Jesse Plemons Is So Good In His One Scene In 'Civil War' The Internet Can't Stop Talking About It. How He Landed The Role

Cinema Blend

"Civil War" set an A24 box office record as the studio’s first debut at the top of the box office charts. Writer/director Alex Garland’s contribution to the 2024 movie schedule has been raking in praise alongside that cash, and the internet can’t stop talking about how good Jessie Plemons is in his one pivotal scene. And as Garland himself revealed, the process of Kirsten Dunst’s husband landing that role was a very quick and surprising process at that.  Jesse Plemons has a reputation for being a memorable actor that can crush in a scene, and I’m totally in agreement with the world boosting that signal. We even highlighted the "Killers of the Flower Moon" actor in our "Civil War" review, as his presence was further proof that Alex Garland assembled a cast of absolute titans to deliver his electrifying war epic.

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00:00I, you know, I would love to talk about whenever I had the pleasure of speaking with Kirsten Dunst

00:03at The Junket, she told me, and maybe this was a joke or the way she was phrasing it,

00:07but she said that Jesse Plemons took his part in the film as a favor to her. And obviously

00:12paid off because that scene is honestly one of the most tense sequences. I think I've seen it

00:15in a very long time. I'd love to know the story of how he became involved in the movie. And if like,

00:20if their personal relationship off camera at all affected the scene on camera.

00:25Well, I don't know. I, I, I literally don't know about the way it would have informed

00:31the scene, but what happened was there was another actor who was going to do that part. And

00:39round about a week before we started shooting, because we were in the rehearsal period,

00:45for the various reasons that actor just had to drop out. And I was really worried because that

00:52scene is, is kind of a, like a pivot point in the film. And it contains a lot of really important

01:00information in a film actually. And I was pretty despondent. I was standing outside this tower

01:08block and had took the call outside and then thought, well, I better go in for the rehearsal.

01:16But inside I had a kind of hollow, empty, worried feeling like, oh boy, we're in big trouble now.

01:23And got the elevator up, went into the place that we were rehearsing and thought I should tell the

01:30cast this immediately because it's the right thing to do. And Kirsten immediately said,

01:36I bet Jesse would do it. Let me, let me, let me find out. And 24 hours later, Jesse said,

01:42yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Read the scripts. And so it was a huge result. Huge.

01:48It was honestly, it was unbelievable. I know it's again, it's a, it's a, you know,

01:5310 minute sequence, but it's one of my favorite performances of the year.

01:57He's, he's pretty stunning. It's a, it's a great bunch of acting, great, great bunch of actors,

02:04excuse me, but that what that thing he does arrive, encapsulate something, leave film,

02:14loves that. And it's, so it was a real, it wasn't exactly a pleasure to shoot that scene,

02:21but it was like a masterclass. It was very, very impressive to watch all of them together,

02:31joined him in the tension of that moment. All of them really.

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