By Gill Pringle
How did it impact the real 12 soldiers, knowing that there was a $100,000 bounty on each of their heads and thrust into a completely foreign world where they are fighting alongside the Taliban?
The real guys, when they got there, they did have to prove they were of any worth or of any use because, in the back of their minds, they knew there was $100,000 on their heads so I think, in order to make sure they were worth more than that, they had to insert themselves into pretty intense situations and prove themselves.
Do you think that being a non-American gave you a different perspective in playing this role?
Maybe, yeah. I find sometimes even just being in a movie, in the centre of it, it’s all-consuming and it’s hard to get perspective so definitely, from a distance, watching even back from 9/11 through all of these years with Afghanistan and Iraq and so on, I definitely have a different perspective. Not saying better or worse, but you’re a product of whatever environment you’re a part of, so…
Did you get intimidated in talking to the special forces guys?
Yeah there’s a definite weight of the responsibility of the subject matter and this story and then playing a real person, there’s a constant reminder of how you could mess it up, you know? And also, you have this wealth of knowledge at your fingertips and Mark [Nutsch] was incredibly open as were all the guys involved with information about the mission or even just things about the personality of who these guys are and what their attitudes are. I called Mark a couple of times in the middle of shooting like: ‘we’ve got this scene and I want to have more of a sense of the relationship with the Afghan people and with General Dostum [Navid Negahban] and to highlight the heart and that bond that was formed’, and he’d say, ‘Well, you know, I remember talking with Dostum this one time. . .’, and he’d give me a few ideas and I’d run them back and we’d insert them in the scene, so that was incredibly useful to be able to have that right there and available like that.
When you play the leader in a film do you feel like you also have to be the leader on set?
Oh sure, yeah, yeah. If the lead on a film or the director is difficult, no one’s having a good time, you know? It just ripples throughout the whole thing. I really realised that on Thor: Ragnarok with Taika [Waititi] and his leadership and his attitude and we both just had this sense of humour, and I’ve had so many people on that film – with crew and actors – saying ‘That was the best set that we’ve ever been on’. So, over the years you definitely become aware of that, especially a film like this when it’s the long days and it’s cold and everyone’s got a reason to complain about something but if you start doing that, then it opens the floodgates. I remember doing that on Heart of the Sea one time. And Ron said, ‘You’re the leader here and it’s going to be hard and people are going to want to complain… but you’ve got to…’ and I said, ‘yeah absolutely’ but there was one day when I started complaining about something and then within minutes it was like, ‘Yeah, and what about this?!’ and I noticed with the boys I was with and I was like, ‘Boy this is bad… this is infectious’, and I had to sort of slap myself and… [laughs]
Were you in high school when 9/11 happened?
Yes. I remember it very vividly, like I’m sure everybody, coming out of my bedroom into the lounge and my parents watching it on TV and the first plane had hit and just being as shocked as anyone going, ‘Oh my God, how did this happen? Was it an accident? How did they not see the building? Why were they flying so close?’ and by time I got to school, the other plane had hit and then going, ‘Well hang on, this can’t be an accident.’ and then asking the same questions that everyone was, and then the mass confusion and fear and anxiety. I remember everybody being in the library at the school around the one TV, just crowding around and watching it all unfold and no one doing any work or anything. The confusion was the thing that I remember most, just not being able to understand it or make sense of it, and still can’t.
You’re one of the most famous actors on the planet. How do you stay grounded?
Just the people you surround yourself with – my great family who raised me that way and a couple of good friends of mine who work with me who I’ve known since Grade One in school, who are a constant reminder and just good human beings too. If you want an environment that’s going to turn you into a narcissist, this is it. There’s things you can get away with, like me complaining about something and there it’s like ‘yeah, I know…’ and then, behind your back, it’s like, ‘What an arsehole’, and then you think, ‘well you didn’t tell me though?’ People stop saying no and you’re allowed to get away with all the wrong things I think, or that’s a possibility anyway. So, I just feel thankful for being reminded by people close to me, ‘No, no, this is the reality, and this is real, and that’s excessive,’ and so on. But also I think – I enjoyed living in Los Angeles and Hollywood but the moment I went back to Australia, that was the big one for me. I was having conversations outside of the business; I was meeting people who were creative in different ways and I was having different conversations and different things were important, real things were important and – not to take anything away from LA – but, for me, I found it a little suffocating at times.
Does that mean that you’re always on the lookout for Australian roles so that you don’t have to leave home now?
Yeah, certainly Thor [Ragnarok] shot there because I was desperate to be back home for a while and I was allowed to have an opinion in that decision and have a weigh in on it, but everything I look at now, it’s becoming more about quality of life than what’s the role that’s going to define me and so on. It’s like ‘Where’s it shoot? Hawaii?’ Then maybe that script is alright, you know? I find myself looking at things that I passed on that was shot in Hawaii and I’m like, ‘Damn it, I should have done that film!’ and my wife certainly loves where we live, and the kids love it too. I think the older I get, the more that becomes a factor, definitely.
What’s next for you, apart from the next two Avengers?
I do a film [Bad Times at the El Royale] with Drew Goddard who wrote and directed Cabin in The Woods. It’s a ‘60s noir thriller. It’s a big ensemble thing which is great, I like that setting, it’s not all on my shoulders and it’s a really fun character thing, very different to what I’ve done before, and I love him, he’s the best. It’s shot in Vancouver which is one of my favourite places, I love it.
12 Strong is in cinemas March 8, 2018.
