IR Interview: Tom Welling For "Mafia Wars" [Saban]

The Inside Reel

Actor Tom Welling talks to The Inside Reel about inspiration, energy and strategy within characterization for his new action thriller from Saban Films: "Mafia Wars."

Transcript

00:00Obviously, I see the rocky thing back there.

00:28What films did you love growing up?

00:31What films got to you?

00:32Because there's a very physical side to your acting, but there's a very emotional side

00:36and they have to mix, I would think.

00:38I mean, the easy answer is James Bond.

00:39I was a huge, like I just, that's the first, but you know, I was more Indiana Jones than

00:45I was Star Wars.

00:50So I think those are the sort of the big ones.

00:53You know, I tried to watch movies like The Thing, and I realized, like Friday the 13th,

00:58and I realized I really wasn't a horror guy, like I'm just, it doesn't, it doesn't get

01:01me.

01:02My counterpart from Smallville, Michael Rosenbaum's a huge horror guy, and he's like trying to

01:07send me movies to watch.

01:08I'm like, dude, I just can't, I can't.

01:10Like it's just not my thing.

01:12And I'll send him like an action thing and he'll be like, I can't.

01:15So we're very, you know, very different in that way.

01:23I signed your release.

01:24That makes you mine, my friend.

01:25You're a cop?

01:26You're only way out of it, V, is working for me.

01:32You are going to help my undercover unit burn this operation to the ground.

01:39You sure about this?

01:40Yeah.

01:41Am I speaking to the White Knight?

01:44My brother, he says that you are creative.

01:48Show me what you got, baby.

01:50You must be new.

01:51Thought you were in prison, Tare.

01:52I just got out.

01:56Especially even with a character like this, with Terry, he's thinking, he's thinking strategy.

02:00What choices do I have to make?

02:01And you know, Kurt Russell as a character actor always did that.

02:05You always understood like, is this going to cause me more trouble or this?

02:10Could you talk about looking at a character that way or looking at a character like Terry

02:13that way?

02:14Because it's just what's the greater good of what's the bigger, the less trouble for

02:18me at this moment, you know?

02:20Yeah.

02:21There's, there's a, there's a thing in psychology is that you can't be in survival mode and

02:25creative mode at the same time.

02:27But what I liked about this character is he's being creative in a survival situation.

02:33If that makes any sense.

02:35And in every scene he's trying to navigate, is he going to survive?

02:39Can he get to where he's going to go?

02:41And ultimately what happens in the film is something happens that he didn't even think

02:44was going to happen, which I really liked.

02:46Like there was no like, okay, there's a helicopter down and we have to go in and get the people

02:52out of it.

02:53It's not that simple.

02:54Then we shot in Rome, which was beautiful and great, obviously.

02:58And then I think Scott, who directed it and wrote it, did a great job of just navigating

03:04the pacing of the film, which I was, was really important to me because you couldn't just

03:09sit around and talk like Terry never sits down.

03:12That's kind of on purpose.

03:15That was kind of a choice because like, why would he ever sit down?

03:18And he's trying to, you know, he's, he's, he's doing bad things for someone he loves.

03:23And I think that hopefully resonates with some people.

03:26How did you get out early?

03:30Hmm?

03:31You know, they didn't tell me shit.

03:35Wrong answer, man.

03:36I don't believe that for a fucking second.

03:39So I'm going to give you a chance.

03:43One little chance.

03:46Chance for what?

03:47Are you praying, man?

03:50Terry?

03:51Hmm?

03:52Depends on the situation.

03:55Well, it's confession time.

03:58This is one of the holiest cities on earth, man.

04:06Is something funny?

04:07This whole situation.

04:08I better find it funny too, okay?

04:14Or this, this right here shall be your resting place.

04:19You don't have a photo of me.

04:21You know, I'm not the law.

04:22I mean, the thing is, as you were saying, but the Roman environment plays a lot into

04:26it.

04:27But the thing is, it's also the amount of movement that you could do.

04:29Like, even I think there's a scene, there's an action scene inside a room and it's just

04:33where everybody is in that structure that makes the difference because you talk about

04:38looking at that because you have to obviously as a actor, the helicopter of it, but understand

04:43why your character is acting in the way he is in that moment.

04:46What you do, what I try to do is I embrace the pressure, I try to embrace the pressure

04:52of that so that every movement counts even more than anything else.

04:57You can't just, when everybody's in one room, you can't just sort of like disengage and

05:02walk away and come back.

05:04It's all about pressure and building pressure and building pressure.

05:07And for me, that's fun, especially when you got a bunch of people around you who are also

05:10doing that.

05:11Um, I mean, Cam does it such a great job.

05:14He never knew, I never knew what he was going to do from take to take in the best way.

05:19He was, he was just totally fantastic and locked in.

05:22Um, and so that helped me playing Terry as well.

05:26You wouldn't have given me the cocaine if that was the case.

05:29You wouldn't waste the good stuff on a policeman.

05:31Fuck.

05:32You're not going to kill me.

05:36Oh.

05:37Not?

05:38Really?

05:39Yeah.

05:41Do you have any idea how hard it is to get brains off your ride?

05:56It's good for you.

05:58Good for you.

05:59I like your reasons.

06:02I mean, you understand though, right?

06:04I mean, it's not personal.

06:06Right?

06:07I mean, gotta be sure.

06:08Right?

06:10I'll give you that one.

06:11Don't ever point a gun at me again.

06:14Does instinct take over?

06:15I mean, cause I mean, I've talked to you and Michael about this when you, uh, over in Smallville

06:19is the aspect of reacting, but you have to be active in a scene.

06:23Could you talk about that?

06:24Because the way Cam's acting, you have to sort of pace yourself with him and then he

06:30has to react to you.

06:32A lot of it, that's a good question.

06:35A lot of it in this one is Terry spends a lot of time waiting to see what Cam's going

06:40to do.

06:41And what Cam's doing is his character's testing to see what, how Terry's going to react.

06:46And so there's a back and forth, but from an actor's point of view, a lot like Michael,

06:52when you're working with someone like Cam, like, you know, you're both in the scene and

06:55you both have each other's backs.

06:57So you can be, you can be a little weird with each other.

07:00You can play around, but you both know that you're there for the same reason.

07:04And I think that it creates such a wonderful trust situation where, um, you can be creative.

07:12Yeah.

07:13Is it instinct?

07:14Do you have instinctual moments in those scenes you think, or is it more blocked?

07:19I think you do.

07:20I mean, listen, I've worked with actors before who show up to set and they have one way that

07:23they're going to do what they're doing and you're like, all right, that's cool.

07:26I'll work within that.

07:28Um, with Cam and I, we, you know, you block scenes.

07:31You're like, okay, I'm going to go here.

07:32You're going to go there.

07:33We're going to, you know, this and that.

07:34But if there's a moment here and there, because you're on the same team, you allow it to happen.

07:39And that's when you get those special sort of like moments, like eye to eye sort of things

07:45because you can't really force those.

07:47And if you do, the audience is going to see it a mile away.

07:50Make sure these rats are dealt with accordingly.

07:54I need you to call me now.

07:56Griff knows.

07:57You have to get out of there.

08:00I can't protect you.

08:01He's coming for all of you.

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