ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Gunner star Luke Hemsworth about the film’s stunts and working with the legendary Morgan Freeman. The action movie is now available to own on digital and is playing in select Regal Theaters.
“War veteran Colonel Lee Gunner takes his two sons on a camping trip with their uncle Jon, to reconnect with them after being at the battle front for so long. The trip goes awry when Jon stumbles over a tripwire and sets off an explosion, alerting a gang of violent bikers in the midst of a massive drug operation. Not anticipating Gunner’s elite combat skills, the gang members are taken out one by one. The boys try to go for help, but end up right in the arms of Dobbs, the son of kingpin Kendric Ryker who runs the organization from prison. With no one but himself to turn to, an enraged Gunner wreaks havoc to rescue his two sons, until he gets to the top and confronts Ryker. You don’t cross Gunner,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Luke, you really get to kick some ass in this. There’s some really fun and inventive fight scenes. I think my favorite was that you were in the woods, and there were these two women who were very acrobatic, using their bodies on each other to attack you. How was it filming that scene? Because it’s such a blast to watch.
Luke Hemsworth: Oh, it’s great. I mean, that whole stunt team, those guys from Thailand were so, so good. So giving. So patient with me. I’d come off an injury. I’d broken my ankle Christmas Eve, and so I had surgery, and so I was pretty tentative going in as to whether I was gonna be able to do a lot of the stuff that we were planning to do. But credit to them, and credit to the surgeon and everyone, I did everything. I was able to do all of those. I don’t think there’s a single stunt in the film that isn’t me.
But yeah, I’m just some guy who’s punching and kicking the bag in the backyard. They’re very, very good at making you look good. We would do stuff and learn stuff on the fly. We trained stuff. We were doing all sorts of interesting, innovative stuff, as much as we can to make these fights look as real and as interesting as possible. That all comes from them, I think so.
That’s incredible that you were injured because I would’ve never known watching the finished product.
I was really glad how much Morgan Freeman is actually in this movie. Once you get face to face with him, it, it really reenergizes the movie in such a fun way. He’s still electric on screen, even at his age. What really stood out when working with a real living legend? Because he still contributes so much to this film.
It’s a dream sitting next to that man, as I’m sure it was for him to sit next to me [laughs]. He was very, very, very gracious to me. He was very, very giving. I can’t help but fanboy and geek out. I asked him 75,000 questions about everything that he’s ever done because I had a captive audience.
He was stuck in the car with me. We’re up on a rig, and it’s hard to get out. So after a while, I asked him who his favorite director was, and he said, “Clint Eastwood.” I said, “Why?” And he said, “Because he doesn’t ask too many questions.” I was like, “All right, point taken. All right, off I go.”
That’s such a special moment. Thank you for sharing that. That’s lovely. What I also like about this film is we get to see your full range of acting because not only are there these wild fights, but there’s also a very serious character-driven story with the family. This father has lost a son and has grown apart from the other sons he hasn’t seen. How was it really getting to show your full range of abilities here?
I think that’s what you look for, right? You don’t wanna be one note. You wanna have a character that has depth, and this guy, while he is MacGyver-esque in everything that he does, he is very, very, very capable physically. There was a pain to him and there’s these beautiful layers that you’re able to explore and these big existential questions in terms of what would you do? What would you do if someone does that to your family? How far would you go? And I’m a father, so it’s not a fun one to play with, but an interesting question to ask yourself. I’m not sure I’d go to the lengths that he does, but that’s his skill set. He’s like, “They drew first blood, not me.”
Thanks to Luke Hemsworth for talking about Gunner.
