Spoiler alert: This interview contains major spoilers of “Untamed”, now in difficulty on Netflix.
Eric Bana would not care about a change of pace during his career over 30 years.
Known for his dramatics with high issues and action films such as “Black Hawk Down”, “Troy”, “Hulk” and “Munich”, most do not know – or have forgotten – that the 56 -year -old actor started in comedy.
In addition to playing in the Sketch Comedy series “Full Frontal” in the mid-1990s in his native Australia, he also organized a short-term talk show, “The Eric Bana Show Live”.
“Most of what I am sent is quite dark and dramatic, and I really liked to do the lightest things when it happens,” Bana said to me when an appearance on the Podcast “Just for Variety”. “So it would be fun to do lighter things for sure, but it does not grow on the trees on my desk. There is a lot of darkness on my desk.”
In his latest project, the Netflix thriller series, “Untamed”, he plays the role of Kyle Turner, a special riding agent for the National Park Service investigating a woman who dies after falling from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
The mystery of the murder of six episodes finds that Kyle is haunted by his past while fighting a problem of alcohol and his complicated relationship with his ex-wife Jill (Rosemarie Dewitt). The cast also includes Sam Neill as boss of Kyle and best friend and Lily Santiago as a former Los Angeles police officer who moves to the mountains to work for the service of the park.
In his review of the series, Variety The Tinuvu Tubid television critic praised the program “Deeply in layers and captivating” and described Bana’s work as “exceptional”.
This Q&R was published for duration and clarity. Listen to the complete conversation on “Just for Variety” above or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
How did you get involved in “Untamed”?
I got involved a while ago. I was sent the script in 2019. I read it and I loved it. I just thought it was a fantastic combination of the thriller, suspense, mystery of murder, but especially in the most incredible setting. I think the idea of following someone trying to resolve a crime, knocking on the doors and driving a car, I have seen it so many times. Seeing someone in a national park doing it on a horse seems so much more interesting and much more fun to do. I really liked the character of Kyle Turner. I got attached immediately. I just took out my elbows and I said, “Can we get there?” And can I be Kyle and what should we do?
Have you filmed at Yosemite?
No, we filmed in British Columbia. We could not get the kind of access we would need, especially in summer in Yosemite. So we sewed a lot together and we were in a beautiful and beautiful part of Canada. Just absolutely beautiful.
What does it do with a horse?
Oh my God, he was so darling. I wanted to fly it and bring it home, but it was beyond my luggage allowance, most certainly. Pippin his name was. I fell in love with him right away. He was a bit like my best companion on the set. You just pinch yourself when you are on horseback every day or each second or third day in the mountains, breathing fresh air, playing a kind of dream role. I obviously climbed before and mounted in other roles, but I had not mounted in this kind of field on the film, so it was really, really special.
Have you first learned to ride a horse when you made “Troy”?
It’s correct. It was quite different because they allowed us to go up to raw and without calipers on this film. I found it quite different a few years after I did “the other Boleyn Girl” and I was back on a horse in a traditional saddle and caliper. I found it quite limiting. It was almost like one: “Wait, what are these things for?” So, each horse you drive to another country, I find the styles a little different. The way you control the horse is very subtly different.
When you read the script for “wild”, are you like: “Oh, I haven’t seen it coming?”
I try to remember how much Mark told me in advance because when we signed, we only wrote the first episode. It took us a long time to go from episode one to “Here is the green light, to go there.” It took many years. The second episode would intervene, then Mark would trigger and work on another project and return and start working on the next one. I knew there will be really intelligent twists and turns, so I did not underestimate it, but I was quite blown away. I was delighted with the journey of the character and the story and the twists and turns and the opportunities in the rest of the distribution to have all these incredible characters and incredible actors.
Your character is in mourning of the death of his very young son. Is it difficult as a father to go mentally, emotionally?
They are always difficult. I mean, they are easy in a way, how can I say it? It’s like they were easy because they are difficult. Some of these things when they are well written and when you read them and that when you are moved as a member of the public or as a reader, you realize, well, it will not be difficult. It’s going to be sad, it will be uncomfortable, but it will not be difficult. I have always found it very, very moving, and it is a real privilege as an actor when you read something, you think: “Oh, I’m going to make a little trip here, and it’s going to be a little joyful and it’s going to do a little trouble. But it’s okay.” It is a huge privilege to receive this opportunity from the writer. It’s like: “OK, I’m going to become your guy, so I would better be good.” Because you have done this character justice on the page, we will now make him work on the camera. There is always this fear that you have to respect what the writer has in mind.
Have you ever looked at clips in your talk show?
I do not remember much about it because it was only a brief second. But the Sketch Comedy Show on which I worked for a long time, I think about it a lot, only because it’s just a bit of how my brain works. Even today, when I read a script, it’s as if I read the drama, but my brain works like a comedy’s writer. That I meet someone for the first time, that I observe people, that I break a script, I see things in sketches. I can’t change the wiring. There are many times when I am on the set and I have to remember: “Oh, that’s the real deal. We don’t make a sketch of a film now. It’s really the old Troy and I’m on a horse, we are not going out the mickey of a guy who is on a set.”
There was a moment in your career when you said, “I’m going to get there in the business.”
Never. It was never really one thing for me because I had never had expectations. I have always had short -term plans, such as six to 12 months, two years. I never looked on the road. If I had done that, I would never have had the career I had. I would have failed miserably because I would have made choices that would have derailed me along the way. I think if you have stars in your eyes, you can take off fairly quickly.
Is there never a time when you said to your team: “Do you remember the comedy, hello?”
No. In fact, I’m probably as much to blame because I remember when things started to go well, I said to myself: “What do you know?” The last thing I want to do is try to prove people. I was actually quite exhausted from comedy when I came here to make drama. So there was no part of me who said to me: “Oh, I have to show them that. I have to show them that I can juggle.
Will there be a “wild” season 2?
We will have to wait and see.
Have you discussed guys?
We talked about what would happen to Kyle after that, in theory. So you never know.
What did you think when it was revealed that Jill hired someone (to kill their son’s attacker)?
It’s Rosemarie Dewitt. I just thought it was so fantastic and its performance in this episode is so good.
When she says to her husband, “There is something I have to tell you and that can change everything.”
I thought it was very powerful. I love the fact that it was she who was doing and not that of Kyle, right? It’s a great little turn, it’s just like, “What? Really?”
