Taylor Kitsch in Battleship
Taylor Kitsch has already had a very exciting 2012 as he lead the cast in blockbuster John Carter and now he is back with his new movie Battleship.
I caught up with to talk about shooting another big blockbuster, reuniting with director Peter Berg as well as shooting Savages with Oliver Stone.
- How was the preparation to embody this character?
I had a lot of fun it was very collaborative with Hopper, he is a guy who is living on his brother’s couch, and Pete and I boiled it down to a guy who is simply afraid of his own potential - so he didn’t take the risk that you need to take in life to push yourself to succeed.
Everyone has been in that position in their life and some people don’t leave it, he was at that spot and it was his brother who was fed up and pushed him into it. So it was a lot of fun to make that whole arch of who was very drastic, from who he is at the beginning living on his brother’s couch to saving the world.
I didn’t have to do much physical preparation because I had just come back from John Carter so I could eat whatever I want and I didn’t have to be anywhere near the shape I was for Carter.
- You were a personal trainer so does that make it easier for you when you need to get into shape for a role?
It’s still the same amount of discipline and it is still a lot of work but I know what I need to do it is just a matter of applying it (laughs) because it is tough.
- The movie reunites you with Peter Berg so how do you find working with him? And what is it about his directing style that you seem to enjoy?
I love working with him as it is very empowering as an actor. We are friends first and foremost and so what comes with that is a lot of trust, and that is everything on every set whether it is Oliver Stone, Andrew Stanton or Pete Berg.
And I needed to trust him a little more on this film because a lot is put in in post production and you are make believing a lot more. Also who we are as people we like to push the envelope and we push each other through that process which is great.
- Coming to the actual shoot of Battleship how was that? How are your sea legs?
I had moments man, I didn’t actually succumb to them but I had moments when I had to sit down for a sec.
What was crazy it I was better on the sea than I was in the studio when the whole studio was on tracks and they were like ‘right we just want to give you a feel of what it’s going to be like when we do it’ and I was like ‘whoa hang on’ and that was harder than when we were on the ocean.
- The opening scene is absolutely brilliant as it really sets the tone for the rest of the film in terms of the humour is that something you worked on with Peter? And was it born from experienced at all?
No I have never been tasered thank god. But I think that it is such an endearing quality of that guy and it gets everyone’s guard down right away and hopefully everyone will enjoy the ride.
We don’t take ourselves incredibly seriously, we have moments where it definitely happens, but we do keep it light and I think it is one of the best character openings that you could ask for.
- Was that a stunt guy falling through the ceiling?
Yeah, they wouldn’t let me do it and rightfully so. I would have done it but I would have got hurt. I was there right beside him though.
- Mark Hamill, who made Star Wars, said it was like being a ‘currant in a fruit salad’ so what was it like being in the middle of a movie as big as this?
I think it is just a matter of keeping things simple and to worry about things that I have control of, of who Hopper is and telling his story.
I don’t have control over the effects and I don’t have control of other people’s performances so it is really is a case of trying to stay myopic because if I start worrying about the variables and everything that is out of my control you can be just lost.
- What was it like acting opposite Liam Neeson?
Oh man I love it. I have been so lucky this year to get to work opposite Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta and Oliver Stone and he is just right up there with all of those guys.
And it gets the best out of you when you know that you are going on to set with a legend like that, I love it.
- And what about working with Rihanna?
Yeah good, I think it was a good call for her to come in and have a small supporting role and to work with Pete Berg.
Pete’s process is like no other director as it’s very inviting, I’m not saying other directors aren’t inviting, but he will improv if necessary and he will just get your guard down. His process is just more enabling more than anything.
- The movie saw you shoot on the USS Missouri and there are veterans in the mix as well so how do those authentic elements help your personal performance?
I think on many levels setting wise a live setting is the best setting, any actor will tell you that, especially when you are working on such a legendary ship at that is.
Being in Pearl Harbour as well, the drive into Pearl Harbour every morning when you are working was pretty cool.
And to also get to talk to some of the legends as well, they hadn’t all served on the Missouri but we were in Battleship Row and they had served on some of those. It was cool to just talk to them and just listen, that is a good time to shut up.
- It has been a big couple of months for you with some really impressive pictures coming out so is there anything that you would like to do next or do you have something on the horizon?
I am excited about Savages, I really am. Like you said these are huge movies and the scope if just enormous and obviously it is flattering to be the lead and do that kind of thing with these movie but I love getting gritty and I love working with these guys and playing these entirely different characters.
And to button the whole year with this character will be great. Then I will go and work on Lone Survivor in September I am looking forward to being on a gritty war movie and a true story, which enhances everything. So it’s going to be fun.
- So what was it like playing soccer instead of football?
Yeah it was good, it was good. It wasn’t in the script originally and he phoned me when I was in Austin and he was like ‘oh yeah can you play soccer?’ And I was like ‘yeah I am pretty decent as I played for fifteen years when I was growing up’ and he was like ‘ok good’ and I’m like ‘ok why?’ And he said ‘it’s in the movie now’ and I was I like ‘sweet’.
And that was that it was one of those things in your past that facilitated that moment. We shot for about three days I think to do all of the soccer - it was fun.
- Who was the best?
Me (laughs).
- So you can hit a penalty past Alexander Skarsgard?
I never shot on Skarsgard. They had a legitimate goal-keeper in there, the keeper that Hopper misses entirely on. We did a real shoot-out in between takes and I won, which was great. Little moments apparently (laughs).
- You are a big fan of State of Grace so I was wondering what it was you like so much about this movie?
Well it has two of my favourite actors and Harris ain’t bad either. It goes back to Savages in an indirect way really and those movies don’t get made anymore. I love that gritty and the realism and I based a lot of Tim Riggins’ (Friday Night Lights) on Gary Oldman in that movie.
I even stopped Gary Oldman about a month ago and bombarded him because I am such a huge fan, I think he was f***king great in that movie.
- So when you came face to face with the aliens how did you film that were actors used?
Yeah they’d have a big mask and a helmet and grey pyjamas, this guy was about 6’8” that was doing it and he was just great.
These guys take their roles so seriously and that really helps you - it’s not hard running away from a 6’8” guy even though he is in pyjamas he is still a big boy.
- You have mentioned Savages a couple of time so how did you find working with Oliver Stone?
I loved it man. I think it is a beautiful thing to get to work with all these amazing people and he is definitely an icon for a reason. He pushes you and if you look back at a lot of the actors that he has worked with, which are the best of the best, it is their best performance and I see why now as he pushes you.
You had better be prepared and if you are not you are not going to do well on any set let alone Oliver Stone’s, he is great.
- Going back to the prep that you had to do for this movie it must have been a lot to take in all that naval lingo and processes to learn?
That was tough for me just because it’s one to learn it but it is another to understand what you are saying if you know what I mean? I obviously wanted to do both and so it kind of surprised me because it’s very tough to wrap your head around if you are foreign to it - beyond repetition it what it is.
They had to explain what you are saying so I can say it the way I want to say and not just repeat the lines off screen, which I hate. It was just an insane amount of prep and repetition and understanding the concept of what the hell was going on.
- I really liked the chemistry that you had Tadanobu Asano so can you talk a bit about the bonding you had with him as he is new to Hollywood as well? Did you have to worry about a sensitivity with the rivalry at all?
Oh man you should ask Tad man. First of all I tip my hat to him because it’s like me going to Japan and doing a movie in Japanese that is absurd and I just couldn’t do it. And for him to come, especially on a spectacle movie that is as big as it is. It was really great for me because the relationship is very black and white and the arch was very strong in the script.
He was such a supporting guy and it was just so fun because we really just pushed, there is shit that I would improv off camera that wouldn’t be in this movie for a reason, and that was fun - he was open to it and he reacted to it really well.
Obviously when you are in the middle of the ocean and Pete is forty yards away on a loud speaker trying to give direction or tell Tad what’s going on Tad can’t understand a lot of it so he would tell me and I would put it in lamens terms what Pete wants.
So on that we connected quite quickly too because he had to trust me as well on that level of relaying the messages. I love that guy he is such a good guy. He had to work twice as hard because he had to break it down in English.
- Battleship is obviously a big CGI spectacle so how much do you enjoy working with CGI?
You have moments for sure and you don’t have a … well no that is a lie… I mean at times yeah I didn’t get into it to just work off of nothing, just a pink X or a fan or something. But it is worth it when you know and you can trust these great directors that they are going to make it come to life.
It is definitely a learning curve for me but at the end of the day I want to work off another actor and that is what I love doing. I am getting back to that now and I won’t be doing another CGI film unless it is another Battleship.
Battleship is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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