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