“I can’t even believe I get to do this for a living.”
In his new action-comedy London Calling, Josh Duhamel relates to his character Tommy, a hit man forced to babysit the son of a crime boss. “He’s a guy who has lost a step over the last couple of years and has a hard time sort of coming to terms with that.” Duhamel says. And Tommy’s role as a parent was especially poignant to him: “I love the fact that he realizes that he hasn’t really measured up as a father as much as he should have, and he sees that in this kid.” London Calling caps off an especially big year for Duhamel, who also had successes with Netflix’s new hit series Ransom Canyon and the film Off the Grid. He says the former is “a testament to April Blair [creator] and Netflix and that whole writing team and that cast” and that Off the Grid was “very close to me because it’s like a nightmare that I have…. What happens if you have to completely live off of the grid, could you do it?” But there isn’t a grand design to projects Duhamel chooses. “I never know it until I read it, to be honest…. I just try to stay open to material that I feel connects with me.”
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Editor’s Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.
You do action movies very well, like so well. What about London Calling made you want it to be another one of your great action movies?
I loved how irreverent the script was. I loved how unapologetic the humor was. It was a bit dark. I think I related to a lot of what this guy was going through. You know, he’s a guy who’s lost a step over the last couple of years and has a hard time sort of coming to terms with that. And I love the fact that he realizes that he hasn’t really measured up as a father as much as he should have, and he sees that in this kid that he is sort of forced to take out on a job with him. All those things together, and I knew that Alan [Ungar] was directing it. I’d worked with him before, and I loved working with him. So, there’s a lot of elements that I just really loved about this that I had to be a part of.
The humor is something that really stands out to me. I really miss the days of a funny action film, like Lethal Weapon. I wanted to get your take on the state of the action film?
For sure. I think one thing I really liked about this, and I knew that we were going to be able to accomplish with Alan was that, you know, I never want to sort of manufacture that. I don’t want to try to force it. It all has to come from a real place, and these characters just by nature were so contrasted. They were just from totally different worlds. And from that, you get all these fun situations that sort of naturally cultivate humor. And I think that what I really liked is it never felt like it was, okay, now we’re setting up for the joke and boom, there it is. I just felt like every situation naturally sort of gave you this really uncomfortable, dark, sort of risky humor at times.
Also, while this is definitely a Los Angeles film, it was shot in Cape Town, South Africa. What was it like shooting in South Africa?
Well, I would have rather shot in L.A. Nothing against South Africa because it was awesome, beautiful place, it was amazing, but nothing like leaving Los Angeles to go to South Africa to shoot a movie about Los Angeles. And I just feel like we need to get that figured out here because there’s a lot of crew members, friends of mine, that could really use a little bit more production here [in Los Angeles]. But having said that, it really is amazing how great of a double [Cape Town] is for Southern California. It looks like Malibu. It looks like Los Angeles at times. We’re also able to find a part of Cape Town that very much resembled London. So it worked out great. I had a great time shooting it. It was one of the best experiences I think I’ve ever had shooting something. Every movie is a new adventure, and this was definitely one of those.
You’ve also had a fantastic year, with Ransom Canyon and Off the Grid. What do you make of this year you’re having?
Thanks for that. I’m very lucky. I sometimes have to pinch myself that I even get to do this for a living. I never take any of it for granted because I’ve worked a lot of jobs, and I’m just really, really lucky that I get to it. Ransom Canyon specifically was one of those shows, you never know what’s going to hit what’s not. I’ve had plenty that don’t. You just kind of try to hedge your bets, surround yourself with as much talent as you can and just go in and do your best, the best job you can, and hope that it hits. And Ransom Canyon really did, thankfully. And I think that that’s a testament to April Blair [creator] and Netflix and that whole writing team and that cast was just all together to make one show that they believed in. Off the Grid the same. Johnny Martin [director], I thought, did a great job. We didn’t have much money to shoot that, but that one was very close to me because it was like a nightmare that I have, but in that, what happens if you have to completely live off of the grid, could you do it? That’s always been, I’m always sort of living in that space. And then this one [London Calling], I knew that Alan was going to make it. I knew I had a good shot at making a good movie because he’d done it before. I saw how he operated. I know how meticulous and detail-oriented he is. And he has to suffer my sort of way of trying to find new things, and let’s experiment, let’s try this or that so he has this and I have this and we somehow make something. But I think the most exciting part of this year was the very last day of shooting, I was on a rush to get on a plane back to Los Angeles because my baby boy, Shepherd, was about to be born. And so I’ve had a good year watching this dude grow into this little maniac.
I’m also impressed by your fan base. You’ve got the dudes with the action films, the women with Ransom Canyon, even the gays with Love, Simon. How does it feel to have this broad appeal?
First of all, thanks for that. I don’t know. Honestly, I just try to find things that I think I would want to see, things that I feel people will connect with. Love, Simon specifically was one of those movies. Greg Berlanti, another director I’ve worked with a few times, great guy. I find somebody that I really jive with and I try to work with as often as I can, whether it’s Greg Berlanti or Michael Bay, Allan Ungar, there’s these guys that work a certain type of way that’s conducive to what makes you feel comfortable and creative and liberated to go for it. And when I read that scene in Love, Simon, in the driveway when he struggled to sort of connect with his kid and it had to be vulnerable. That scene I literally teared up when I read it, I was like, “I gotta do this movie.” Because I think it spoke not only to the LGBTQ world, but I think it also spoke to guys who couldn’t quite understand it or had a hard way of making, of articulating how to connect or break through to them [their kids]. And I think that that was a great opportunity to sort of bridge the gap between the two.
I’ll add to that. Because someone of your stature, the leading man, the action star, it says something when you’re in a film like Love, Simon. It means something. And for a lot of actors in Hollywood, that’s not something they’d necessarily do. You could just stick with action movies, you know?
That’s very sweet, that’s very sweet. It’s the beauty of what I get to do. I can’t even believe I get to do this for a living, to be honest. Every job is totally different. Every day on every job is totally different. You get to go pretend to be somebody different, somebody new, try to explore places in your psyche that you’d never otherwise go to. It’s so exciting, and I’ll never get tired of it because it’s always a new journey.
Is there anything you’re kind of itching to do that you haven’t done yet?
I never know it until I read it, to be honest. It’s not like I’m looking like I need to go play a serial killer. I need go play the unaccepting father to a gay son. You know? I don’t see that. I just try to stay open to material that I have an opportunity to go explore. And I think that, again, if I just stay open to something that I feel just connects with me and I feel like I can bring something to it, then that’s what I want to go do next.
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