Dash Mihok is no stranger to the action genre with roles in Punisher: War Zone, Ray Donovan, I am Legend, Burn Notice, Trespass and many more. In his latest movie Armor, he stars alongside Sylvester Stallone as an armed robber.
Plot: Academy Award Nominee Sylvester Stallone and Jason Patric star in an action-packed, thriller about the lengths one man will go to save what’s left of his family and reclaim his own life. James and his son Casey are armored truck drivers tasked with delivering a suspicious package. After a violent ambush on the road, James and Casey are trapped until they discover the value of what they have been carrying and join forces to outgun and outwit their attackers
Hey Dash, how are you?
Hey Eoin, good, thanks.
Thanks for chatting with me today.
My pleasure. Thanks for chatting with me.
Really enjoyed your latest movie, Armor. What was it that really appealed about it for you?
Just that it was, well, obviously, it’s Sly doing it, but just the fact that there was some underlying depth and humanity and flawed characters that I love to see in action movies where it could be so easy to chop something up and just make it about that, but that there was some humanity in it and some wonderance of what these guys are up to in this moment in their life and what’s going to either trigger them in the moment and get them, what they’re going to brush off in their history and what they’re not. But obviously, getting to work with Sly and Jason and Josh and all the guys; it was just attractive to get to play with being able to step up to to Sly’s character.
Is he intimidating to work with? He seems like a big presence on set…
No, I mean, I think he’s intimidating just his physical part when he comes on set. I mean, everybody has a moment. I’m not going to try to flex, but I’m not really intimidated by much. I’m more excited by what I’ve learned from how his focal point is, what he’s looking at; I’m always looking at how to direct things and whatever, and he has very much that brain. “How do we make these lines work?” and just the process of a veteran actor’s skill set. I don’t want to be bravado did he intimidate me? No, he excited me. I think I felt more like my job was to tell people not to be intimidated. It’s like, just treat him obviously with utmost respect, but just do what we got to do to get what we got to get. That will be the biggest gift to him and all of us rather than the hoo-ha. And I felt like everybody did that.
How did you find working with director Justin? Was he like to work with?
Honestly, this thing was so fast that it’s not like we did a bunch of rehearsals; there wasn’t much, we worked out where the car was going to be and how we were going to do certain things to set up stuff more technically. But I think that everybody knew what Sly, we had been talking, Sly and I about the writing once we had a gauge of everything. I mean, I love Justin and the writers, everybody’s great, but it was kind of rock and roll. At that moment in that heat and whatever, and especially when Sly’s there, it’s like, we’re working with the DP and the camera and this is what we got to get; we know what we got to get. So, there wasn’t that much interaction to be honest, but he’s great. I mean, everybody’s great.
Did you have to do any physical training for the role or firearms training?
No, I feel like really comfortable with firearms. I actually knew the armorer, pun intended (laughs), I guess, I’ve worked with before. I’ve done a lot of movies; if anybody knows safety and that kind of stuff. I mean, I’ve been through boot camps and done, not to be coy about it, but no, the hardest part was being my age now and having to put all that gear on and flak jacket and another jacket and whatever in a hundred-degree heat and a hundred percent humidity. And then looking over at Sly, who’s not wearing a flak jacket and going, “that’s what you have to aspire to”.
It looked, even just watching the film, I thought, oh my God, it looks so hot there.
Yeah. I mean, makeup didn’t have to do much (laughs).
Did you improvise anything that maybe wasn’t in the script or did you just stick to it?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I would improvise a few things, but I give people a heads up. I mean, there’s always things of that nature and with the geometry of how you’re shooting and once you get into it and what people are doing and how they’re approaching the truck and what they’re saying. The script is going to change a little bit. And I always come with some alternates anyway, but I always share them. Like I think that this, and that was what was great with working with Sylvester is that we would share; like he was thinking about something that he had written and I was thinking about something I had written and we both gave each other, like, good notes. I was like, “oh, that’s good” and he’d be like, “yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s good”. It was helpful. I wouldn’t say like I did too much where I just flipped it on its head, but I would audition them and if it was a rehearsal or on camera, then it worked fine. But I’m always ready to play.
I think it’s interesting that your character and Sly’s have a backstory where you’re not just a one note villain. What do you think makes for someone to be like a memorable antagonist?
Look, the minute I saw this, I was like, oh, my God, there’s so much going on with this guy’s life. And I’m not like one of those people that like overdoes the research and brings too much to the craft to the whatever. But all I’m thinking about is there’s a lot going on. He has a history with this guy and I know this is going to be shot quickly in a certain way. So, what moments can I have to show the pain and the distortion or the unhinged-ness? It’s not a word, but you know what I mean? (laughs) Of what this guy is going through and the friendship of like, why are you guys doing that? Why are you doing that now? And what’s changed? And that to me is my favorite part to bring to any villain. I mean, the best villains have humanity and you want to know why they’re doing what they’re doing. And if the story is told right and I just do that thing, even in the glimmer of a moment, you’re like, hmm, I wonder what the hell happened to that guy yesterday that got him to that place, whether it’s Sly being, maybe a little more warmhearted and me being a little more unhinged. But that makes for the best, at least for me.
How would you like it to resonate with audiences?
I would like this movie to resonate with audiences as being a grab your popcorn and then hopefully it falls out of your mouth a little bit. And then hopefully when you’re chewing on it, you’re looking at it and going like, what’s happening with that guy, with that father? What’s the matter with him? And just to get the humanity that we’re all immersed in right now and put yourself in other people’s shoes, even in an action film. I think that’s the best acting. Just get somebody to think about like, why would that guy do it? Also be like, yeah, I want to shoot this and that’s crazy. And like the guy’s going off, but to think about why we’re connected or disconnected. That’s a lot to ask in a movie like this, but if there’s a hint of that, I would love people to take that away.
Excellent. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me again, and all the best with the movie.
It’s my pleasure. Where are you, by the way?
I’m in Toronto, but I’m from Scotland initially.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re in Toronto. Okay. I love Toronto.
Oh, me too. It’s a great place to live. Great movie town.
It is. Well, hopefully we talk again. Bye!
ARMOR will be in Theaters, On Digital and On Demand November 22, 2024.