The cast of Warfare attended the UK Special Screening at The Cinema in Battersea Power Station, London where they spoke about bonding as a cast, learning new skills, and shaving their heads at Boot Camp.
In this video we hear from Cosmo Jarvis, Michael Gandolfini, WIll Poulter, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett and Evan Holtzman. Co-writers and directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza also attended the UK Special Screening ahead of the war film's release.
'Warfare' launches in UK cinemas on Friday 18th April. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
In this video we hear from Cosmo Jarvis, Michael Gandolfini, WIll Poulter, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett and Evan Holtzman. Co-writers and directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza also attended the UK Special Screening ahead of the war film's release.
'Warfare' launches in UK cinemas on Friday 18th April. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00It's just like being at home, being here with them, yeah.
00:03See how much my ass was going to get kicked in boot camp.
00:06I could probably fire a, you know, Mark 48 machine gun if I needed to.
00:12He taught me how to shoot a gun.
00:13Stay for the end of the credits, because that's at the end.
00:31I know that this was a grueling shoot and you went through a lot of training.
00:36What can you do today that you couldn't do before this warfare journey started?
00:40What skills have you picked up?
00:41Well, I mean, it's hard to say, right?
00:48Because what we learned was a very brief, sort of condensed version of what any real military personnel experience, right?
00:57So we might be able to have a better knowledge of how radios work and sort of terminologies and, you know, tactics.
01:09But I don't think any of us really have walked away being like, this is a skill I'm proficient at, at least me.
01:16I don't think we've mastered any one specific skill.
01:19But there certainly have been more sort of, I guess you'd say, ethical and philosophical lessons that we've all learned.
01:29And things to do with character, things like this.
01:37It's very hard to talk about.
01:39I don't know why.
01:40Yeah.
01:41I love hearing about any time there's a film, people have to go through training and your boot camp is three weeks long.
01:47Obviously you're going to go through all the range of emotions during that time.
01:50Was there a moment of pure elation during that time?
01:53Because you're going to accomplish and achieve things as a group.
01:55What was the most elated you felt during that time?
01:58I mean, yeah, yes.
02:01Like, yes and no.
02:03We had a lot of work.
02:05We had a lot of work to do.
02:06That was elating.
02:09I think we all loved being at this job.
02:14We loved that acting had a real effective application.
02:18That our job could actually be shown to someone and they could learn about what happened in their life.
02:26It really was, we all wanted to be there.
02:28So that was elating.
02:29But it was quite a, you know, focused, locked in group where we had a lot to overcome and a lot to learn.
02:36But there were definitely moments of elation.
02:39One thing I'll never forget is we had a moment night one, you know, everything's kind of culminating to that.
02:48And we were moving through the house doing sort of all the training that we had done up to this point.
02:54And I do remember Ray walking out and kind of giving his old, his like amazing Ray nod.
03:00And he was like, yeah, you guys look like seals.
03:03And I remember that was like, yes.
03:07Yes, that was huge.
03:09Yeah, little moments like that, you know.
03:12Yeah, I agree with everything he said.
03:14There wasn't really like any specific.
03:17I mean, that's what, there were so many of things like that.
03:20Even when some of our characters showed up, some of the real life, the real life men that we were representing showed up.
03:31It's a very unique energy that was surrounding the production.
03:36Obviously, I know the shoots were grueling too.
03:38You could do like long 5, 10, 15 minute takes in one setting throughout the day.
03:44Would you need some decompression at the end of the day?
03:46How would you kind of let it all go at the end of a shoot?
03:50I don't think any, for me, I don't think it was a case of like needing decompression.
03:56I just think, certainly not because of the subject matter that's depicted.
04:03It was really a team effort for everybody.
04:13The nature of the team sort of was this singular propelling force that kind of just kept the whole thing going.
04:27That's kind of warfare mode.
04:28I'm ultimately fascinated by all of the prep that you guys were asked to do this.
04:31I love talking to people when they have to go through a boot camp.
04:34It's not a usual project.
04:36Do you think every film that you've done could be benefited from a boot camp, from camaraderie for the co-stars?
04:40Mate, honestly, there is an aspect of that.
04:42I think through that shared experience, particularly when it's trying and it pushes you both physically and mentally in the way that this did.
04:49It's really unifying.
04:50It's a great way to develop organic camaraderie and kind of galvanize a team.
04:56It was integral to us, both from a sort of technical standpoint and I think in terms of developing sincere, genuine bonds with one another.
05:03In terms of building camaraderie amongst a group of men, is there sometimes hazing initiations that take place?
05:12Anything that you can laugh about together?
05:14There's all sorts of silliness amongst groups of boys.
05:18The silliest of them all just walked past me.
05:22In a strange way, I think our culture as a group of actors started to imitate what I understand to be the experience of people in the military community.
05:36We began to rely on levity and camaraderie as an antidote to some of the more serious and intense things that we had to do.
05:44While maintaining at all times respect and reverence for the process and the story, which was greater than all of us, needless to say.
05:51I know you've been in war movies before and military movies.
05:54Is there anything that you can do today that you couldn't do before we started this warfare process?
05:58Yeah, I've been in one before called War Machine, which was also quite critical of war.
06:04I think this is even more of an anti-war film than anything I've been involved in before.
06:12I think that there were things that I went through on War Machine in respect of adopting the role of a leader that definitely served me.
06:19It also gave me an idea of how much my ass was going to get kicked in boot camp.
06:23That was nice.
06:26The thing that I really appreciated was I could see the bonds that we were developing coming.
06:32I knew I was going to get really close to these guys and that was going to form the foundations for what we got on screen.
06:38Sure enough, we all became like brothers.
06:43How's this, just patching up with a guest at this point?
06:46Best friends, besties. How's it been?
06:48It's been great. This whole press tour has been like reuniting with everyone. It's been pretty awesome.
06:53I've been asking everyone this. What can you do today that you couldn't do before this whole warfare process started?
07:00That's a good question. I could probably fire a Mark 48 machine gun if I needed to. I'm not sure why I would need to, but there you go.
07:16You never bloody know.
07:17You never know.
07:18I love the idea of you guys going to boot camp, but it sounds like you got so many stories from it.
07:24What was the moment during that three weeks in a boot camp? You obviously have to do so many tasks and you go through these gruelling set pieces together.
07:31What was the best moment of elation that you felt during those three weeks? What was your biggest high?
07:36That's a good question. I think maybe when we first sort of...
07:43Honestly, even before the boot camp, on our first night together, we all shaved each other's heads, which was a real bonding experience.
07:52It kind of prefaced everything that was to come. It was really kind of beautiful, actually.
07:59I love the idea that you have these two directors who have completely different skill sets, but they've come together. How did you find their collaboration?
08:07Were they talking to you in tandem or did they have different roles when they were talking to you? How did you find it?
08:13It was seamless. It was like the two of them worked as one. They both played to each other's strengths.
08:19They're both geniuses in their own rights.
08:23They didn't really work in tandem, but they both had an immense amount of trust with one another.
08:30If one person gave one piece of direction, then the other person would agree with it, and the other person trusted each other to make the right decisions.
08:41Did you have a memorable piece of direction that you received during any of the set pieces online that really stuck in your head?
08:50Honestly, one of the things that Alex was really good at was being able to read us and knowing what to give us, whether it be encouragement or anything else.
09:02There was one moment where I think I was doing something that was difficult, and I was getting frustrated with myself.
09:10He just came up to me and said,
09:13It's great. You're doing a good job. Honestly, that was all I needed for that. Suddenly, I had this new rush of energy and confidence.
09:22Wonderful.
09:25I think that's the nicest part, is reuniting with everyone, I think, and seeing everybody who cleans up well.
09:33That's the nicest part. The press tour is just good fun, and to celebrate the movie is just great.
09:41We got so close to this, and honestly, I think everybody knew the assignment, showed up, poured their heart out into it, blood, sweat, tears, everything.
09:50And now we just get to have a beer and be made and come out.
09:56Talk about our award days together.
09:58Yeah, our actor award days of sipping cappuccinos.
10:02I love hearing about the three weeks that you guys had to do as the training.
10:08Was it day one you all had to shave your heads together?
10:11We didn't have to. We decided to.
10:14I mean, we mostly all needed to buzz our heads just for authenticity.
10:18It was so long.
10:20I did it day two because I couldn't see anything, and I was holding a gun, and I was like, I feel like an idiot.
10:26I shaved it, and Ray was very impressed, so that was cool.
10:29Was that one of many, or was there any more hazing or initiations that you guys did together to build camaraderie?
10:35Anything you can point to or even tell us?
10:37Dinner. We had dinner.
10:40We did a lot of food all the time.
10:42100 Navy Seal Barbies.
10:44It was kind of like a men's retreat in a way, where we were very competitive with each other.
10:49We'd push each other to work out harder, do one more push-up, one more set, one more rep, whatever it was.
10:55At the same time, we were all very supportive and loving of each other.
10:58That's true.
11:00It was such a team.
11:02I remember doing a bench press and Evan being like, one more, man.
11:06I just went, no.
11:08Not one more. That's it.
11:10Never mind.
11:11We all really looked after each other because it was a tough film.
11:14We had a great time.
11:16When it came to competing in the gym, naturally amongst the dribble lads,
11:20there's going to be someone coming in for the alpha position.
11:23Who had everyone's number?
11:27There's one person who thinks they're alpha, and it's...
11:31Charles Meltzer.
11:33But he is pretty cool, and he is pretty strong.
11:36He is pretty strong.
11:38But who is alpha?
11:40That's another question.
11:42It's this guy, obviously.
11:44I'd say...
11:45You can't tell?
11:47I don't know. Everyone knows.
11:49There was none of that.
11:51It was...
11:53How do we bring this back?
11:55There was none of that.
11:57We loved Charles.
11:59We gave him a lot of trash.
12:01He was a great leader.
12:03One of the leaders.
12:05Will and Charles led us through a lot of good workouts and stuff.
12:08Honestly, we were all very motivating each other.
12:10Everybody...
12:12There was no...
12:14There really wasn't any sort of alpha mentality,
12:17which was also really cool and special.
12:19When we showed up day one, as you were saying in a previous interview,
12:22you were nervous. I was nervous, too.
12:24You're showing up with some incredible actors, wonderful guys.
12:28You don't know how it's going to be with 13 guys staying in a hotel together.
12:32Everyone really left their ego, I think.
12:34Totally.
12:36That was really, really apparent as soon as we started filming.
12:40It was special.
12:42One question I've been asking everyone is,
12:44what can you do today that you couldn't do before all of this process started with WOLF?
12:48What's a new skill?
12:50I'll answer yours if you answer mine.
12:52What do you think I could do?
12:54This guy can shoot a gun really well.
12:56And you could shoot before.
12:58You learned really well how to do that.
13:01I taught Evan how to love.
13:03He did.
13:05He taught me how to shoot a gun.
13:07Stay for the end of the credits, because that's...
13:10Beautiful, guys.
13:12Thank you so much for your time.
13:14I've enjoyed it. I appreciate you.