“The Little Things,” written and directed by John Lee Hancock of “The Blind Side” and “Saving Mr. Banks” fame, hit theatres and HBO Max simultaneously last Friday. Set in Bakersfield and L.A., the decidedly dark thriller centers around Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe ‘Deke’ Deacon (Denzel Washington) and Los Angeles County Sheriff Sergeant Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), who form an unlikely partnership while on the trail of a serial killer over the course of a few days in October 1990.
The movie came by its dated setting naturally. Hancock initially wrote the script in 1993 but held off on bringing it to the big screen for almost three decades. When he finally decided to give the project the green light, instead of transitioning the story to the present day, it became a de facto period piece. Producer Mark Johnson told MyNewsLA, “He [Hancock] had done his research based upon detectives working in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department in the early 1990s, and it’s set in 1990. But we’re making it now, so do we update it? In the end, we left it alone for a lot of reasons.”
The gloomy, noirish drama “immediately shot to number one” on HBO Max, as WarnerMedia Executive Vice President and General Manager Andy Forssell told The Hollywood Reporter. Not everyone is a fan, though. Owen Gleiberman of Variety called “The Little Things” a “recycled thriller” that “feels like a rerun” and Dan Jolin of Empire espoused, “They don’t make ‘em like this anymore, and, to be honest, they probably shouldn’t.” Ouch.
Love it or hate it, “The Little Things” certainly had the internet talking in the days following its release, with viewers speculating about everything from murder suspect Albert Sparma’s (Jared Leto) odd gait to the ending to what was up with those boots. One aspect of the film that needs no speculation? The locations. Click over to the gallery for a comprehensive guide to all of the spots featured in the flick.