IR Interview: Brandon Sklenar For "1923" [Paramount+-S2]

The Inside Reel

Actor Brandon Sklenar talks to The Inside Reel about perspective, memory, intent, approach and time in regards to the Season 2 finale of "1923," on Paramount+.

Transcript

00:00anything worth having is worth fighting for 1923 new season streaming february 23rd like obviously

00:24going into the finale here is you know the aspect of perspective and perception of

00:29spencer's idea of that you know and how he sees pat and how you see his path as the actor playing

00:38yeah i mean they're kind of one in the same i mean i i um

00:45you know the season one process was so different to season two because obviously like we didn't

00:52we didn't know what show we were making yet and we didn't know what the tone was and i didn't know

00:57how this guy moved through the world and i didn't know how he sounded really and i don't know how

01:01you know what his vibe was um so we sort of found all that from season one and then

01:08you know we have two years between season one and season two in in real time in life which is a big

01:15two years i mean i i you know i started i started that show when i was barely 30 years old and i'm

01:2234 now so um those are some big years you know uh just in your own personal growth and development so

01:30um i really grew with that character and he grew with me and by the time we finished season by

01:35time we started season two he'd the guy had been in in inside of me for a couple years you know just

01:41marinating and just waiting um and you know he we are uh forever connected on that level so as it was

01:54i don't know there's not it's it's like my you know my thoughts become his thoughts you know there's

01:58not much from like an acting standpoint when i'm doing the scenes as spencer in season two like i'm

02:06genuinely thinking the things that he would be thinking because i've spent so much time with him

02:10um so sort of having an objective outlook on it is interesting you know because it feels so ingrained

02:20does that make sense they want to take this place from us this fight ain't over what's his name spencer

02:28he's a warrior the stone killer where are you headed montana family needs me i'll destroy everything

02:39they feel true you will carve this place to pieces they can try but that ain't happening

02:50my family is in danger no no because it becomes natural uh yeah it's interesting with with an

02:57instinct though in certain scenes in certain things in the way you move and react with whether

03:03you know it's on the boat you know when it's when you get off the boat can you talk about finding that

03:07movement in in him because you know the the physicality reflects the emotionality and back

03:12and forth and he's always thinking what he's doing a lot of the time but sometimes he goes on instinct

03:18yeah no that is interesting i mean he's he's a he's a really thoughtful guy i mean he's a hyper

03:25intentional person um almost uh out of out of fear of of who he would be if he allowed himself to be

03:36reactionary um and instinctual and that you know well what i can say about that is in the finale you

03:47definitely get a chance to see him be a bit reactionary which is which is uh exciting it's

03:55about memory i mean because when you look back at season one versus season two it's those memories

04:00the memories of alex it's the memories of togetherness but it's also an aspect of responsibility

04:06that pulls him back when you talk about looking at memory because the way memory is in your head it's

04:13sort of you know it it affects expectation uh both of the character itself but as people's expectations

04:20of the character does that make sense oh 100 yeah no it's interesting you bring that up because the

04:26memories the memory aspect is something that i did going into season one um i have like a a way that i

04:36go about creating memories for characters now and spencer was the first time i had done that um and i built

04:47i built specific memories for him from the war and from his childhood um in such a way that

04:57i have like a an emotional response to them as if they actually happened to me

05:01um so if someone speaks about those things it's real for me um it's a little kind of kind of crazy

05:10but um it's a thing you know and um the way that we shot season one and julie and i actually living

05:19in africa and actually being on a game preserve for months and actually doing everything that we did

05:25um all of his memories are my memories you know there's no separation between them because we

05:32just lived it um so such a gift you know messes with your mind a little bit on a certain level but

05:41such a gift um to have those those memories and to have such an emotional response to them

05:48is this drift east or west of fargo east the tracks go through a dip in the valley there gets

05:53covered up every year maybe they shouldn't put the tracks in the dip they were a little more

05:56concerned about sitting bull spotting gun than any snow drift back then sir tracks for livingston clear

06:01snow didn't hit there but from big timber to minneapolis the world is white got an arrival time

06:06for livingston let me see your ticket well you could switch in fargo or you could take a train to

06:16billings out of sioux falls would it make much of a difference well there's about everywhere but

06:20burger is going to be a mess not one of those trains is getting out you have to look at the

06:24journey per se brandon like you know the the journey back home what people you know not not

06:30people in terms of the audience but like what the family expects all that kind of stuff does that

06:36have to seep into sort of you know the choices he makes or the choices you make as an actor per se

06:42absolutely i mean yeah yeah there yeah absolutely i mean there's i think he's

06:54you know he's he's haunted by his memories you know and he's plagued by

07:02an expectation he puts on himself to show up a certain way and i mean

07:08i i i mean i left home i moved to los angeles when i was 19 and i didn't go back to new jersey for five

07:18years um you know and i didn't at all so for you know many reasons um but uh when i yeah i can relate

07:31to that as when i went back it was there's this expectation of like you know how you're going to

07:37show up and and and wanting to have that conversation um and wanting to have some level of connection to

07:45make up for the lack of connection um and that's all motivating spencer just as it motivated me you know

07:53when i was 24 25 years old going home for the first time um

07:57um yeah it's definitely in there and influencing his behavior and and and how he moves to the world

08:03and how he addresses um how he addresses these people i'll book you through sioux falls you'll wait

08:10a day on the train but at least you'll know when's coming thank you you do have a sleeping car book

08:15sir i can't sleep in those things where were you stationed hard going what battalion

08:27the one they lost i mean even when we see the last uh before the finale and not getting into

08:35anything of of that because you know we want to you know surprise the the audience is the the aspect of

08:41it's interesting loneliness and longing you know because you can see the loneliness they're going

08:45through but it's the stakes that drive them you know about what they might become who they might become

08:52because you are one person one part of life as you said and then once something happens you become

08:57something else um can you talk about how that the the relationship between the two of them have

09:04strengthened them as people but also made them specific to each other in that way they almost

09:10cannot be apart and yet they are does that make sense totally yes great questions um appreciate these um

09:18um yeah i mean that's that's like uh that's a love thing you know that's like

09:29it's interesting because i feel like

09:32when you've that that type of love is so rare and that's why i think people respond to it so much

09:39because everyone wants to feel that and everyone wants to experience it and some people go their entire

09:44lives and never experience that and it's it's what songs are about and it's what poetry is about and

09:50some of it's like could be classified and and contemporary psychological like you know breakdowns as

09:56codependency or whatever but like

09:59you guys are so good together so yeah but that's the thing is like at what point is it just people who are just

10:05madly in love and you know it's it's it's it's where is that balance you know but

10:09they're like it's it's it's such a profound love that you're willing to suffer for it you know like

10:18you're willing to be lonely for it and you're willing to put yourself

10:25you know almost kill yourself in defense of it um and and and to have it actualized and to have it

10:33realized and that's such a wild sort of paradox you know what i mean like this thing that brings you

10:39so much joy and beauty and and fills you fills your cup so much you're willing to smash that cup

10:46all together just to get a drop of it back you know um and you're willing to die for it that's

10:53the thing is that you know people in those situations you know so and i mean and that's just that's just

10:59kind of a beautifully tragic aspect of the human condition you know that i think is um

11:07um you know it's it's it's in literature i mean wars have been fought over it it's it's like a

11:13thing that's in us it's ancient you know it's primal it's tribal it's ancient it's it's um

11:19it's an animal kingdom shit you know wow and it's it's uh and it touches on that and i think it's it's

11:27something that people root for because it's in us and we all want it you know but it'll also drive you

11:35if if pushed to do some really insane things to protect it um and and you can't hate anybody for

11:45that you know for fighting for love it's universal my wife is lost to me and i don't have time

11:53all the things all the things i've heard of this grand jake's a king

12:13you

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