BOP Interview: Aaron Eckhart
By Ryan Mazie
March 10, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This is quite a departure from December’s Rabbit Hole. What initially drew you to this project?
AE: I read the script and thought, “Well, I’m not sure if I want to do an alien movie right off the bat,” but once I was in the room with the director, Jonathan Liebsman, who is a 32-year-old South African...great guy. He didn’t even have the job yet. So for all of those people who want to be directors, producers, and actors and all of that sort of thing – Jonathan didn’t have the job, but he made a presentation that was outstanding. He did it all himself. He used his computer; he did all the aliens and showed us how it was going to work. He timelined it and all this very impressive stuff, and then he showed us on YouTube a clip of some Marines going through Fallujah, house to house and said, “This is what this movie’s going to look like.” As soon as I saw that I said, “I’ll do it. I’m in.” True to his word, Jonathan filmed it exactly like that clip, and he made it entertaining, big, and I think we came up with a great film. So I guess the lesson for me with Jonathan was, go out there and you can make it happen if you put a little extra effort into things.
How do you prepare for a film like this compared to one of your other genre works like Rabbit Hole?
AE: I prepare mostly the same by doing as much research as I possibly can on my character and the subject matter and then through my technique or whatever actors do, I try to personalize the material as best I can. For example, Rabbit Hole, I went to some grief groups and talked to people who had lost a son or a daughter or sibling or a mother or father. Then I would go onto the Internet and YouTube people video blogging their grief. So I use any tool I possibly can to get closer to the material. Like in Battle: LA, we went through boot camp. We got to know our weapons, know the mind of a marine and all of that sort of stuff. Whatever movie I’m doing I try to make it as real as possibly, so my methods are all the same.
You just mentioned that all of the actors went through a Marine boot camp. Can you elaborate on how that process was?
AE: Yeah, we filmed in Louisiana, because it was too expensive to film in Los Angeles. So in the middle of summer we went to Louisiana for three weeks of boot camp, which was intense training with the Marines, retired Colonels and Staff Sergeants. They just took us through it. We all had our ranks so we ate in rank, we trained in rank, we showered in rank, we did our bunks, everything was uniform. We went out there everyday. We learned our weapons – M16 rifles, .55 calibers; we learned how to take a room, all this sort of stuff. We did it basically 12 hours a day, all in gear, and that helped us a lot. We really got to know each other, what we liked about our characters and each other. We got to know what kind of music we liked and jokes. So in the movie, we really didn’t have to act, because we just knew each other so easily that we could improvise.
How is this movie different from other alien invasion films?
AE: This movie is a war movie, really. It’s a war movie that happens to be fighting a foe from outer space. Although the movie is based around aliens and all that sort of stuff, it is really about the Marines trying to bond together and survive. It’s filmed in a documentary style so it looks real a la Black Hawk Down. It’s very down and gritty, like we haven’t seen before. So it has a few elements that are different. It’s a really kickass, entertaining film, and it also has a lot of heart in it too.
So would you say that it is a war movie and the enemy just happens to be unearthly?
AE: To be honest, it really is just like a war movie and it happens to be aliens. Now, I think it is a little bit more than that. The aliens are so beautifully done and such a force in the movie. I think they did just a wonderful job with them. But it does involve such a gritty documentary style of filmmaking you really feel you are grounded here in Santa Monica and you could be fighting aliens.
How are the aliens different from the creatures we’ve encountered in other films?
AE: I don’t know too much (laughs). Well, they have very human characteristics and they think like humans. They are not otherworldly. They are in their appearance, but in terms of their mentality and psychology, they are very human which is interesting, because they become an equal force with our forces and it is an equal struggle. I think they are unlike anything you have seen in the movies before.
Has this film led you to have an opinion on the military?
AE: Absolutely. I’ve always had a high regard to soldiers and armed forces. I recently went on a USO tour to Afghanistan. I’ve met a lot of Marines and Army, and they are good kids and good men and women. I certainly can empathize with their situation. One thing I learned about them mostly is that they are fighting for what they believe in, but also for each other. That’s one thing about this movie we try to embrace. You’re out there, you’re alone, you have to rely on each other and trust each and live or die with each other. I think this film is very respectful of the Marines. We had their cooperation. We had all of their toys and I hope that when the Marines or soldiers see this movie that they will feel that we treated it with respect and accuracy.
What do you think Jonathan Liebesman brought to the movie, both on a technical level and for you as an actor?
AE: Well, Jonathan, I can’t speak more highly of Jonathan. He is a director that knows how to tell a story and tell it entertainingly for a wide audience. He is so energetic, he knows exactly what he wants, nothing gets in his way. He’s prepared. The tone and vision of the movie is Jonathan’s. We always used three cameras, we always were shooting multiple, long takes; very real. He was very specific always in telling us what the aliens were doing, at what time, how we should react, what they sounded like, all that sort of stuff. He kept all the actors involved at all times. He has a very concrete vision of what’s going on and that’s so important to an actor, because an actor can rely on that and he makes the actor see the alien. What he’s seeing in his mind he lets us see too so that we can all be on the same page. That and his enthusiasm and energy really are what I think makes him a great filmmaker.
For being an action film, did you perform any of your own stunts?
AE: Yes (laughs). I performed most of my stunts. There were some explosions I didn’t do, just because you are not allowed to. I did do a stunt that was about three weeks before the movie ended, I jumped off a rock, landed wrong, and broke my arm. So I had to do the next three weeks with a broken arm. We were always hitting ourselves in the face and jamming our fingers, twisting our ankles, stuff like that. It was a very physical film.
Battle: Los Angeles is one of many films where Los Angeles gets rampaged, so what do you think the appeal is of destroying Los Angeles?
AE: (laughs) It’s got to be masochistic, like the self-hating Los Angelinos. I have no idea. I guess that the film industry is based out here; we are very familiar with it, its what we see, so it’s fun to destroy it.
Was this a new acting experience for you or could you draw on past work to help you along?
AE: No, this one is new to me. This, in the addition to one other character in my career … I was really sad to leave. I really enjoyed my character, SSgt. Michael Nantz, and just being around the Marines. Just for selfishness sake, I hope they make another one, because I’d love to play this character again. It’s a childhood dream. Every actor wants to be in a war movie, they want to cry, and they want a western or something and I feel like I’ve covered those bases with this film.
Starring in a movie about an alien invasion, I can’t help but ask, do you believe in extra
terrestrials?
AE: (laughs) Well, I’ve seen some interesting things in my time. I’m not going to say definitively one way or another, but I’ve been out on dark New Mexican nights (laughs) where I’ve seen something fly by real fast in the sky and no one really knew what it is. Look, some things are harder to believe than others and something is going on.