Over at USA Today they’ve posted the first pictures from the Denzel Washington starrer The Book of Eli. In case you’re not familiar, the film, which is directed by The Hughes Brothers and co-stars Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, Ray Stephenson and Jennifer Beals, concerns a man who’s fighting his way across a post-apocalyptic America to protect a book that hold the key to saving humanity.
In addition to the photos, USA Today also posted some questions and answers with the film’s directors. Some of the tidbits that the brothers reveal include the fact that Washington shed 55 pounds for his role in the film and that shooting conditions in Albuquerque, New Mexico were less than ideal, but did provide a great location that really helped enhance the depiction of post-apocalyptic America.
“You occasionally ask yourself why you’re shooting a movie in these conditions,” says Allen Hughes, who co-directs the film with his brother Albert, in the article. “When the wind is really blowing, it looks like the earth is meeting the sky. It looks like the end of the world.”
The desolate landscape also helped set the mood of the film as well. “We had one scene where Denzel had to kill off one of his enemies,” said Albert Hughes in the article. “Right after he kills the guy, a little dust storm picks up and blows right over them. It was eerie. We’re going to have people thinking an effect was computer-generated, when really it was just from shooting out here.”
The Book of Eli hits theaters January 15, 2010. Check out the larger version of all the pictures after the jump.
