Hounds of War is about the best military mercenaries money can buy. Known as "The Hounds", they are sent on a final mission by their creator: a carefully planned trap set up to destroy them.
Directed by Isaac Florentine (the Undisputed franchise) and written by Jean Pierre Magro (Blood on the Crown), Hounds of War stars Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and Rhona Mitra (Supergirl).
Last week, we sat down with Mitra to discuss her role in the movie - which is now available on Digital platforms - as Selina, a badass woman from Ryder's (Grillo) past who becomes embroiled in his revenge mission.
Explaining what drew her to the project, the Underworld star also breaks down her approach to action, the challenges of working on a lower-budgeted project, and how she and Grillo figured out the complicated dynamic between their respective characters.
Mitra also shares some exciting new details about the upcoming Red Sonja reboot, reflects on her Supergirl role as Mercy Graves, and reveals the very practical reason she wouldn't say no to working with Marvel or DC.
You can check out the full interview below.
Selina is a great character and very powerful. What do you enjoy about playing someone like this?
I mean, it’s sort of like, ‘What’s not to enjoy?’ really. It’s my wheelhouse where I sit quite comfortably in case you hadn’t recognised! It’s lovely to be able to walk on set and be able to flow into a world where the language is really that of the dance of physicality. That’s what she does so effortlessly. It’s nice because, also, there were some other layers to this character. Obviously, some emotional subtext thre between her character and Frank’s. That was nice to pepper some of that in and actually put some femininity in there for a change. I do like playing effortlessly strong women who don’t have to do too much other than show up [Laughs].
This world of mercenaries can often be male-dominated, but Selina is clearly the smartest person in the room and has an empire we get a glimpse of. Is that part of the fun too?
Not really! I mean, it’s quite funny because I’ve always played the character who comes in and does take on the role where I have to tell the boys what to do which is, I don’t know, I look at it at this stage of my life, realising I was raised with brothers and all of their friends and maybe there’s something in that. Now, I sanctuary of lots of very wild, untamed animals that I also have to commandeer [Laughs] and it’s so intrinsic at this stage that it’s not even a case of whether I take pleasure in it, it’s just what it seems to be.
With no arrogance to it, it’s just a case it seems to work well when a woman steps in and says, ‘Listen kids, this is what needs to happen.’ As long as you do it with a certain level of authority, which is that I’m doing it for the greater good of the whole as opposed to it being self-serving, which can be often what the male approach is. It’s sort of about ‘me and only me’ and what I like about women who come and step into these roles is that I’ve thought about how this applies to the whole family. There’s a weird balance of maternal instinct in there as I’ve got everybody’s back which, you know, is something I think are very nice qualities to inhabit if that makes sense.
You worked closely with Frank on this movie but did the two of you talk a lot to figure out Ryder and Selina’s dynamic and to come up with the history that’s only alluded to in the film?
Oh gosh, you know, I wish I could say that was the case. I would be lying if I said it was because that would be not true. We just had no time on this film. It was done so quickly. Frank and I have worked together before and know each other. Relationships on screen are like music. They really are. Either that or a tap dance and, when you know somebody else’s melody, it’s a little bit like stepping on to a stage with them and playing jazz. I’m fortunate, and maybe he is too, that we know each other’s cadences, nuances, and idiosyncrasies, and we know how to play with that without having to dig too much into the weeks. We’ve got those foundations but we did, every single second, I’d grab him by the scruff of the neck the night before a day of shooting and say, ‘Right, let’s tuck into this and make sure that when we’re on set tomorrow that we’ve really got whatever the subtext is.’ You know, it’s not Chekov. We didn’t have to go too far [Laughs].
You’ve done some really fantastic action roles before this one and there are a couple of great fight sequences in this movie. At this stage in your career, how do you approach those, particularly on a project like this where, as you say, there’s less time than on a bigger budget project?
I think that’s why I get hired! I think it’s because they know I can turn up and they know they can hand me the choreography and I’ll learn it in a really short space of time. I think there’s a certain part of what we do when you do action films - and this is what I’ve come to learn - is that it’s a real skill. You either have it or you don’t. I guess I was very blessed in my early…well, all throughout my career that I have had some of the best choreographers, teaches, and characters. Months, weeks, on set with phenomenal stunties and fight experts all over the world.
I’ve got that embedded in me now so when I step on to a set with this style of fighting which, to me, my job is to make it real. My job is to take out the ballet because I don’t believe in that style of fighting. I believe in a realistic form. Like you and me talking: I have my way of talking to you and, even though we obviously come from a similar place, it’s about making it mine. My job is making sure I can pepper in the flavours of Seline in this case and make sure it looks realistic. Also, she has to be able to stand up against a lot of big boys so that has to be plausible.
It’s been reported that you’ll be part of Red Sonja, but is there anything you can tell us about that role or movie? There’s a huge amount of excitement for it.
I know that I'm not really allowed to say anything about that. It's also not my movie. It's very much Matilda's. My name does keep on popping up. I worked M. J. Bassett many years ago and she invited me and do what I call a 'wink and a wiggle' which is, you know, be part of the family and have fun with some awesome people. Great crew. Great cast. Sometimes, jobs are just like that. Where you show up and play and do what you do again which was, of course, kick some arse [Laughs]. I did that and I hope I did it well. The film is not really...I can't speak to this one because it's not mine if you see what I'm saying.
I think it should be very exciting. From what I saw being able to stand back and observe so many of the parts of what was happening in that movie, I think it's going to be visually something spectacular actually. I'm a big, big fan of Matilda. It's really lovely to see a young woman take on the role of such a strong character who is so hugely coveted and anticipated and take it on with such grace. I'm always so pleased to see younger actors coming in and taking on the work with a level of real humility and dedication because there's too many who don't and she's a great girl. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she does with that.
I know you said you didn’t have a huge amount of time working on this movie, but you’re shooting in some beautiful surroundings in Malta. That must be a nice bonus?
Yeah! I mean, listen, jobs are jobs and it’s amazing that we get to wrap it up and dress it up in scripts and costumes and all these other things, but it’s a job so I’m grateful to be able to work and then when the location is Malta, which I’d never been to before, it’s mad! It’s a mad place. I’ve got lots of Mlatese friends that I grew up with England anyway but I’d never been to Malta and it verified and made sense as to where my friends came from. It’s an amazingly beautiful place. So much history there. Lots of sunshine. And then full of bonkers people which I also love. It was great. Great, great crew.
We talked about Frank and he’s done a fair bit with Marvel and now has some DC projects in the works like Superman and Peacemaker. You were great in Supergirl but would you work with Marvel or DC again or are they not for you?
Anybody who says they wouldn’t, I don’t know, they’re very lucky. I don’t know who doesn’t have to work today. Yeah, it’s work. I need to work! Everyone does, so yeah, I would. I prefer, I have to say, I like being able to work on independents and being able to shoot in locations because you meet crew. For me, it’s a lot to do with the experience and process of filming, so when you get to meet local crew - in Red Sonja’s case, Bulgaria; I’ve worked there before and have got family in the crew members that I met 18 years ago.
When you do studio films, it becomes quite restrictive. I haven’t done a studio film for a long time but they’re quite specific and they are the cartoon package deal. There’s less nuances, creativity, and flavours. Also, the madness and the brilliance of independent films. You have to make stuff work in strange environments and studios are very controlled. It’s a different experience but it’s a great paycheck, so yeah [Laughs]. The thing is, you’re also working with, in the case of Supergirl when I did that, fan expectations. They really…the bar is set so high with what people want and expect from you, so it’s not that it’s limiting but there’s a different level of pressure.
Hounds of War is now available on Digital.