‘Suicide Squad's' Jai Courtney is happy to be able to make a living by ‘telling lies'
When Australian actor Jai Courtney (the first name rhymes with "guy") realized he was catching on — meaning, getting recognized in public — with TV viewers for his role as Varro in the TV series "Spartacus," he knew it was time to relocate from Sydney to Los Angeles. That move paid off quickly. Though there haven't been a lot of roles yet, many of them have had iconic trappings. The now 30-year-old Courtney has played Bruce Willis' son in "A Good Day to Die Hard," the brutal Dauntless leader Eric in two of the "Divergent" films, and Kyle Reese in "Terminator Genisys." In the new super-villain film "Suicide Squad," written and directed by David Ayer ("Fury"), he plays the enjoyably nasty (yes, he enjoys being nasty) Captain Boomerang, a man with grudges on each shoulder, a cute little unicorn doll tucked inside his scrappy outfit, and the ability to create deadly havoc with the hand-held Australian weapons that earned him his nickname. Courtney sat back for a relaxed talk about the movie last week in New York.
Q: What did you know about the comic book "Suicide Squad" before you got involved with the film?
A: Absolutely nothing. The first thing I heard about it was in a conversation with another actor around the fact that David Ayer was going to do it. I had admired David's work, and had auditioned for a part in "Fury," but didn't get it. Then I heard from David on Skype. He called and said he wanted to chat about a project and about a role, and I said, "OK, wow, yeah, what is it?"
Q: So when you found out you were playing Captain Boomerang, did you go back and research the old comics?
A: A little bit. But I quickly found out that the character I was going to be doing would have to be a little bit different from the one in the comic books because, especially in the older comics, he possessed traits that we were never gonna get away with in 2016. There was his bad costuming, he was overtly racist, and he was a bit more of a cliche. We wanted to get a balance where we could cherry pick from some of the old stuff because some of it is fun and attractive and functional, and we need that kind of element in this group of people. But I wasn't too attached to some of those things. I actually signed on without seeing a script.
Q: Please introduce Captain Boomerang.
A: Captain Boomerang is a thief, he's a burglar, and he's ex-special forces. So he's skilled. But he's also a scheming, conniving drunk, at times. He's a brawler, he's scrappy, and he's tough as nails.
Q: Did you learn to use a boomerang for the film?
A: Yeah, I did. But it wasn't essential that I got incredibly skilled at it. It's tricky when you can't throw them on set too much because of the danger of taking someone's eye out. But I didn't want to look like I didn't know what I was doing, so I got into it.
Q: We've only heard you with an American accent in previous films. This is the first time you got to use your own Australian accent in a major release. Does that free you up as an actor?
A: Yeah, I think it does. The American accent has become something that has to be in your arsenal to get by in this business. But I just look at it as sort of an item of costume, and when you don't have to wear that item, you can move around a little more. That's how it felt with this.
Q: You haven't made a lot of films yet, but each role has been very different. Does that take a separate set of muscles each time, or is acting just acting?
A: I don't really know what acting is. For me it's just instincts. It's what feels right for the flavor of what I'm attacking. I think a transformation happens whenever you step into a different role, but sometimes we feel like actors play the same character their entire careers. I think sometimes that's the way to do it: Give fans what they expect. But I don't really know what it is that I'm doing yet, therefore I can't really actively try to repeat and structure a persona around a character that works for me.
Q: Does that mean you're faking it?
A: Yeah, I'm totally faking it. That's what it is at the end of the day. It's just telling lies, convincingly.
— Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now.