Kitsch lends depth to cop killer’s role
Actor’s expertise in guns comes in handy
Actor Taylor Kitsch bristles at the notion that the criminal he plays in the new police drama 21 Bridges is a cold-blooded killer. He says he worked to find the “emotional beats” of his character, Ray, and tried to understand the reasons he might do some unsavoury things.
That might be why director Brian Kirk and producer and star of the film, Chadwick Boseman, wanted Kitsch for the part. That, and the fact that he’s an expert at handling an automatic weapon.
21 Bridges is about a police detective (Boseman) leading a manhunt in New York City to find two suspects who planned to steal a haul of cocaine but stumble into a larger conspiracy and end up killing several cops.
The film, which also stars Stephan James and Sienna Miller, takes place over the course of one night, with plot twists, chase scenes and shoot-outs to satisfy action fans.
In an interview, Kitsch, 38, talked about finding the nuances in playing complicated characters, working with Boseman and what it would take to get him to go back to his Friday Night Lights character, Tim Riggins.
How did you approach playing Ray, who many would think is a bad guy.
[Director] Brian Kirk was awesome and very collaborative and freeing and kind of just gave me the responsibility, gave me the reins to just create him and that’s what I loved about it. My job is to really root and try to figure out why he is the way he is.
You seemed very comfortable shooting big guns. Was that because you used them while making the 2013 military action film Lone Survivor?
My dad hunted but I never liked guns growing up. One, I think everybody should learn to at least be able to make a gun safe. Lone Survivor was an insane and incredible experience to be trained by the best and now I’m really comfortable with an M4 or a Glock or any handgun.
How was working with Chadwick Boseman and how involved was he in his role as producer?
He had a good presence on set. We were working nights and, man, I’d be sleeping if I were him because you got to get it when you can. But he would come on his off days and be there with us and just support us. He’s very humble and just a sweet guy.
You seem to be intense about your work. What do you do in your free time?
I’m learning guitar, so I still play an hour or two a day. Hockey — very Canadian — twice or three times a week hopefully, and I live on the lake [in Austin, Texas] so I try to get on the water when the sun lets me. Pretty standard stuff. I’ll go on a little photography thing through Wyoming, Montana and Bamph.
We are in an era of reboots. Any chance you’d reprise your role if there was a reboot of Friday Night Lights?
I know they’re making a movie but I’m not going to be in that. There’s no way. If you want to give me $25 million (Dh91.8 million) I’ll do it, but that’s my price [Laughs]. I pride myself on that moment. But I also want to create more new moments and keep growing and I feel I’ve done that. It would be messing with a beautiful memory. And I’m such a different person, different actor. And I don’t even know if I could create that again, that innocence of Riggs and those moments. It was a special time and you got to leave that.