Karl Urban Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ

in true boys fashion if you make the right choice you get rewarded and if you make the wrong choice you get punished and butcher has a tendency of like nine times out of ten he will make the wrong choice the boys who the hell are you how do you know that her name's butcher Billy butcher you're the Fantastic thing about working on the boys it's a very collaborative process if you come up with an idea that you know has some Merit you pitch it to Kripke you know he's fantastic he plays best idea wins when we were shooting the first season and there's a scene where butcher is trying to convince Huey to go into vote and plant a listening device then go back into the boardroom sit down big smiles plant the bug underneath the table easy peasy japanesey Bob's your uncle that's sick that's that to me it seemed very like the threshold of the rabbit going down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland and also reminded me a bit of the Matrix with that in mind I pitched Kripke in the idea that that butcher would reference The Matrix and it's like this is this moment and then we shot that and that's the one that they ended up using I stuffed it up but the story I got the pills confused which was an absolute accident in the moment it just ended up being comedy genius which is it's very butchered growing into your chai tea green latte what the or you could take the blue pill was it the red pill anyway take the other pill and equipping which pill do you want me to take just quit being that's what I'm saying I think as far as butcher's relationship with Huey goes the sort of underlying connection between the two you know butcher is on a on a Path of Revenge you know the incorrect path to be on Huey was really on the on the path for justice for what happened to Robin and and that's obviously the correct part you know in true boys fashion if you make the right choice you get rewarded and if you make the wrong choice you get punished and butcher has a tendency of like nine times out of ten he will make the wrong choice [Music] foreign the whale is probably one of the most crazy scenes that I've ever shot in my career to tell you the truth that was me actually driving the speed boat and the day that we picked was actually a pretty stormy day and so you know when I was going at the considerable amount of speed and I was like actually getting air off the waves poor Jack Quaid is I think never been in a speed boat let alone a speedboat that's you know jumping waves and flying through the air and and he was freaked out he had a safety word which was Carl and he's sitting up at the front of the boat and he's not facing me apparently he's screaming at the top of his lungs he's like oh God I didn't hear him but we ended at the run and this poor kid was white as a sheep and I thought it was just that he was seasick or something but he was he was terrified we ended up swapping him out we had somebody else come and put Huey's clothes on and this guy loved it he was having a ball and the whale itself was an actual gigantic sort of 60-foot whale they built it on a beach and we had a boat on a track which we slammed into that and it was a fully interior exterior set where they had organs still pumping inside I mean it was gross we were covered in blood but a lot of fun well I think where we find butcher at the beginning of season three he's in a state where he hasn't processed the death of Becker at all he is struggling to be some kind of paternal figure to Ryan which he dearly wants to be and and to honor his promise to Becca to protect him but you know that task is completely at odds with butcher's fundamental core Mission which is to get revenge on homelander and so obviously something's got to give and really the season is about how far are you willing to go are you willing to turn yourself into a monster in order to defeat that monster and obviously in butcher's case he's like yeah sure why not still a thing eh it's my thing I founded it in 52. me and this other soup Liberty man was she a firecracker butcher really comes in at the end of it so I didn't get the full um brunt of the harrogasm experience Jensen tells this great story where he's walking on set one day and he sees one of the cameramen on a box eating a sandwich and he goes hey how's it going and the cameraman looks up to them with his thousand yard steer and goes dude I've seen some I really felt for the crew because they uh they they really got put through it on that one and just like hearing the first A.D give directions to the extras okay can you please put your hand on his yeah and then can you put her your I mean it was just like what are we shooting here it was wild it was it was a lot of fun Star Trek [Music] koi Leonard McCoy well you know there was certainly points there where I definitely felt the weight and responsibility of getting it right stepping into such an iconic character that was played so wonderfully well by the late great to Forrest Kelly and really a beloved character JJ was very adamant that we should go in there and make these characters our own to some extent I did but I also felt like as a long-term fan of Star Trek that it was important to see some sort of recognizability particularly in the character of bones for me it was really about sort of cherry picking some of the essence of what DeForest Kelly did and sort of imbuing it into the character without sort of slipping into some kind of imitation which wouldn't have been a good move Shields at 60 I understand or should we I don't know fire back no of course and it was fun and again you know JJ is also a wonderfully collaborative director and we were all very blessed to be in a situation where he was open to collaborating to work with you and to to help build those characters such technology could theoretically be manipulated to create a tunnel through space-time damn it man I'm a doctor not a physicist are you actually suggesting that from the future you eliminate the impossible whatever remains however improbable must be the truth how poetic it's just great to be able to get together every now and then and make one of those movies and it's the best hang you don't stop laughing you know from Simon Pegg to Chris Pine and John Cho they're incredibly funny guys I mean you're literally in hysterics all day long and the last one was the best you know sadly it was after that that we lost Anton tragically and that really hurt you know was uh such an amazing guy so intelligent and so had such a massive future ahead of him he was going to get into directing an extraordinary actor as well very well respected it and for us to to lose him was a real tragedy but that summer where we shot Star Trek Beyond was probably my favorite Star Trek movie that we shot you know we were up in Vancouver and we were tight it was good fun good thing to worry princess [Music] I had done a bunch of stuff in New Zealand and then Rob tapart who's an amazing producer brought a show to New Zealand called Hercules and off that was spun off Xena Warrior Princess which was Lucy lawless's uh show and that was an incredible experience for a multitude of reasons it was the first time that a show of that production value had really been shot in New Zealand and it really upskilled everybody not only just actors but also the crew and in actual fact many of the crew were then cherry-picked by Peter Jackson and they went on to work on Lord of the Rings Nyla Dickinson who did the Wardrobe for those shows went on to win an Oscar as did Richard Taylor and wetter so you know that show was really vital for the New Zealand film industry uh in a lot of ways and was an incredible learning experience for all of us you know I really always enjoy playing the villains interesting Roman design I can't believe you would double cross me just as I was about to double cross you characters that uh you have one just so driven and uh so focused and you know you have a lot of fun playing them as you can see you know so for me yeah I mean it's like anytime I have an opportunity to play a villain on that show was was a good day having the opportunity to work with Lucy Lawless and to see how a number one drives the ship uh wasn't a valuable inspirational experience she's got a ride on the clock and she's like all right come on lots to do and she's just sort of gently getting everybody to you know when the crew gets tired to sort of focus and sort of drive forward and I still think of her even today when I'm shooting the boys and the example that she set it's an amazing woman Lord of the Rings [Music] what business there's an elf a man and a dwarf having the Ridder mark speak quickly give me your name horse master I had done a small New Zealand film called the price of milk and the director of that was very good friends with Peter Jackson and he took a rough cut of the price of milk down to show Peter and I heard it just happened to be in in Peter's face when he was looking for someone to to cast in the role of of AMA we kind of get this call out of the blue inviting me to to come down and play with them and uh I was absolutely elated this was like a dream come true sadden King stands alone not alone [Music] the battle scenes in Lord of the Rings I mean were pretty insane sure there's a certain amount that was generated or a lot that was generated on a computer but they also went to such Extreme Measures to put some serious numbers on the field and I remember when we were shooting uh I think this is one of the charges of minister they put out a call in the South Island to all able-bodied horse riders to bring your horse to you know this location on this day and hundreds and hundreds of people turned up a lot of women turned up and they slapped beards on them and and put them in these fantastic costumes and we had a significant like hundreds of riders there charging you know down the field and the sound of it I never forget the sound and the you know the Earth was literally shaking I mean I saw more of my country shooting that over the three years than I had living there my entire life the friendships that were formed in that were you know really endured you felt like you went through something Peter Jackson is is such a genius he's literally like working with an Einstein of of film his knowledge is so impressive just to be in the company of such incredibly talented people right throughout the production and if you just look at that cast like Sevilla Mortensen and Ian McKellen uh Bernard Hill Christopher Lee Brad duruff I mean these guys are incredible and I remember taking any opportunity I could to actually watch these guys work and I remember watching you know Vigo for example and just seeing the way that he would subtly put the emphasis in different places every single take that was a really huge lesson for me that he he had the the confidence and not only him himself but then also the process the director the editor to to do that honestly it was uh one of the most amazing experiences of my life [Music] I didn't read many Comics at all in fact you know pretty much dread was the only one but I really responded to the world of dread the character the dark sort of satirical look at this dystopian future and also the character who could be heroic at times but he could also be a villain and you know as a representative of a very sort of right-wing regime establishment it's set in a time where politicians have been dispensed with and the judges have literally taken power and are now patrolling the streets dispensing on the spot Justice and it's a ruthless kind of Justice working with Alex Garland who was the writer and pretty much the the director of the whole project was an invaluable experience most of dread was shot at Cape Town film studios we did a little bit exterior work in a couple of locations driving the lawmaster motorbike that was a lot of fun but yeah so for the most part it was all in the studio and I remember you know a lot of practical effects there were a lot of explosions and we were firing you know weapons that were actually real weapons that had a casing built around it to make them look like futuristic lawmaster weapons but yeah it was it was a lot of fun I'd actually met Leno years ago on the set of born Supremacy I remember we were shooting some pickups in London and scene where dread comes in at the end and they sort of face each other and I come on set and I'm wearing the dread helmet and she's standing far into the set and she just she looks at me and just starts maniacally laughing let's just say it added good motivation to the scene I mean she was crazy she was brilliant in the film do you know how many people live in this block this isn't a negotiation sentence is death can't afford to take the risk and you know I certainly would be interested to revisit the character there's just such a great depth of material there that was written by John Wagner and various writers over the years particularly stories of revolving around judge death and a lot of great stories to me it doesn't bother me if like I get the opportunity to play dread again or it's someone else I would just love to see those stories I mean I'd be excited for for anybody who gets their hands on the rights to do that that'd be incredible for Ragnarok behold [Applause] my stuff I'm particularly fond of these I pulled them out of a place on midgard called Texas I you know really just got a call from Tiger out of the blue saying hey do you want to come and play I've got this really cool roll of scourge you'd be working with Kate Blanchett I'm like sign me up I don't need to read anything I'll stop you there what I meant was what's your ambition I just wanna chance to prove myself it was fantastic you know I mean you remember turning up to work one day on set and there's Sam Neal Anthony Hopkins and just sitting around and that to me is probably one of my favorite days when you're sitting around with Tony Hopkins and and Sam Neil shooting the shirt Sam Neal was probably one of the actors that had really inspired me to be an actor coming from New Zealand getting an international career and same with uh with Anthony Hopkins and the thing that I loved about working with Tyco is that the take wasn't sacrilegious like you'd be in the middle of a take doing a dialogue and he'll come and go hey why don't you try and say this or that or why don't you come pick up there to do that you know and it was really kind of liberating in a way because there was nothing precious about it and it just became like um a lot more free-flowing a lot more improvisational for us God foreign that didn't make the final cut because the character has a really wonderful Arc that um first of all out of self-preservation he aligns himself with with hella because he could see that if he doesn't he's gonna be killed but then you know through the course of the film he gets more and more sickened by what he's required to do in in order to you know hold that decision up to work for her and there was a scene where he uh chops the head off this young girl in a town square because hella asks him to and then post that scene there's a scene which which didn't make the final cut is he is absolutely second to the core we find them in some corner and he's actually being physically sick by what he's done and that was really sort of the Genesis for this this turn that he takes and this the guilt that he feels about what he's done and how he's going to at the right point in time make it right and and that's always fun when you when you have a character that you can take him in One Direction and then you know have a pivot I always if I can find the opportunity to do that I will that's one of the things I look for in a role and another one is to make sure that the character has a real utility a real function like if you can tell the story without your character then that's not something that you want to do if the character serves no utility no purpose no function don't do the roll out of the blue [Music] ran into a friend of mine and she said oh you know my husband's producing this movie and I remember it and the movie was about a small town massacre in the south island and I'm gonna say 19 early 1990s and I think it was tragically about 12 or 13 people were shot and that we'd never experienced anything like that before Psychopathic gunman went loose and I remembered that vividly I remember as it unfolded and and I sort of thought well that that might be something that I'd be interested in being a part of and so I met with the director and I read the script and I sort of took on the role of this small town cop who's sort of really struggling to deal with the tragedy as it unfolds the situation was completely different in those days you know if you're to take down an armed Defender you actually had to radio back to your base to say I have a shot can I take the shot you know there was no uh SWAT team no armed Defender Squad you know that incidence was really the birth in New Zealand of that element of the police sort of an important historical sort of point in in New Zealand particularly for the New Zealand you know communities after this probably the heaviest film that I've ever worked on and when I finished it I thought that I didn't want to make anything like that ever again the people who were there and involved and the community that we were shooting in we were shooting one Bay over from when it happened they didn't want us there they don't just wanted to let that story rest I was grateful to uh to have been a part of it and you know again like there's some incredibly talented people involved in that Greg Fraser the DP has gone on he's now working with Denny villanue on the June movies it was a heavy but an amazing experience Supremacy he's my friend there's been a death in the family and I wonder if you've seen him well I had seen the first born movie I remember being in a in a movie theater in New Zealand going to the first one and going man that's exactly the kind of film that I'd love to do I had just done a couple of films for Universal and off the back of that they offered me the role of Corel the Assassin and in born and I just I was like I'm off I'm going to do it foreign that character was uh pretty cold he was just working on the other side but it's you know a lot of people say oh who's the bad guy but yes yeah he was but from my perspective I wasn't playing him like that I was playing him as a guy who was following his orders it's just no emotion he's just doing a job nothing personal Moscow car chase we shot up each portion of it and Russia we shot some of it in Berlin but the Russian stuff was incredible the production had to pay the local cops to shut off the roads so we could shoot it for whatever reason we didn't get the perm to shoot so we were going around Moscow literally stealing shots we'd have one cop on a bike and he would literally walk out into the street hold his hand up stop the traffic and go okay go and I'm in a in a seven Series BMW and it's like and I'm flooring it really sort of cowboy sort of stuff but that's how we were getting the shots and then they trained me out to do a reverse 180 in a Mercedes G-Wagon and that was that was a lot of fun and then actually let me do it if you watch the movie there's a camera station behind me in the G-Wagon as I spin the wheel going in reverse you'll just see the background just go sideways and that's that's not CGI that's actually they let me do it I can never look at a Mercedes G-Wagon the same way

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Keywords: butcher the boys, celebrity, dredd, gq, gq iconic characters, gq magazine, gq the boys, iconic, iconic characters, karl urban, karl urban 2022, karl urban interview, karl urban lord of the rings, karl urban movies, karl urban star trek, karl urban the boys, karl urban the butcher, karl urban thor, karl urban xena, lord of the rings, lotr, the bourne supremacy, the boys, the boys butcher, the boys gq, the boys the butcher, the butcher, the butcher the boys

Id: grsF3UDHFN4

Length: 21min 6sec (1266 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 11 2022