Alexander Skarsgård, Nat Wolff & Director Dan Krauss On The Film, "The Kill Team"

[Music] thanks everybody welcome to build I'm your host Ricky Camilleri and our next guests are the director and stars of the new film the kill team which tells the tells a fictionalized account of the true story of an Afghanistan stationed platoon that took it upon themselves to kill Afghani civilians in cold blood Alexander Skarsgard plays the cold and calculating commander and not wolf as the conflicted soldier under him trying to do what's right while fearing for his life let's take a look at the kill team everybody please welcome NAT Wolff Alexander Skarsgard and writer director Dan cross guys thank you so much for being here congratulations on this on this great film and I hesitate to use the word important I don't like to put that on anything because that makes it something sound like it's not thrilling and entertaining and this movie is thrilling and entertaining in a lot of ways but let's you made a documentary it was initially an article by Mark Boal right in Rolling Stone and then you you you work with him and work with people on the documentary about it correct actually yeah it was Marc Bulls article there's also a great piece in the New York Times Magazine and you know I open it up one Sunday and I was fascinated with this set of cases but I was particularly fascinated the case of this one soldier who was among the soldiers charged with murder who had tried to alert the military to the atrocities they witness and somehow been pulled into being a participant and that was the genesis of everything how do you adapt a documentary into into a film like this obviously you have to fictionalize some of it you have to had to change the names so what happened there why did you have to fictionalize it is that to sort of create a grander narrative or to sort of recontextualize it a little bit partly I mean the goal was to distill the emotions that I had been hearing about from the guys in the documentary that the documentary is by definition objective and this was an exercise in subjective storytelling and so what I wanted to accomplish in the movie was taking all the emotions that I had experienced and heard about from the guys in the documentary and find a way to dramatize that and to create an experience for the audience where they themselves are forced to make the same in their minds make the same kind of harrowing to since these soldiers face and and have that be more experiential is that subjective element sort of are you referring to like a moment in the film where Alexander says you know I have a family I have my I'm not a bad guy I have a family and then we have another soldier at one point says they're saying I'm a murderer I'm not like can you believe that I'm not I'm not a murderer is that what you mean in terms of putting that audience in the put in that place yes in part I mean that's one thing I love about these characters and something that was directly inspired by my conversations with the guys in the documentary was these were very dimensional human beings that you know I I I think was important for all of us not to judge these characters and to allow them to be complex and and contradict themselves in ways that were surprising but also very you know deeply human so the fact that Deeks is a doting father I think is crucial to who he is it's so interesting as soon as someone says to me I'm a family man I'm a father in reference to other things that they're doing I think oh that person's evil because they can only see in their within their small world they can only connect you mainly to the people and they're very limited small world yeah that was a moment for me I was like oh that guy's actually that guy's really evil can you talk about it because I mean for you as an actor in that moment that is you trying to portray a piece of his humanity and a piece of the fact that he does think that he's doing the right thing in a lot of ways yeah obviously believes in what he's doing and he has the rules of engagement are you have to modify those occasionally when you're out in the field in his in his opinion and it was important like Dan said tifton to not play the archetypical villain and what I found interesting about this story is the seductive element the fact that he's not it's not only through intimidation he gets the young soldiers to do what he wants but it's it's more by seduction he's almost a cult leader he's a cult leader and they look up to him tremendously because he has it experience he's been out there on and it's an exercise in conformity and in on when you surrender your own morality to someone in a position of authority which I find fascinating and we we often do that on it takes a lot of courage to step up to someone in a position of authority and say like what you're doing is not right on especially within the military the military because everything is obviously heightened out there and it's a brotherhood you're out there in the field with these guys and you're sacrificing your life to to save your brother's on McGann stat it's very very difficult and dangerous obviously um but it was I was more on fascinated by again the the seductive element of it and how he as a puppeteer plays these young soldiers against each other and it's almost it's a courtship in a way on how he in a very intelligent way wins them over and if something isn't quite working with one soldier he he will put his attention on another soldier and start courting him and then that will create jealousy because they all feel again because they look up to him so much that when he talks to what to them or when he is giving them any attention just a look means the world because it's their hero so I think it's easy to kind of surreal I feel when you give me a look there it is there it is well I think it's it's easy to kind of forget your own morality or your own moral compass when you're yeah oh when you're one of the soldiers that's when you're one of the soldier and I think even for Deeks as well I think it's hard to hold on to your moral compass when you are faced with that kind of power and that you know that people are following you and they'll do whatever you want absolutely absolutely and it's he is on this base he feels like God he can you know he's he can move with impunity and do whatever you want on and ultimately he feel that he's obviously doing the right thing he is protecting his men on and everyone outside of the perimeter our enemies do you feel like well I'll get back to that in a second but now talk about your character he is for all intents and purposes the whistleblower here and but at the same time you're riding this fine line between wanting to blow the whistle and attempting to and also wanting to fit in and fearing for your life when it comes to your platoon mates yeah I think when I saw Dan's documentary which is doesn't cover the same ground that the movie covers you know because Dan got in there after the events had taken place and so the you know the documentary takes place it's a lot about the court you know right before they go to court and trial and so but you see Adam who my characters based off coming into the room and he's a shell-shocked and shaking and has like acne you know like it like a the way a senior in high school has acne you know and there was something about seeing how young and innocent he looked that was painful and and and and you realized that you know growing up the way that I looked at people who served as sort of like real men you know and then you reads and their kids and you realize like when you actually that that you know I I still feel like a kid I'm 24 and they're all 18 you know when they're going in there so it's a it's an incredible amount of responsibility that they're given and you can empathize with with that feeling of the need to be part of a group and then not wanting to stick your neck out and what I think and and and what I think you know like Andrew in the movie who is a fictionalized version of Adam but it's very you know is based on him is trying just is is trying his best to stick his neck out but you see how telling the truth can be harder harder than it seems and I think it's easy you know it's like with all these different areas in life it's easy to think that you would act a certain way and then when push comes to shove you know it's it's it's hard to know what you'd actually do yeah I mean anybody who ever says like Oh thority told me to do that I would tell them to go to hell it's like you have no idea what you would do when you're in the presence of a cop or a boss or anything like that and in this case he probably would you know or he might be dead yeah because they're essentially threatening his life and join with him you know we talk a lot about whistle whistle blowers lately but I think one of the things that you dramatize well without even having to go through the chain of command too much and it's something that we saw recently is that it's incredibly hard to blow the whistle within the confines of the military that the military as much as they it wants to say it's set up to be able to do that it's it's really not in a lot of ways yeah I mean what we what we see in the film and what happened in real life is that the minute that you report something like this you risk the chance of that information filtering back down to your to your leadership and you know in this like someone getting an email that's like hey we're hearing that you're doing this right knock it off exactly and so I think you know Brickman's biggest fear is that is going to find out what he's up to and that informs all his decision-making that's the pressure that's weighing down on him throughout this whole movie is what if the other guys find out and actually the movie is built much like a crime syndicate that's you know I've read a lot of mob movies and watched my movies and the writing in the screenplay because this is in some ways it's the creation of a mafia well the whole reason why that first rat is pulled in and then and gets the [ __ ] kicked out of him for something such a small thing that he told on is to show everybody else what will happen to them if they say anything to anyone above them yeah it's all about loyalty and disloyalty right and so Deeks is carefully testing each of the guys in his unit to see who he can count on who he can't and you know you know when when Brigman fails to pass a test he's cast to the side and when another soldier passes the test he's brought in closer and that's how Deeks plays them against each other and organized when Bregman hits the guy in the head with the gun you know it's the first time that the other you know one of his his buddies is giving him a handshake like he's he's worth something you know right there's that sort of slow pull in it's like start him here start him here okay now we're gonna bring him to this place where he can't come back from right but and it's also by by leaving them out on the cold for a while if they do something that Deeks doesn't agree with or we're in a if they don't if they show don't show 100% loyalty you can leave him out on a cold for a while and then once they get a taste of that a week later when you reach out you know that they're gonna come running because it's a horrible feeling to be out there in enemy territory on your own when you're not surrounded by your friends who are literally holding guns and they're there to protect you and take care you so I think Deeks is obviously very aware of that so just by pushing someone out for a little bit leaving them out on the cold it's way easier then to get them to conform and be part of the group again Deeks is kind of like the director of a movie here just like leaving his actors out you know you Dan is a lot like Deeks yeah I'm day one that was like do I have your loyalty Alexander punch the crafty guy in the face you've I'm sure you've gotten this question recently between the number of your recent roles have been variants of psycho I think what are you asking do you seem like a very nice man I'm not asking if you're psychotic I'm wondering where do you think that comes from do you think someone's are you in one role and in your scene is you know being able to play this role I think they are different versions and I don't think you are playing the same role I think of the person that you played in Sonya's film the last film that I think you cable the dark hold the dark yeah it's completely different kind of psycho things that are much more of a lone wolf on his own literally yeah yeah on its own mission he's not a mastermind manipulator like Deeks uh I think I I gravitate towards so conflicted and troubled characters and uh and I'm intrigued by the darkness within characters and I often find those the most juicy most interesting roles so I but like you said obviously you want to find something new and different in each and every one of them but I try to balance it and not go down the rabbit hole on each and every movie and and do something lighter here and there but but yeah I think it's on I've thought about it after this that I was like oh it might be time to do a a rom-com musical or something now because it's been a lot of death and destruction lately it'd be crazy to a rom-com musical of the kill team I don't think that would work so well but on Broadway yeah yeah even even the last comedy I that I think he didn't I could be wrong here this is was god this is war excuse me or the with Michael Morin everyone was a war on everyone excuse me yeah sorry I mean it even that is like a really dark comedy yeah and then one shot awesome a long shot was not I didn't kill anyone there um I did a little thing on on becoming a God in Central Florida that was also quite light and then I did on Congress of Godzilla this past winter uh played a pretty nice guy actually pretty good a geologist who's kind of quite friendly and like but we are about to work together and he's actually playing the devil in the stand he's got some redeeming qualities a lot was made of your of your of your cast knew that because you're your brothers in it and people are saying that you know the scars guards are becoming the sort of Stephen King's go-to actors what do you think about that on it just happenstance coincidence that it was just such an incredible character that when I I read it and I couldn't it is very dark but just also like just deliciously dark it's a wonderful character to play it's fun to do bad things in movies I mean yes it's cathartic in a lot of ways my life is so boring and plain and kind of nice so it's like I think I need to dip into that kind of that darkness on when I'm on set yeah now you're a part of the stand as well who-who did you plant in the center I'm playing the devil's right-hand man are you really he's a good boy were you guys and so this I imagine this casting happened after after you had done this movie together yeah so what was that like for the two of you to get cast in another project together how did that horrible horrific nightmare not friendly not friends I was so excited when I found out that he got cast because we also had I mean the movies obviously really intense and upsetting but we did have a good time and we and we got to know each other after and so we've spent a lot of time we have a bunch of mutual friends and stuff but but it's another juicy dynamic so it's gonna be good we don't know if it's gay he's a good pet he behaves blow the whistle so that's it's nice I'm more bad to baddies I love this thing I don't want to spoil anything but I love the scene near near the end of the film with the two of you in the back of that of the truck or of the Jeep and you're trying to communicate him that you can take care of this that you know the chain of command and you know how to get around this and it's unclear whether or not he's on the same side as you how did the two of you work on a scene like that together because you basically say nothing in the scene and you just keep coming at him and coming at him and coming at him it was a really difficult scene because and uh it's so important yeah it's so crucial it's the the only it was very Deeks is in control throughout the movie and I felt that it was crucial to have a moment where he unravels and where you feel that it Deeks is coming to coming apart and where he's not in control on and even though he says he is and he's got a plan you need to feel the armor it started to crack there and um he's unraveling and he's a pathetic and vulnerable in lost on and I thought it was important that we have a moment where the audience and brakeman when they see this on and it was a really tough scene it was a tough scene to shoot into to write to work want to find the right tone of it we didn't want a situation where you showed up and you had it written and then you guys started playing around and figuring we worked on it quite a bit before because in it was important that it wasn't sentimental or or we would push it too hard or it's a we felt contrived we had to stay within the perimeters of these characters but push it a bit again and to discover a new side and so it didn't become a movie moment at the furthest that goes is just a quick sort of jump you know that yeah it was important that it wasn't gonna be a big dramatic cathartic mo and or like it we spend a lot of time calibrating that I mean even on the day yeah and then in post you know just how much we want him to unravel without you know losing who he is as a character without losing that kind of veneer that he keeps through the movie but just enough so that you sense that maybe he is the first pangs of fear we wanted some sense of you know vindication or you know victory for for Brickman's character without pushing it into the idea of he's won and we're wrapping this up with him in a nice little bow but enough that you can feel like the power dynamic has shifted a little from one character to the other just a little do you ever hesitate on something like that does a filmmaker and as a storyteller because that idea that you're talking about this big movie moment and denying this big movie moment we have grown up with those big movie moments and there is an intrinsic part of us that feels like I think that's how narrative has to be and that's how movies have to end and if you have an aesthetic idea that you're gonna deny that moment from your viewers I'm wondering if there's any hesitation on your part how far do you go how much do you take away how much do you add what's gonna be satisfying I mean we have a duty to engage and entertain but I don't think that means we have duty to insult the audience's intelligence and I think we were all very committed to making a movie that was as complicated and as subtle as the real life story that inspired it and you know this we were very clear that the ending of this movie could not be neat and tidy and that there needed to be loose ends it needed to reflect the kind of mix of guilt and innocence that Brigman felt as a character and also you know that the kind of conflicting and contradictory principles that Deeks espouses you know he's a guy who in some ways you respect him most of all because he's so adherent to his own values his own beliefs more than anyone else he knows exactly what he wants and he's willing to do anything to defend it Bregman on the on the other hand is someone who is unsure he's you know spends the whole movie kind of vacillating between different different choices and different sets of priorities and so we wanted to keep that intact through the movie and not let it end in a more on a more simplistic or one-dimensional note it's not being like I'm gonna take you to Fred you're going down and these guys you know I mean to their credit we had a great collaboration on set and you know they're allergic to those kind of you know one one note big movie moments and and we all kept each other in check how do you do I mean you just talked about doing Kong vs. Godzilla and you've both of you have done big movies that require big movie moments how do you if you are allergic to that when it comes to a project like this how do you get yourself in the space to be able to do that when you're in those big movie moments I love it I love going from something like this to congo Zillah you know it's at the end of the day I am responsible for my characters so no matter the scope of the movie or the tone of the movie the genre I I need to believe in this guy and and be curious and fascinated by him on and I try to make sure that on whether it's a small indie movie or a big studio movie that I only work with people that will that are curious and will let me explore my character and who are open to that collaboration on and and will that will let me take control of the character and on Adam Wingard and the guys that legendary on produced on congas illa with with Wonder Brothers are just awesome people in there a guard in yeah he's a great guy you were with Adam he's lovely all right yeah and on when they reached out they they wanted me to come on board and and to kind of shape the character and then it's just exciting because then you you know the the parameters are different and on the structure is very different and the challenges are very different on and to try to make that come to live in Tafoya to life and find something interesting and fascinating in the character in that universe is equally exciting as this to me is it a difference for you as well I mean think about something like Death Note versus something like this Death Note is it's a lot of fun but it's definitely a different kind of communication that you have to give to the audience it's heavily seated within a genre even though it's playing with it yeah I mean one of the things that's great about doing a movie like kill team is that nobody's the the pressure is only to make it as as good as it can be on its artistic merits and one of the things that can be hard with doing a bigger movie is that if they're spending a lot of money you know there is the sometimes it does mean that there's gonna be a lot more eyes on you know why are you talking that way or why are you wearing your shirt like that or we know what you know because because there's a lot more at stake you know in terms of financially and then also if you're doing things based on famous source material like tether know or like um you know like the John Green movies that I was in you know there's a responsibility to do right by the fanbase and and that has its own challenges and also can be I mean but then you have you know you have a built-in fan base that is so passionate about the the project that it that it can also be inspiring but what's great about a movie like this is it really is just fully and an artistic endeavor and about making the best you know the best movie you can you you can make and and and I think even in the slight thing of changing the name so the real people there was a certain freedom to say okay let's do our version of this story you know it's not a documentary it's a movie and but you know weird way also acting sometimes it can be like you said fun to do those big goofy big movie moments where sometimes apart like this like for me this is one of the most challenging parts I think I've had to play because there's so much I want you know m'c I'm I'm so so much more of an expressive person than my character so a lot of it is limiting and contracting and so I would go home like just feeling really like sick to my stomach almost at the end of the day because I'd have so much so much I wanted to express and couldn't express and the confines of this this character but you know you know in a weird way I think that was exactly how I was supposed to be feeling because that's the character who had such a hard time expressed you know and it was so blocked up and also had had you actual blocks like like Alex and all the other guys making it so he couldn't report it and then also just this emotional block of being young and inexperienced and not really knowing himself well enough yet I do time for a few questions from the audience who's a question what is the most rewarding thing for you about acting directing and what is the most challenging project to work on till now and I think I'm I'm quite I think I'm quite a quite curious nature and I love to what we were talking about just now the fact that you go from this intimate intense movie shot outside of Madrid with a small group of people where you just in it together and it's very intense - a crazy comedy or I was in Australia a couple of weeks later and shooting con Godzilla which was in like on I love those the adventure aspect of it that you're you find yourself surrounded by new groups of people constantly and there are new challenges every day on and my job is always obviously to find to avoid false notes no matter if it's Congo Zillah or kill team to always listen to my instinct my gut feeling when I'm when I'm on set to feel like well Mike I don't think the character would do this in on and then to have that dialogue with the director and the other actors to kind of find like man it's not feeling right how do we solve this and then you try it and you figure it out and those are the most rewarding moments to me when you're stuck and then together like what we did on well that last scene that you brought up with a movie were not that we were stuck but it was we all knew it was such a crucial scene for the movie that we were like in it together and we're like shaping it and like no no no no we tried something and it felt too big or too broad or too like contrived then you like not to pull it back what about this and then suddenly you find something that you like and it is the most amazing feeling when it is when it's working and you and you find that groove what was the second part of the question one of the most I did a project that limited series called generation killed ten years ago on it's a seven part miniseries about the invasion of Iraq also soldiers on I'm sorry David David Simon I did the wire yeah it was absolutely one of the greatest experiences of my of my career on but it was very it was an intense shoot we were seven months in the Kalahari Desert so you were away from family and friends and loved ones for really long time and on it was my first big job in a very it was just a big character to take on to play as my first real job really and I was stressed about that and and really nervous about it so that was very difficult but again ultimately very rewarding as well yeah I think similar to what Alex said the the most challenging part I think about being an actor is quieting the noise and following your gut because there's so if it's the business or it's even like what you're saying on set or whatever it is there's a lot of it's it's it's a constant challenge to keep reminding yourself of why you're in it and why you're there and and to keep going back to the the impetus of your creativity and and I would say the the greatest part is is is doing the work you know sometimes I have I one of my favorite parts is even before you start shooting like the rehearsal process and figure you know figuring out the script and working on it and there's almost a artistic high that you get from it and then and then working with really great people because sometimes thank you so much not Alex but but different there's other people that have been great and then even Alex kind of said it right it's like finding something that feels right it's not you can there's nothing really I mean there's something calculating about it in some way but at the end of the day it's just going oh that feels right you're searching for a feeling which is and it's sort of not tangible and and so it's like you're chasing your kind of chasing shadows but which can be scary sometimes but then then it's always leads to the best results if you try to control it too much and you kind of come at it from a heady point you know you see certain actors who do that and it never really works you know it doesn't pan out I mean I agree with everything that's been said I great I mean the high of collaboration is what keeps me coming back and you know it's interesting when you start on a project like this you know you start in a room by yourself and it's just you and words on a page and little by little you know you're looking you're walking toward a goal and you look over your shoulder and there's people following you and then you know when by the time you get to set there you know 100 150 people all making the same movie together and that's a that's a beautiful feeling I mean there's there's no greater higher than that and the experience I had working with these guys you know there's no question in my mind that movie is better with more creative voices in the conversation and and and those moments that that that click as Alex was describing you live for those you keep coming back for those so that's that's that's what I love most about it and you know to your second question about the most I mean this was clearly the most challenging project this is my first feature so you know I having made documentaries before this you know the the size of the ship that I was driving was so much more enormous and and far less maneuverable than a documentary project and so this was this was a huge you know leap forward in terms of my own learning but man I enjoyed every second it was the most you know beautiful delicious experience that I've ever had in my life and I'm you know I'm sad every day that we get further away from it two more questions this question is for mr. Krause so you have directed and produced a lot of really influential work and I just was wondering what topics have piqued your interest to take to film next and if you don't want to discuss future films projects at least how do you decide what to take to film I suppose it's very much like how actors decide on their neck prop their next project it's very instinctive is something captures my my heart and also my head then I want to know more about it then it feels like something that I want to spend because you have to remember these especially when you're directing a project it can be three four or five years of my life I mean kill team for example started after reading a news article in 2011 2012 minnows 2011 so that's you know I've spent seven years of my life eight years of my life getting better at math in pursuit of deeper understanding of this one story and understanding its universality so you have to be that in love that obsessed that committed to an idea to to devote that much of your exam een I started this project two kids ago you know and so you you can't you can't do this as a dilettante you really have to it has to be every day of your life and that's how I choose my projects a lot of my projects have to do with questions about morality and ethics yeah you know I hear there's stuff happening and as far as next projects you know I'm sort of straddling documentary and fiction worlds I'm attached to both a fiction feature and a documentary so I hope to and you know they're both it's interesting you know fiction films and documentaries each you know have the same goal which is to find some degree of truth and they come at it from different ways but the end goal is the same and you use pictures to do it and it's a it's a beautiful thing and I can't wait to do more of it one more I wanted to know what do you guys do to prepare to dive into very heavy roles like this one and what was your most difficult see I know you guys like touched on it earlier so can you just tell me a little more about it I thought the scene on the there's a scene we all haven't seen the movie so on the bed when my character sneaks in and sorry I have a family scene yeah yeah exactly threatening him it's it's a threatening moment on I it was it was a trick you want to not shoot but in preparation to get to because I but also really exciting because it was on a threatening scene that was also kind of seductive and sensual and on really soft and the way Deeks threatens him it's not you know the knife on the throat like if you like it's really like I understand where you're coming from and it's a very pragmatic way of discussing it and unfortunately you did that and that means that now I'm gonna have to threaten you and it's really I hate to be in the put in this position but you have to understand where I'm coming from and I so that was a really important scene to me I want to say the most difficult maybe but it was something I spent a lot of time thinking and talking to these guys about yeah he's incredible and that scene because he's convincing you know which is what's terrifying about it can you talk about some other scenes that was great some more things there was really good no there was another part you could maybe you it was something out of the question diving into the characters because this is a very deep story to tell well I was clearly born to play this part cuz I keep playing psychopath so I didn't have to prepare at all how did you prepare I one of the things that I got to do is I got to meet Adam who who the characters based often I got to stay with him and I got a lot out of that because he's a really complicated he's a really complicated person and and he's dealing with a lot of the trauma of what happened to him and then there was just ways in like what he's talking about in ways in in in in which we made it kind of personal and and in ways we made the interpersonal relationships relatable like the idea of being fan golly and the idea of having this almost love triangle those those things are universal truths or whether you've been in the military or not you understand those those feelings and and then you know there was there was like military training and and and all the usual but but it was for me probably the hardest scene or the most intense scene was the gun range scene because it felt like you know I'd done there's been all this build-up of feeling feeling paranoid like people were on to me and then it was the first it was the first real danger that the character at face and then I think as he faced more danger he kind of became a little numb to it but that was that was the terror of that scene was was um was probably the most intense or challenging there's me guys congratulations on the film an incredible work it comes out in theaters in VOD October 25th right it's called the kill team everybody go see it and give them a huge round of applause for being here thank you guys thanks so much thank you [Applause] [Music] you

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Id: DhPw3mfmH8s

Length: 39min 5sec (2345 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 15 2019