STACK #160 Feb 2018

DVD & BD FEATURE

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less about the Algiers Motel incident, so I received a hell of an education on this movie,” says Poulter. “Not just about the Detroit rebellion, but about the sociopolitical state of America at that time. I had a lot to learn, and one of the great things about this movie is it’s an incredibly informative piece; it educates people on a story that, as well documented as it is, has been under-told.” The baby-faced Poulter delivers a tour de force performance as racist rogue cop Phillip Krauss, a character he says is a composite of several police officers that were on the scene at the Algiers. Having landed the role just a week prior to shooting, he was grateful to find much of the character groundwork had already been done for him. “Kathryn and Mark take such a journalistic approach to the pre-production process and the construction of the script, so you can be confident of the fact that your character has been well researched up to a point, and a lot of attention to the facts has already taken place. That, for me, made things a lot easier.” Poulter adds that despite having played dislikable characters in the past, portraying someone as amoral as Krauss was a whole different ballgame. “ It’s interesting. I’ve never played a character as reprehensible as this one,” he says. “I’ve always tried to find something I can identify with, an element of their make-up – I think that’s common practice for actors, to find something in the personality or psychological

Will Poulter and Anthony Mackie found themselves involved in an explosive but little-known incident in Kathryn Bigelow's electrifying drama, Detroit . Words Scott Hocking

D uring the summer of 1967, mounting civil unrest over racial injustice and repression reached boiling point in Detroit, with rioting, looting and arson leaving the city resembling a war zone. Two days after the riots broke out, reports of gunshots in the vicinity of the Algiers Motel provoked a rapid response from

they brought to The Hurt Locker (2008) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012). Stars Will Poulter and Anthony Mackie admit they were unfamiliar with the events that transpired at the Algiers, when STACK meets with them in Melbourne. “I didn’t know anything of the rebellion, and much

the Detroit Police Department, who engaged in brutal tactics of interrogation and intimidation, resulting in the death of three African-American guests. This little-known incident is the nucleus of Kathryn Bigelow’s new film, Detroit – the director’s third collaboration with writer Mark Boal and told with the same intensity and verisimilitude

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FEBRUARY 2018

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