The Silent Hourtells the story of a Boston detective who is injured on the job, leaving him with permanent hearing loss. When he is tasked with interpreting for a deaf witness to a brutal gang murder, the two find themselves cornered in a soon-to-be-condemned apartment building with killers hot on their tail. Packed with action and suspense, it is a heart-pounding film from start to finish.
Joel Kinnaman, who is no stranger to action roles, stars as Detective Frank Shaw inThe Silent Hour. He plays Rick Flag in the DCEU, and, despite him being dead, is rumored to come back inPeacemakerseason 2.The Silent Hourcomes to theaters and will be available on digital October 11.
Joel Kinnaman’s Most Underrated Performance Is Radically Different From His Most Famous Roles
Kinnaman conveys inner turmoil without veering into “comic book action” territory, even when his House of Cards character hijacks a plane.
Screen Rantinterviewed Joel Kinnaman aboutThe Silent Hour, and he revealed that he learned ASL to feel more connected to his role. He also discussed doing as many stunts as they would allow him to do for this film, teased the upcomingseason 5 ofFor All Mankind, and shared why he loves playing a variety of characters in the projects he takes on.
Joel Kinnaman Learned ASL For The Silent Hour
“That was one of the big challenges going into this.”
Screen Rant: Did you know American Sign Language (ASL) already? Or did you have to learn it forThe Silent Hour?
Joel Kinnaman: No, that was one of the big challenges going into this. At first, I learned my lines, but then I really wanted to know a little bit more. And then I got hooked into it. It is exhilarating in the same way that when, if you ever tried to learn a new language, when you’re able to actually communicate with someone that you otherwise struggle with. When we were shooting the film, it was such a cool experience.
Me and Sandra, we were actually able to communicate because, you have interpreters around usually, but you know, when we’re at the top of this building, or the top of the staircase, and there’s some changes being made, sometimes they were yelling out changes to me. And it was very helpful, because I could actually communicate to her what was being said. We were halfway through the film, and we were shooting in Toronto, and I just ran into her on the street and I realized there were no interpreters around, and I realized we had a full conversation. It wasn’t just like, where are you going? It was a little bit bigger.
I learned some phrases, and then I learned the alphabet, so you can spell your way. It’s a long sludging way of communicating, but if you know that, together with some phrases, and a lot of grunting and gesturing, it was pretty cool. But it’s such a perishable skill. It’s like any language, if you don’t keep it up. I don’t know what I remember now, but it was such a big gift, and I knew that it was going to be.
It really was what drew me to the film. It’s such a gift to get to be pulled into a whole community like this. That lives life in a certain way, and understanding their challenges and how they live their life and the beauty of their community. It was pretty exhilarating.
“If it’s something that I can’t do, then I try to, at first, at least, ask if we can change this in a way to where I could do it.”
Screen Rant: Did you do your own stunts?
Joel Kinnaman: Yeah. I like to do it if I can. If it’s something that I can’t do, then I try to, at first, at least, ask if we can change this in a way to where I could do it. But I don’t do big falls and stuff when it’s from high up. I got chicken legs so I’ll just break. I’m pretty excited. I’m a jiu-jitsu nerd. I’m obsessed with this martial art called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have the first buggy choke on film in this film. It’s like you have the guy’s arm and neck through here, and then you actually squeeze them like this, and then they go, they go, night, night.
Joel Kinnaman Has Worked Hard To Not Get Pigeonholed Into A Certain Type Of Character
“You really have to go out of your way to say no to really good projects if it’s something that’s similar.”
Screen Rant: Yourcharacter inFor All Mankind, Ed, is very different than Frank inThe Silent Hour. Can you talk about how fun it is to play such wildly different characters?
Joel Kinnaman: That’s sort of the tradition that I come from. With acting, the highest version of the craft is where you’re always trying to do as different roles as possible. But then, when your career starts chugging along, the way the Hollywood works, and the way people’s imagination works is when they’re casting a new project, they try to think of whoever they’ve seen in that role.
They don’t think how an actor is like, I want to do something that nobody’s seen me do before. They want to see you in what they’ve already seen, so you have to be really active in trying to not get pigeonholed into a certain kind of character. It’s so easy that it happens that you really have to go out of your way to say no to really good projects if it’s something that’s similar.
Playing Ed has been exceptionally challenging because in the fifth season that I’ve been shooting, he’s 82. It’s a big difference of going from somebody very physically able to someone that is having a lot of issues with their body.
Playing Ed In For All Mankind Has Been “An Exceptional Experience”
Joel Kinnaman says the most challenging ages for him to portray Ed are the in-between ages like 60.
Screen Rant: What has it been like to get to play Ed throughout so many moments in his life?
Joel Kinnaman: That’s been such an exceptional experience. It’s really difficult to play aging, especially when you’re doing it as the lead of a show, and you’re not just doing an epilogue scene at the end of a film, but you’re actually driving scenes. I actually found the in-between ages like 60 were more difficult than 80. Because with 80 you can really lean into the aging. There’s some people that, I see a lot of fit men in their 60s that you can’t really tell if they’re 35 or 60. So it was much trickier doing that.
Joel Kinnaman Claims To Not Be In Peacemaker Season 2
Despite an Instagram post from the director tagging him, Kinnaman claims to not be involved in Peacemaker season 2.
Screen Rant:Peacemakerseason 2, there was an Instagram post that says you are in it.
Joel Kinnaman:I don’t know what to say. That’s ridiculous. I would never. I would never be on a show like that. It’s not what I do. It’s not what I do.
“In the moment while we were shooting the ending, I understood what the movie was about.”
Screen Rant: The end of The Silent Hour is beautiful. Without giving anything away, how did you feel when you read that scene in the script?
Joel Kinnaman: That was actually something that, in the moment while we were shooting the ending, I understood what the movie was about. I was very happy we shot it pretty early, actually. To me, the movie is about acceptance. It’s about accepting who you are and if you do, you’re able to focus on what you actually have. You’re going to be able to live a full life no matter what you’ve lost.
It was one of those moments where I got really, I didn’t expect to have a big emotional moment in the film, and then it just kind of came over me. It’s beautiful when that happens. It’s pretty rare. You haven’t planned it out and then here, it just kind of came to me. We have such an incredible DP on this film and he was also operating a lot, and he did such a great job of capturing the moment.
More About The Silent Hour (2024)
Boston Detective Frank Shaw (Joel Kinnaman) returns to duty after a career-altering injury leaves him with permanent hearing loss. Tasked with interpreting for Ava Fremont (Sandra Mae Frank), a deaf witness to a brutal gang murder, they find themselves cornered in a soon-to-be-condemned apartment building when the killers return to eliminate her. Cut off from the outside world, these two strangers must lean on each other to outsmart killers they can’t hear coming for their only hope of making it out alive.
The Silent Hourcomes to theaters and digital on October 11.
