John Bradley was over the moon about the chance to make a science-fiction space thriller that also explores real world humanity.
The English actor, who rose to fame playing Samwell Tarly, a steward in the Night’s Watch on HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” enjoyed balancing exhilarating action with moments of gravity in his new movie “Moonfall,” which centers on a strange phenomenon in space that threatens to wipe out mankind.
“People who want just a big blockbuster, popcorn movie with lots of beautiful things to look at and lots of effects, and a bit of escapism and excitement, they’re going to have a great time,” Bradley told the Daily News.
“People who want a human story about personal redemption and family troubles and frustration ... there’s a lot of human drama to it,” he said. “And also, if you want to look deeper, there’s a much more profound message in there about our relationship with the Earth ... and the damage that we’re causing.”
Bradley stars in the film, out Friday in theaters and IMAX, as KC Houseman, a discredited scientist who gets written off as a conspiracy theorist as he tries to warn the world of looming danger.
When the moon starts falling toward Earth — throwing off the planet’s equilibrium and causing devastating flooding and destruction — NASA has no choice but to enlist KC on a desperate mission to save the human race.
Bradley, 33, describes his character as feeling “intensely frustrated” that nobody listens to him, and said it was important to capture the single-mindedness of KC in his portrayal.
“It wasn’t that I looked at conspiracy theories in so much as I looked at conspiracy theorists,” Bradley said of his approach to the role. “I looked into their energy, that energy of ‘I believe what I believe, and if anybody says anything to the contrary, I will just refuse to engage with it.’”
Halle Berry also stars in “Moonfall” as one of the heads of NASA, while Patrick Wilson plays a disgraced former astronaut.
The movie sees their characters team up with Bradley’s for an expedition into space he said was unlike anything done before.
“I’ve done green-screen stuff before, but it’s never been in a situation where I’ve had to completely imagine something that nobody has any frame of reference for,” Bradley said. “When we were filming those scenes, we were acting the part of people flying through space, but the only thing we had to go off was [writer-director] Roland [Emmerich] with a microphone telling us what we were supposed to be seeing out the window.”
Bradley starred on all eight seasons of “Game of Thrones.” He enjoyed revisiting the fantasy realm with “Moonfall,” and said the “imagination” of the genre can change the way audiences view the real world.
“The best ones, they’re about human relationships in a fantastical setting,” Bradley said. “When you strike the balance of real people or real personalities in extraordinary circumstances, that’s something that gives you lessons to learn about your own life. I think that fantasy does that in a much more perceptive and much more complete way than ... straight drama or naturalistic drama.”
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