Aaron Taylor-Johnson likes to push the limits in his films, especially when it comes to stunts. His starring role in Kraven the Hunter was no different.
Taylor-Johnson plays antihero Sergei Kravinoff (aka Kraven), the son of a corrupt Russian crime lord (played by Russell Crowe) who sets off on a path of vengeance to become the world’s most feared hunter. The character originated in 1964 as a key villain of Spider-Man in Marvel Comics and, like the Venom franchise, is part of the Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man Universe rather than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It opens in theaters Dec. 13.
Taylor-Johnson was trained as a dancer in his youth, and told Yahoo Entertainment he enjoyed bringing “that physicality and that movement” to the role of Kraven.
“[The stunt team was] like, ‘No, no, no, no, you really, you shouldn’t, you’re not really allowed to do that,” he said. “I think that’s just because I love action movies, and I grew up watching action movies, from watching Rocky to Die Hard to even Russell Crowe in Gladiator.”
This isn’t the first time Taylor-Johnson has wanted to immerse himself in a role.
“I also just felt like sometimes there are things where you feel so invested in that character, you just want to be able to do it justice in every which way you can,” he explained. “It’s like the same way when I played [John] Lennon in Nowhere Boy. I learned how to play a guitar and sing.”
For the director, J.C. Chandor, keeping his star in one piece was a priority, while giving audiences the action scenes they craved.
“Aaron is capable. I mean, he’s a physically, physically gifted guy, and he can kind of do almost anything if you give him the chance,” he told Yahoo. “But obviously, if he breaks his leg, our production is in trouble. So we definitely had to hold him back.”
It wasn’t only in stunts where Taylor-Johnson wanted to go all in. He also learned Russian for his role as the comic book baddie.
“That was harder than anything, actually,” he said. “It was kind of brilliant that we [were] allowed to do it.”
Although the narrative focuses on a Marvel character, Taylor-Johnson said that Chandor stripped that “pretense feeling around it” to tell a “gangster story” that’s rooted in reality.
“We shot the action on location, and they’re these Russian mobsters, and I go, ‘I feel like we need to just kind of [integrate] that and just speak Russian in these sequences,’” the actor said. “And he’s like, ‘OK, yeah, let’s do it.’”
Chandon said shooting on location was “sort of a gift.”
“We shot the film, a lot of it here in the U.K., and at the time, there were a ton of movies being shot here …. And so there were no studios available,” the director explained.
“We got to have an absolute ball just going out and finding all these locations and shooting practically. And that’s just something that I’ve always tried to do,” he continued. “I don’t want to say it’s like laziness, but for me, it’s just easier. For the actors, for me as a director, as a cinematographer, you have your playground right there.”
Taylor-Johnson is no stranger to the Marvel playground. He starred as Pietro Maximoff (aka Quicksilver) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron. While Quicksilver and Kraven are very different, the actor said he felt a “responsibility” to put the research work into his latest character and his origin story.
“The experience that I’ve had from one studio film to another, or when you’re diving into the Marvel world, or when you’re really just taking on the responsibility of a character with this kind of weight, and that kind of Marvel community and the fan base, you have a responsibility and a duty to kind of do your research, and I really take that to heart,” he said.
“I invested a lot of time into this character, and dialing into him, and giving him the physicality and all those things,” he added, “so you just learn that you have a duty and a responsibility to do your work the best you can.”
Kraven the Hunter is in theaters Dec. 13.
