new war movie ambush It’s a lot of thought when it comes to the nature of war, and that’s true of many of the film’s stars. ambush Now showing in select theaters and digital, the film features big names like Connor Paolo (who first won the hearts of audiences in the film). gossip Girl), Aaron Eckhart and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Under the direction of Mark Earl Burman, ambush Give viewers a vivid look at the reality of a war zone.exist ambushDuring the Vietnam War, a US military unit was attacked at its location. The soldiers found themselves forced to retreat underground, and the fighting became more intense throughout the force.
rant . screen Talk to Paul about employment ambushhis role as Ackerman in the film and its theme of the nature of war.
Connor paul’s ambush
Screen Rant: How did you join ambush?
Connor Paul: I got the script, and that was before the pandemic, so that was around the fall of 2019. I’ve never made a war movie or anything during this period, there’s nothing about Vietnam, and to be honest, I was really fascinated by the nihilism in the ending. In fact, there is such a clear metaphor for the futility, confusion, and meaninglessness of not just that war, but the war as a whole. [In the film]literally nothing, they’re in the same position as when they started, but worse, and I think that’s a really nice metaphor for war.
Can you share something about meeting and working with Aaron Eckhart? the dark Knight become famous in ambush?
Connor Paul: Well, I’ve never met him. It was great to be involved, but we shot in different locations, his scenes were shot in Los Angeles and everything I did was in Columbia. So it’s like a Zoom relationship, but it’s a very strong relationship.
Honestly, what’s really exciting for me is working with Jonathan Rhys Meyers again. When I was about 14 years old, we did a movie together called Alexander, so it’s really cool to me to work with him after all these years, he’s a great guy.
What was your most memorable experience during production? ambush?
Connor Paul: I mean, I think there’s a sense of confusion and despair in making an indie-budget war movie, and it’s a pretty tough task, but then you have to grapple with the physical reality of things. Even though half of the film takes place underground and it’s all shot on set, shooting in those cramped locations presents various difficulties.
Then, as soon as we get out of the woods, the weather will instantly go from pouring rain to heartbreaking heat, all of which creates a sense of “we have to do what we can to let things go our way” that I can only imagine a bit like scrambling over a field to make a little progress.
But for me, relationships have always been the most important thing, and it was a great experience working with all the other soldiers in the movie and maintaining a close relationship. I recall all of us sitting together before filming started and reading the script and discussing our thoughts on actually shooting these scenes, and seeing it come together after filming and editing was always a very special experience.
Were there any other major challenges in production? ambush?
Connor Paul: I think the idea of scale and the idea of trying to accurately portray an overwhelming and claustrophobic environment, I don’t want to be redundant, but even just use limited complements and try to make it look like an invading force with one camera, sometimes two. Watching Steadicam operators back and forth through the mud in the trenches with cameras on their shoulders and just watching the crew overcome technical difficulties, as actors we don’t have to deal with many real-world problems.
The problems we had to deal with were emotional, but in terms of actually bringing the scene to the screen, the crew kept putting out the fire, literally and figuratively, and then the sky opened up and it started to rain, and now we’re dealing with the mud, and they had to figure out “how the hell are we getting this scene now?”
You mentioned that the topic of the futility of war is what attracts you ambush. What are some other big themes that you think really stand out?
Connor Paul: I think beyond vanity, the hope that I think encounters is a lack of meaning. More importantly, “What have we really achieved?” There were defensive wars, and there were wars on moral grounds, such as World War II, that achieved something. But even in the most moral wars — and in modern history, I think most people would rightly point to World War II — all you really get is to prevent the worst from happening. You would be even worse if Hitler never did his Hitler thing.
But I think the concept of the righteous and the army and the people, in any difficult situation, must find the meaning. ‘Why am I here? Why does this happen to me? what do i do? ‘, that’s what my character Ackerman was struggling with, and he was following a series of commands like, ‘Well, I’m here because I’m ordered to be here, I’m doing this because I’m ordered to do this, there’s a moral hierarchy and I’m going to trust my superiors. “
For me, the arc of the character and the arc of the movie is the realization that the superiors don’t really understand what they’re doing either, and that the chain of command never ends. There’s always someone else to answer, and in the end you run into people at the top of the chain, whether it’s the president or the funding behind the president, and they don’t really have a point, and if they do, it’s certainly not “we’re doing this for the moral advancement of society.”
Is it trivial or personal, like in Vietnam, “How do we measure success?” Well, we measure it by the number of people. How many people do we kill today, if today we kill more people than yesterday, then we win. “I think that’s the theme and moral confusion of ‘we sacrificed these lives for this, but was it worth it?’ is useless, and I think the answer is no.
What other projects do you guys have to do after debut? ambush?
Connor Paolo: I have a movie called The Young Wife, and I’m really excited about it, and I believe it’s going to premiere at South by Southwest on March 12. Then I have a movie called Stirring Creatures, which I don’t have a release date for, but I believe it’s coming out around the end of the year, and I have another movie called Last Stand in Yuma County, which is coming out sometime this year, and I think all three of them are really good that I’m really excited for people to see.
more about ambush
An elite group of young commandos led by Captain Drummond are tasked with gathering top-secret information that could change the fate of a war.
Our other check ambush Interview with Director Mark Earl Boorman.
ambush Now showing in select theaters and available on digital platforms.