STACK #167 Sept 2018

DVD & BD FEATURE

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says Nash. “I just try to find the right people for the roles, and she did a wonderful audition, and then I met her and thought she was the right person to play that character.” Working with Gringo ’s screenwriters for more than three years to ensure they got the right tone, he was momentarily blown off course when a month after casting David Oyelowo as his “Gringo”, the British thespian announced over dinner that he would like to make his character a Nigerian immigrant. “I was like ‘okay…’ but then he starts telling me his dad’s experience as an immigrant in the UK, and started playing out some of the scenes, and I just felt warm inside – such an inspired idea,” recalls Nash. For Oyelowo it was a chance to try his hand at lighter fare. “I’ve played all these roles that are quote-unquote important, so the goofy side of me has always been reserved for my kids and friends. Gringo  is really my first dark comedy.” If the Edgerton brothers have truly conquered Hollywood, while also continuing to work in Australian cinema, then Nash warns of a new Edgerton in town. Recently directing TV series Mr Inbetween – which follows a charismatic and volatile hitman as he navigates work, parental responsibility and romance – he cast his nine-year-old daughter as the protagonist’s child. “She’d never acted before. I auditioned about 50 girls her age and just wasn’t finding what I was looking for. My wife suggested I test her and she was awesome. But I feel like I created a little monster,” he laughs.

An incident in Mexico puts a businessman’s hefty investment at stake in the energetic action-comedy Gringo , directed by Australia’s own Nash Edgerton and starring his brother, Joel. Words Gill Pringle F illed with white-knuckle action and stunts, Gringo is the kind of movie that

Making movies together is just an extension of us playing together as kids

prolific stuntman Nash Edgerton would immediately sign on for. But after making a name for himself doing stunts in more than 100 films including  The Matrix, Star Wars II – Attack of the Clones  and  Straight Outta Compton,  he decided to direct it instead. Edgerton’s directorial debut The Square (2008) had been well received, and 10 years later, he was ready to try his hand again – this time assembling an A-list cast including his brother Joel, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton and David Oyelowo. Gringo  is a fast-paced satire that coaxes atypical performances from its leads; Theron shocks as an unscrupulous, foul-mouthed sex addict, while Edgerton is a stone-cold hustler devoid of any moral compass. “My brother couldn’t be a more generous, loving person, so to get him to play such a douchebag was really good fun,” says Nash, who regularly works as a stunt double for his brother. It’s a simpatico sibling relationship. “When [Joel is] directing a movie and he’s in it, I kind of direct the set so he can concentrate on the character. But he’s my little brother, I’ve been telling him what to do since we were kids, so it feels like an extension of that when I get paid to tell him what to do. “We’ve just always got on really well,” he adds. “We have lived together multiple times, worked together multiple times, we speak all the time, I think

we have skills that complement each other and we love storytelling and filmmaking. Making movies together is just an extension of us playing together as kids.

We’re best of friends, with a great shorthand and a similar sense of humour.” Charlize Theron, having been impressed by Nash’s 2007 short film  Spider, asked to meet him. “We hit it off straight away and became friends,” she says. “For a while now we’ve been looking for something to do together.” The director never doubted

Theron’s capacity to play nasty. “She has incredible range, and if she’s going to play a character, I know she’s going to lean all the way into it,” Nash says. The eclectic ensemble cast also includes Paris Jackson, making her film debut. “Until she auditioned, I didn’t know she was pursuing acting,”

• Gringo is out now

STUNTMEN TURNED DIRECTORS

HAL NEEDHAM Legendary stutman who made his directing debut with Smokey and the Bandit .

JOHNNY MARTIN This veteran stunt guy also acts, writes and produces. He directed Al Pacino in Hangman .

DAVID LEITCH From doubling for Brad Pitt and JCVD, to helming Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 .

CHAD STAHELSKI Who better to direct Keanu in the John Wick films than his former stunt double on The Matrix ?

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SEPTEMBER 2018

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