Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: exclusive, interview, Land of Bad, liam hemsworth, Luke Hemsworth, milo ventimiglia, ricky whittle, russell crowe, The Avenue

Land of Bad Star Ricky Whittle on Crowe, Hemsworths & Intense Filming

Ricky Whittle (American Gods) spoke to Bleeding Cool about his action thriller in Land of Bad, Russell Crowe, Hemsworth brothers & more.

Ricky Wittle has been one of the most dependable, stoic, and charismatic presences on TV with his memorable turns on the Sky Sports series Dream Team, the British soap Hollyoaks and becoming more of an action presence in CBS' NCIS, The CW's The 100, and Starz! American Gods. Occasionally, he's embraced film with Sony's Austenland (2013), Lynx's Succulent & Savory (2016), and Netflix's Nappily Ever After (2018). His latest is The Avenue's action thriller Land of Bad, which features an all-star cast with Russell Crowe, brothers Liam and Luke Hemsworth, and Milo Ventimiglia. The film follows a Delta Force team that is ambushed in enemy territory. A rookie officer (Liam Hemsworth) refuses to abandon them. Their only hope lies with an Air Force drone pilot (Crowe) as the eyes in the sky during a brutal 48-hour battle for survival. Whittle spoke to Bleeding Cool about why he couldn't pass up working with writer-director William Eubank (Underwater), chemistry with his co-stars, how filming the action film compares to his work on TV, dealing with the intense physical demands of production.

Land of Bad: Ricky Whittle on How Everything Fell Into Place

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'Land of Bad?'
Whittle: What didn't intrigue me? I read the script, which was sent to me by my reps on a Friday night, and I got through it. David Frigero had written an incredibly intense, epic action thriller with great character depth. The dynamic between the characters was fun, and I loved that. My character is this old warhorse who's been through many missions but has this great banter and camaraderie with Luke Hemsworth's character Abel. I like the misbehaving brothers dynamic that we had there. When I met Luke Hemsworth in Australia, I thought, "Here we go. We've got some trouble here."

[Luke] 's incredibly funny, one of the funniest guys I've ever met. I knew that was going to work. I was also going to meet with the director, Will Eubank, on a Saturday, the day after, to discuss the project. I got through the first ten minutes of 'Underwater' (2020) with Kristen Stewart in his previous movie to do a little bit of research on how he shoots. Ten minutes in, I turned it off and said, "That's all I need to see." He is such a visual genius. I thought if he could make a movie that's 'Underwater.' The dark ocean looks so vivid and incredible. What can he do with explosions? What can you do with gunfire and understand the landscape of Australia?

The jungle will be a piece of cake to him, and watching this movie back, he has blown my mind with the incredible visuals he came up with. He's writing, directing, and then working with one of my idols, Russell Crowe, one of our generation's greatest actors who brings an incredible character to life in this movie. I knew Milo [Ventimiglia] from contacts I've known for a few years, and I've always wanted to work with him. I always wanted…such a great guy and a big fan of his work from (NBC's) 'Heroes.' He's done everything, not to mention he's got more work than I'm ever going to do. The guy is incredible, so it's so exciting to work with him. He's such a great guy and so talented. To work with the Hemsworth brothers, what a family! They're the greatest family out there and the kings of Australia. Who better to show you around Australia than the royal family?

Missing out on Chris [Hemsworth]?
I know we'll get Chris in the next one.

You guys have such an ensemble going for you. Did you guys meet to build that rapport before filming?
It was instant. As I said, I met Milo Ventimiglia years before and crossed paths. We always said that we wanted to work with each other. He was being polite because he's lovely. I genuinely wanted to work with him for so long, and he's a great guy. I love him so much, and working with him was everything I thought and more. We had that dynamic and chemistry straight away. I remember I was in the wardrobe department. I'm on my first trailer and goofing around, being my usual self, and they said, "Have you met Luke yet?" I was like, "No." They're like, "Oh no! You're the same person." I was like, "There's only one Ricky Whittle." They said, "No, trust me, There's two of you, and his name is Luke Hemsworth." I met Luke, and it was like, you know, that Spider-Man meme moment in the cartoon with Spider-Man's point to another Spider-Man, right? We connected and were like, "Oh my God, there are two of us!" We were crazy, idiotic kids running around the hills and having a great time.

That chemistry became part of the movie and part of the scenes where we would clumsily go at each other in scenes off-script as well. Luke's always got a quick sense of humor, and his sarcasm is so great. He's always quick to hit you with an ad-lib and a response in the scenes. It was fun to bounce off him, and then Liam's got the most beautiful soul you'll ever see. He's an incredible guy. This is an epic vehicle for him to blow people out of the water with his action genre. He's up there with his brothers now.

How do you compare a film like 'Land of Bad' to the shows you usually work on episodic TV?
It takes two different types of people for TV and movies. TV is a long, hard grind. You can go five, six, seven months like we did on 'American Gods' and it's 18-hour days. You're not quite sure how the show and the season will end and finish, and your relationships meander and change as you write. It's an unsecured way to be an actor because you're not sure how it will end in a movie. You have your start, middle, and end. You have your whole story. You have your whole arc. You can throw your whole weight behind it. I love movies because you can flesh out your whole character. I saw Bishop's whole block there, and it was fun to play with. You sit there with the director, who tells you exactly what he wants. We come together and figure something out. This was a lot of fun. I knew it would be great and had a lot of fun shooting it.

What was the most difficult aspect of production? Was there a stunt or sequence you had to do as Bishop that was harder than the rest?
The physicality of everything as we got a slight taste. A taste of what? Heroes, our true forces, military, and what they go through day in, day out. The weights that they carry constantly. That's their everyday gear, their equipment: the bulletproof Kevlar vest. They've got all the equipment, the guns. Bishop has an extra sniper rifle, which is about 100 pounds. It's so much weight and added pressure to your joints, and the landscape of Australia where we shot was so demanding. It was a tough shoot, and then you have the Australian climate, whether it was heat steaming down on you.

It was a physical shoot. The explosions and the stunts were tough, but wearing gear, walking, and talking scenes were tough like we were in the gym every day. Depending on the time, we were in the gym every day after or before shooting. None of us did legs. None of us shot legs because our legs were already blown out. None of us took arms because our arms were blown out from carrying these guns around everywhere. I don't know how our forces do it, like how they carry those things around all day, every day. We did it for two months, and I couldn't feel my biceps for those two months. It was tough but a lot of fun. It was a great lesson to learn, and I'm looking forward to everyone saying all the work comes to fruition.

Do you have a favorite sequence?
Argh! There were so many. I love the dynamic between all the guys. There was so much. Not all of it could even fit into the movie because we were hidden so much. There was so much ad-libbing and fun. It could have been a four-hour movie. We had to cut it down, but the bits made are so tight, quick, and fun. I like that, not just action. You have these nice moments between the characters, but when it kicks off, the movie is a roller coaster ride of action and chaos, and we give you a small ten-minute window at the beginning to ease you into the characters and get to learn about them. It's when the crap hits the fan. That first moment, that first five minutes, where you're like, "Wow, everything's happening. You've got gunfire, explosions, missiles coming in, and drones. It's all kicking off." That first moment sets you up for the rest of the movie.

Land of Bad is in theaters. Check out our interview with Whittle on his future on American Gods.

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