Good Kill, a new film starring Ethan Hawke and Bruce Greenwood is released on DVD and Blu-ray today and I got to talk to Bruce Greenwood about it, and his long career.
Andrew: Hi, Bruce. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me today.
Bruce: Oh, you bet. Happy to.
Andrew: First question I’ve got for you is describe, in you own words Good Kill and your character.
Bruce: It’s a story that examines the disconnect that the drone pilots, who are charged with living in Las Vegas and bombing halfway around the world, experience when they go from the barbecue to the box and leave their family. Half an hour later they’re sitting in a pilot’s seat bombing people they can’t really see on the advice of intelligence from thousands of miles away. It’s just a bizarre double-life that they lead. In this particular movie, about halfway through the people who are giving the orders change. The ethical dilemmas that are exacerbated as a result of that change is something that drives Ethan Hawke’s character to the edge.
Andrew: Tell us a little bit about your character. What interested you about the role?
Bruce: One of the things that really appealed to me is the desire to make what they’re being asked to do as a justifiable as possible. At the end of the day, it’s very difficult to justify, watching him wrestle with being a career officer, watching him wrestle with the way war has changed. The way they are waging war I thought was something really interesting to explore.
Andrew: The majority of your scenes take place in the GCS. Was it difficult for you to react to what was happening on the screen, especially as you say, halfway through the film when the control gets taken over by Langley. Did you find it difficult to react to things on the screen that may not have been there?
Bruce: A lot of the stuff … Actually, it was really fortunate Andrew was very prepared for a lot of stuff we saw, what we were watching. We actually got to watch a lot. We might not watch it in real time, but he set it up so we could see what we were about to pretend to be seeing. We had it fresh in our minds, and the footage he provided was shocking and graphic and silent, of course, which makes it seem very, very strange and surreal. These black and white images, the people moving around, and there’s a flash and there’s nothing but dead quiet. It’s very, very disconcerting. It provided a really effective, weird environment for us to work in.
Andrew: What research did you do for the role, if any?
Bruce: I do a lot of reading of accounts of combat and a couple of accounts of pilots who had been in combat and then were shifted to flying drones. I also watched a lot video of generals addressing troops, in various levels fire and brimstone. Some with great arm waving and wildness, and tried to pull in elements of this stuff that I thought were appropriate for Johns from those videos.
Andrew: What made you want to become an actor?
Bruce: I was a pretty young guy. I was probably in my early twenties, and I was looking around for stuff to do and didn’t really know what I was going to do with my life. I was taking a lot of different courses at university. I sort of fell into it because I needed three easy credits. I thought, ooh, well acting is probably subjective, so you can’t be failed. All I have to do is show up. All I have to do is go, and I can work harder in my other courses than the acting thing. It might be kind of interesting, but I don’t have to succeed at it in order to get my three credits. As fate would have it, it spoke to all the things I really enjoy which is a love of the language, rhythm and behaviour. Before long, all my others studies fell away, and I started just working on that.
Andrew: Cast your mind back 20 years if you can. I’m a huge fan of Nowhere Man. What drew you to the role, and did you know how it was going to end when you first started?
Bruce: I didn’t think they had an idea how it was going to end, even moments before it ended. It was one of those things where the concept I thought was really, really interesting, and it was a chance to be front and centre in a show, which was brand new and a novel idea. All that came together to encourage me to go for it. I had a lot of fun doing it. I don’t have any proof that my wife woke up the entire year because I’d really only see her on Sunday afternoons. I’d get home at six in the morning. I don’t have any proof she got out of bed the whole year. I’d leave before she was up, and I’d come back after she was in bed. It was one of those things at the end of the year, you sit and look at each other and go, “Wow. Where have you been for a year?”
Andrew: Were you personally happy with how the show ended, or would have liked to take it a slightly different way?
Bruce: I thought it was interesting the way it ended. I just would have liked it to go on a little longer. I think they had to hustle the end quickly. In Larry’s defence, I think it was one of the those things where at the eleventh hour, they gave us the word that, “Hey, you’re not coming back. You better wrap it up if you can.” It was one of those things that often happens to shows that they’re forced to tie up a bunch of loose ends when they planning to really expand their width in the following seasons. I’d have liked to see it go on for awhile.
Andrew: It was a great show. I loved tuning in every week to find out what was going to happen to Thomas.
Bruce: One thing that was weird about the show was … I said a couple episodes in, because I had all this, quite long hair, I said, “Listen, the guy’s on the run, why don’t I just cut all my hair off?” They said, “We can’t do that.” I go, “Why not? It doesn’t make sense. The guy is so recognisable and visible with this mop of hair. Why don’t I just cut it off?” “Well the hair is testing very well.” “Okay. I’ll be quiet about this, yes, obviously, the hair is testing well.” End of argument. Not really much you can say to that. That’s higher than my pay grade.
Andrew: That’s the way they want to do it, stick with it.
Bruce: Yep, yep.
Andrew: You also played Christopher Pike in the recent Star Trek films. What was it like to jump into the Star Trek universe and be a permanent part of it?
Bruce: It was something that I wasn’t prepared for how great it would be for starters. I just had a blast. The people were really, really wonderful. I’d been a fan when I was a kid, and to get back into it, it was really, really, really thrilling. I had the opportunity, last year, to do a Star Trek convention. I met so many cool people. I thought it was going to be a zoo, and it was, but it was a zoo in a great, great way. Hundreds of really, really interesting people, and I had three or four days to talk with them. It is a universe unto itself. I’m really grateful to be a part of it.
Andrew: You’ve also been the voice of Batman in Young Justice and the Young Justice: Legacy video game. How different is it doing voice-over for animation and games as it is to acting on TV and film for you?
Bruce: It couldn’t be more different in my limited experience. Batman took us, it might have been one day, it might have been two. You just go in there and just do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. You’ve got a director leaning on you saying, “Okay. One more time. One more time. One more time.” It’s a very different animal. Working, in my experience, with Batman, I wasn’t working with any of the other characters. You’re kind of doing it a bit of a vacuum. When I do Young Justice, the TV show, sometimes we do it together and that was really fun. It’s tricky. I have tremendous respect for people who do it. It’s not easy.
Andrew: During your career, you’ve played Batman, you’ve played two different Presidents. What’s been your favourite role and why?
Bruce: Wow. I’ve got a bunch of favourites. The Sweet Hereafter, It’s just beautifully written and such a powerful story. It was really great to be a part of that. Thirteen Days. Playing Kennedy in that was a gift. A beautiful script by David Self and really well directed by Roger Donaldson. I got to work with Kevin Costner. He was really, really good, really fun to work with. Of course, the Star Trek stuff has been really, really fun. I just finished a movie called Rehearsal, where I play an English director. It’s really fun. I’m hoping people like that one.
At this point in the interview, Bruce switched to a perfect British accent.
Andrew: I tell you what, just listening on the phone, I would have never guessed that was you.
Bruce: I’ve really had a lot of fun doing it, and I’m hoping of being successful in a very small film. I really have high hopes for that.
Andrew: Thinking of other projects, you’ve got American Crime story coming up. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that and how your character fits in?
Bruce: The story is based on the book by a guy named Jeffrey Toobin, whose a journalist. He wrote a book called The Run of His Life about O. J. Simpson’s trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This 10 episode series covers his capture and the trial. I’m playing Gil Garcetti, the D. A. I’m not in the courtroom, but behind the scenes unfold, trying to keep the lid on.
Andrew: When you look for a role, what is it that particularly draws you to a role?
Bruce: Now I’m trying to find stuff that doesn’t feel familiar to me, and then, certain deals you get cast as a certain character. If you’re an actor like me who hasn’t been particularly careful about what you’ve chosen over the years, you end up taking things that … Oh, he’s an authority figure, oh he’s a a guy in a suit who is going to steal your money, he’s a bad guy or he’s a dad with a chip on his shoulder … You get little bit pigeonholed, so I’m trying to pull away from that kind of thing. Every now and then you’ll find a role that’s really falls within those parameters, but it’s really well written and part of a good story, so you go well, “I’m not going to do it because it’s too similar?” No, I think it’s a good role, I’ll do it, and it further cements the idea that people might have, that you do one, two or three things. I’m trying to reach out and do stuff that people wouldn’t obviously think of me for.
Andrew: If you could play any role whatsoever, what would it be?
Bruce: I’d like to play a clumsy, nut-head clown. I’d like to play just an absolute idiot. I’d like to play somebody who is just not all there.
Andrew: Hopefully, soon we’ll see you in a role doing that. Talking of which, what else are you working on that you can tell us about?
Bruce: Let’s see. A movie called Spectral for Legendary. It’s a military movie, it comes out next year. Let’s see, Wet Hot American Summer, which is a comedy … Coming out soon … Rehearsal that movie’s coming out … A movie called Fathers and Daughters with Russell Crow. It was shot in Pittsburgh a few months ago. Then, another one that I shot with Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford in Australia that’s coming out before Christmas.
Andrew: I think that’s about it. I just want to say thank you again for your time.
Bruce: Thanks it was fun.
Good Kill is available on Blu-ray and DVD now.
