By Dov Kornits
“I think the reason for it being such an impactful story is that it has this chamber play feeling to it,” says actor Mark Stanley on the line from London. “The setting for the whole film, really, is that dry river bed. And with the ravine on either side of it, it acts as its own amphitheatre. And it’s great that Paul Katis, the director, picked up on this, with the soldiers looking down and watching their friends going through the worst trauma you could possibly imagine, and only being a few feet away. It has this immersive feeling to it.”
Kajaki: Kilo Two Bravo is based on a true story about a motley company of British soldiers in Afghanistan who are forced to confront their deepest fears when one of them steps on a landmine.
“Some guys chose to meet the people that they were going to portray,” says Stanley about preparing for the role. “Some guys chose not to. And some couldn’t…” A two day bootcamp followed, which the actors did in character. The film shoot took them to Jordan where they stayed for five weeks. “The heat was tremendous. We killed a couple of thermometers at 55 degrees,” says the actor.
Brought up in the north of England in a working class family, Mark Stanley had never considered the military as a career path. “We had some great inside knowledge whilst we were making the film, and what these situations might be like. Some of the stories they told, you certainly come to terms and appreciate what they do.”
Stanley came down to London when he was 18 to attend drama school. “I’m from a family of storytellers,” he says. “One thing we can do is prop up a bar and make sure that people are entertained. I’m from people making experiences through stories. So I suppose acting was a natural route to go down. I certainly enjoy it, and the insight you get into people’s lives when you do it as well.”
Straight out of drama school, Stanley landed the supporting role of Grenn in Game of Thrones. “I had a couple of significant moments,” says the actor about the supporting part in this expansive and groundbreaking TV series. “But for me it was all about the immense scale of the story that we were trying to tell, which was unbelievable. I was just glad to be a part of it. For some people it does open doors, doesn’t it, and puts them on the map. Some actors use it as a doorway. It certainly leant itself to me as a doorway, but more than anything, it has allowed me to be part of good stories, which I’ve been lucky enough to be invited on board.”
Apart from Kajaki, in which he plays one of the leading roles as a medico thrust into a horrific situation, Mark Stanley played a supporting part in the BBC mini-series Dickensian, and if you look really closely you might spot him in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens as a ‘Knight of Ren’. “I was only on it for the last two days of the shoot,” laughs the actor.
But the most rewarding part of his career so far has been Kajaki. “I think what was special about Kajaki is that first of all you have a huge responsibility to make sure that you portray the guys who were there on the day with respect, and to make sure that the story is told properly,” he says.
“You’re telling a tale of the guys on the day that was one of the most significant days of their lives. They lost friends that day! There’s a big element of responsibility. And when we watch the film and think that we came close to accomplishing that; and the guys who were there on the day turn around and pat you on the back and say, ‘Well done, and that’s as close as you’re going to get with a film.’ Yeah, you’re in a position of privilege, it’s honourable isn’t it? It’s nice to have been able to tell those guys’ stories.”
Interestingly, Kajaki takes an alternative route to most ‘war is bad’ films of today, instead focusing on the inherent nail-biting suspense of the situation. “The thing that’s clever about the film is that it remains impartial,” Mark Stanley says. “And although you’re showing a bunch of guys’ hardship through atrocity, you’re still bringing to light what people in the military do. The guys who wear the boots on the ground are not involved in the politics or why they’re there. Those guys have signed up, some of them through a long line of family history of being in the military; some see it as a calling – and then they’re sent out to these places… and it’s while they’re in these places, not why they’re in these places, that I think our story highlights.”
Kajaki: Kilo Two Bravo is available now.
