“He’s got a good heart,” commented Kevin Dillon on his character Justin Rosa in Wire Room. Rosa is a federal agent on his first day of wire room duty. He’s tasked with listening in on his target Eddie Flynn (Oliver Trevena) and ensuring his life to protect the investigation, which proves difficult when a hit squad arrives. With the help of senior federal agent Shane Mueller (Bruce Willis), Rosa does his best to maintain justice while a web of conspiracy unravels. “He’s in it for the right reasons,” continued Dillon on Rosa, “he’s in it because he cares, and he believes in justice. I love that about him.”

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Rosa spends mostly the entire film in the wire room, in some parts speaking with Flynn over the phone, who is at his large property over 50 miles away. He guides him along the property to avoid being killed, and at times, to get the upper hand and go on the offense. When Rosa isn’t on the phone with Flynn, he’s protecting himself within the wire room or speaking with Shane or Sheriff Roberts (Texas Battle).

“I loved it,” commented Dillon on the film, “I thought it was going to be good. It was even better than I thought it was going to be. It really moves along nicely. I like my character, and I was able to get a little humor in there where I could because I always try and bring a little humor to everything.”

Rounding out the cast in Wire Room are Shelby Cobb, John D. Hickman, Larken Woodward, Amber Townsend, and more. It’s written by Brandon Stiefer and directed by Matt Eskandari.

Working with Bruce Willis and Matt Eskandari

“Matt was the best, man. When you’re doing a movie in seven days, you don’t have a lot of time to make everything,” said Dillon, explaining what it was like to work with director Eskandari. Prior to Wire Room, Eskandari had worked with Willis on multiple other projects. “He was so cool and easy to work with… Cool things happen when everyone’s open for ideas and suggestions, and Matt was, and I think he did an amazing job.”

“It was a seven-day shoot, and it went by really quick. I think I only worked five of the seven days. So, I mean, it was a tough shoot with a lot of dialogue, but my favorite moment would be me and Bruce shooting it out with all the bad guys. I looked over and was like, ‘What am I doing? I’m over here with Bruce Willis.’ And we both had weapons in our hands. It was just a great moment,” recalled Dillon, referring to a scene where he and Willis lay a whooping on some bad guys.

The ability to work alongside Willis was actually one of the elements of the project that attracted Dillon to the role in the first place, along with liking the twists in the script. “I thought the script was great. There are a lot of little plot twists… and then they said Bruce Willis, I was like, ‘The legend? Sign me up.’ Because I worked on a movie with Bruce in the past but didn’t have any scenes with him. This time I did,” said Dillon.

Maintaining Chemistry and Possibility for Wire Room 2

     Lionsgate Pictures

Although Dillon’s character only speaks with Trevena’s over the phone, as Rosa must keep Flynn alive while he’s being attacked by the hit squad, the two still manage to deliver strong chemistry despite never actually sharing screen time. Though, on set, “he was there for all of it,” explained Dillon, “Oliver was great. We didn’t have any scenes together… but I was lucky enough that he came in early, and he ran his lines with me off camera. I think it really helped us create chemistry, even though we weren’t shot at the same time.”

The characters are antagonistic to one another as they sit on opposite sides of the law, yet they also share a level of respect while talking through how to survive the attack from the hit squad. It’s a layered relationship that “certainly leaves room for a sequel,” as Dillon explained. “I would do it,” he confirmed, “we all talked about it on the side a little bit.” As for what that potential sequel would look like, Dillon mentioned that he would like to have on-screen moments with Trevena and to continue that “kind of friends, but we’re still adversaries,” relationship.

Wire Room comes to us from Lionsgate Pictures. It will be available in select theaters, on digital, and on demand on September 2, 2022.