Sisu 2: We chat with Stephen Lang and Jorma Tommila about the awesome action sequel

A few weeks ago I had a chat with Sisu: Road to Revenge director Jalmari Helander. That’s coming soon, but in our chat he mentioned that when he was looking to cast an antagonist for his sequel, the first actor to pop into his head was none other than Stephen Lang. He told me that when he approached Lang to play the movie’s villain, Red Army officer Igor Draganov, who is responsible for the murder of hero Aatami Korpi’s (Jorma Tommila) family, he joked with the director that he felt like Tommila had stolen his role, as he’s so identified with playing crusty older vigilante types (perhaps most memorably in the Don’t Breathe movies). Recently, I had the chance to talk with Lang, and when I asked him about that comment, he laughed, saying he wondered why Helander wanted him when he already had an amazing older guy as his hero.

But Lang — who I must say has always been one of the coolest guys to talk to — said what got him excited about playing the villain was the fact that Igor is like Aatami’s dark reflection, and that had they been born in each other’s shoes, it’s not hard to imagine them going down each other’s paths, with them both these elemental forces of pure destruction. You can check out my interview with Lang embedded above (of course — I had to share my love of Michael Mann’s Manhunter with him), but I also got to chat with Jorma Tommila, albeit by email, with him apparently quite a shy, quiet, laid-back kind of guy. Here’s a transcript of our (short) exchange:

How did you react when Sisu became an unexpected international hit? Did you ever think it would make you an action hero in your sixties?
Both international popularity and the fact that I became an action hero at my age were big surprises for me.

What was the biggest physical challenge of the sequel?
The most challenging thing was keeping my mind and body in a state of war for the entire ten weeks of filming.

You have to act completely without dialogue — so how do you convey your character’s motivations/emotional arc?
It is a complex process that requires both inner understanding and strong external expression. The portrayal of a character must become personal. I think the most important task is to create the character of Aatami Korpi, who lives and acts like he’s in a state of war, under extreme physical and emotional pressure. Grief and anger from a lost family, a destroyed life and a deep desire for revenge. However, those feelings come with the hope and the possibility of a new beginning and a strong faith in a potential new life. As an actor I had to physically strain myself and find a similar state mentally by creating mental images, digging up events from my memories that move my mind. To strive to find at least a part of the psychophysical state in which the character has to be and act and create from it a tangible expression. When this character is ready, the actor can be thrown into any scene or any situation in the film and he will always act correctly.

If Sisu 3 becomes a reality would you be on board?
I think so.

I liked how the final showdown with Stephen Lang wasn’t overly choreographed. It looked like two guys doing whatever they could to kill each other. That said, was there a specific choreography you had to follow?
Yes, we practiced basic choreography but during filming we also improvised a bit.

Jalmari is doing John Rambo next. Would you potentially be up for a role in that?
It depends on the role.

The post Sisu 2: We chat with Stephen Lang and Jorma Tommila about the awesome action sequel appeared first on JoBlo.