Joel Kinnaman is sharing his failed attempt at method acting for his role in the upcoming action movie Silent Night.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Wednesday, the For All Mankind actor told host Jimmy Fallon that since he has zero dialogue in the John Woo-directed film, he decided to “go full method on this one” for the first time.
Kinnaman recalled telling his fiancée Kelly Gale, “Listen, this is gonna be a tough one for our relationship. I’m not gonna talk for the whole shoot and not talk with you either. So we’re not gonna have any communication.”
Since Gale was understandably hesitant about the idea, the couple decided to consult their relationship coach to find a way to navigate it all. When Fallon asked Kinnaman if the relationship coach thought it was a good idea, the actor responded laughing, “No.”
But he said his fiancée eventually came around and told him, “This is a sacrifice that I will do. And, you know, we will figure out a way to do this.”
After working out the logistics, Kinnaman said he was going to officially stop talking once he got to Mexico City to start filming. But it wasn’t long after the actor landed that he realized he “was feeling a little lonely” since he didn’t know anyone there and decided to call Gale.
Kinnaman noted that his fiancée was so confused on the phone call, telling him, “You’re supposed to be silent the whole two months.” But The Killing actor decided to wait a little longer before diving into the immersive acting approach, saying that he would stop talking on his first day on set.
“Then the first day of shooting starts, and I get in the car. Super quiet the whole car ride to set,” Kinnaman recalled. “And then, I get into the makeup trailer and everyone’s, like, hanging out and, like, talking, and I’m sitting there in the makeup trailer.”
He quickly realized that he wasn’t going to make it six weeks without any verbal communication and decided to give up on the method acting approach.
“I had a really, really intense silent car ride to set. The car ride was basically the whole thing, you know? So that kind of charged me up with enough silence that I needed for the rest of the shoot,” Kinnaman quipped.
Silent Night follows a grieving father, who is recovering from a wound that cost him his voice, as he enacts his long-awaited revenge on Christmas Eve after his young son gets killed in the crossfire between warring gangs.
The movie is set to be released in theaters Dec. 1.
