This interview was originally published on ComicBookMovie.com.
In The Stoic, after a group of mercenaries raid a gang's den, they flee to a country hideout with two hostages. A Stoic, a member of a criminal clan, enraged about the women's capture, attacks the mercenaries.
The conflict escalates into an explosive showdown between the Stoic and the mercenaries' ruthless boss determined to kill him.
British actor Scott Wright takes on his first major action role as Aurelius, the Stoic who targets this gang of crooks with violent, bloody consequences. Last week, we spoke with Scott about this intense new role and what it was about exploring stoicism that most intrigued him as an actor.
He also talks us through how he approached The Stoic's intense action scenes, the biggest challenges of making this movie a reality, and his excitement to bring it to a global audience. Scott also opens up on working with X-Men: First Class star Jason Flemyng and whether he and filmmaker Jon Eckersley have plans to expand the franchise.
The Stoic is now available on Digital and On Demand, and you can check out our full interview with Scott below.
So, this idea of stoicism was new to me and was interesting to explore. As an actor, what drew you to this concept?
Well, we just wanted to make a film…you have to make a film which is going to appeal to people, so we needed to make a film with some action. We didn’t want to just make a random action film, so we had the idea of the philosophy of stoicism. Then I came up with the character. He’s not quite there as a human being as much in that he’s very different. He’s got his philosophy and he’s not a normal human being. He’s a man with high moral values but he’s a good man. He’s not even an anti-hero, he’s a good man who has got a faith and his faith is stoicism.
He’s a man of few words too and when he speaks, it carries meaning. What was it like playing someone like Aurelius?
[Laughs] I quite liked that and there are less lines to learn as well. It was good. I had the idea of coming up and giving him a Celtic, Nordic, Danish accent that wasn’t quite my own. I looked at films with Mads Mikkelsen and you imitate, as an actor, people in a little way. I didn’t base the character on him but that was a starting point, a dilution of his accent. It was great. It was last year when we filmed it and it was really, really fantastic. In the past, I come from a soap background, so it was great to let fly and get into the character. You don’t have time in soaps.
This is a very grounded film, but Aurelius is almost Terminator-like. Did you look anywhere specific for inspiration?
I mean, when you mention the Terminator, maybe subliminally, there was an element of that. He’s not emotional at all. There’s probably only one part after he’s been beaten up and shot a few times that he screams and blows his whistle. The Terminator is a really, really good reference for it, totally.
In terms of researching this world of Stoics, as a producer, did you do a lot of research?
Where I live, we came up with the idea. Me and Jon Eckersley sat down and he has an interest in that. I had studied quite a bit of it, and I noticed as well which is quite interesting is that some people in our current history involved with stoicism are Bill Gates, the guy who runs Amazon. There’s loads and loads of people who live by that moral code. I’m not saying I’ve tried to live by that lately, but it’s quite a good highway to life living like that. I got quite in-depth reading books so it’s very, very interesting.
To executive produce a project like this, what kind of challenges and experiences did that bring up after a lengthy acting career?
You know what it is, when you’re an actor, you turn up and you’ve got your lines to learn. There are no other components to it really. You turn up and do a good job. With this, we had to find the locations. Luckily, I’ve got a lot of good friends who have big places. We got very, very lucky as a friend of mine had just purchased a couple million of pound house in Wales. A couple of million quid, as you know yourself, gets you a lot in Wales. It’s not like London! That was quite easy.
The challenging part, I guess, was all the tiny things. The insurance and then further down the line when you’re finishing a film, it’s things like deliverables and all these things. It’s very, very complicated. I’m proud of us both because we hadn’t got a clue when we started [Laughs]. We knew how to make a film but we didn’t know what would be involved after we’d made it. We learned on the job and we’re so proud that we got Saban involved. They’re amazing. It was a dream come true. When we started this, we didn’t have expectations as such. We just wanted to make a quirky little film that would appeal to some people and be a good watch within the budget we had. Now, we’ve got a global distribution thing going on which is amazing.
Talking of Saban, they put out a lot of great action movies, so to be able to bring this to a much bigger audience must have been so exciting to learn?
Oh, it’s amazing. It’s amazing. I always try and manage my expectations [Laughs] but like I said before, we far exceeded what we expected. Whatever happens, the film is a good film. It will appeal to lots of people, but it’s going to be seen by the whole world which is above what we expected. I guess what we expected was probably to get it out in the UK, but to get it out in America which is such a huge market and such a huge audience is a dream come true, it really is.
You’ve got a great supporting cast, but to have someone like Jason Flemyng who has ties to so many iconic movies. What was it like bringing him on board and how excited were you about that?
Right, Josh, you’re asking the right question here. That was, out of this whole thing, my favourite day. The whole business is about contacts so we could contact agents and they might listen, they might not. We could pitch the idea to a couple of actors who I’d worked with before. James Cosmo from Braveheart, I did via his agent because I don’t have his digits and he turned it down. Maybe he’d have said yes if he’d known I was doing it, but we got Jason through another of the producers who was friends with him. That’s the way that worked, but when his name was mentioned, I’d been pitching to actor friends of mine for the UK. Lots of people you would know, but I think they wish they’d done it now [Laughs]. When Jason’s name was mentioned, I was like, ‘Nah, you’ll never get Flemyng.’ I’m a big fan and think he’s a great actor. He’s worked with Sean Connery, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt. You just don’t get better.
I was just ridiculously excited, and when he said yes, I still didn’t believe it until the day he turned up. He just turned up and I said, ‘Wow, that’s Jason Flemyng, this is awesome.’ It was great and that puts a massive smile on my face even now. To see some of the posters that have been done with me on it. Bruce Payne as well. I was a fan of his for years and I kept Googling him thinking ‘Where’s Bruce gone?’ I flew to Rome recently and spent three days with him because he lives there at the moment and said to him, ‘Mate, I was a fan of yours in the 90s.’ He stole Passenger 57 all day, didn’t he? Dungeons & Dragons and Absolute Beginners. I said, ‘I kept thinking about you all the time randomly and now you’re in my film with me.’ We do some good scenes together as well.
Things get increasingly more violent and bloody as the story progresses. What was it like delving into that side of things?
I haven’t done much of that apart from on stage. I was doing a theatre show over Christmas before we started filming and I knew I had to get in shape. I was about a stone and a half overweight. In four weeks over Christmas when everyone’s partying, drinking, and eating junk food, I’m just going to the gym and dieting. When I turned up on said, Jon was like, ‘Wow, what have you done?’ I was like, ‘I know!’ That was an important component in it. We had a guy who was one of the stunt coordinators on Fast & Furious so he did…I don’t really like long drawn-out fight scenes. They get really boring. We kept them easy. I’m not amazing at remembering fight scenes or dances, so he took it lightly on me but after the film was cut, it works. It was quick in and out, so that was actually good fun.
Sorry to use the ‘f’ word, ‘franchise,’ but it does feel like The Stoic has franchise potential. Is returning as this character something you’ve given any thought to?
Yeah, 100%. There are references in the film. We initially wrote a film before based on one of my ideas and it’s referenced at the end when one of the girls asks him where he’s going after this. You’ve watched it, so I won’t spoil it, but there’s potential for another film and it’s already written. We just couldn’t at the time do it because of budget really. We needed something which was more compact so that’s a more expansive film and it’s a really good one actually. There might be a possibility of making it now. We’ll see how this one goes.
Now you’ve had a taste of action, would you like to take on more roles like this and taking your career down that path?
Definitely, without a doubt. Me and my daughter love watching action films. We love horror films. I’ve got a few ideas along those lines as well so it’s deifnitely something I want to pursue, 100%.
You’ve mentioned Jon a couple of times and it sounds like this was a real passion project for him too. What was your dynamic like making this?
We’re good mates. We fell out a lot [Laughs]. After it’s all said and done, we pulled something off. From a little town in the North West of England and then North Wales…to get the film out is quite a big achievement and whatever happens with it, it’s really, really good. Me and him are like…you’ll know the reference, like Jack and Vera from Coronation Street. Me and him have a bit of that [Laughs] but there’s a lot of love between us, without a doubt. We pulled something really good off, you know?
I’m a Brit too, of course, and we love the soaps here. You’ve done Emmerdale and Coronation Street, but any chance you go back down the line?
I mean, you like the stability, the comradeship, and the teamwork. There’s a lot of exciting stuff that you can do outside it. You never know. If not, we crack on with making other films, maybe Stoic 2, who knows?
Finally, what would you tell our readers about what they can expect from Aurelius and this film?
It’s a film with action, quirkiness, and a little bit of a soul, and I think Aurelius is a really…even though he’s a violent killer, he only kills the bad guys [Laughs]. He’s got a really good heart, so I’m hoping that the people who watch the film like Aurelius.
The Stoic is now available on Digital and On Demand.