'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' Digital Release: Joe Pantoliano

Moviefone speaks with Joe Pantoliano about 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' and reprising his role. "I wasn't going to give them an opportunity to change their mind."

Available on digital to buy and rent beginning July 23rd is ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die', which is the fourth movie in the popular ‘Bad Boys’ franchise and was directed by ‘Bad Boys for Life’ filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.

The latest installment once again stars Oscar-winner Will Smith (‘King Richard’) and Martin Lawrence (‘Big Momma’s House’), as well as Vanessa Hudgens (‘Sucker Punch’), Alexander Ludwig (‘The Hunger Games’), Eric Dane (‘X-Men: The Last Stand’), Ioan Gruffudd (‘Fantastic Four’), Jacob Scipio (‘Expend4bles’), Tiffany Haddish (‘Night School’), Rhea Seehorn (‘Better Call Saul’), Melanie Liburd ('Brian Banks') and Joe Pantoliano (‘The Fugitive’) as Captain Conrad Howard.

'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' star Joe Pantoliano on June 05, 2024 in Miami, Florida. Photo by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Related Article: Movie Review: 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die'

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with veteran actor Joe Pantoliano about his work on 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die’, returning after his character’s death in ‘Bad Boys for Life’, Captain Howard’s love for Mike and Marcus, working with Smith and Lawrence again, shooting his scenes, and his respect for directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Pantoliano and Melanie Liburd.

'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' star Joe Pantoliano on June 05, 2024 in Miami, Florida. Photo by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Moviefone: To begin with, your character was killed off in ‘Bad Boys for Life’, how surprised were you to discover you would be retuning for ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die'?

Joe Pantoliano: I wasn't going to give them any opportunity to change their mind. "Yes, sir. May I have another?"

MF: What was it like for you to return and have a chance to play Captain Howard one more time?

JP: Oh, it was great. It was brief. I was working on something else, and I needed to get back, I was doing a play. So, they accommodated my schedule. It was a whirlwind, but it turned out to be so very good.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence star in Columbia Pictures 'Bad Boys: Ride of Die.'

MF: Can you talk about Captain Howard's love and respect for Mike and Marcus, and the trust that he's given to them over the years?

JP: It's a natural trajectory that played into the chemistry. In a lot of ways, it reflected our own personal journey as actors, as people, and as humans. I got to know those guys when they were kids, and then started families, and grown up in a way that I'm very proud of them as professionals and as humans.

MF: What was it like getting to work with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence again?

JP: It's just very easy.

MF: Can you talk about shooting the “After Life” scene with Martin Lawrence?

JP: It was fascinating, because it was blue screen, and the equipment that they use. When Marcus goes back into the bed and the clothes get torn off. The equipment boggles my mind, it boggles my imagination. The forty-some years that I've been doing this, the idea that focus pullers can now be 200 yards away from the camera, it just boggles my mind. So, I was just like a kid in a candy store, seeing how they do all this stuff and having no idea how it gets pulled off.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah on the set of Columbia Pictures 'Bad Boys: Ride of Die.'

MF: Finally, you began making these films with director Michael Bay but what has it been like working with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah on these last two ‘Bad Boys’ movies?

JP: They have a childlike quality about them, and enthusiastically, and Michael Bay is one of their hugest fans. They're huge fans of Michael Bay. So, to pay homage to what Michael created, and they adore him, and they think about that, and their collaboration with Robrecht Heyvaert, the cinematographer who's extraordinarily creative in his own right. So, it's a combination of the three of them. Fascinating. It's like being a student of filmmaking, you just watch this stuff, and you go, "Wow, how did they do it?"

What is the plot of ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’?

When the late Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) is implicated in a longstanding string of drug-related crimes, the Bad Boys -- Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) -- attempt to clear his name, only to find themselves framed as well. With a bounty on their heads, they’re forced to go on the run from the drug cartel, the local gangs, and their fellow officers in the Miami PD.