Sam, a professional bodyguard, is assigned to protect a young wealthy girl, Zoe. People are trying to kidnap Zoe, so she and Sam make a run for it and Sam sticks to Zoe like glue.
Blaine: Vicky Jewson wanted to do a movie about a woman who has an awesome job. Vicky then met a female bodyguard named Jackie Davis, who represented everything Vicky was looking for. Jackie Davis is what inspired “Close”. Jackie told Vicky a lot of things about herself and said her job is more than just body guarding people, she also rescues kids who are held hostage. Vicky had been a fan of Noomi Rapace for a while. She had to go through a lot just to meet with Noomi. When they finally met, Vicky was so excited to meet Noomi and they both connected during their conversation. For the past decade, Noomi Rapace has played a lot of bad ass characters, going back to the “Dragon Tattoo” trilogy. Noomi likes to be challenged when doing a project that requires a lot and there are times where she won’t feel comfortable doing one thing while she’s attached to the project, but she’ll do it anyway. What Noomi is not afraid of is doing her own stunts in movies. Noomi does her best to make the stunts look as good as possible and for it to feel real. To play someone who is devoted to protecting someone else and is brave was really something for Noomi. Noomi asked Jackie about what she fears and Jackie told her that fear comes afterward. A lot of things go on in Jackie’s mind. Whenever Noomi was in a situation where she would get scared she would think of Jackie and that would calm her down. Noomi Rapace is not a fan of the water. She doesn’t hate it, but she’s scared to go underneath. There’s a scene where Sam is fighting a guy in the water and that brought back a childhood memory for Noomi where she almost drowned.
Sam hardly uses weapons at all because in reality bodyguards don’t reach for those unless it’s a very serious situation. It’s more about thinking because bodyguards are all about planning. Vicky wanted Sam to be intelligent about what decisions to make to control a serious situation. At the beginning of “Close”, Sam is protecting another person, their car gets shot at and breaks down. Sam pretends to be a dead body inside the car and have the girl she is protecting scream just to lure in a gunman. Then when he is close, Sam shoots him dead and takes his weapon. Sam’s also someone who can take a beating, especially to the face. There’s a scene where Sam is handcuffed, Zoe gets taken away by one guy and Sam has to fight the other guy because she needs to get him out of the way to go after Zoe and save her. Sam is like a female Jason Bourne. She doesn’t give up.
Vicky Jewson is very passionate about seeing women in action. Vicky didn’t want “Close” to be like something like “The Bodyguard” where Kevin Costner has sort of a romantic relationship with Whitney Houston, it was more of a buddy film between Sam and Zoe, played by Sophie Nelisse (The Book Thief). Jackie told Noomi to never get attached to the person you’re protecting. Sam is very skilled at what she does and she can’t let anything distract her. Sam puts her own life on hold because she is all about protecting people. Jackie said you can’t get involved on a personal level. Friendship and sexual relationships are forbidden. You have to be willing to die for the person you are protecting. If you become emotional you won’t be professional. Of course Zoe challenges Sam. Zoe’s father has recently passed away and her stepmother is the only family she has. Zoe is sort of like every other rich girl in the beginning. She likes to party, get drunk and spend time with boys. But no boy will come near her as long as Sam is around. Zoe doesn’t like being looked after by Sam until people come after her. When people are after Zoe, the only person she can count on is her bodyguard. Sam is the only person on her side. Sam teaches Zoe everything there is to know about surviving. Sam even turns Zoe into a fighter so she knows how to defend herself just incase Sam isn’t around. Zoe is good with computers and she speaks Arabic, which comes in good use while she’s on the run with Sam.
A few changes were made to the script after Noomi Rapace was on board, like having some scenes that are emotional. Noomi didn’t want to be apart of project that was just going to be another action film, it had to have more to it. Vicky agreed with Noomi. She knew there had to be more to Sam. Sam loses someone who she had worked with and was sort of love interest. Sam feels the pain of loss, but she gets over it because she has to stay strong. Noomi used pieces of her own life that make her emotional and she would use them to be emotional while shooting a scene. There’s also a moment where Sam and Zoe talk in a panic room and Sam talks a little bit about herself. Zoe has learned that Sam has a child and that makes her question why Sam pushes people away. Being a bodyguard is all that Sam knows. Sam acts like she has nothing to live for other than protecting people, but she does have someone who is her own blood. Zoe thinks it would be nice to at least try and have a life instead of working all the time. Zoe has a caring side to her. Zoe wants Sam to see or at least contact her daughter. Zoe’s stepmother you believe is behind the attack on her because after her father’s death, Zoe got all the shares to his company which angered the stepmom. But no, she has been blackmailed. So “Close” has a couple of twists in it as well.
It was a tough shoot while they were in Morocco. The food there made people sick and it was very hot out. Vicky was lucky to have a crew that wanted to make the same type of movie she wanted to make. Noomi felt joy with Vickey being in charge. Noomi was exhausted after everything she went through while shooting “Close”. Noomi became an inspiration to Sophie Nelisse for all the work she was doing. Noomi's a professional at what she does.
