The Verge: Nash and Joel Edgerton

Nash, you have the craziest IMDb resume ever. There's entries for Stunts, Actor, Editor, Producer, Director, Writer, Editorial Department, Camera and Electrical Department. Do you ever think, "Well, there's only one or two I'd like to focus on?" How do you go after work?

NASH EDGERTON: Every now and then, a friend will ask me to work on something. I enjoy it! Other people's film sets is my film school. They do their thing, and I get to be a part of the film without the responsibility of putting it together.

Were there certain films that you were a part of that directly gave you that knowledge you needed for The Square?

NASH EDGERTON: Oh sure there were, especially when I started out. I remember when I first made a short film, the next time I was on the set as a stunt man was the first time I really noticed what was going on around me beyond the department I was involved in. I think it was The Island of Dr. Moreau, and I was really interested in what John Frankenheimer was doing.

That was a tumultuous set to get an education on!

NASH EDGERTON: Oh yeah, totally. It was total chaos. [Laughs] I was 21 or 22 years old, and I just enjoyed watching the process at such a young age. There are some film sets I've been on where you're like, "I never want my film set to be like this," and you can even learn from that. You can learn from people getting stuff right, but also from people doing things wrong, as well.

Joel, how is it that Nash got so heavily into stunt work and you didn't?

JOEL EDGERTON: It's sort of funny. Nash graduated from college and went into electrical engineering, and he was so frustrated and bored with it that he quit. Then, at exactly the same time I was sending in my applications to go to drama school, he had met these guys who had done stunts on some movie and it suddenly dawned on him: "That's what I want to do!" Nash had pretty much been a reckless guy all his teenage life. He was already a stunt man, he just wasn't getting paid for it.

Nash, you've done stunt work on some of the biggest action movies, but at the same time, you're credited for stunts on films that I wouldn't expect, like Sofia Coppola's next film, Somewhere. What did you do on that?

NASH EDGERTON: It's not that much action. Just a bit of driving, and someone had to fall down some stairs. I just came in and came out.

So how does something small like that get offered to you?

NASH EDGERTON: I knew her brother Roman because I'm a director at The Directors Bureau, which he started. I did videos through that for Bob Dylan and various other bands, and he encourages all the directors there to collaborate with each other. It's the same with Mike Mills [director of the upcoming film Beginners, which Edgerton did stunts for], who also started at The Directors Bureau. When my friends are making films, I just say, "If you need any help..." [Laughs]

Joel, you're an actor in Universal's upcoming take on The Thing, which was directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.. Is it more prequel or remake?

JOEL EDGERTON: We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We all know that everybody who revisits that film knows that it's still a great movie and it really holds up, so we're doing a prequel rather than fully remaking it. I always try to go into a project with the right frame of mind, and if the intentions weren't good, I never would have gotten involved. I really love Matthijs, I love his passion for the original film and what he can do by revisiting the material. Remaking Psycho, for instance, there's got to be a really good reason to do it. The thing that really hooked me about Matthjis's pitch is that there's a lot of evidence in the original film that makes you ask, "How did things go down [before the movie started]?" We find a carcass, some stuff is on fire, caved in, there's an axe in the wall, all that stuff. This film will really go back to what happened just before the Thing started to mess with Kurt Russell and all those American guys.

You'll also be seen in Gavin O'Connor's mixed martial arts drama Warrior, where you're the brother to Tom Hardy and son of Nick Nolte. That's an intimidating cast already!

JOEL EDGERTON: Oh, it was incredible. To me, Warrior was a real turning point, probably one of the greatest experiences I've ever had as an actor on set. Gavin O'Connor, I'd walk into a fire for that guy. He's a brilliant filmmaker and a passionate man. I have no problem saying that it's going to be the first film that really pays homage to this burgeoning sport of mixed martial arts. It has a lot of support backing it from the mixed martial arts community and a lot of high-class fighters are in the film. It stays true to the sport while giving you a true dramatic story about these two estranged brothers, played by me and Tom, and this father who's fallen from grace. It's a painful family reunion played out on the stage of this MMA tournament, and I think it's going to be one of the great fighting movies, like Rocky. I think people will have a real treat when that comes out in September.

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