*Interview* Kevin Durand - Action Reloaded

Thank you for joining me I really appreciate you giving me your time, Kevin.

No, my pleasure, it’s awesome to be here.

I was going through your filmography its outstanding I had seen that you starred alongside Dwayne Johnson in Walking Tall when he was just starting out, then now you’ve recently starred with Dwayne Johnson on his TV show Ballers.

Yeah

Has he changed much since he started out compared now?

You know, what’s weird about that is that I never saw him once. Yeah, it’s incredible what Dwayne’s done. I’m a big fan of his and a big fan of the type of person that he is, he’s a superb human. Yeah, but it’s funny, we always crossed, basically always missed each other because he would always do the afternoon. It was his choice to shoot in the afternoon. So then they’d always have my storylines always in the morning. So we never actually worked together. *laughs* But yeah, super, super kind of guy.

You played Barry Burton who to the Resident Evil fans is quite a big character in the franchise. How was it taking on such a big character, like, Barry Burton?

I had an excellent time. I’m not a gamer. So I just kind of approached him more from just what was on the page and, I remember thinking this was fascinating. It’s going to be fun, and it was, it was such a great ride. And then and then when I saw the film it was actually, it doesn’t have very often. It’s kind of like, you know, what happened with this one, like it was, it was even better. Then it was on the page. So it was kind of thrilling to get the sit in the theater and watch that one, roll out, and so much of the world in that was There are a lot of practical effects, but, you know, there are a lot of CG painted in effects that you don’t get to see. So all of a sudden, your mind is almost blows up. When you, when you see the world that they created, which is the same thing with dangerous. I mean, they David Hackle – the director – would show me these illustrations of the island, where all of this action took place. I remember we were going to make it look like an island and not be on the island, like we were in the interior of British Columbia, it was hard for me to wrap my head around it, then when I saw it I was like good god, it’s incredible to see what they did with it. It just made us all look so much cooler because that location became this astounding character in the movie.

What attracted you to the script of your latest movie, Dangerous

Dangerous, oh I was on board all the way from the first page. I think the first thing that was written was that three percent of psychopathic people also have the inability to experience fear. So it’s a story about Dylan Forester, who is socio/psychopath, who has never experienced fear of anything. So it’s just a recipe for a hell of a beast of a guy, if he’s a soldier mercenary or, you know what I mean? It was so fascinating to see this guy who’s such a beast, trying to rehabilitate and conform.

It just really drew me In from the first few words that I read, and it kept taking me through and as I got through the entire script, I was like, oh man, I really I felt like I could do a lot with Cole. I really like the relationship between them [Dylan & Cole]. It felt like there was like a real heart to this relationship, meaning, like I kind of saw him as a little brother and I admired him so much because he could do so many things that I couldn’t, because of his lack of fear and his lack of empathy. It was perfect in our line of work. So he was like, an All-Star for me. He was my franchise player. Now I got to go head-to-head with this guy and I know what he’s capable of, so it was pretty interesting,

The end of the movie, with the way things turned out for your character, without giving anything away. Would you be up for a prequel? Would be quite badass, we could see the whole team together before Dylan broke off?

That would be amazing, It would be amazing!! I wonder if David Hackl has thought about that at all, you know, in success, who knows. I mean, that would be that would be tremendous. It would be great to get together with the entire gang. Get the band together again. And do another dance with me. It’d be great. A prequel. That’s a good idea. Yeah, I’ll float that by David. I’m supposed to, I think I’ll see him this week. So I’ll say, hey, what do you think of a prequel!

In the movie, your character, Cole, was introduced with a bang. Spoiler alert. You got to kill Tyrese. That was quite a bold move, he’s a big name, he’s just come out of, Fast Nine, and he is in Dangerous for like, 15 minutes, glares at Scott, and then you shoot him…

*laughs* I didn’t write it. I mean, Cole is on a mission. He doesn’t really, you know, he doesn’t care who’s standing in his way, it just kind of sucked to do it because Tyrese was really fun to be around. He’s just hilarious, and he is so good. Every time he’s on-screen he just kind of sucks you in.

So, you regretfully shot him *laughs*

*Laughs* Well, Kevin regrets it, but Cole doesn’t *laughs*

Your character, Cole, has such a good story arc. I was kind of rooting for you. What was it like working alongside? Or should I say against Scott?

I liked working with Scott and I like that he can throw down and give me a couple of licks to the face. You know, from the first time I met him. I just liked him. He’s a really humble, hard-working, talented guy. Scott, got really underneath this characters skin, he worked with a psychologist for a long time to try and understand how someone who completely lacks empathy and is completely unable to feel fear, how would a person like that be received in the world, you know, try to see it through their eyes filter, seeing what synapses fire off in the brain when different things occur, it was just interesting to me that he had done so much work to get underneath the skin of the character, in that cranium of that character. I thought he executed that character, so, so bloody well, and it meant a lot to me that he cared so much, and it meant a lot to me that he was always gave it his all, you know, and he just showed up every day, 100%, ready to go, and we got to do that great dance together. It was so much fun.

What were your thoughts of the finished movie?

I was like a kid in the candy store and I hoped that it would be somewhere near what it became, you know, like when you read a script, you’re like, okay if this person is playing this, this person’s playing this. This is the script, this guys directing it, and they got this DP, and you’re trying to put it together. You’re like, man, if this works it can be great. So then you cross your fingers, you give everything you got and hope that everybody else does the same and everybody did. It shows up on the screen, and it was just so cool when it worked out. It’s so cool. I love movies. Like right now for instance. I have a day off from set. When I’m done, talking to you and done my, AMA in a couple of hours. I’m going to take it easy, I’m going to go sit in the movies and watch as many movies as I can, and that’s what I love to do.

What do you think of the concept of this film being described as die hard on an island?

Well, I think it’s a great compliment that’s high praise. I think that’s fantastic. That’s that should be on the poster. I even think it’s more interesting from a psychological perspective. When your hero is actually psychopathic. That’s that’s the hook there. You know, like I said on that first page, when I read that, I was like, what the hell is this going to be? And I, I love it.

Kevin, it has been awesome to have you here.

Jeff it was awesome talking to you, man, and I’m going to have to just get back here for just a chat