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ACTION: Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in Safe House.

The Safe House filmmakers initially wanted to shoot in Rio de Janeiro, but then Fast and Furious 5 was made there.

So, it came down to a choice between Buenos Aires and Cape Town, says director Daniel Espinosa: “In the end I thought Africa was more interesting because it’s a new landscape. It has a different kind of socio-economic problem which you can have in the background of the movie.

“The movie relates in many ways to the tradition of the action films of the 1970s. What was interesting with those movies… was that the socio-economic background of the country was always present. So, it’s not like a non-space where most of the American action films take place now, where they just use the background as a nice set. I wanted to have something more.”

Espinosa’s family are political refugees from Chile and his mother worked for a Swedish development programme, so there’s a personal connection: “I grew up in Guinnea Bissau, Mozambique and Tanzania. So, Africa.”

Plus, he studied filmmaking in Denmark and currently lives in Sweden, “so it’s a mess”.

He started off wanting to be an actor but admits he was lousy at it and realised he wanted to be the one telling the actor what to do.

“The craft is about creating moments in time and you can never plan it, but it’s like starting a wave and then maybe it will hit the cliff and make a beautiful image, or maybe not.

“I think that’s what fascinates me, setting waves in motion.”

His basis has always been the actors: “That’s what I’m good at, what I feel secure at in creating communication about complex characters.”

The 34-year-old’s film Snabba Cash (Easy Money) garnered him lots of Hollywood hype: “They flew me over and I read a bunch of scripts and I wanted something that could challenge me further. I realised that for me it’s very good to have a strong plot because I fight the plot and the plot fights me.”

Safe House is a fast-paced action thriller starring two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, whom Espinosa praised highly: “He’s turned out to be an incredible character actor with enormous depth, natural charisma and unforced comic sense. When you layer that in with a dark past or something problematic, he becomes truly interesting.”

As for Washington, he was not only the first black actor Espinosa saw (in Pelican Brief) but also the first actor from a minority playing a completely common role, the traditional leading man. “The reason he was there was because of his brilliance as an actor and his intelligence. Before that I’d never seen a minority play an intelligent character. That for me was important.”

“He’s an extraordinary actor. That scene in Glory, where he’s sitting by the bonfire and he’s talking about his past and you see the scars, it’s an extraordinary scene.”

In Safe House Reynolds plays a young CIA agent, Matt Weston, posted in Cape Town at a safe house. Washington is rogue CIA agent Tobin Frost, brought to the safe house, which is compromised, setting the two off on to the streets of Cape Town.

Espinosa says shooting in Cape Town was quite an experience: “We were shooting in Langa and it’s truly amazing how people respect that you’re working. Everywhere you are in the world, people see you as doing some kind of hobby and they scream or interrupt or take pictures.

“In Langa they would stand outside the barriers and be completely silent. I mean 2 000 people when were shooting and as soon as we were finished, they would applaud. That’s very moving.”

He liked the local crew, but found the strict hierarchy a bit weird. “In Sweden it’s like you are the director, but nobody gives you any coffee. It’s more like: ‘Why don’t you help me drag this lamp over?’ “Here it’s ‘yes, boss’ and stuff like that. So, I’m trying to tell them to call me Daniel, but they refuse.”

The movie is not heavy on special effects: “For me it’s more about the characters and what they do is within the frame. I thought if this movie was to be interesting, it has to be real. I think that’s what the audience wants to see now.

“Our world is so full of bulls*** that fantasy is not that interesting anymore. It’s over-rated.”

l Safe House opened in cinemas this week.