Which Laws Would Stars Of "The Purge: Anarchy " Break? [EXCLUSIVE]

When 2013’s dystopian film “The Purge” was released, audiences weren’t exactly sure what to make of it. The concept of a decriminalized 12-hour period where all police, fire and hospital services are suspended and all crime–including murder–is legal under the premise that one night of unpunished lawlessness would allow America to flourish the rest of the year in virtually crime-free bliss was an original concept to be sure. But the unchecked carnage and constant plot twists left viewers unsure of whether they were watching a thriller, a drama, a horror, an action film or some hybrid of them all. But when a movie with a $3 million dollar budget grosses over $64 million at the box office, what the audiences definitely just saw was a hit and a good reason for a sequel.

The sequel is directed by James DeManaco (Assault On Precinct 13) and stars Michael K. Williams, (The Wire) Carmen Ejogo, (Alex Cross) and Frank Grillo (Captain America 2).  The annual Purge is about to commence but this time there is some resistance to the idea and its execution. It’s become clear this second go around that many citizens are being sentenced to death for the crime of being poor, so TheUrbaDaily.com caught up with director and cast to get their personal thoughts on the idea of having 12 hours to live–or die.

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TUD: What sparked this concept of a crime and consequence free night? Is it the thought that under the right circumstances, killing could be justified?

James DeMonaco: No, I’m a very anti-violence and very anti-gun. I think that’s where it comes from. I’m so anti it that I’m terrified by it so I can’t come up with one. I can’t say that… I think when it comes to our children we all think it’s justifiable. If somebody hurt my daughter I’d probably… I feel like I would kill someone, but I don’t know if I could. And that’s where this character came up. I don’t know if I could. I say that “I’d kill that person if they touched my daughter.” [But] if put to the test I don’t know what the hell I would do. I don’t know if I have that in me. It’s something I’d think about. And I think that’s where the intrigue comes in. How far we would go if there was no jail time? Umm. I know he would kill (Points at Frank).

Frank Grillo: Oh no, I’d kill you (Laughs) That I know. No, I think it’s a good point. I think we’d be lying, all of us here if we said we have not thought about it one time. About revenge or about retribution or about an injustice that we feel has been placed on us. That if I could only just get away with it –and a lot of us maybe wouldn’t follow through with it–but we think about it. I know we do. It’s in our nature. It’s a violent world, I mean watch Discovery Channel, that’s violent! (Laughs) Try to be an antelope living amongst lions. It’s violent!

TUD: When you read the script, what was it about your character that appealed to you?

Carmen Ejogo: It’s nothing like anything I’ve played before, which is what excites me about it about it. And what personally interested me in Ava was the fact that she really represents the working poor in this construct. And that’s the voice that needs to be heard more of. And I think to explore her character in a film that’s going to be seen by a lot of people, again, would hopefully just open eyes to the fact that there a various realities occurring simultaneously depending on how much money you have. And on a night like The Purge is when it becomes most manifest, most obvious as to how much you can protect yourself and how much you are literally hunted in this society if you don’t have money.

Frank Grillo: I think there’s a void in our country of guys in my age range that are blue collar, regular guys that given an extenuating circumstance, it’s interesting to see how they’d respond.  Like an every-man. And I think maybe I just kind of somehow hit a chord with the audience that says; “Ok, I believe him. Maybe he’s kind of a Charles Bronson kind of guy,” which I was a fan of when I was a kid. So it’s taken me in this interesting direction in a later part of my career or the middle part of my career. So you know. I stayed fit, I’m in shape and I fight all the time and it seems to be working out. So as long as they keep asking I’ll keep doing it.

Michael K. Williams: Aside from working with this amazing cast, I enjoyed Carmelo’s voice. I love what he stood for. He in my opinion was a mixture of Malcolm X and Huey Newton, Omar and Tupac. That drew me to him. The writing, I felt like he was speaking to me and in my real life you know? What I felt and saw growing up as a child in Brooklyn. I was very proud to play Carmelo.

TUD: Ok, there are a lot of crimes in the world. On a night where they’re all legal, excluding murder for the obvious reasons, which crime would you commit?

Michael K. Williams: Walk into Harry Winston’s (Laughs)

Carmen Ejogo: I know… I was thinking where I would steal from. Barneys man. Give me the key to Barneys! (Laughs) Yeah, there’s gonna be thievery going on in my house!

Frank Grillo: That’s a great question because everybody just thinks murder. Like the Purge is about murder. I would steal my wife a really great pair of diamond earrings.

TUD: Just earrings??

Frank Grillo: Or a ring, you know… whatever I can get my hands on!

TUD: But dude, the whole city is open! There are houses, cars…

Frank Grillo: Yeah, but people lock sh*t up man. Like who leaves the stuff open man? Like I don’t want a ’67 Impala. (James DeMonaco laughs)

TUD: People tend to focus on the killing, but there are so many levels to this concept. What was it that drew you in specifically?

James DeMonaco:  I think the idea of setting the laws, setting the parameters for our lives, how would we govern ourselves? I think there’s intrigue in that. What would we do if there was no higher law? If we were…you know, morality… how far would that take us? Frank speaks to this very well. In daily life, there’s a lot of people who kind of piss us off. I think we have an innate notion to seek revenge, to seek justice. And the question is, if put to the test, if you could do something, would you? I think that’s what Frank’s character speaks to the most.

Frank Grillo: You know it’s funny though. Left to our own devices, human beings naturally form government. Like if you watch the series “Survivor,” which starts off as a utopia, eventually it settles into a government. And that’s what we do by nature. I’ve been all over the world and I’ve seen the purge happening to societies. It’s not as defined as this movie is obviously. But we are a society that unfortunately is violent against each other. You know, it’s terrible… but I would steal earrings. (Laughs)

Carmen Ejogo: I think what the ingenuity of it is, is that it’s actually somewhat based in a kind of real concept. The political constructs of America in some ways, violence as a given, violence as an inevitability. The idea that you have that as an option for one day of the year is not such a crazy place to imagine someday in the future. I feel like among some demographics in some pockets of society, there is already gun violence amongst people that is self destructive to this point… to this kind of level.  (Turns to Michael K. Williams) Wouldn’t you say?

Michael K. Williams: I totally would agree with you.

It’s called Chicago. So on a more serious note, how close do you think we are to a real government sanctioned Purge happening. As in how many years away?

James DeMonaco: Oh I don’t think ever. I don’t think we could ever justify killing people.

TUD: It’s called the death penalty.

Frank Grillo: You know… again, these are all valid points. And I think things like that; I think that’s why the zeitgeist has responded to this idea, this ideology of what’s next for our government. Like, how do we cleanse a poisoned society or a society that doesn’t really work, especially for different classes? Regardless of how you see the movie, the idea is what makes it so intriguing to everybody.

Michael K. Williams: I think we’re sort of in a Purge right now. The economic structure, the have and the have-nots, the rich and poor, the middle class being wiped out.  I feel that we’re living a purge, a slow motion purge right now. People are not surviving, people can’t support their families with food on the table. You got people eating cat food. That in it self is a kind of Purge.

Carmen Ejogo: And the idea that government is the voice of the American people and that sometimes it helps itself is a given if you have any understanding of the Patriot Act or any of the other kinds of umm… social constructs and policies that’s in place. I think it’s not such a stretch to imagine.

TUD: What do you think your character would be doing one week after the Purge night has ended? Michael, Carmelo was leading the revolution the last time we saw him. So now what?

Michael K. Williams: I think that he’s probably still doing the same thing. I don’t see him ever letting his guard down. I see him as probably looking for the next loophole in our society to take his cause to. I think that night sparked the revolution, but I think he saw it for a while coming but it reached the point where he thought it was time to act. What would I do a week after the purge is over? I would probably move to the Bahamas! (Laughs)

TUD: Carmen, What about Ava and her daughter?

Carmen Ejogo: Well if she’s really smart she’ll move to Europe. (Laughs)

Everybody’s leaving! Ok, Michael. You know a thing or two about characters who survive by any means necessary… how would the cast of The Wire handle The Purge?

Michael K. Williams: They would probably be king of The Purge. Omar would probably be along the same lines as Carmelo more than likely. They’d probably be buddies.  Omar was strictly in his hood. He had his eyes on what was going on in the world but his actions were limited to his community where as Carmelo is galvanizing people of the world. This purge is pretty much attacking America as a whole and the world possibly. And I believe that Carmelo is talking to everybody where as Omar just dealt with Baltimore.

TUD: Conceptually, what happens the next day after The Purge? Because in the first one, they were their neighbors, so what happens when you have to come face to face with someone you raped, shot, stabbed or just harmed like crazy?

James DeMonaco: That’s a great question… I have no idea.

Frank Grillo: Can I say something? I think that’s what perpetuates the following years purge! I think a lot of what is going on year to year now, what started out as one thing now becomes…”You did this, I’m going to do that.” And that’s another kind of window into what our society is about. Which is, you know… dog eat dog. You rape my family; I’m going to rape your family. Then I ask what do you do the day after? That’s a GREAT question!

TUD: If you need help writing it, I’m always around man….

James DeMonaco: I’ll come to you man! Yeah, I think if we did the third one, if we’re lucky enough to do it, it would open it up to see the day after, the day before, weeks before, weeks after, more human interaction between, how society works in this world. So yeah no totally, I think, if we get to go in, if we get to open the parameters of just existing in the 12 hours? Although that’s what everybody really wants to see, but I think in that first act of the film we can play and then open up to the rest of it. But I dunno, that’s a great question. The next day. I know they’d be cleaning up a lot of bodies…

TUD: Not even the next day, but maybe a week after, when everything’s settled down and you have to deal with the people who broke into your house, beat up your kids, tried to kill you. 

 James DeMonaco: And you know they’re out there so you’re plotting for next year…

Frank Grillo: Does it actually perpetuate more crime?

TUD:But what if you’re right next door to them, like part one? If you know who they are…

James DeMonaco: Exactly! Then they’re not strangers!

Frank Grillo: (To James DeMonaco)If you lived next door to me, I might try to kill you. (Laughs)

James DeMonaco: (Laughing) You would! 

What happens when someone steals your house or your car?

James DeMonaco: And you can’t steal it back till next year…

Frank Grillo:My ’67 Impala is gone!

TUD: Does insurance cover it? Is there Purge insurance?

James DeMonaco: Yeah, Purge insurance! There could be…

TUD: My house got burned down, but it happened during the Purge. Now what?

Frank Grillo: You know what, if I were you, I would take it easy with the ideas cause…

James DeMonaco: I’m gonna take everything! (Laughs)

TUD: I can always come up with ideas… plus we’ve got you on tape.

“The Purge: Anarchy” is in theaters July 18th!

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