ARTICLE
Cast of Netflix's 'Triple Frontier' share their journey in getting into shape as Special Forces soldiers
By Flora / 10 Mar 2019 (Sunday)
Hollywood stars and cast of the upcoming Netflix original, Triple Frontier, Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam and Garrett Hedlund, along with producer Chuck Roven were in Singapore to promote their action-thriller film.
At the press conference, the four men talked about their experiences filming the movie, their physical and mental journey in preparing for their roles, and the difficult nature of filming such a movie.
Triple Frontier tells the story about a group of former Special Forces operatives (Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal) reunite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated multi-border zone of South America. But when events take an unexpected turn and threaten to spiral out of control, their skills, their loyalties and their morals are pushed to a breaking point in an epic battle for survival.
Hedlund, who plays Ben in the movie, shared that the cast was able to meet with the real-life military soldiers who shared their personal journeys with the filming team.
“The pre-production was short. We had four days to chat with the Force and got to use the military equipment where we did live-fire exercises alongside each other… The military advisors are amazing on this. Their abilities are top of the top and for they shared their knowledge and intelligence with us.”
In preparing for the role of William “Ironhead” Miller in Triple Frontier, Hunnam not only got into shape physically, but he also read books on warfare to get into the psyche of soldiers.
“My favourite part of the job is the preparation period. One thing to be an actor is the diverse range of roles we get to play and with each role, it has its own individual skill set that we have to hone that technique of the character.” He too, talked about how the cast was able to ‘ask the difficult questions’ when they met with the military soldiers. “We really run the gamut with them and they were incredibly generous and open in downloading their experiences.”
Affleck, best known for this role as Batman in the DC movies, shared at the press conference that the film isn’t all about the masculinity in the all male-led film. “You know, this movie, it kind of reflects not so much really about the all-male story or testosterone or masculinity as much as it is factual, factually-rooted truth is that the majority of the special forces are men so it’s natural to tell a story about men,” he explained, emphasising that it was beyond that. “There wasn’t the tremendous emphasis of hierarchy and being alpha… they educated me that the true strength came in compassion, empathy, teamwork.
Producer Chuck Roven, talked about the challenges filming the movie, especially when it was mostly shot on location.
“So much of this movie is done very real, not in a sound stage and not a lot of visual effects (used),” he shared. “It was challenging not just in front of the camera, but behind the camera too. A lot of what we put the crew and staff through… Hawaii was great but we had the storm rain. Most of the time when we were there, we were slushing around with mud and mudslides. We were also working in flood(ed) conditions.”
He added: “The movie is exciting to watch, but also exciting to make.”
Only in town for two days, the stars didn’t get to do any sightseeing around the sunny island. While most of them flew home on Saturday, Hunnam will be spending an extra day here to explore the city. So don’t be too shocked if you spot someone who looks very similar to Hunnam, it’s him!
Directed by J.C. Chandor, Triple Frontier premieres on Netflix on March 13!