Interview: Henry Golding, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Marwan Kenzari and KiKi Layne Talk The Old Guard 2

I was lucky enough to speak with some of the cast of The Old Guard 2 hitting Netflix July 2nd. Henry Golding, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Marwan Kenzari and KiKi Layne stopped by to chat about working on the film. 

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Hi there. My name is Eoin, I’m from The Action Elite. Good to meet you all.

Henry: Good to meet you, Eoin.

 

Thank you for taking the time to chat.

Henry: Is that Hard Boiled on your wall there?

 

It is indeed, yeah.

Oh my God, classic.

 

Yeah, John Woo’s the king.

So Henry, you’re first off because you’re one of the new kids in the block in this movie. Can you tell us a little about Tua and what appealed about him to you?

Yeah, so Tua is the new kid on the block and within the old guard, but he’s one of the oldest. He’s been around for a long time but been in hiding. The only person that had known of his existence within the old guard was Andromache/Andy, and for good reason. I think he went through a bit of history in his reality and decided to lend himself to this idea of figuring out who the immortals were and the only reason, the only way that he could do that was to kind of follow the adventures and the impacts that each had and the reasons why, but also the fallout and the kind of domino effect that it has on kind of civilizations the world over. I think it’s one of my lines. But no, he’s a very complex character because he’s a bit of a hermit. So, he’s coming out to this group without having much human contact. That idea that he knows about every single person, but they hardly know anything of him, I think it’s a fun balance.

 

For sure. Chiwetel, speaking of complicated characters, I love the way Copley has changed since the first movie. Can you talk about where he’s at since the events of the last film?

Chiwetel: Yeah, so his journey is complicated. And so he’s obviously began this whole thing as a kind of antagonistic character, really, and with his own reasons for doing what he did and has now become a kind of trusted member of the group who probably first started as more of a facilitator and using his set of skills to aid and assist the Old Guard. But now he’s actually in the field as well and probably needs somebody to tap him on the shoulder and tell him he’s not immortal because he likes to get stuck in (laughs). But that’s what makes him a really fascinating and fun character to play. It’s great that he’s found a community. He definitely feels like he’s come out of his shell and is embracing this community, which really kind of gives him a lot of meaning.

 

Marwan, Joe has an interesting journey in this movie. Can you talk about the relationship between how Joe and Nicky has changed since the first film?

Marwan: Well, we find Joe at the end of the first movie being maybe a bit torn between two forces when Booker goes into exile. And therefore makes these decisions uncharacteristically apart from Nicky. And therefore, things get a bit shaken up between them. And the deeper element of their journey in the second movie is whether or not they should be scared of ever losing each other at some point. So, that was the direction that we went, and that was all partly because of this long improvisation that we did in the rehearsal week or the prep week that brought up all these different little subtle elements that we were able to put in some of these scenes.

Now, KiKi, Nile is kind of a big deal we find out early in this movie. Can you talk a little bit about that without any major spoilers?

Oh, without any major spoilers (laughs).

 

No pressure.

KiKi: Watch the first film, pay attention to when Andy kidnaps Nile from her Marine base because that is very important for what Nile becomes in this journey that she’s on of trying to fit into the team. And I think she’s answered a lot of questions and feels a bit more comfortable in her position in the second film. I think she’s challenged in a way still in the second film that reminds her that girl, you still have a lot to learn about how all of this works. I think it’s really interesting to play a character who’s going on that journey. Yeah, no spoilers (laughs).

 

You also got some crazy action in this movie. Can you talk about some of the training you went through for it?

KiKi: In the gym, a lot, but I love it. It’s a part of character development. That’s my favorite thing about what I do. So, if the character Nile is a Marine, very physical, so challenging myself physically and being pushed by everyone around me. Like we all kind of had to take it up a notch in this film. They came back and they wanted more action and we all had to show up and give it our all. I think we did pretty well.

 

Henry, do you like to do as many of your own stunts as possible?

Henry: I mean, as much as we sort of can, there’s definitely certain things that are beyond my scope for sure. Jumping off the side of buildings or abseiling into glass windows. KiKi can do it, maybe not me (laughs). But no, I think there’s a beauty in seeing an actor being able to accomplish some of this choreography. I think it’s half the fun of wanting to be in a movie like this is getting involved, learning a new skill. We get so lucky as actors that we have some of the best people at what they do in the world teaching us in this really hyper kind of concentrated time. So, to have these professionals at our disposal, it’s such a gift. So, why wouldn’t you throw yourself in and do as much as you can?

 

Chiwetel: Well said, bro.

 

All right, I think we’re out of time there. Well, thank you very much all for the chat and best of luck with the movie.

 

Henry: Thank you.

Chiwetel: Have a great day.