Despite the similarities between his upcoming Sony-produced actioners Bullet Train and Kraven the Hunter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson says that, since his characters are different, he approached each film differently.
In Bullet Train, Taylor-Johnson plays one of the many assassins alongside those portrayed by the likes of Brad Pitt and Brian Tyree Henry. In Kraven the Hunter, Taylor-Johnson plays a big-game hunter from the Spider-Man universe. Though he did gunfighting and stuntwork for both characters, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he tailored such work to the characters’ distinct qualities:
“It’s completely different because it’s a different character, right? So I approach everything through the character, so it doesn’t really matter whether it’s the same stunt crew or not, or whatever it is. If the physicality and action is involved, it’s still got to be behind the lens of the character and feel true to the way that person presents themselves [sic] in those situations.”
It appears that each film utilized different stunt crews, so that was a hypothetical comment. Still, Taylor-Johnson was cast to play Kraven after Sony execs were impressed by his acting in Bullet Train. “I didn’t have a lot of familiarity,” Sony President Sanford Panitch said of Taylor-Johnson. “And then we start watching these incredible dailies [from Bullet Train], and you really see the full-on action star. He’s charming and he’s funny and he’s holding his own against Brad Pitt. A lot of people can’t do that.”
You can watch Taylor-Johnson in Bullet Train when it premieres wide on Aug. 5, and in Kraven the Hunter when it drops on Jan. 13.