Director Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai, Defiance) had his challenges making his latest, Pawn Sacrifice.
First, it was a film that chronicled the life of Bobby Fischer and his mental illness — something incredibly difficult to capture on screen. Second, Fischer’s extraordinary rise from chess prodigy to world champion who beat the Russians in a game they dominated, is incredibly suspenseful. And that is not something that is easy to do either — making chess cinematically thrilling.
Zwick overcame both challenges with the help of his filmmaking team, but aid came from the casting of his lead, Tobey Maguire. He tells us why the former Spider-Man was a perfect choice.
We met Zwick for an exclusive video interview where he also talks about his effort to bring the extraordinary story of Fischer and his demons to the big screen and how on earth he managed to take a stoic game like chess and turn it into a thrilling suspense ride that feels like it has the fate of the free world hanging in the balance.
Look for Pawn Sacrifice in theaters September 16.