Armie Hammer would love to play Batman
“Hotel Mumbai” actor says he has not been approached about the role
Armie Hammer has done sun-soaked gay romance (“Call Me By Your Name”), offbeat social satire (“Sorry to Bother You”) and feminist legal drama (“On the Basis of Sex”).
But with “Hotel Mumbai” (in theaters Friday in New York and Los Angeles, expands nationwide March 29), the actor takes on one of his most grueling roles yet, playing an American tourist in India who tries to protect his family when their hotel comes under siege by Pakistani terrorists.
The real-life attacks that inspired the film lasted four days in 2008, killing 174 people. The thriller’s release is sadly timely: 50 people died last week in a gunman’s massacre at two mosques in New Zealand, where the movie has been pulled from theaters by its distributor.
Hammer, 32, chats about “Mumbai,” his hesitation around a planned “Call Me” sequel and whether he’s the next Batman.
Question: This film arrives in theaters a week after the Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand. Does it resonate any differently with you in light of that event?
Armie Hammer: The film always felt pertinent and now, unfortunately, it’s even more prescient. It’s the unfortunate reality of the world we live in. Whether it be a Pakistani group that’s against India or a radical white supremacist who’s against Muslims, it’s all emblematic of the same problem we have of (miseducation) and bad ideas. It’s about damn time that we as a society and as people just stop all this (stuff).
Q: Why should people see this film? Hammer: The thing that should encourage people to see this is exactly what’s going on now with Christchurch. We hear there’s a shooting in New Zealand and everyone goes, “Oh, man, that really sucks,” and then the next headline that pops up on their phone is something dumb Donald Trump said or the amount of money Beto O’Rourke
was able to raise, and we move past it really quickly. But if you watch this movie, which gives a first-person perspective on exactly how atrocious an attack like this is, it forces you to emotionally sit inside an event like this.
Q: You had an opportunity to speak to survivors of the Mumbai attacks but chose not to. Why was that?
Hammer: Out of respect for these people, there was no need to pull them back into what they went through. This is one of the first terror attacks that actually played out in real time (on TV). So we had news coverage, clippings, firstperson memoirs, all that stuff. The director (Anthony Maras) really approached it with a documentarian dedication, and had thousands of pages of research material for us.
Q: Did you get to do any sightseeing while you were shooting in Australia and India?
Hammer: Shooting in Adelaide was great, because it’s the wine capital of
Australia. At the end of shooting these really difficult days, we’d get to have amazing wine. And then when we shot in India, several of us went and explored Mumbai, and had multiple adventure days. We made sure to decompress as much as we could, because the days were long and tough. But at the end of the day, we were shooting a movie and the director would call “cut,” so it was very different from the experience of people who actually went through it.
Q: You’ve said Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” sequel is still years away. Ideally, would you like to revisit the characters Elio (Timothee Chalamet) and Oliver (Hammer) every decade or so, kind of like Richard Linklater’s “Before” movie trilogy?
Hammer: I’d love to revisit working with Luca and Timmy and everyone else that was involved more than I would necessarily love to revisit the material. The reaction to that movie and the emotional connection that people felt to it is really strong, and that’s a beautiful thing. That being said, the first one really struck a chord, so maybe it’s best not to revisit it, I don’t know. Then again, “The Godfather 2” is better than “The Godfather.” But that’s also the only example I can think of a sequel being on par with the first one.
Q: Do fans still give you peaches (a fruit that figures into the film’s infamous sex scene)?
Hammer: (Laughs.) Yeah, every now and then I’ll get a peach and it’s still very funny.
Q: You also shot down rumors that you were offered the lead in Matt Reeves’ upcoming “The Batman.” Would you like to play the character, if given the chance?
Hammer: Yeah, that’s the problem: I’ve never been approached, but if I was, I would jump at the opportunity. You can only say no or yes to projects you’re offered.
Q: Of all the great actors to don the Batman cowl, do you have a favorite take on the character?
Hammer: They’re all such different animals, which is great. Michael Keaton was obviously my first Batman, but the Christian Bale version was also absolutely incredible. But no one will top the Batman nipples George Clooney had.