Question: Some people have started talking about 'Rambo' as a comparison to this. Do you agree with that?

Fuqua: I guess. I didn't think about 'Rambo' much until people started saying it. As soon as you blow something up and a guy has a gun and he's ex-military you think 'Rambo.' So I get it. I understand that sort of thing, but I don't think that's such a bad thing. 'Rambo' was entertaining and did well for it's time, but not completely here. 'Rambo' is kind of a different sort of thing. This is a whole different deal.

Question: Were you looking to do more of a popcorn movie, a commercial movie, or did you want to touch on those issues that seem really, really topical?

Fuqua: Both. In a studio picture like this I just think that it's difficult to make a movie that's strictly about politics. It's very difficult to get those kinds of movies made. I think that you have to find a way to try and make it commercial as well have some statements, have some perspective on politics, to say something. That makes it a little easier too for people sometimes to accept the information that you're giving them or at least for them to listen to it. There are scenes that we have that are long speech scenes about politics and who runs the country and who ran the national parks and who owns what – there was some pretty heavy stuff that I cut down only because it went on and on and on and became such an opinion. It became a little bit like, 'Shut up already.' I found myself sitting there going, 'Shut up now.'

Question: Was there any pressure from the studio to add more of a romantic element to the script with Kate Mara to get the females to the movie?

Fuqua: No. I think that I was more sensitive than they were. They were kind of like, 'Cut more. Get her out of the house.' I kept saying, 'She's the heart of it.' I just wanted to make sure we had that. We set the movie off with her husband dying. I wanted to make sure she had a presence, but the studio was like, 'Get rid of it. Is there any way to just have one scene.' I was like, 'I don't think so.'

Question: Her kicking the butt was great.

Fuqua: It was great. I was the one holding onto Kate as much as possible.

Question: Do you see a lot of catharsis for the audience in this considering the mood in the country right now? Mark talked about audiences cheering at the test screening and so on.

Fuqua: Yeah. It was my intention when I did certain things to try and hit a nerve, I guess, but I was surprised that in one of the test screenings that we did where it came from. I was surprised where it happened. I was surprised at the need and want for revenge in the audience and particularly with women. I was shocked. They were screaming, 'You have to kill him!' I was like, 'Whoa!' I was really surprised about that, but it's one of those things that I realize too, that there is a certain pulse, a certain need. People are just tired of what these guys are doing.

Question: This runs like an Elizabethan revenge tragedy. Are you planning a private screening for Dick Cheney and Halliburton?

Fuqua: I think that he has bigger issues to deal with right now [Laughs]. I have no problem about saying what my opinion is or what I think a lot of these guys are up to and so I didn't have an issue with it at all. I think that it's a cautionary tale really. I think that if you live by the sword you die by the sword. These guys are trained; these young men and women, to learn how to fight and learn how to kill and then they're leaving them out there to dry. They can't even get a decent place to heal. That's ridiculous and at some point that'll come back to haunt you and hurt you. That's kind of what the movie says. If you keep mistreating these guys you could have a problem.

Question: Was it your idea to cast Danny Glover? That's first time I can remember him doing a nasty guy.

Fuqua: For me, yeah, because Danny is the perfect politician. I wanted a guy that you trust and a guy that when he says I need your help and all the patriotic stuff, pushing those buttons that you actually like which is what the politicians do and those are the guys that we vote for. The behavior behind closed doors is despicable.

Question: How about casting Ned Beatty who doesn't do a lot of movies? How did you convince him to do it?

Fuqua: We talked and got on the phone. We talked about the character and about my intentions with the character and he got it right away and Ned is a really smart man. Ned is the most fun. He's the most fun. He knows what this business is period. I got on the phone with him and told him what I was interested in and got a call back saying, 'Yeah, he'll do it.' It seemed difficult to get him, but once I got to him and we talked it was the easiest thing in the world. It was like talking to an old friend. He got on the phone right away cracking jokes and he knew right away about the Cheney ideas, right away. He started talking about power and how sexy power is and some guy that he knew who that talked through his teeth and said, 'The truth is what I say it is.' That's all Ned, man. He locked into that right away and it was fun.

Question: Any extras on the DVD that we're going to see?

Fuqua: There are scenes in there that we cut out, like I said, some of these political conversations that might be more interesting on the DVD than seeing it in a theater. I didn't want it to be a three hour movie. So things like that and some commentary from some of these guys.

Question: Do you think about the DVD when you're shooting now because it's such a part of the business?

Fuqua: No, not at all. I don't think about it at all, not even a little bit. It's hard for me to even think of TV lines. As soon as I hear that from someone I cringe. As soon as I've got a scene and I'm really happy someone will go, 'You have to get a TV line.' It's like, 'What are you talking about? We're moving on. Since when did that become part of the acting?' 'I got what I need, but don't go back because I need him to say heck.'

Question: How did your B.C. crew respond to some of the challenges on this shoot?

Fuqua: Great crews, great crews. There were a couple of departments that we got rid of halfway through. Some people aren't used to my sort of pace. Some people aren't used to physically doing a lot of that and so forth because logistically you move from the freezing cold to being out in the middle of the desert and then all of a sudden we're in the middle of an urban city and then you're inside of a small building at the FBI offices. So you're going a hundred miles an hour and that wears on some people and some people just can't handle that, but the majority of the crew was really, really strong and fantastic. They loved it because it was like a breath of fresh air because all of a sudden you're on an ice glacier which was a great challenge for them. It's fun for them to get out too instead of being on a stage, and then I'm dropping them right in the middle of Philadelphia. Some don't travel as much as I thought they did. Some people had never been to Philly or to Washington just to see the capitol no less. So it was like a shot in the arm sometimes to change locations and it was nice to see that. The families would come and it was pretty cool.

Question: Can you talk about Mark in this role because we get him right away even though he doesn't do a lot of the speeches?

Fuqua: Mark brings a humanity to it. He's a humble guy. He's a guy next door. He's a young soldier on our ships and in Iraq. He's just an average guy as far as I'm concerned and that's what's nice about him because that's why you care about him. He could be your son or your brother or your best friend. He's not some big muscle bound superhero with all the quick one liners and all of that. He's just a regular guy and I think that's the new hero of the day. It's just regular people doing what they can. That's what makes it work.