When Game Of Thrones Ends… I’ll Still Be Acting by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Now in SHOT CALLER in Select Theaters and On Demand August 18th, 2017
Film Courage: I believe you’re a fan of Walter White of Breaking Bad?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Yes. Most of us are.
Film Courage: Yes! Were you thinking of his character when you were preparing to play Jacob (“Money”) in SHOT CALLER?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: No…I mean I love Breaking Bad. I was a huge fan. There are definitely similarities. I mean he is a regular guy suddenly turning to crime. I think there is a difference though. Walter White made a choice. Well of course Jacob makes choices but they are pretty much forced on him so I think that is a significant difference.
Film Courage: Let’s pretend we have a time machine and we go back to 1993/1994.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Okay.
Film Courage: The film NIGHTWATCH?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Yes.
Film Courage: So let’s say we wrapped on the film. Did you have a Plan B just in case this crazy acting thing didn’t work out?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Oh, no! Never had a Plan B for some reason…very stupid. I’ve always had a very (I guess) unrealistic belief that it would work out but it did for some reason. Yeah…
Film Courage: Do you think that there was a strategy to it, besides your talent?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: No…I wanted to…I had a dream even when I did NIGHTWATCH, I had already been accepted to a theater school in England. So I just finished four years of training in Denmark and then I was going to do this movie and then go to Bristol Old Vic (theatre school), where Daniel Day-Lewis had gone (it was very exciting). I went there for two weeks and then I ran away. But I always wanted to act and I wanted to travel the world (if I could). So that was the plan. Then I moved to London and then slowly but surely I started getting work.
Film Courage: Now you’re in a similar boat soon with Game of Thrones if it ends. Does it put new pressure on you to find something or you feel it’s almost like freedom?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Well, it’s not like it just happened. I mean I’ve been doing this for 25 years. I’ve been working every year. I haven’t had any downtime. I mean to worry that you’re in something that is successful that’s going to hurt you. That is the least of my worries. It’s usually the other way around. You do something and you worry that no one will want to see it. And I’ve been working every year doing Game of Thrones and I hope that if I choose, I would continue to be working.
Film Courage: Do you like the unknown? The freedom of possibility?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Yeah…I mean that’s I guess the nature of being an actor unless you are in a theater but usually most actors, we are all freelance and it’s not so much a question of liking it, it’s just the way it is.
Film Courage: Thank you!
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Yes. Thank you!
SHOT CALLER follows the harrowing, often heart-rending journey of successful businessman Jacob Harlon (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) who is transformed into Money, a stoic, ruthless prison gangster after a DUI sends him down the rabbit hole of the American prison system. As he navigates the brutality of his new home, adapting to its violent codes of ethics and rites of passage that will ensure his survival, he slowly loses his previous identity and his relationship to his former life, including his wife and son. The grip of his new family, the prison gang, extends beyond the prison walls. Upon his release, chased by the law enforcement, threatened by his incarcerated “protectors,” Money must orchestrate one last dangerous crime. All is not what it seems. The ruthless process of fulfilling his obligations also becomes his path to sacrifice, retribution and self-definition.
Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh
Written by: Ric Roman Waugh
Produced by: Michel Litvak, Gary Michael Walters, Jonathan King, Ric Roman Waugh Executive Producer: Lisa Zambri, Matthew Rhodes, Tucker Tooley
Casting Director: Mary Vernieu
Cinematographer: Dana Gonzales
Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Omari Hardwick, Lake Bell, Jon Bernthal, Emory Cohen, Jeffrey Donovan, Evan Jones, Benjamin Bratt, and Holt McCallany
SHOT CALLER in Select Theaters and On Demand August 18th, 2017
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