The cast of A24’s Warfare is bringing bloody realism to the genre of war action-thrillers.

The film follows a platoon of Navy SEALs taking part in an intense mission in Iraq in 2006. The film features up-close, gritty and realistic portrayals of life on the edge as a SEAL trusting each other to survive. The writers and directors are Alex Garland and real-life Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza. The cast portrays the real veterans who served as members of the platoon.

Blavity/Shadow and Act managing editor Trey Mangum spoke with cast members D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Charles Melton, Kit Connor, Joseph Quinn, Cosmo Jarvis and Will Poulter in our cast interview.

Melton, who plays Jake, called learning from the veterans an “honor.”

The ‘honor’ of portraying real-life people

“We had the honor and the privilege to talk to most of the service members that were there on this specific day and to have Ray there just kind of giving us context on the show situation was very insightful and helpful,” he said.

“When it came to us filming, the three-week boot camp that really just taught us so much about the tactics, military language, terminology, weapons systems, training, comms, how to communicate with each other,” he added, describing the type of conditioning the cast had to undergo to get in the mindset of their characters. “It really just informed the whole process of filming. As the actor we’re falling on protocol and then just kind of moving through this very contained, very tight, authentic, real story. When these takes are five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes long, you can’t really act, you’re in it. It’s like a play.”

How the cast prepared to portray Navy SEALs

Connor, who plays Tommy, also described what it was like having Mendoza and Garland’s expertise on set.

“I think one of the benefits of having the partnership of Ray and Alex together [is] you had this almost kind of super team of geniuses, both in their own right, and both so knowledgeable in their different fields,” he said. “And Ray was a fantastic teacher and fantastic director. And the performances that we gave, particularly in regard to us embodying these characters in these SEALs was really down to Ray. I suppose I’ve never been on a project where I’ve had such immense trust in both directors.”

“The more I think about it, I remember when I first was offered the role, my immediate thought was, ‘Oh wow. I can’t believe that they think that I can do this and that they think that I’m equipped to do it,'” he continued. “And then I immediately thought, ‘Well, you know what? If Alex and Ray think that I am capable, then I believe that too,’ which is not something that is all that common in this profession. It definitely does happen, but it’s really a lovely feeling to have that.”

Here’s the full synopsis for Warfare:

Warfare embeds audiences with a platoon of American Navy SEALs in the home of an Iraqi family, overwatching the movement of U.S. forces through insurgent territory. A visceral, boots-on-the-ground story of modern warfare, told like never before: in real-time and based on the memory of the people who lived it.

Watch the full cast interview above. Warfare is now in theaters.

Will Poulter

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