In Jeremy Saulnier’s action-thriller Rebel Ridge, Aaron Pierre portrays Terry Richmond, an ex-marine who finds himself at odds with local law enforcement in the fictional small town of Shelby Springs. Don Johnson stars opposite Pierre as Sandy Burnne, a corrupt police chief who quickly learns his badge doesn’t strike as much fear as he anticipated when it comes to a man with a strict honor code and a unique set of skills.
Despite playing violent adversaries onscreen, working with the Miami Vice and Nash Bridges legend on the film set for release on Netflix Sept. 6 was a treat for Pierre.
“I have to give Jeremy his flowers here because the reason Don and I were able to, before action and after cut, be so engaged in conversation and discussing life and the work and the scene and having a great time and laughing and kidding around is because Jeremy protects that moment between action and cut,” Pierre tells The Hollywood Reporter. “He protects it fiercely. And the moment you step into that, you feel it yourself. So in that moment, all that matters is Terry’s objective. Or if you’re Don Johnson, Chief Sandy Burnne’s objective. And all of a sudden, you’re not Aaron, you’re not Don, you are Chief Sandy Burnne, Terry Richmond, in Shelby Springs and I have a problem.”
Here, Pierre chats with THR about the mental “trickery” and physical transformation required to become Richmond, wrapping the film a mere days before he began work on Genius: MLK/X and his experiences so far having joined the casts of Mufasa: The Lion King and The Morning Show.
Jeremy Saulnier said his first impression of you was that you gave superhero vibes.
(Laughs) Did he say that? That’s my guy.
But then he said as soon as he got on Zoom with you, he saw how much depth there was to you, and that there’s so much more than your striking physical presence. What do you remember about that initial Zoom call and what did you talk about?
My goodness, that is such a beautiful question. Thank you for that. So I remember my team calling me, and there was so much energy and enthusiasm and excitement in their voices, and they were desperate for me to read this script that they had received for me. So it arrives in my inbox, and the moment that I saw it was to be written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier I was in. So I read that probably in 90 minutes and immediately I called my team back and I said, “This is a project that I need to be a part of. This project, to me, is undeniable and anything we can do to bring this to fruition, let’s get that ball rolling.” So Jeremy and I had a meeting organized for us. I remember actually the first time we met on Zoom; I was on a road trip and I found a place to get some Wi-Fi, and it was just an immediate connection. I think there are times when you meet a filmmaker or you meet a writer and immediately there is just an understanding of one another’s perspective. There is an understanding of one another’s approach to this wonderful, enormous, complex thing that we have the privilege to be a part of. We were just immediately on the same page. And from there, really it was cemented. Of course, these things take a little bit of time to become official and formal, but we knew from that first Zoom that it was going to happen. And so it did.
Did you jump right into the physical preparation then after that moment? And what did that look like?
So the year I filmed Rebel Ridge was a wonderfully busy year. I did two films and a limited series that year, and each had a matter of days in between. So I remember finishing Foe that I did with Garth Davis where I was somewhat lean. I was playing this arguably sinister scientist and Garth’s vision of him was he was a little more slender and lean than I am. So I was on the Peloton every morning and night, and then I went from that to Rebel Ridge, playing an ex-Marine where I ended up being probably the largest I’ve ever been, and I will never be able to achieve that again. And then going on to having the privilege of portraying Malcolm X. I was on the StairMaster probably six days a week trying to achieve Malcolm’s lean, but so powerful and present, yes, physicality. But the reason I chose the StairMaster is because it’s an exercise of endurance and durability, and if anyone has endurance and durability that has no limit and no end, it’s Malcolm X. So that was a really interesting physical year for me. But to answer your question— sorry, I got passionate — we did train very hard for Rebel Ridge.
Our base was predominantly in New Orleans, Louisiana. I love New Orleans. It’s a beautiful place, and we were welcomed and we were embraced, and I’m deeply thankful for that. Within New Orleans, Jeremy set up a warehouse, and that was like our bootcamp for Rebel Ridge. This is where we were going to build Terry Richmond. So we had firearms training there by individuals who had an elite expertise with these things.
We did, of course, weightlifting and then we also did wrestling and boxing and sparring in that same facility. We did the bike riding in that facility. That’s where we built him, at least his physical prowess. The emotional and the mental and the spiritual elements, a lot of those conversations happened in private at midnight, me trying to discover this character and trying to make him authentic and real and true, and then also extensive conversation with Jeremy, of course. There was not one day during filming where I didn’t have a bruise or a cut or a graze or a mark, but I loved it.
With the stunts, was any part of you intimidated or were you going full Tom Cruise, like I want to do as much of this as I can?
Honestly, I had to employ a degree of trickery on my brain because you read this script and Terry’s so cool. I’m not cool, right? So when I first read the script, to bring him to life, I’m so tempted to do the looks and all of that stuff, and I had to employ trickery on my brain. What I mean by that is I had to imagine this was normal. I do this every day. I do this in my sleep. That allowed me to sort of try and bring him to life in a way that didn’t feel gimmicky, didn’t feel action hero, but just felt like a real man who just happened to have all of these skills because of his life experience.
Have you watched the final film yet and do you watch all of your projects?
So I started in the theater onstage, and one of the things you can’t do with stage is watch yourself back. All you can do is engage with the director and they will let you know what they thought and how to proceed. That’s how I came up. So when I started to engage with film and TV, this opportunity to watch it back presented itself. And I remember speaking to one of my teachers about it, and I said, “I feel conflicted. What do you think I should do?” And he said, “the beautiful thing about film is that you have the opportunity to watch yourself back and discover what you would do differently next time.” And I really received that. And for that reason, now, for the most part, I will watch it once and then I’ll set it free.
What’s it like going from a project like this that’s so physical to now working on Mufasa: The Lion King where your voice is the star?
Oh, it’s great. It’s so much fun. The Lion King, the original, I think was actually released the year I was born. So, for me, that has a really special place in my heart. I feel like there’s some sort of connection there. It was just a great privilege and honor to be invited, the opportunity to continue the legacy of this particular character. James Earl Jones is one of my greatest inspirations, from his stage work, to his filmography, anything he touches, his voice work. He’s just tremendous. He’s outstanding. And I study him, quite frankly. So to have the opportunity to just add to, in some small way, something that he birthed and created is a huge privilege for me. And I’m going to keep saying that I would love to meet him until somebody sets it up. Nobody ain’t set it up yet, so I’m looking at you. Just tell somebody, write a letter, please. That’s the king right there.
I’m sure you can’t say anything about The Morning Show yet, but what did it feel like getting cast on the series?
It was a wonderful feeling. I love The Morning Show, and I watched it before I even knew there was going to be an opportunity for me to be part of it. For me, what is one of the most exciting things about being part of The Morning Show is the opportunity to get involved with scene work. Something that I’ve been really fortunate and lucky with in my journey as an actor is that I’ve always been on set with tremendous artists. And that continues to be the case on The Morning Show. Being blessed with the opportunity to do scene work with the tremendous Jennifer Aniston and Marion Cotillard and Greta Lee and Billy Crudup. These are artists who I admire, who I think are tremendous and phenomenal at their craft. I love it.
I don’t take myself seriously, but I take my craft seriously. And that’s because I know that people are busy. Life is busy. People have a lot of things on their plate, a lot of things to juggle and a lot of things to do. So you should never take for granted being gifted an audience’s time. How I process that is it’s my responsibility to take this seriously, not my myself, but take my craft seriously. Otherwise, I feel like I’m doing audiences a disservice. So I’m all about it, and I’m having a great time on The Morning Show.
