Bruce Willis’ ‘White Elephant’ Director Jesse V Johnson: Wrote Scripts As A Way To Get My Foot In The Door As A Director

Directed by Jesse V Johnson, ‘White Elephant’, an action-packed thriller, is all set to premiere in India on Lionsgate Play on September 2. Johnson speaks up about his directorial journey and what brought him to ‘White Elephant’.

"I wrote scripts as a way to get my foot in the door as a director and I was extraordinarily lucky and had small budget films that I wrote and directed made a lot of money - ‘Pit Fighter’, ‘Savage Dog’, ‘The Mercenary’. Then was lucky enough to get some smaller, more personal films financed that won a tremendous amount of awards and critical notice, ‘Charlie Valentine’, ‘The Beautiful Ones’, etc. Quite how this was possible and also afforded me the wherewithal to start a family and live a happy life is beyond me. I have been very, very fortunate,” says Johnson.

Adding further, the director says, “These films allowed me to step up in budget, (all is relative) to make a series of films with an old friend, Scott Adkins. These were ‘Accident Man’, ‘The Debt Collectors’, ‘Triple Threat’ and ‘Avengement’. Each one of these films was more successful than the one prior and afforded me a fan following that was completely unexpected and continues to grow to this day. I am eternally grateful to Scott for our films together, they were an incredible adventure and learning experience."

For the unversed, ‘White Elephant’ promises to be an interesting tale of action and mystery, an ardent mob and a string of threats. Amidst an assassination attempt, ‘White Elephant’ revolves around Gabriel Tancredi (Michael Rooker), an eager cop, who is out there to prove himself to his ruthless boss Arnold (Bruce Willis). With rival gangs making moves and a rising body count, every step Tancredi makes threatens lives including his own.