STACK September 2017 Issue 155

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046 SEPTEMBER 2017
visit CINEMA FEATURE
He didn’t have a moustache in
it, which threw me. Smokey
and the Bandit, of course.
And Hooper, where he plays
the stuntman. Love that one.
But I think that what was
most important to me in my
conversations with Matthew
was an effortless swagger, and cool, and
danger to Whiskey. You don’t want to mess
with him. That was something that Matthew
and I came to together. It was very much
the intention all along. I just had to meet the
expectation.
The key relationship for Whiskey is with
Eggsy.What can you say about how that
starts?
He becomes a part of their mission. They’re
forced into each other’s company to accomplish
a mission that would basically save the world.
There’s such a mentor/mentee closeness
between Colin and Taron in the first movie.
There is a little bit of competition there, I would
say, where I can threaten the dynamic of that
relationship and make more fragile the bond
that exists between Eggsy and Harry.
He’s the antithesis of Harry in many ways.
Whiskey is a spy who subscribes to being a
lover and a fighter.
He thinks you’ve got to think about yourself
in this business to be good at what you do, and
indulge, you know? Indulge the perks.
Was it a very physical role for you?
Yes. Very physical. Matthew Vaughn kept
on warning me and I tried to get as ready as
I could, but nothing was enough. There’s an
incredible stunt team on this movie — but one
of the reasons it’s so special is that it’s actually
us, for the most part, doing this hand-to-hand
combat and different forms of fighting. We do
as much of it as we can. We beat the sh-t out
of each other, and it was us. It’s phenomenally
challenging. I came in thinking this is going to
hurt, and it did.
You had to do a lot of specific weapons
training.
Whip. Lasso. Guns. There’s a cowboy stunts
expert named Loop Rawlins, whom I trained
with and who taught me everything. He’s
incredible. He’s a lasso, whip, and gun-slinging
expert. This man can do anything, and what’s
amazing is that he’s also a very easy going, laid-
back man. He’s so confident in his skills that
he has nothing to prove, and this is the man I
got to learn from. He basically taught me the
entire part.
What did you know of using a lasso and a
whip?
Going in, day one, I knew nothing. I can
move. I knew fight choreography, I was decent
with that. I had a whip as a child because I was
obsessed with Indiana Jones, but I didn’t know
how to make a lasso, or make a whip crack, or
know how to twirl guns. I didn’t know anything
going in. I got really, really good at the whip. I
sucked at the lasso.
There’s a major sequence whereWhiskey
and Eggsy are trapped on a rapidly spinning
gondola.What was that like to film?
It was incredibly arduous. It was one of
those things where this is the hard work that
people talk about on movies like this. My world
was spinning for days.
You were actually inside one?
Oh, yeah. We were in a gondola in the Alps
and in a gondola endlessly in the studio. I got
my balance back, finally. It took a while.
Were you a fan of the first film?
Yes. I had been so satisfied by Matthew
Vaughn in my previous experiences. I saw
Layer Cake, I saw Stardust. Kick-Ass was my
favourite, so I knew, going into Kingsman,
that it would be fun. It was high-style
entertainment, and nostalgia, and creative,
and original. You go, ‘oh my God, anything
goes’. That’s part of the fun of it. It’s extremely
unpredictable and highly stylised, and you care
about the characters. That’s the most important
thing, that you’re very invested in their stories.
What was it like working with Matthew?
He’s a very technical director, and you need
to meet the challenge. He has a really good
eye. He has an inescapable eye. You can’t get
away with anything. That was cool.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is in cinemas on September 21
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KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE
You don't really need an excuse
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as a Kingsman prior to meeting
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Secret Service Revealed – A
6-part Look, Panel to Screen:
The Education of a 21st Century
Super-Spy, behind-the-scenes
featurettes, image galleries, and
more. In short, an edition fit for
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GAME OFTHRONES
NARCOS
"Champagne"
Jeff Bridges
THE GREATWALL
continued