His searing performance as a racist officer in the Oscar-winning “Crash” earned Matt Dillon an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  In Columbia Pictures’ new action-thriller “Takers,” Dillon plays another cop but of an  entirely different mold.

“No, he’s not like the guy in `Crash’ at all. Although if you are going to play a cop, I would prefer to play one who is messed up!,” he laughs. “What I mean is, I prefer to play a character who is human, with flaws.  Mostly in movies, criminals are more interesting than cops but in the case of `Takers,’ the character is as interesting as the bad guys. He’s got flaws and I like that. He’s divorced, he’s got a daughter, and he’s an adrenaline junkie who is very caught up in his work.”

“There’s a sequence in the film where he’s taking his daughter to a museum on his day off but then he gets some information about a guy that they’ve been looking for and he ends up going on a stakeout with his daughter.  He ends up chasing this guy down the street with his daughter sitting in the car, with her colouring book, next to him.

“Who would do that? You could end up getting your daughter killed.  But that’s what I mean, he’s a messed up guy.”

Dillon’s character, Welles, may be a flawed man but he is also a brilliant detective, dogged in pursuit of a young crew – played by Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen and Idris Elba – who specialise in spectacular heists and are planning a $20 million bank robbery.

“I really liked those guys,” says Dillon of his young co-stars. “And I think they work really well in these roles – they have a lot of style, in fact, I think the movie has a lot of style and with a genre like this, it fits together perfectly. It’s ambitious and there are a lot of characters in the film so it’s a big ensemble cast but I think it works.”

“But I didn’t really get a lot of opportunities to work with them as much as I would have liked – you see them planning their heist and I’m trying to catch them, so for a lot of the film we’re really acting in two separate stories. I did some scenes with Paul towards the end which was good. I love Idris’s work too, he’s great.”

Director John Luessenhop used multi camera set ups to film “Takers” and Dillon found the technique produced great results. “John handled the film really well,” he says.  “It’s the only film I’ve done where they had so many cameras going at once. And from an acting standpoint there were times where you didn’t even know a camera was there. It also means that when you are shooting action scenes, as we were, you can get a lot done a lot faster.  `Takers’ was shot digitally,” he says. “And it looks beautiful so it was great to watch how that works.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “Takers” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.  Visithttp://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads.  Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

Matt Dillon has built a successful film career that spans three decades, showcasing his wide range of dramatic and comedic talents. As The New York Times’ film critic A.O. Scott put it, “He seems to be getting better with every film.” Now, the Oscar-nominated actor stars in two films that couldn’t be more different from each other – Disney’s family comedy “Old Dogs” and Columbia Pictures’ action-thriller “Armored.”

In “Old Dogs” which also stars John Travolta and Robin Williams, Matt Dillon was cast as Barry, an earnest Pioneer scout leader Dan (Travolta) and Charlie (Williams) encounter during a family camping trip. “My character is a little overzealous,” says Dillon.  “He takes being a scout a little too seriously. I really like doing comedy, the chance to really have fun. I think the best way to play comedy is to play it straight, to play it sincere. I think it’s gotta be heartfelt.”

Says producer Andrew Panay, “What Matt brings to the table is incredible comedic chops.  People loved him in ‘There’s Something About Mary’—he is unbelievably funny in that film.”

Dillon says he got a kick out of the physical comedy scenes.  “The script had Barry just firing at the skeet in a typical way, but our director added a layer by having Barry shoot cowboy-style from the hip. It’s probably what makes the scene so ridiculous,” he says.

Dillon’s next film “Armored” tells of the perfect crime—victimless, nonviolent and undetectable—that goes terribly awry. A crew of armored truck guards executes a meticulously planned robbery of their own security firm, but when their seemingly foolproof plan unravels, the men turn against each other as they desperately try to save themselves.

Dillon plays Bill Cochrane, the senior officer on the truck. “Cochrane is definitely the big dog in the room,” says screenwriter James V. Simpson. “Everybody respects and trusts him. But in private, he always felt there were great opportunities that lay just beyond his grasp. He’s worked hard all his life. He’s always followed the rules. And now he feels like life is about to pass him by.

Dillon was attracted by the film’s unique premise, as well as his character’s complexity and contradictions. “I liked the relationship he had with Ty, played by Columbus Short,” says the actor. “Ty’s father was his mentor and he has become Ty’s. That lays down the foundation for what is to come later on in the story.”

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International, “Old Dogs” opens across the Philippines on January 20, while “Armored” — distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International – follows in February.