The Cold Light of Day (2012)

Director:

Mabrouk El Mechri

Writers:

Scott Wiper (written by) &
John Petro (written by)

Release Date:

7 September 2012 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

Instinct is his greatest weapon.

Plot:

After his family is kidnapped during their sailing trip in Spain, a young Wall Street trader is confronted by the people responsible: intelligence agents looking to recover a mysterious briefcase. |

Plot Keywords:

Sailing | Government | No Opening Credits | Martial Arts | Car Chase

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Henry Cavill	...	Will
Verónica Echegui	...	Lucia
Bruce Willis	...	Martin
Sigourney Weaver	...	Carrack
Joseph Mawle	...	Gorman
Caroline Goodall	...	Laurie
Rafi Gavron	...	Josh
Emma Hamilton	...	Dara
Michael Budd	...	Esmael
Roschdy Zem	...	Zahir
Óscar Jaenada	...	Maximo
Joe Dixon	...	Dixon
Jim Piddock	...	Meckler
Fermí Reixach	...	Carlos
Lolo Herrero	...	Reynaldo
Luiggi López	...	Puerto Serena Fisherman
Alex Amaral	...	Cesar
Paloma Bloyd	...	Christiana
Simón Andreu	...	Pizarro
Morgan Johnson	...	Habib
Mark Ullod	...	Vicente
Borja Chantres	...	Bus Driver
Andrea Ros	...	SP. College Girl (as Andrea Ros Buerrero)
Carlos Martínez	...	Young Cop
José Alias	...	Garbage Man
Sílvia Sabaté	...	Mother at Pharmacy
Colm Meaney	...	Bandler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Laura Bayonas	...	Voice (voice) (uncredited)
David Hernández Silva	...	Army Soldier (uncredited)
Javier Pinto	...	Airport Customer (uncredited)
Paula Soldevila	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Mabrouk El Mechri

Writing credits
Scott Wiper		(written by) &
John Petro		(written by)

Produced by
Garrett Basch	....	co-producer
Mark Canton	....	executive producer
José Luis Escolar	....	co-producer
Marc D. Evans	....	producer
Trevor Macy	....	producer
Kevin Mann	....	executive producer
Jesus Martinez Asencio	....	executive producer
Matthew Perniciaro	....	executive producer
Javier Sánchez	....	assistant producer
Scott Wiper	....	executive producer
Steven Zaillian	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Lucas Vidal

Cinematography by
Remi Adefarasin

Film Editing by
Valerio Bonelli

Casting by
Anne McCarthy

Production Design by
Benjamín Fernández

Art Direction by
Alejandro Fernández

Costume Design by
Bina Daigeler

Makeup Department
Patricia Planche	....	makeup artist
Susana Sánchez	....	makeup department head

Production Management
Carlos Esteban Esteban	....	assistant production manager
Mariana Jacob	....	production team
Adolfo Moraleda	....	assistant production manager
Javier Pérez García	....	assistant production manager
Graham Stumpf	....	post-production supervisor
Fernando Victoria de Lecea	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cecilio Caparrini	....	third assistant director: second unit
Javier Chinchilla	....	first assistant director: second unit
Christopher Downs	....	additional second second assistant director
Jon Espel	....	second assistant director
Silvia Esquivel	....	second second assistant director: second unit
Pablo García	....	third assistant director
Andrea Izquierdo López	....	third assistant director: second unit
Óscar Manero	....	key second assistant director: second unit
Jairo Murray	....	second second assistant director: second unit
Lee Sheward	....	second unit director

Art Department
David Allcock	....	storyboard artist
Martin Asbury	....	storyboard artist
Boris Fernández	....	props
Alexis Fibla	....	storyboard artist
Óscar Romero	....	props
Rocio Sainz Herrero	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Dafydd Archard	....	sound mix technician
Dillon Bennett	....	assistant sound editor
Antonio Bloch	....	sound mixer
Chris Burdon	....	sound re-recording mixer
Simon Chase	....	adr supervisor
Simon Chase	....	dialogue editor
Doug Cooper	....	sound re-recording mixer
Mark DeSimone	....	adr mixer: New York
Simon Diggins	....	adr recordist
Roberto Fernández	....	sound effects recordist
Nick Foley	....	adr mixer
Paul Hanks	....	foley artist
James Hyde	....	adr recordist
Nick Kray	....	adr mixer
Mark Lafbery	....	foley mixer
François Loubeyre	....	sound recordist
Richard Lovell	....	sound mix assistant
Joe Maher	....	sound re-recording engineer
Markus Moll	....	sound mix technician
Gunnar Oskarsson	....	foley editor
Aramís Rubio	....	boom operator
Ric Schnupp	....	adr recordist
James Shannon	....	dolby sound consultant
Andy Stallabrass	....	adr mixer
Joseph Stracey	....	sound effects editor
Oliver Tarney	....	supervising sound editor
Simon Trundle	....	foley mixer
Jack Whittaker	....	sound effects editor
Ben Whitver	....	adr mixer

Special Effects by
Antony Auger	....	special effects technician
Helena Brackley	....	special effects technician
Anthony S. Ciccarelli	....	special effects technician
Garry Cooper	....	special effects technician
Doug McCarthy	....	second unit special effects technician
Enrique Montero	....	special effects
Chris Reynolds	....	special effects supervisor
Neil Reynolds	....	special effects technician
Jody Taylor	....	special effects senior technician
Alastair Vardy	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Carlos Adarraga	....	digital compositor
Sonsoles Aranguren	....	digital compositor
Thomas Ayre	....	digital restoration
Bahar Cetin	....	digital compositor
Aníbal del Busto	....	digital compositor
Alicia del Rio	....	digital conform artist
David Esteve	....	digital compositor
Charlotte Gray	....	digital restoration artist
Emma Hulme	....	digital restoration
Ezequiel Larrú	....	digital compositor
Helen Marti Donoghue	....	visual effects producer
Guillermo Martínez Benavente	....	visual effects artist
Katie McCulloch	....	digital restoration
Emiliano Nanfaro	....	pre-vis artist
Francisco Palomares Pozas	....	digital compositor
Ramón Ramos	....	visual effects artist
Thorsten Rienth	....	visual effects artist
Yolanda Rubio	....	digital compositor
Natalie Silver	....	digital restoration
Rafa Solorzano	....	visual effects supervisor
Carlos Trijueque	....	digital compositor

Stunts
Cristina Agiara	....	stunt performer
Guiomar Alonso	....	stunt double: Veronica Echegui
Antonio Arnalte	....	stunts
Stefany Balaguer	....	stunt performer
Edinson Tabare Carballo	....	stunt performer
Stephanie Carey	....	stunt driver: Sigourney Weaver
Jordi Casares	....	stunt coordinator: Spain
Pablo Casillas	....	stunt double
Jamie Edgell	....	stunt double: Henry Cavill
James Embree	....	stunt double: Henry Cavill
Solier Fagundez	....	stunts
Eduardo Fedriani	....	stunts
Neil Finnighan	....	stunt driver
Eduardo Gago Muñoz	....	stunt driver
Eduardo Gago Muñoz	....	stunt performer
Daniel Garretero	....	stunt performer
Paul Heasman	....	stunt driver
David Hernández Silva	....	stunt performer
Des Hills	....	stunt driver
Gary Hoptrough	....	stunt driver
Rob Hunt	....	stunt double: Henry Cavill
Sid Karne	....	stunts
Pablo Muñoz	....	stunt performer
Miroslav Navratil	....	stunt performer
Alejandro Pantany	....	stunts
Eduardo Pedriani	....	stunt performer
Abraham Redondo	....	stunt performer
Mario Sancho	....	stunt performer
Lee Sheward	....	stunt coordinator
César Solar	....	stunt performer
Cuco Usín	....	stunts
Stuart F. Wilson	....	stunt double: Bruce Willis

Camera and Electrical Department
Daniel Aranyó	....	cinematographer: second unit
David Arrés	....	grip
Patrick de Ranter	....	camera operator
Patrick de Ranter	....	steadicam operator
Steven Desbrow	....	aerial director of photography
David Domínguez	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Sonia Eguren	....	second assistant camera
Roberto Fernández	....	first assistant camera: second unit
Álvaro García	....	second assistant camera: "a" camera: second unit
David Gomez Ojeda	....	key video technician: first unit
Falkwyn Goyeneche	....	key video technician: second unit
Olaf Guembe	....	camera loader
Peru Herrero	....	electrician
Des Hills	....	Russian arm precision driver
Josu Inchaustegui	....	Steadicam operator: second unit
Luis Lattanzi	....	first assistant camera: action unit
Jonathan Lee	....	best boy grip
Juan Leiva	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera: second unit
Diego López Calvin	....	still photographer
John J. Moers	....	documentary cameraman
Alvaro Morales	....	additional: first unit key grip
Diego Moyano	....	gaffer
Toby Plaskitt	....	russian arm operator
Laurent Poulain	....	video technician: second unit
Bartolomé Pérez	....	electrician
Arcadio Sequeira	....	gaffer
Joaquín 'Kino' Sánchez	....	gaffer
José Tamayo Fernández	....	electrician
Andy Thomson	....	Russian arm technician
Daniel Vilar	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Miguel Ángel Viñas	....	second assistant camera: "b" camera: second unit

Casting Department
Pep Armengol	....	casting: Europe
Vanessa Baker	....	adr voice casting
Terri Douglas	....	adr voice casting
Kellie Gesell	....	casting associate
Luci Lenox	....	casting: Europe
Yaël Moreno	....	extras casting: Spain
Luis Sanchez-Cañete	....	extras casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ana Cuerda	....	costume supervisor
Charo Diego	....	costume assistant
Leticia Palomares	....	aging artist
Pepo Ruiz Dorado	....	costumer

Editorial Department
James Devlin	....	associate editor
Paul Ensby	....	colorist
Miguel P. Gilaberte	....	colorist: dailies
Christy House	....	post-production coordinator
Knar Kitabjian	....	second assistant editor
Todd Kleparski	....	digital intermediate producer
Matt Watson	....	on-line editor
José Ramón Zabaleta	....	assistant editor
Martina Zamolo	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Christine Bergren	....	music legal and clearance
Peter Boyer	....	orchestrator
Peter Cobbin	....	music score engineer
Peter Cobbin	....	score mixer
Steve Dzialowski	....	executive music producer
Felix Erskine	....	music programmer
Sven Faulconer	....	electronic music
Vanessa Garde	....	music programmer
Rick Giovinazzo	....	orchestrator
Nicolas Godefroy	....	music coordinator
Nicolas Godefroy	....	music programmer
Evan Goldman	....	music programmer
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestra contractor
Aled Jenkins	....	assistant engineer
Jody Jenkins	....	music programmer
Paul Katz	....	music consultant
Steve Kempster	....	music scoring mixer
Chris Lord	....	electronic music
Richard Ludlow	....	music preparation
Greg Martin	....	music programmer
Michael John Mollo	....	Electronic Music Programming
Larry Rench	....	orchestrator
Tim Rodier	....	music preparation
Scott Shields	....	music programmer
Nate Underkuffler	....	music coordinator
Jojo Villanueva	....	music supervisor
John Warhurst	....	music editor
Jonathan Williams	....	musician: cello

Transportation Department
Ian Clarke	....	picture car coordinator
Heiko Daugau	....	driver: facility truck
Geoff Eley	....	driver: facility truck
Kevin Fisher	....	picture vehicle senior technician
Fernando Hurtado	....	unit driver
Roger Mann	....	picture vehicle technician
Brian Pelham	....	driver: facility truck
Alberto Poveda	....	transportation supervisor
Carlos Javier Regidor	....	unit driver
Diego Rodríguez Lobalzo	....	picture vehicle buyer
Melele Sánchez	....	transportation captain
Sean Thornton	....	picture vehicle assistant coordinator

Other crew
Noor Ahmed	....	production legal
Gabriel Andreu	....	adr voice
Toñi Avís	....	assistant accountant
Mila Badia	....	production staff: Spain
Carlos Balsera	....	localization assistant
Ana Jiménez Beatty	....	assistant location manager
Diego Biello	....	assistant to producer
Carlos Ruiz Boceta	....	location manager
Juan Casado	....	production assistant
Maralyn Causley	....	script supervisor second unit
Osama Chami	....	set production assistant
Jacinto Cirbián	....	accounting assistant
Elena del Saz	....	assistant location manager
Stephen J. Eads	....	associate
Erik Feig	....	production executive
Manuel Fernández-Arango	....	production assistant
Rubén Gómez	....	location manager: second unit
Charles Heaphy	....	production financing
Christy House	....	post production coordinator
Liliana Sabina Lasprilla	....	production staff
Elena Maeso	....	production staff
Nick Manganiello	....	coordinator: Intrepid Pictures
Michael Mann	....	assistant to the producers
Elena Martín	....	production assistant
Laura Mateos	....	first assistant accountant
Mary Kay McCoy	....	dialogue coach
Christian Meinhardt	....	extras coordinator: Spain
Adolfo Moraleda	....	production assistant
Richard Morrison	....	title designer
Ali Moshref	....	production accountant
Melinda Nishioka	....	coordinator: Intrepid Pictures
Sergio Ochandiano	....	production assistant
David Olivares	....	production coordinator
Elena Saz Orozco	....	assistant location manager
Maria Palazon	....	production coordinator: second unit
Mario Parra Barba	....	production assistant
Saray Perez	....	assistant accountant
Carmen Poyatos	....	production coordinator (Spain)
Mar Pozo Lara	....	key office production assistant
David Pérez Sañudo	....	assitant to producers
Silvia Gonzalez Rangil	....	health & safety advisor
Shira Scott Astrof	....	adr voice
Ricardo Serrano	....	location manager
Irene Silvera	....	production assistant
Alexander Smith	....	assistant: Mr. El Mechri
Eric Uguet De Resayre	....	assistant to producer
Dean Wares	....	titles typography
Steven Dasz	....	fight trainer Alex Amaral (uncredited)

Thanks
Stacey Castro	....	the producers wish to thank
Damon Clapshaw	....	special thanks
Wade Layton	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Summit Entertainment (presents)
• Intrepid Pictures (presents)
• Galavis Film (in association with)
• Film Rites
• Fria Luz Del Dia, A.I.E.
• Picture Machine

Distributors

• Film Rites (2012) (worldwide) (all media) (sales)
• Aurum Producciones (2012) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Summit Entertainment (2012) (USA) (theatrical)
• Pioneer Films (2012) (Philippines) (theatrical)
• Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2012) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Broadmedia Studios (2012) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Concorde Filmverleih (2012) (Germany) (theatrical)
• E1 Films Canada (2012) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Entertainment One Benelux (2012) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Entertainment One (2012) (UK) (theatrical)
• Odeon (2012) (Greece) (theatrical)
• SND (2012) (France) (theatrical)
• Shaw Organisation (2012) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Starway Film Distribution (2012) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2012) (Germany) (DVD)
• Deltamac Entertainment (2013) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Deltamac Entertainment (2013) (Hong Kong) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Entertainment One Benelux (2012) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Entertainment One Benelux (2012) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• EuroVideo (2012) (Germany) (DVD) (rental)
• Film1 (2013) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• MediaPro Distribution (2012) (Romania) (all media)
• Mongkol Major (2012) (Thailand) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Bangladesh) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Bhutan) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (India) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Maldives) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Nepal) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Pakistan) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Sri Lanka) (all media)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2012) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2012) (Australia) (DVD)
• Zon Lusomundo Audiovisuais (2012) (Portugal) (all media)

Other Companies

• Abbey Road Studios  music mixed at
• Abbey Road Studios  music recorded at
• Aerial Camera Systems (ACS)  camera equipment provided by
• Atlantic Records  soundtrack
• Audiolink Radio Communications  PA system
• Audiolink Radio Communications  walkie talkies
• BLT Communications  poster design (uncredited)
• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  camera dollies
• De Lane Lea  adr recording
• De Lane Lea  sound re-recording
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Eye2Ear Music  music consultant
• Goldcrest Post Production London  sound post-production
• Intelligent Media  international monitoring agency
• La Lata Rentals & Services  post-production facilities
• London Session Orchestra, The  orchestra (uncredited)
• Monkeyland Audio  adr facility
• Music & Motion Productions  music production services
• Pepper Sound  re-recording mix facility
• Pivotal Post  Avid HD editing equipment provided by
• Reder & Feig  production counsel
• Studio Line  post-production facilities (ADR)
• Technicolor  post-production

Also Known As:

"Shadow Chaser" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and sexual content

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA | Spain

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | Datasat

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #47122) | Ireland:12A | UK:12A (cinema release) (cut) | South Korea:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Philippines:PG-13 | Netherlands:12 | Germany:16 | France:U | Singapore:PG13 | Portugal:M/12 | UK:15 (video release) (uncut) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Japan:G | India:U/A | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Puerta del Sol, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Summit Entertainment

Trivia:

When Henry Cavill turned up on set, he had just finished shooting Immortals (2011) and came sporting an extremely muscular and ultra-ripped physique. Director Mabrouk El Mechri told him that he had to play an ordinary man and that his current body would be completely wrong for the character. Henry Cavill had to lose all the muscle tone and mass that he gained over the previous six months to get his body to look like that of an average man. He did it by eating and drinking a lot and not working out.

Quotes:

Lucia:He said he was a business consultant.
Will:Business consultant. That's rich.
Lucia:What about you? What do you do?
Will:I used to run a small company.
Lucia:And what did your small company do?
Will:Business consultants.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Bad Movie Beatdown: Review of 2012 (#4.29)" (2013)

Soundtrack:

Que Es Tu Dano

Spies are smart and spy movies deserve to be clever – but this is not

It's hard to really pin down what The Cold Light of Day is supposed to achieve. It reads like a concept reel for emerging leading man Henry Cavill who will proceed to star as Superman in next year's Man of Steel but it makes so many concessions to the sensibilities of a spy movie that it's never going to be a real jumping point for Cavill. Director Mabrouk El Mechri is almost entirely to blame here, making the most unremarkable decisions that force us to reexamine the intrinsic cleverness of spy fiction. The result is a watery, meandering spy movie that manages even at its best moments to be completely ordinary.

Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) is barely a day into his vacation in Spain when financial problems at home in San Francisco threaten to shorten the trip. After a dispute with his father (Bruce Willis) on the family's rented boat, Will decides to swim ashore for a break. He returns to find his family gone and a call for help at the local police station ends in more trouble. Discovering that he can recover his kidnapped family by giving up a certain briefcase, Will must beat the clock to unravel the underlying mystery but not before he encounters corrupted CIA agent (Sigourney Weaver) and his lost sister (Verónica Echegui).

On one hand, it's easy to be enthusiastic about engrossing yourself in the story but on the other, The Cold Light of Day gives very few reasons why you should. Better spy movies have thrived on providing viewers with at least some clue on what motivates each character to retrieve an important object, kill a person or escape from capture so the audience can make sense of what transpires on screen. The Cold Light of Day, quite questionably, never reveals or alludes to the life-or-death contents of the briefcase, meaning the biggest difficulty is in believing the necessity of all the carnage. It's perfectly reasonable that Will is willing to fire his first shot and participate in a mad car chase only because he wants to save his family. But it's hardly convincing to have pockets of mercenaries and agents chasing a briefcase that might as well be empty.

Such is the silliness of The Cold Light of Day that it often struggles to establish what exactly any of its characters intend to accomplish. If Weaver's character is indeed the CIA agent she claims to be, then she must be the dumbest agent to ever be enlisted. With the briefcase already tucked away in her car seat, she turns a mission-accomplished situation into a senseless civilian killing spree as she trades car paint with Will's vehicle down the busy streets of Madrid. Spy movies usually ask the audience to forgive some disbelief in order to enjoy them but The Cold Light of Day is by far the most demanding. The slightest bit of investigation into the weak plot will crumble the movie faster than a fragile egg tart.

Fortunately, there remains a vestige of believability in Will. As an innocent civilian unwittingly hooked into a web of dangerous games between mercenaries and agents, Cavill brings a sort of genuine clumsiness to his role, allowing the audience to easily buy his character. For this reason, there won't be any explosive set-piece or many scenes featuring hand-to-hand combat. There're a few tricks to prevent the action scenes from becoming too stale and while some of the stunts are decent efforts, others don't always work. Handcuffed between the tragic decision to set most of the action scenes in the night and the already blurry shots of fast-moving action taken by hand-held cameras, you would be hard pressed to find any shot of action that isn't obscured in any way.

It's a shame because The Cold Light of Day has a talented cast which can actually do justice to the action. However, none of them bothers to offer a performance that's required to make other scenes work. Cavill comes across poorly as a man who's truly shocked that his family's been kidnapped, responding to a call from the kidnappers with an uncanny calmness while Weaver maintains a surprisingly stoical composure throughout. Willis's character is quickly written out of the story before he could show his acting chops. In a year filled with other spy movies like Total Recall, The Bourne Legacy and the upcoming Bond film, The Cold Light of Day looks like a distant relative.