Wrong Place stars Michael Sirow as Jake, a local criminal who gets in over his head when he tries to seek revenge. After his father is arrested for murdering a man in front of security guard Frank (Bruce Willis), Jake seeks to take out his revenge on the man who puts his father in jail. What begins as a simple revenge mission takes a turn, though, when Jake doesn’t find Frank but finds his daughter Chloe (Ashley Greene) instead.
His efforts at revenge are unexpectedly challenged by Chloe’s resourcefulness and Wrong Place, which is directed by Mike Burns, soon becomes a cat and mouse chase through the Alabama forest as Jake seeks out revenge.
Screen Rant spoke with Sirow about making Wrong Place, including playing his bumbling villain Jake, how he handled his character getting all of those injuries, and more.
Screen Rant: Jake has most of the action in this movie. How do you prepare for that?
Michael Sirow: A lot of push-ups. [laughs] Interestingly enough, I’ve worked previously with the stunt team involved with the film. They’re such a great, collaborative group of guys that we just dove right in. I would say that I’m sort of a gym rat, just on my time off. It’s just sort of my therapy if you will. So I just kind of am always there. But pretty much, we went in and we took a couple of days. There was a lot of choreography, quite a bit of choreography. And Ashley was really just – she’s a trooper. We just all kind of came together and tried to make it look authentic as possible.
It looked pretty authentic. Your character just keeps getting beat up. Was there just a lot of makeup that had to be done for that?
Michael Sirow: He’s having a bad day. [laughs] No, the HMU – department of hair and makeup- they were really just so overly patient with putting that on. Yes. To answer your question. Yes. I hope that was mostly, or all makeup. I would have a serious problem if it wasn’t but yeah, you know, there’s a lot of pretty visually painful-looking wounds that he ends up attaining, sadly. They would have to keep the continuity alive and all that stuff. It was good, it was fun to get all down and dirty.
Did you enjoy playing the villain?
Michael Sirow: I really had a blast playing this guy. I think for me, there were two things. The main thing was sort of that relationship that [Jake] has with his father, which is sort of why X, Y, and Z happens. That’s sort of where it all stems from for him is that his dad is everything or was everything. When the bar is slammed shut that’s when the spiral kind of [happens]. So I think you’re right in the sense that what he was saying – he thinks what he’s doing is good.
I guess some people would see him as a villain, but I think there’s a lot of places on the page and on the screen, where you’ve seen what this guy’s going through you kind of feel a little sorry for him. Or at least I kind of did, not just with the physical, getting the crap kicked out of him by Ashley. He’s lost the one thing that mattered to him forever pretty much and he’s alone, so he’s doing the only thing I think he knows how to do. And that’s just really try[ing] to be that hero or that person that he thought his dad always wanted him to be.
That’s what’s so great about a lot of action movies these days – there’s this morally gray area where these characters are operating.
Michael Sirow: Yeah, he’s confused. I know you’re not directly asking me this question, but I’ll volunteer to talk. There’s a pivotal moment, just for me as a performer. There’s not much dialogue – I don’t really recall exactly where it is, sort of towards the conclusion. But he’s really just conflicted and he’s sort of second-guessing and [Chloe] is trying to get through to Jake, and he’s just in the corners of his mind.
He knows that this isn’t what he’s supposed to [do], or how he’s supposed to be. This is ultimately, overall, a wrong choice. This is a wrong overall broad stroke, bad decision to go through all this, and here we are. And I think that’s sort of where he’s at. He realizes also, he’s kind of at the point of no return. But you’re right, I think it’s that line in the sand of good guy versus bad guy. There are a lot more colors to this to this individual, I think.
Jake’s backstory is sort of hinted at, but we don’t really see a lot of it in the film. Did you have to fill in the gaps and create this story for him and his father or was that already there?
Michael Sirow: I would say that it was more of [an] on-the-go thing, and just try[ing] to utilize and be aware [and] know his surroundings and try to not make a meal out of anything. But that was sort of trying to just figure out – there were certain points of like, “Why is he making these choices?” And what does he want here? And what’s the obstacle?
You’re working with such a great cast, too.
Michael Sirow: Texas [Battle] and Ashley [Greene] are as good as it gets. They’re just so terrific, collaborative, and professional. I mean, it was a blast. It was an absolute blast and they were so just welcoming. And most of all, they’re just insanely talented actors to be around and they just made everything so easy, if that makes sense. Because they’re so grounded in what they’re doing and they’re so believable.
Working so close with [Ashley] and Texas and Stacey, and Bruce, and just everyone, it becomes like this family unit. I’m always sad when these things come to a close, because you end up developing such a tight rapport with everybody. But everyone was just phenomenal.
Wrong Place Synopsis
Frank (Bruce Willis), a former police chief of a small town, finds himself being hunted down by a meth kingpin seeking to silence him before he can deliver eyewitness testimony against his family, but ultimately finds himself up against more than he bargained for when he threatens to harm Frank’s daughter (Ashley Greene).
Check out our other interviews with Wrong Place stars Texas Battle and Ashley Greene.
Wrong Place will be out in theaters and available On Demand beginning July 15.