Allan Ungar & Nestor Carbonell Interview: Bandit (2024)

Learn about one of the most unbelievable bank robbers in history with Bandit. The film is based on the true story of Gilbert Galvan Jr., a man who escaped a Michigan prison in 1984 and robbed 59 banks in Canada while building a life for himself on his hauls.

Josh Duhamel leads the cast of Bandit alongside Elisha Cuthbert, Mel Gibson, Nestor Carbonell, Swen Temmell, and Keith Arthur Bolden.

Related: 10 Of Josh Duhamel's Best Performances, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes

Ahead of the film's release, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with director Allan Ungar and star Nestor Carbonell to discuss Bandit, their love of the true story, the fast-paced production, Carbonell's help with directing, and more.

Breaking Down Bandit

Screen Rant: I'm very excited to talk about Bandit. I checked it out yesterday, and it was an absolute blast from start to finish. What about this story and book really caught your interest?

Allan Ungar: I think beyond the commercial appeal that it had, and these incredible characters and just the narrative and the fact that it was all true, as a Canadian, I kind of bonded with it right away. I was like, "Okay, this is a Canadian story, it's really bizarre. Nobody's going to believe that this happened." I felt this strong sense of purpose and pride as a Canadian to have to tell this story, so I jumped on right away.

Nestor Carbonell: Again, the story is so unbelievable, to know it's true is extraordinary. There's also this dynamic that I later came to find out between my character of "Snydes" based on Snyder, the real-life detective, that he ended up befriending Gilbert Galvan at the end. They're still friends today.

Allan Ungar: They're coming tonight to the premiere together. [Chuckles]

Nestor Carbonell: They're each other's dates. [Laughs] So that alone, to me, is a treat, that you have this guy who's hell-bent on catching this bank robber that's done 59 heists, and lo and behold, they become good friends, even after he's released from prison. [Chuckles] It speaks to the charm of Gilbert, the sort of naïveté of Gilbert, even though he was not naive, but he was in many ways, and this odd friendship that, to me, intrigued me to know it.

Even though we don't necessarily get to see that dynamic too much in this film, we do see a really unique dynamic between you and Mel Gibson in the film, what was that like developing that with him throughout production?

Nestor Carbonell: Absolutely, and that was fun, most of the stuff that we shot with Mel was in the first week, right?

Allan Ungar: Yeah, first week of production.

Nestor Carbonell: Yeah, first week of production, so Mel came in, we met, the whole thing happened so fast. By the way, this man did the impossible shooting this film in 21 days, that alone is an extraordinary feat. But yeah, when Mel came in, it was sort of, "Hurry up, let's get acquainted" very quickly. As actors, that's what we're asked to do, and [Allan] gave us the carte blanche to work on the material, but also riff whenever we felt like it. As the characters, because of their dynamic, they're trying to one up each other. At one point, Mel started with some zingers, and I started to throw them back at him, so we had a lot of fun with '80s references, a lot of fart humor. [Laughs]

Allan Ungar: Yeah, potty mouths! [Laughs]

Nestor Carbonell: Yeah, a lot of potty mouth stuff. But anything to sort of undercut the tension and to serve the subtext, to get the subtext out through that humor. That was fun.

Well, it really comes across well, on screen, I loved every moment that you two had together. Allan, for you, with that shorter production schedule mentioned, this film looks and feels like a far larger production. What was it like finding that look and that style and trying to turn it around in that time?

Allan Unbar: You know, my DP Alex Chinnici, he and I worked together on the Uncharted short with Nathan Fillion, and we bonded so fast. He was so excited to take on this challenge with me, because thinking I was going to do 32 days in Canada, and then [ultimately] doing 21 In Georgia, is such a curveball. We worked very early on screening different films, dealing with the look, the color, the aesthetic, but ultimately, at the end of the day, my art team, just creating what they had to create, we had 200 scenes, 95 sets and locations, it was impossible.

Then, I was blessed with Nestor in that he's such a capable, amazing TV director that we basically decided to divide and conquer. So, we'd be in certain locations, like this old courthouse where the opening of the film [happens], this was like a studio lot for us, we had like eight or nine sets in there. So, Nestor would be basically kind of directing and setting up all of his stuff, and I would kind of run up and down the stairs, and then sometimes they'd go off-site, and basically just like I owe it to this guy.

Nestor Carbonell: No, no, no. It's the only way it [could've been done], it was an impossible schedule, there was just no other way to do it. To your credit, you were running back and forth between sets, so you would see the performance, okay it, and once we're dialed in, then obviously you had to go back to the other sets.

Allan Ungar: A lot of step count. My step count was very high.

Nestor Carbonell: Yeah, this man was everywhere, he was omniscient, so we felt you, even when we're shooting the car stuff. But, it was so much fun that there was a collaborative element to it, where everyone sort of came to the party, everybody. I mean, that was part of the allure, I think, for a lot of people is that every department realized, "Oh my God, we can sort of use our talents to improve the scene in some way," and you welcomed that. It really had to be all hands on deck in that way.

Bandit Synopsis

In 1985, Gilbert Galvan Jr (Josh Duhamel), a charming career criminal, escapes from a US prison in Michigan and crosses the border into Canada where he assumes the identity Robert Whiteman. After falling in love with Andrea (Elisha Cuthbert), a caring social worker he can’t provide for, he turns to robbing banks and discovers that he’s exceptionally good at it. Under the guise of a security analyst, Robert begins flying around the country robbing multiple cities in a day, eventually catching the attention of national news outlets that dub him The Flying Bandit.

Addicted to the rush and money that provides his double life, Robert eventually turns to loanshark and reputed gangster Tommy Kay (Mel Gibson) for bigger opportunities. But with Robert’s notoriety growing in record time, he is put into the direct sights of a ruthless detective (Nestor Carbonell) who will stop at nothing to bring him down.

Check out our other Bandit interviews as well:

• Mel Gibson

Bandit is now in theaters and on VOD.