ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Old Man star Stephen Lang about his phenomenal performance in the thriller, which is set to release on October 14, 2022, and will be available in select theaters, on-demand, and on digital storefronts.
“When a lost hiker stumbles upon an erratic old man living in the woods, he could never have imagined the nightmare that awaits,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Old Man was really intense, and, you’re no stranger to giving intense performances, but this is almost to another level. Can you speak to just channeling your emotion for your character in Old Man because it’s some of your finest work?
Stephen Lang: Oh, that’s very kind of you. Thank you. I spent a lot of time absorbing the words because there are so many words in this one, right? And, he is such a verbal character that, I really wanted to make the words second nature. I wanted to learn them so I could forget them. So when I opened my mouth, they would come cascading out in whatever form they kind of chose to take. I wanted to get myself to a point, where I could just abandon myself to the character and let the character take over. In a sense, this particular film, working on this one was kind of a controlled possession, as it were. I allowed it to happen.
You mentioned a lot of words and so much of this film is you talking to Marc Senter. Can you speak to him as a scene partner because you’re really able to play off each other really well?
Yeah, I thought we complemented each other very, very well. First of all, he is a marvelous actor, and I know he is capable of all kinds of things in this one, he was an excellent complement to the old man, because his character really absorbed a great deal. The old man is just kind of, it’s this verbal onslaught a lot of the time. And, he was able to absorb and deflect, and also you could see, I could see the words that I spoke were landing deeply within him. At times they were having an effect on him, which of course, in turn, has a great effect on me. He brought a great honesty and I would say an innocence and a mystery to the role. And so I think between the two of us, we covered a lot of emotional and psychological ground.
You have a great theater background. Do you feel like in a script like this where you are giving so many speeches that that background kind of comes into play here? Or how did that work?
Yeah, I think it does. I mean, again, the way I put it to you before is a very theater thing to say, which is absorb the dialogue, learn the dialogue, let the dialogue become second nature, and then forget the dialogue. Then the dialogue will happen. So that’s pure theater, it seems to me.
I love the twist in the movie. No spoilers, but what was your reaction when you were reading the script and you saw just how the story all came together?
I scratched my head continually when I was reading this for the first time through going, “What the hell is going on here? What’s happening here exactly?” And, look, that was one of the main attractions, of the script to me was that I found it very, very difficult to put my finger on exactly what was going on. It was like trying to capture mercury in your hand, this thing. And, so by the time you get to kind of the twist, it’s just another unexpected move in a series of unexpected events. It seems to me.
One of the highlights of the film is when you’re telling this really messed up salesman story in the middle of the film, and we’re seeing flashbacks, but it’s all such an impassioned speech. How was it filming those two sections?
Those were long days. Every day was a long day, but they were fruitful, and there’s nothing in there that we didn’t shoot at least six or seven or eight or nine times from, and, from all kinds of different vantage points. So I can’t ever remember a time when we didn’t leave it all on the table, or when we left anything to chance. We thoroughly massaged every scene that we did, whether it was my idea, whether it was [director Lucky McKee]’s idea, whether it was Marc’s idea, in terms of what I was saying, where it should happen. We just kind of went at it, because we were in such a very finite space. That cabin was very… it was limited. And when you get those kind of limitations, it really encourages you to kind of explore inward to go deeper.
Lucky McKee, the director, can you just speak to the collaborative nature of this film because you’re talking about how he was willing to listen to everybody’s ideas for these scenes.
Well, I enjoyed working with Lucky very much. First of all, he understands his craft very, very well. Just the mechanics of making the movies, he’s very assured with it, knows what he wants to do and that fills you in with confidence. But in terms of just working the scenes and everything, he’d be right in there and kind of dialing nuance, talking about this, about something that really moved him and that last take.
It was just a good trustworthy relationship between director and actor that we had. I found that he’s easy to work for. He doesn’t let a scene go, you know? He’s very demanding in everything. There have been times when I’d say, “Let’s walk away,” and he’d say, “Let’s get one more.” [laughs] And I’d, I’d say, “Okay, whatever you need, man.”
This is such an exciting time in your career, because not only is this coming out, but Avatar was just rereleased, Avatar 2’s coming out. I was just curious what it meant for you to see people going back to the theaters and still feeling so fondly about your performance in Avatar, and to see that it’s still just resonating just as much.
Yeah, it’s very gratifying. I went to see it, so I hadn’t seen it since back in the day. I sat between one of my grandsons and one of my granddaughters, neither of whom were born when we originally released Avatar. So that was pretty thrilling for me. And also, I must say, kind of moving for me as well, to watch them be as enthralled with the world of Pandora as I hope everybody else on the planet will be. So it’s nice, it’s wonderful.
With the success of Avatar and Don’t Breathe, you’re seeing your work receiving sequels, which isn’t something that really happened a ton with you reprising characters before. So is it difficult to kind of get into that head space again? Or how does that work?
Well, it depends on the role. I find with the sequels you’re talking about, Don’t Breathe. It’s not difficult for me to open the door into the Blind Man’s brain, you know? It’s not a place I want to spend a huge amount of time [laughs] unless that’s what I’m doing, and when I’m doing it, when I’m in the Blind Man, it’s a very interesting place to be. I’ve enjoyed, if that’s the right word, but I guess it is, I enjoyed filming Don’t Breathe and Don’t Breathe 2 very, very much. Just as I plan to enjoy filming Don’t Breathe 3.
You have some really interesting work coming up. I saw you’re involved in Willie Pep movie playing Bill Gore, who’s such a great boxing trainer. What drew you to that role?
Well, I like boxing movies and they gimme a call and ask if I could come in and do this, and I couldn’t think of 10 reasons to say no, but I couldn’t really in the end think of any, so I thought, sure, I’ll come in and I’ll do it. I’m very glad I did because I enjoyed working on that picture. I was just on it for three or four or five days in Hartford. But of course, Willie Pep was an amazing fighter, and Bill Gore is legendary, he’s a Hall of Fame trainer. So it was good to do that. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie. I haven’t seen a foot of it.
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