Some performances are so selflessly and expertly integrated into a film’s ensemble that awards voters tend to take them for granted, looking instead to more assertive scene-stealers from sometimes starrier names.
Nobody better demonstrates that this season than Anthony Mackie, rising star of stage and screen and the secret weapon of awards heavyweight “The Hurt Locker.”
While Jeremy Renner has deservingly caught the eye of multiple precursor bodies, many of them have curiously failed to notice that much of Renner’s performance exists in a tensely riveting pas de deux with Mackie, whose sternly pragmatic Sgt. Sanborn is not only the yin to the impetuous yang of Renner’s SSgt. James, but a striking study in its own right of internalized male insecurity.
Together with Brian Geraghty, as a weaker soldier dependent on Sanborn’s stabilizing influence, the three actors, alongside a smart selection of cameo players, perform some of the year’s most delicately attuned ensemble playing. And even if Mackie hasn’t received quite the level of individual attention he deserves, he accepts praise for the film (and a well-earned SAG ensemble nomination) as evidence of a job well done.
“Look, when you work on a film like this, any idea of ego goes out the window,” the 30 year-old New Orleans native tells me over the phone from New York. “This is a story about brotherhood, so it’s dependent on the synergy of a great ensemble. As actors, we were just concerned with taking care of each other, making sure we had each other’s back. It’s not about being pretty, you know?”
This generously collaborative attitude is perhaps indicative of Mackie’s Juilliard-trained theater background; indeed, he’s currently mired in rehearsals for “A Behanding in Spokane,” a new Broadway play by Martin McDonagh (“In Bruges”), in which he’ll play opposite Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell. (“Four months of working with Christopher Walken should be … interesting,” he laughs.)
But it’s not only with respect to his fellow actors that Mackie put his stage experience to work on the gruelling shoot for “The Hurt Locker.” “In a sense, it was a lot like doing a play, certainly more so than any film I’ve done,” he says. “When you have, like, four or five cameras following you, and you’re doing these long 12 or 13-minute takes, you can really block everything out around you and just immerse yourself in the scene with the other actors.”
Mackie has amassed some impressive screen credits since making an eye-catching film debut in “8 Mile” seven years ago, but “The Hurt Locker” struck him immediately as a potential breakthrough vehicle.
“I was blown away by the level of humanity in Mark [Boal]’s script, its interest in flawed human beings,” he says. “So many scripts I read have characters who are defined by adjectives – the guy who is funny or quirky, the girl who is obsessive or awkward – and that’s it. These were actual three-dimensional people. We tend to think of soldiers as superheroes, but they’re scared like we’re scared, flawed like we’re flawed. I wanted to play that.”
Upon reading the script, however, Mackie found that he character he most responded to wasn’t the one he was being asked to play – director Kathryn Bigelow originally had him pencilled in for Sgt. Eldridge, the role ultimately played by his longstanding friend Brian Geraghty.
“I could see straight away that Sanborn is who I would be in those circumstances – the guy who whose one goal is to stay alive, to keep his soldiers alive,” he explains. But it was the vulnerability in the character’s breakdown scene at the film’s close that hit the actor hardest.
“That scene floored me. As a young man, I related so intensely to that fear of having 30 years of life and nothing to show for it, nothing to leave the world. That idea of lineage, the importance of manhood, was so strong to me. When I met Kathryn, I said, ‘Look, I’ll play Eldridge if that’s what you want. But this is why I need to play Sanborn.’”
While the shoot was a personally cathartic one for Mackie, it was also one that permanently altered his perception of the military (“I wouldn’t have the balls or the backbone to do what these guys do”), as well as of those on the other side of the conflict. Fascinated by his contact with Muslim culture during the Jordan-based shoot, the actor spent an additional two months traveling through the Middle East to further his understanding.
“The Muslims are such a beautiful people, and I was so intrigued by their dedication to their faith. As an American, I’m now sorry to the Middle East for the way we’ve disrespected their culture. I think it’s something America has a problem with, and we need to deal with that.”
Mackie’s social consciousness is also evident in a project he and others have been trying to get off the ground for some time: a biopic of Jesse Owens, the legendary African-American athlete whose four-medal haul at the 1936 Berlin Olympics defied the principles of the Third Reich. In biopic-happy Hollywood, it’s a story that is long overdue for big-screen treatment. Mackie vociferously agrees.
“Jesse Owens was our last line of defence. He changed the world. This is a story that needs to be told.” He sighs. “But you wouldn’t believe how hard it’s been to get people interested in making this movie.”
It won’t be the actor’s first attempt at playing one of his personal heroes. Earlier in 2009, Mackie portrayed a very different manner of black icon, slain rapper Tupac Shakur, in the Notorious B.I.G. biopic “Notorious.” “Tupac was the first CD I ever bought,” he recalls, laughing. “I was a mama’s boy. I had five brothers and sisters, a kickass mom and dad. There were a lot of spankings in that house! Tupac gave me my actor’s rebelliousness, one hundred per cent.”
Continuing the theme of musical legends, Mackie also has a biopic of New Orleans ragtime cornetist Buddy Bolden wrapped and ready to hit screens later this year. For now, however, Broadway is foremost in his mind, as he stays safely away from the campaigning madness surrounding “The Hurt Locker” on the opposite coast.
He will, however, be in evidence as a nominee and presenter at Saturday’s SAG Awards, and is glad of a chance to hang out with his former co-stars, with whom he retains a close bond. As he explains: “The film is about seeing men stand face-to-face and telling them that they love each other. That’s the relationship we had as actors.”
Comments
21 responses to “INTERVIEW: Anthony Mackie”
I liked THL but I am suck of hearing about poor old forgotten Mackie. Dont you think this film has gotten ENOUGH awards love already?? Seriously. So many other films like The Road, A Single Man, The Messenger, Bright Star getting consistently looked over, I wouldnt complain about THL at all
It’s about the performance, not the film. And the amount of awards attention showered upon the latter only highlights how neglected the former has been by comparison.
But hey, thanks for engaging with the article.
Fanboys of Avatar are attacking blog sites to try to chip away at THE HURT LOCKER’S momentum. So sad.
Mackie is such a gentleman! What a knockout performance. It is hard for such subtlety to get noticed when there is a wild card, like Renner who also deserves so much praise. All of the perfomances in the film were top drawer.
THE HURT LOCKER was the awards underdog, but now that James Cameron has given his ex-wife his blessing (after all he suggested that she do this picture)… he’ll be fine to share the gold, move out of the limelight and share it with a fellow female director. This is going to make history! First woman to win best picture and best director in over 80 YEARS! Go Hurt Locker, go!!! Sweep! Blow that glass ceiling into smithereens!
Great Interview. Mackie has been one of my favorite actors for awhile now and when I saw THL I was blown away by his performance. I am excited by the Buddy Bolden project and hopefully the Jesse Owens biopic will get picked up. I also heard about a movie he is in at Sundance called Night Catches Us with Kerry Washington but I haven’t heard much about it.
Guy, my point is that the awards chatter has been all about Avatar and THL and films that you love yourself like Bright Star get ignored. Dont you think you could help this by broadening your coverage??
Sorry off topic, I know.
As usual, the BAFTA noms have followed the top 5 chapter selections. Unless of course your film is called Bright Star. Actress- all the chapter noms except Cornish (replaced by Tatou); Make Up- all the chapter noms except Bright Star (replaced by Nine); Cinematography- all the chapter noms except Bright Star and Serious Man (D9 and The Road instead); Production Design- all the chapter noms except Bright Star and Sherlock (IB and Avatar) . Unbelievable
I still think that Mackie has a shot at an Oscar nomination. The film itself has attracted major awards attention, and sometimes an actor, without getting much love from the critics, can “ride the wave” to a nomination. Normally, I hate it when that happens (see Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), but in this case I’m keeping my fingers crossed for it.
Also, since Christoph Waltz is so exceedingly far ahead in the Supporting Actor race, there’s not really anyone else (save for maybe Woody Harrelson) who’s guaranteed in. Take for example, In Contention’s remaining three predictions. The Lovely Bones has been largely dismissed by critics and audiences, which may hurt Stanley Tucci’s chances, though he’s so overdue AMPAS may not care. Christopher Plummer is about as overdue as you can get, but as far as I’m concerned The Last Station’s campaign is, to borrow a line from Miracle Max, “mostly dead.” I don’t think An Education is going to have as strong a showing at the Oscars as predicted, either, though I’m biased since I thought Molina went totally overboard in his overpraised performance (but I guess that didn’t stop Renée Zellweger).
Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I believe that when AMPAS members look at their ballots and want to support The Hurt Locker, there’ll be a lot of his name showing up in #2 and #3 spots, which may actually make a difference this year.
Andrew2: I’ve already posted interviews with Jane Campion and Abbie Cornish, and we have a Tech Support interview on “Bright Star” coming up. You can’t accuse us of not giving the film its due. And while I share your disappointment about the film’s performance, I’m not going to obsess on it.
Robert: I agree — the Best Supporting Actor field looks awfully loose. I’m actually working up a piece about it.
Sorry Guy, I actually meant the coverage overall on awards sites. It sort of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when time after time the same handfull of films are featured. Do awards sites follow the buzz or help create it??
I fully admit that In contention has given Bright Star the most recognition of any awards or oscar site/blog, and I thank for that. Yeah, maybe I am obsessing about it, but to be frank, this is the first time in over a decade of following the awards circuit that my favorite film of the year has been so comprehensively snibbed. So maybe I’ll get over it next year!!
“…this is the first time in over a decade of following the awards circuit that my favorite film of the year has been so comprehensively snubbed.”
Welcome to my world, mate.
Now, back to Anthony Mackie…
Great interview. I’ve always found Anthony Mackie to be an underrated actor.
Anthony comes across as someone very eloquent, thoughtful and intelligent. I was surprised to learn of his theater background but I suppose that could only have helped fine-tune his performance.
Personally, I thought Mackie was equal (if not better) than Renner but both are deserving of all the acclaim showered (or not, in Mackie’s case) their way.
@ Robert Hamer: It’s good that you have the conviction to predict off-beat choices but I have a hard time believing there will be any major surprises. If there is, it’ll be someone that’s been in the conversation for a while (I’m thinking Christian Mackay for Welles) but the dearth of precursor love for Mackie has been baffling, to say the least. Here’s hoping he scores a nomination.
Nice interview. Personally, I was first impressed by his work in Spike Lee’s She Hate Me. Half Nelson was also impressive, and now this. He’s definitely got the goods. I hope he remains proactive about getting the right kind of work for himself.
I wish he’d been honored for his work in the film. His last scene is heartbreaking.
I can’t wait to see him in more films! He sounds like such an intelligent, truthful actor. Great interview!
Totally agree here. Mackie — and even Geraghty for that matter — deserve the Oscar attention just as much as Renner does. Geraghty’s character is less-defined however, whereas Renner and Mackie battle throughout the entire film.
I think he should be nominated too. But sadly, this category is suffering from the dubious studios’ category placements. For example, Christopher Plummer should have been pushed in the Leading Actor category and not here. So, smaller performances that are indeed supporting get snubbed because of that. It really sucks.
Great interview would love it if Mackie pulled a Shannon. A nomination would be a great boost to an under rated career. I thought he was great in notorious and never mind the bomb disposal stuff it was relationship with Renner, which made the movie in THL
If there is any justice at the SAG awards, THL will win the cast award. This film was really a masterwork trio (Renner/Mackie/Geraghty) with indelible cameos (Pearce/Morse/Fiennes/Lilly). Mackie’s breakdown shook me to the bone.
When I first saw Hurt Locker, I thought Mackie had the WIN in the bag. I literally can’t think of another situation where such a great performance in such an award darling was totally snubbed (Departed comes to mind, but different circumstances there).
What I find aggravating is how often Avatar is attacked out of nowhere, when speaking about any other film.
There’s clearly a silent majority out there with more class than the film’s bitter attackers.
Anthony Mackie has set the groundwork for future considerations. The entire cast of THL was completely credible. Kudos to both the ensemble, and to Kathryn Bigelow.