In Wasteman, Taylor is branded a "wasteman" by society, his family and even in prison. In a world of drugs, parties, gangs and violence, so far, he’s managed to keep out of trouble. However, with the arrival of new cellmate Dee, the chance to make early parole and get his life back are put in jeopardy.
Dee takes a shine to Taylor and helps him reconnect with the son he’s never met, giving Taylor the chance to be a dad. But behind bars, nothing comes for free, and with Dee’s ambition to rise up and run the prison as "top boy," he’s not only risking Taylor’s parole, he is also risking their lives.
David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus) plays Taylor, and Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) is Dee in a movie that currently sits at a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The hard-hitting, violent prison story arrives in theaters on Friday, and we had the good fortune to sit down with David and Tom this week to discuss their collaboration on Wasteman. Explaining how being stuck within the confines of a real prison cell factored into the portrayal of their respective characters, we also hear from them on how their real-life friendship factored into Taylor and Dee's dynamic.
The actors also explain how their experience with big-budget fare prepared them for an intense 18-day shoot that took them from sci-fi Hollywood sets to a real prison.
Check out the full interview with David and Tom in the player below.
To see you in the confines of that prison cell, particularly in the more violent scenes in the movie, I'd love to know what those days were like for both of you on set. Did it help yoy get into the mindset you needed for those moments?
David Jonsson: I mean, look, yeah. I think with our film in particular, all of the components that were around us really helped make the film what it is, which I hope is like a grounded form of a grounded thriller. We never wanted to exoticise it and make it into something that felt bigger and that kind of Hollywood, which is another kind of film but not ours. We wanted it to feel like something you wanted to watch, but something that you can possibly recognise because it's inevitably about a system that we all contribute to. So yeah, working and filming in an actual prison definitely added to it. It's creepy in there. It's a bit harrowing. And that added to some of those scenes when Tom is swinging from the ceiling, and I'm being bounced off a wall. There's loads of things that added to it. So yeah, it was a great experience. Truly.
Tom, I'm guessing it must have been the same for you, especially with your character being such a livewire in the confines of that cell.
Tom Blyth: Yeah. It's funny, like how Cal gave me a lot of permission to take up space before we started. He said, 'You know, come in, feel free to be like that in between takes, to kind of take up space, to kind of be abrasive and not even slightly just abrasive. And be someone who is unpredictable and a bit scary even to the crew.' He was like, 'I want everyone to be slightly on edge around you. I want that tension.' And it's one thing to do that. It's another thing to do it within, like a tiny 10-by-6-foot cell. And you do feel the molecules in the room changing and I had to turn off polite human brain and turn on animalistic brain so that I didn't inhibit myself because there were moments where I could see David in the corner just kind of getting in the zone and I had to be getting in the zone in a very different way and we were kind of counterbalancing in a way that we had to do very different things to get ready before a take. And so you do have to just kind of accept that the other person trusts you and is going to let you go there.
You've both been part of some hugely successful, iconic franchises like Alien and The Hunger Games, and those were big-budget experiences. So, to come onto a film like this where you had 18 days, and you're in a real prison, what made you want to be part of telling this story?
David Jonsson: I mean, the fact that I want to be an actor, you know. [Laughs] No, seriously, it's, you know, I think those films that you mentioned are awesome, and I think Tom, I speak for Tom as well as myself, when I say that we're so privileged to have had a chance to work with some of those big directors on those big films. We love them. But I do think that the acting that I love and the acting that inspired me is probably in these kinds of films. You know, these kinds of ragtag films that are trying to do something that is very, very small but trying to make it big and make it seen and make it cinematic. So yeah, I think it's these experiences that always kind of ground me. And I learn from this and hopefully be able to put some of these kinds of things in those movies because I love those films as well, you know, the bigger ones.
Tom Blyth: Yeah. Oftentimes, as well, it's like you get on each set and you realise they're all kind of the same. Like, if you've got good people around you and a great director and great writing, whether they've got a hundred million budget or a million dollar budget, the process is kind of the same. It's just the logistics around it and the amount of support, but ultimately like the creative people are the same who make it and it's people powered. It's so much about who is behind it. And yeah, this set was special in that way. Like, it felt like it had more power behind it than it actually did because of all the people that were involved and the amount of pure blood, sweat, and tears that everybody put into it.
I've read that you're both good friends, obviously in real life. So, in terms of the process of exploring the way that this dynamic between your characters evolves, both the good, the bad, and I guess the ugly as well, were you able to bring parts of yourselves and that friendship to these characters and play around a little bit with that as well?
David Jonsson: What friendship?
Tom Blyth: Yeah. Imagine if we'd fallen out and everyone keeps saying that.
David Jonsson: Yeah. Every journalist is like, 'You guys are good friends, right?'
Tom Blyth: Yeah. Uh, no, [Laughs] but I think the main thing, honestly, is trust. I think because we knew each other, but we weren't as close as we are now, because we bonded throughout this process, because it was harrowing. But I think there was a bit of trust there already. We both had kind of met and knew we liked the way each other worked, and then wanted to work together, and obviously, there's always a risk because you could get on set and find that you actually despise the person that you thought you were going to enjoy working with. But David and I, I feel like, you know, hopefully I can speak for both of us and saying that we just got closer each day, and you could feel the trust building, so that every day we risked more and more and by the time you got to the big scenes, like halfway through, there was a lot of trust there.
David Jonsson: Yeah, absolutely. It was a brilliant thing to do, you know, that only could be done with, as Tom says, trust. Half of acting is risking. And you can only really risk when you feel safe in an environment, otherwise it can kind of come from not the best place and when you're dealing with material like this, which requires so much, you need to feel safe. So, whatever we did a lot of this film is unsafe, but I think from an acting perspective, it felt very safe.
Amazing. Well, I'm glad you're still friends after what your characters put each other through in this film.
Tom Blyth: [Laughs]
David Jonsson: [Laughs]
Sunrise Films will release Wasteman in theaters on April 17.