. If I’m talking to somebody and I want him to buy me a ham sandwich and I don’t have the money, and I can think, “Buy Jordan ham sandwich.” But what’s interesting is that they think they thought it the whole time.

PM: Absolutely. Or they think that thought process already happened. For instance Djimon Hounsou tells one of his agents to put his gun in his mouth. He thinks there aren’t any bullets in it, and he flashes back to the guy thinking about it, and he sees him emptying the chambers, so he blows himself away.

UGO: So it creates a “back story.” It’s not that he has a flash of an idea, it’s as if he believes something already happened - like a Blade Runner device where things are planted in your psychology.

PM: There’s no doubt my favorite power is the ability to give false memories to someone. Putting an entirely new world in someone else’s psyche is just so cerebral but so powerful.

UGO: So do these “back stories” dissipate after awhile, or is that there for the rest of my life?

PM: It’s a fleeting moment, but it’ll always be there because you’ll never ever think you’ve been “pushed”. It’s telling your brain that nothing happened. It’s a very intricate power. And I think it’s the most powerful one, because certainly the power of the mind is more powerful than being able to throw a rock.