Bullet Train: Brian Tyree Henry, as a killer in an action movie

When Brian Tyree Henry hits off his ticket for Sony’s “Bullet Train,” he immediately knew that this movie was going to be a ride like no other.

The film follows Brad Pitt’s unlucky killer, codenamed “Lady Bug”, as he aims to complete a kidnapping and extortion mission completely derailed while battling a growing number of killers with their own agendas.

“I’ve never really seen a story like this in some time, with such crazy characters in such crazy conditions, all trying to kill each other on a train,” Henry said. diverse over Zoom in late July, shortly before the movie came out. “I’ve always dreamed of being a part of something like this.”

The cast is full of mysterious and nefarious characters, including his “Atlanta” co-star Zazzie Beetz as “The Hornet” and Bad Bunny as “The Wolf.” Henry plays Lemon, a blonde-haired British assassin who spends as much time preaching about “Thomas the Tank Engine” as he spends his time bashing people’s brains. He’s half a crew of a hitman known as “The Twins,” with Aaron Taylor-Johnson Tangerine as his partner in crime.

Despite their farmers’ market-inspired codenames, Lemon and Tangerine make a deadly duo, but part of the gag is that “The Twins” certainly don’t look alike, even though their brotherly bond is undeniable. The black-and-white (and killer) cop dynamic was pervasive in the action genre, with popular duos like “Pulp Fiction’s” John Travolta and Samuel L. David Leach, Henry, and Taylor Johnson were determined to revamp their egos.

“I didn’t want the difference in their race to be the point,” Henry says. “What Aaron and I have chosen is why not make it a kinship and brotherhood that has existed since the dawn of time; they really care for each other and believe that each other is siblings.”

Fortunately, Henry and Taylor Johnson initially had a strong relationship. The couple’s first meeting came during a chemistry reading on the Sony lot, in which Leitch transformed the viewing room into a train car. Sitting down to read together, Henry said he and Taylor Johnson “got off the rails with her. We forgot to stick to the script. Dave just sits there, like, ‘Yeah, you sure are twins.'”

The two actors got closer as filming continued, developing a friendship that bordered on dependence on others. “We were finishing each other’s sentences. I knew what he wanted to snack on in between meals,” says Henry, adding that they were “stupid” on set, trying to get each other to rest during the shots. “We did a lot of improvisation in this movie, and David blessed his heart, and kept most of it in it. We’ll get together and talk about each other.”

By the end of filming, the two had cemented a deep personal and professional admiration for each other. “Aaron really is my family to this day. Family comes from unexpected places, which is what I think you see with lemons and tangerines,” says Henry, describing Taylor Johnson as “a really cool actor and a great person.”

On the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere, Taylor Johnson repeated the sentiment. “Brian makes me shocked every day,” he said. miscellaneous Mark Malkin. “Working with him was a blessing [him]. He is a versatile, talented actor and a real pleasure to work with him.”

Joey King, who was given the nickname “Prince,” also sang Henry’s praises. “First of all, [he’s got] I have the best sense of humor, but he had the best improvisation.” “He is very clever, very fast, and like every scene, he steals the scene. I just love him.”

The shooting of “Bullet Train” was truly loved by the cast, many of whom have spent the past two months touring the world promoting the film at premieres in Los Angeles, London, Berlin and Paris. The world tour paid off at the box office, with the film grossing over $30 million domestically in its opening weekend, on its way to a global total of $65 million.

Of the wild ride she was making and promoting for the film, Henry notes: “The relationships that were formed and strengthened in this film were like nothing at all. It really wasn’t work. It was his own form of therapy.”

Henry’s “Bullet Train” came at a fun time. Like a titular train, the Emmy-nominated actor has been racing through projects at warp speed. After entering the “Eternals” into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which he plays Phastos, the first openly gay superhero, Henry reprized his role as Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles in the much-anticipated third season of FX’s “Atlanta,” with the comedy The successful fourth and final season will begin in September. Henry will next appear opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the drama ‘Causeway’, which will have its world premiere at TIFF, plus he was in the production of the biopic ‘Flint Strong’.

But in 2020, the actor was in quarantine in Los Angeles amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial calculus that followed, and filming the high-speed movements of bats gave him something else to focus on.

“Among people who didn’t want to stay locked up, people who didn’t think the virus was real, we had to walk, and things were burning; that was also around the time of the election, so I got angry. I was so angry,” Henry shared, looking at those Period. “And then you get this scenario that says, ‘Hey, now you’re a killer, and your job is to make sure this bag gets from one end to the other, but there’s going to be a bunch of people getting in your way.’ It was the most purifying thing.”

With “Bullet Train,” Henry realized an opportunity to channel his anger, frustration, and confusion into trying to hit Pete with a tray table, all the while satisfying the little boy who had grown up watching summer movies, heading to the theater to escape to these action-packed stories with their slow walks and explosions.

“Meeting David Leach was really a great moisturizer because he created this environment where everyone feels safe,” Henry says of the director. “He created this world that was so multicultural and so diverse. He created an environment in which you could go and explore – I had to be British for five months; I had to have a brother whose skin wasn’t the same color as mine; and I had to slap Brad Pitt, who would literally say ‘Yes, sir, can I have another?’ It was really a cure.

Henry was already a huge fan of Leitch’s previous films, such as 2017’s Atomic Blonde, in which star Charlize Theron confronts an opponent by using a seat belt in a car. “The car is on two tires, and she’s wearing heels and she’s kicking her butt,” Henry says, recounting one of his favorite scenes from that movie. “Your pulse is a little faster; your palms are sweating. You’re on the edge of your seat. It’s brilliantly photographed and designed.” So, when the stuntman turned filmmaker came along, Henry took the opportunity to flex his motor muscles.

“I like [Leitch’s] The movies and how he battles it, with all that personal sophistication of all those crazy people that you end up wanting to care about, even though you shouldn’t, Henry adds. “I really wanted to play with that. It was a no brainer.”

From the jump, Henry went all in for the role, dying his hair blond and cutting it, because he imagined Lemon was the kind of killer who took his code name seriously. Leach was overjoyed when he revealed the new look, and only shared one note: “What if we go longer [and] sturdier? “

The role also allowed the actor to subvert expectations about the place of the black man in the action genre. “I like to get people to think outside the box about what they think black men are and can be,” Henry says. “It’s very easy for me to walk into a room, and before I say anything, there’s already a list of things I can’t have. There’s already an idea of ​​who I am and what I’m going to do.”

Thus, in building this character, Henry was adamant that Lemon be as British as his brother, although he wasn’t sure the filmmakers would choose that.

“I’ve always wanted to speak with an English accent, but most people, I don’t know if they would take the opportunity to allow a black American man to be English,” Henry shares. But, it was written on the page that he was English, so I said to David, ‘No, we don’t change that. “

“I didn’t want to lose that aspect of what was already there, because ‘Mariah Beetle’ [the book by Kotaro Isakadid, which served as the film’s source material] It is very brilliantly written, and what Zack [Olkewicz] He did with his adaptation and his movie script was great.”

Luckily, Leach agreed, and like King, who would spend up to three hours a day perfecting her British accent, Henry worked extensively with their accent coach Jamison Bryant. In fact, as a student at the Yale School of Drama, Henry studied dialects during his training, so he was keen to pull this skill off his tool belt.

Taylor Johnson’s natural British accent also influenced Henry, who worked to stay in the same range, but modified his speech to be “a little bit all over” to reflect that the two characters are orphans. “They went through different systems of care, and something must have happened where suddenly someone took them and made them killers,” Henry explains. “I wanted him to have this roughness, but also this childish nature about him.”

To make sure the final product was hitting the right notes, Henry consulted with his crew of black British friends to get their approval. “I don’t want there to be no smoke in these streets. I don’t want them to slap me in public because they’re like, ‘What the hell is this?’ Your accent was sloppy. “

“Bullet Train” is now showing in theaters.