THN Interview: Frank Grillo About ‘The Purge: Anarchy’

This week sees the UK home entertainment release of THE PURGE: ANARCHY and you can read our review here. The film is of course a sequel to 2013’s THE PURGE, which starred Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey. The first film introduced the set up; in near future America the government have deemed all crimes legal for twelve hours, one night a year. You can commit any crime from jay-walking to murder without any repercussions. In the first movie Hawke and Headey’s picture-perfect family life came under threat as their house was broken into during Purge Night.

THE PURGE: ANARCHY follows an entirely new set of characters who find themselves trapped out on the streets during the carnage. At the head of the group is an enigmatic character referenced to only as Sergeant, played by Frank Grillo. Ahead of the DVD release we were fortunate enough to spend time with Grillo who gave us a run down on his thoughts about the imaginary phenomenon, as well as giving an update on new projects THE RAID and Kingdom.

For those not in the know can you give us a brief overview of what THE PURGE: ANARCHY is all about?

Quickly its basically a law that was put into effect when a new government took over the United States. Once a year for twelve hours all crime is legal. So you’re either a purger or a purgee.

What was it about the idea that drew you to it? Had you seen the first film?

No I hadn’t seen the first one, I’d heard about it and then I got the script and really thought it was great. I thought it was a million dollar idea and that was director James DeMonaco and Jason Blum, and I loved it and what they wanted to do. I loved what they were saying.

You’re character seems to have a conflicted take on what is happening. Most characters are either for or against, Sergeant seems to lie somewhere in the middle. Was it difficult to get into that sort of mindset?

It wasn’t so difficult because it was on the page, certain standings were right in front of me. I understood where to go with it. But that’s what drew me to the character, he’s so conflicted and from conflict comes some great drama. The idea that this guy wasn’t what people thought he was, was what attracted me.

The audience doesn’t necessarily know what side he is on. You feel for the character’s that he has rescued, has he rescued them?

And that was by design. We cut a lot of the dialogue from the script, well not a LOT but maybe 30% of the dialogue. So I didn’t get close to the other characters until the end when you get to see this guy basically purge his feelings. We find out what motivated him to go out and purge. We wanted the audience to not really get to know this guy.

Bearing in mind that during Purge Night ANY crime not matter how big or small is legal, were it to be a real event what would you participate?

No I would come to England and I would wait until it was over and I would go back to the United States (laughs).

Why didn’t they just do that in the film? They’re all running home to lock themselves up, but why not just hop on a plane?

Well I think what we’re learning, and the next PURGE will explain it more, the government is trying to weed out the people that are poor. They kill the poor. We are the country of the undesirables. Middle-class people are basically safe to lock themselves in their houses and treat it like a holiday – it goes away, after twelve hours it’s all done. And the poor people don’t have the means to go anywhere else. It’s like Africa. You go to certain parts of Africa where there is this incredible genocide, or the Ukraine. The people don’t have the means to leave so they’re basically like cattle and that’s kind of the social commentary that the film was trying to make.

Both films are set at night, the first though was set predominantly inside whereas the sequel is outside for almost the entirety. How were the night shoots?

Yeah, it was all night shoots. It was only a thirty day shoot. It gets, its kinda great acting wise, it puts you in a weird headspace because your bodies so out of whack. The first film, they only made that for like 2oo thousand dollars, they had no choice but to do an inside movie. The third, we’re going to make another one, will show more of the government aspect of it and that side so each time you’re getting more successful you can show more scope.

There is a lot of action in THE PURGE: ANARCHY, how did you find shooting those set pieces?

Well for me I had just come off of CAPTAIN AMERICA which was all action so for me I kinda just fell into what my normal routine, which is you know run, fight or kill somebody (Laughs). It was right up my alley.

Moving away from THE PURGE: ANARCHY briefly, how does it feel being involved in the Marvel Universe?

It’s probably, and I have three young sons, it’s probably the greatest thing that happened for me as an actor, to be a part of that world.  Marvel rules the world as far as films are concerned these days so to be a part of that world is a big feather in my cap.

You have recently been announced for THE RAID remake. The first film was full of fight sequences, have you been practicing your moves?

You know they keep pushing the date of the film for that exact reason. They’re trying to find the right actors for the piece, find the right actors who can do the physical work. Because they won’t make the movie unless it is as good as or better than the original because the original RAID was genius. So we’re in the process now of trying to put the cast together and find the right people to do both.

So were you a fan of the first film?

I loved it. I just thought it was really original and it’s a fanboys favourite so its a real delicate situation when you make a film that was recently made and is so good. You have to do it justice or else there’s no reason to make it.

I’m guessing then that it won’t be a straight remake and fans can expect to see some surprises?

It’s close in story, obviously it’s an American version but it will take place in Indonesia. But it’s going to have it’s own twists, its own identity. We’re not going to make a straight copy of the first RAID, we won’t do that.

Most American action movies relay heavily on guns, THE RAID was more about hand-to-hand combat, will the new version stay true to this?

It’s so much hand-to-hand combat and martial arts that they want to have a window (in the shoot schedule) just to prepare the actors to learn how to fight. That’s a big commitment so that’s why it’s taking a little while to gather motion.

Back to THE PURGE: ANARCY, we’ve already touched upon it slightly but the first film focussed on the wealthy, this one of the poor, where will the third film take us? You mentioned earlier the government so are we looking at a prequel?

I think. I just had a meeting with James and Jason Blum and it’s been announced that there will be a third one. Yeah I think the idea is more geared towards the political aspect. What from a political stand point The Purge really is. I think at some point there’s a revolution in the future, that’s kind of how this one ended with people starting to take a stand. The poor starting to stand up to the government is always the case. So for me the third film will give us a broader scope, giving us a better understanding of The Purge.

I’m guessing that as you’ve met up with James that you’ll be involved with the next film in some capacity?

That is certainly the plan. I think the audience really connected with the character. You know you never find out my name, they just call me Sergeant in the movie, again by design, but I think we’re going to find out what kind of a Sergeant I am and what that has to do with the rest of the story.

To my knowledge it hasn’t got a network in the UK yet but I hear Kingdom is going down well in the States.

I think it’s going to be on Sky actually. I’m on my way to Cannes to meet with some foreign buyers and I think Sky are interested. I’m very excited about the show, it’s probably some of the best stuff I’ve done. I did a movie called WARRIOR, it (Kingdom) is very similar in tone. If you like WARRIOR you’ll like this.

THE PURGE: ANARCHY is out now on Blu Ray and DVD.