End of Watch (2012)
End of Watch is a 2012 American action thriller film written and directed by David Ayer. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, two Los Angeles Police Department officers who work in South Los Angeles. The film focuses on their day-to-day police work, their dealings with a certain group of gang members, their friendship with each other, and their personal relationships. Ayer, who had written several police procedural films previously, wanted the film to focus more on the friendship between partners and daily police work and subordinate the contextual elements of the drug trafficking story taking place on the streets of south-central LA. Gyllenhaal, Peña, and other cast members underwent an intensive training program to prepare for their roles as police officers. Filming took place in Los Angeles in August 2011 with a budget of $7 million. End of Watch premiered on September 8, 2012, at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in American theaters on September 21, grossing over $57 million at the box office. The film received a number of accolades, including two Independent Spirit Award nominations. A series adaptation of End of Watch is currently being developed by Fox Entertainment.
Plot.
Los Angeles Police Department officers Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala are close friends and partners in the high crime area of South Central in the Newton Division of the LAPD. Taylor, a Marine Corps veteran, records their activities for a college class after they return to duty from a recent officer-involved shooting. Upon responding to a public disturbance call, Tre, a Bloods gang member, yells racial insults at Zavala, who responds by accepting a one-on-one fist fight. Zavala wins and earns Tre’s respect for not charging him with assault. Later that night, Tre and his fellow Bloods are attacked in a drive-by shooting by the hispanic Curbside Gang. The following night, the officers respond to a noise complaint at a house party where Taylor and Zavala encounter Curbside Gang members “Big Evil” and “LaLa”. Taylor and Zavala rescue children from a house fire while on patrol and are awarded the Medal of Valor. During a traffic stop, they arrest a man who is in possession of several ornate firearms and large amounts of cash. Taylor urges Zavala to join him in investigating further, leading them to another man guarding a home full of human trafficking victims.
When ICE agents intervene, the officers learn that the house is tied to the Sinaloa Cartel and are strongly urged to stay clear due to possible reprisals. Taylor soon becomes engaged to his girlfriend Janet and Zavala’s wife Gabby gives birth to their first child.
One night, Taylor and Zavala respond to a call from their rookie fellow officer, Sook, and find her partner Van Hauser has been stabbed through the eye. They find and rescue Sook, who was being savagely beaten nearby. Taylor marries Janet, and at their wedding Zavala tells Taylor that, should anything happen to him, he will take care of Janet. The next day, the officers perform a wellness check on an elderly woman. In her house, they discover large amounts of heroin, dismembered corpses, and a message from the cartel. Unbeknownst to them, ICE has eavesdropped on a phone call from the cartel in Mexico and hears the two officers have been “green-lit”; Big Evil, LaLa, and others are tasked with killing them.
Production.
David Ayer, who wrote and directed End of Watch, grew up in South Central Los Angeles and has had numerous friends in the LAPD. He had written several films previously about police officers in Los Angeles, but while these depicted rogue and corrupt officers, he wanted to feature honest, ethical police work in End of Watch. In contrast to his previous works, Ayer wanted to focus on the friendship between Taylor and Zavala and “have all the cop stuff drop away and become secondary to the chemistry of these guys”. Ayer wrote the screenplay over six days in December 2010. Jaime FitzSimons, a longtime friend of Ayer and a former police officer with the LAPD, served as the film’s technical advisor, and his experiences from working in Los Angeles inspired several plot points of the film. Jake Gyllenhaal was the first to be cast in the film; after receiving the script, he read it in an hour and immediately contacted Ayer.[8] Michael Peña was cast shortly after, following a string of auditions. He and Gyllenhaal did not bond immediately but gradually became close friends over the process of training and filming.