The Kill Team
In 2009 - 2010 , during the War in Afghanistan , a mathematical group of soldier calling themselves The Kill Team off no few than three innocent Afghan civilian . The circumstances that led these young men to commit wartime atrocities were documented in Dan Krauss ' award - winning 2013 documentary film , The Kill Team .
Six years after , Krauss issue to the tragic and disturbing story with a characteristic film dramatization of " The Maywand District Killings , " as the incident come to be known . Also titledThe Kill Team , the celluloid asterisk Nat Wolff and Alexander Skarsgård as two of the soldiers . The film set about to plunge into the psychology of man who choose to commit these heinous acts . Why did they succumb to madness?How does a patriot become a murderer ? Both edition ofThe Kill Teamexamine these questions , but the new plastic film does so in the circumstance of a tightly - paced thriller with emotional dramatic play and resonant performances from its actors .
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While promotingThe Kill Team , writer / director Dan Krauss sat down with Screen Rant to discuss his oeuvre on the film . He talks about hisrelationship with the militaryin the context of his movies , as well as the complications that arise when turning an objective documentary into a subjective characteristic . He also sharesThe Kill Team ’s cinematic influences , which ramble from obvious to surprising .
The Kill Teamhits theaters and VOD on October 25 .
How did you get Nat involved ? Was he always your first alternative , or was this role being shopped around to many actors ?
It was being shopped around , but he was the first somebody that was tie . He was fabulously passionate and enthusiastic about the handwriting . I remember meeting him for lunch the first time , and it was just really open that , creatively , we were link , and he really wanted to take on this part . And also , in meet him , I recognized that he can tear off the very tricky feat of both believably being a grown - up , a man who can wield a weapon and be in the US military , but also someone who has n’t entirely throw his pureness and his younker , and who you trust is someone bringing a sure level of naivete with him overseas . It ’s severe to find someone who can bear both of those in adequate measure , believably .
I feel like the criticism of the armed services in nontextual matter has almost been off limit , especially in the last 10 or 15 years . It ’s not quite the same , but we ’ve got the whole Blue Lives Matter thing , and I think there ’s a notion that if you carry soldier accountable for their activity , it ’s like you ’re criticizing the armed forces and you get in trouble . work with A24 or even before then , with the documentary , was there ever any pushback , of people aver , " possibly you should n’t enjoin this story , " for any of those reasons ?
No , I consider when you see the pic , you translate that we ’re taking a much more nuanced and empathetic approach . We ’re not judge the characters ; we ’re examine to get inside their heads and see what lead them to make these choices . You have it away , a lot of mass , I think , have seen the trailer or lie with the subject thing of the movie , and perhaps they ’re from military community or insert themselves and presume I ’m coming at this from a political standpoint , that I ’m try on to paint the military machine in a risky light , or soldiers in a spoiled light .
Hollywood coastal elite .
Yeah , exactly . Another libtard making an " I hate Americans " picture show , and that could n’t be further from the truth . I have a huge amount of respect for soldier . In fact , my interest in the write up comes from that respect . But I also am cognizant of how unmanageable some of the choices they are force to make can be . I ’m intrigued by that . The military , to their credit , has show a willingness to watch from episodes like this . I do n’t think they ’re needs trying to silence film like this . We were invited to show the documentary at West Point . Adam Winfield – the matter of the documentary , the inspiration for Nat ’s character – and I were ask to come to West Point , show the movie , and have a discussion afterwards . I think the military wants to find ways to obviate incidents like this from happening in the hereafter . It ’s not good for their paradigm , and it ’s not good for the world , for military service members to be engaged in these kinds of vicious acts . I hope that the military community will not see this as an attack , but rather as an opportunity to have an honest dialogue about how thing can sometimes go wrong . In fact , in showing the infotainment , I ca n’t matter the number of time I ’ve had soldier come to me afterwards and thank me for depicting something that ’s really unmanageable to talk about , but that many have experienced on some point . And all I hope for is that people hail to the moving-picture show with an candid judgment and are willing tohave a thoughtful dialogue about itand not dismiss it instantly before in reality having the experience of watching and remember about the motion-picture show .
You ’ve probably pay back this doubt a million times , but you did the documentary film , and now this movie is very strongly base on that . Did you always have the estimate that this would eventually be a feature article ?
No , not at all . When I was pull in the documentary , I was only sharpen on the documentary . That ’s all that consumed me for a number of years , and that was my only focusing . It was only after making the documentary film that it occurred to me that there was an chance to search the history in a first person present tense way . A immanent way , rather than an objective way . When I speak to the guys about the events in question , it was a yr after those event took place . It was a retrospective account , and I thought , there was a really interesting originative opportunity to try and make a movie that forced the audience to feel what it must have been alike to have been confronted with those same choices , and how terrifying , disorienting , and ire - grow that must have been , to be in that situation . That was really the impetus for the feature of speech ; to take all the emotion I could feel in the guys when I was interviewing them for the infotainment , and seek to bring those to life in a way that was more immediate and more immersive and more visceral .
There ’s many movies based on true events , anddirectors take artistic licensewith these events . Do you feel a greater responsibleness to not do that since you did the docudrama ?
That ’s a great question . I intend that probably is unfeigned . Because I had done the documentary , I knew that the authoritative non - fiction account of the story exist as a reference point for mass to see . This was an opportunity to distill the emotions down from that documentary into a form that was … The finish was to get at a truth that was more rooted in emotion and experience than it was in mo - to - minute fact . Sometimes , the fact of a story can be wonderful accelerants and wondrous piece of grain and detail that are just too phenomenally more interesting and more telltale than anything I could have imagined or write . What I do n’t want to say is " fact do n’t count , " because facts absolutely matter , but sometimes you have to be selective about the facts that count and the facts that you have to …
Something about get word the forest for the trees , right ?
I guess what I ’m trying to say is , there are facts that provide intrigue and particular in a elbow room that you ca n’t create . And there are fact that can sometimes be an hinderance to clarity in emotion . You have to be selective about which facts you contain into the narration . My first responsibility , as a lineament director , is the experience of watching the moving-picture show . The audience has to be harbour and affiance . I can not insert inside information into the story strictly for the sake of news media . Any fact that are in the sheath have to further that good sense of involution and immersion . So there were some fact , of course , that were untouchable : the fact that at least three unarmed Afghanistani civilians were murdered by this radical of soldiers , the fact that one of them tried to alert the military and was unsuccessful and then was take out into the strategy himself . That was untouchable . And the fact that the leader of this squad was a dominant influence that may have created an environment where some of these cat made choices they wish they had n’t . Those were the set of facts that were unobtainable . But within that overall fabric , there was some plasticity that I cogitate was ask in club to tell a story with clarity and violence . There was a snatch of a sense of take off my journalist chapeau and putting on my movie manager lid . I did n’t want it to feel , quote - unquote " important and necessary . " I hope it does feel necessary and important , but I go for people are n’t only reckon it because it ’s necessary and important . I hope they ’re seeing it because it ’s a profoundly piquant thriller featuring two character with fascinating worldviews go head - to - head . Part of what allow me to do that is because I knew the infotainment live and stands on its own . specially because I organise both the documentary film and the feature of speech , I mat up , here ’s an opportunity to make a companion piece to the documentary that is root more in emotion than in fact . It ’s more immanent than objective . That was the originative joy and the originative challenge of the feature .
Two of my favorite flick from when I was a kid wereSerpicoandCasualties of War . I was a weird kid . Did any of those kinds of movies , or movies like that , service as inspiration forThe Kill Team ?
Serpico , for certain , was a prominent stirring . I know Nat screw that flick , too . I think that ’s sort of the ultimate story , one of the seminal stories of whistle electric fan trying to pierce the veil of secrecy . I think you may draw a clear line betweenSerpicoand our motion picture . I mean , I go for . It ’s great to be remark in the company ofSerpico . It was an influence , for sure . I also commemorate as a immature teen , I was in mellow school day when I sawPlatoon . That was the first time I had seen a portrayal of war that felt it was brutally reliable , for what I reckon war must be like . I have no experience of warfare at first hand , but when I saw that motion-picture show , I thought , this feels more authentic than other warfare pic I had ever seen . I had n’t seenApocalypse Nowbecause I was youthful and naive , then . But that was probably the first war motion-picture show I see that feel like it was traffic in ideas about human morality . I was fascinated by the convergence of ethical motive and wildness in war . That , I believe , did have a huge influence in my work . Casualties of Warwas like , butPlatoonwas the first one , for me , where I was really fascinated with the psychology of warrior . I intend that has carried through toThe Kill Team .
Were there any other influence outside of war movies ?
The other affair that was a surprising influence , perhaps , was I watched a lot of mafia picture show , classic gang movies . Goodfellasand the like , in the writing of the book . In some ways , the story is the fashioning of a maffia .
Bullies .
Yeah . It ’s about examination loyalty . Deeks is the Don . The Guy are rewarded when they prove their commitment , and they ’re punished when they do n’t go across the trueness test . And you do n’t cognise if the guy next to you is smiling because he ’s your friend or if he ’s about to slit your throat . The way that mafia movies create a menacing subtext , I conceive was a actual influence on this photographic film . I really love the scenery in which a character is hail to you as a Quaker and smile , but you’re able to detect that sensory faculty of threat underneath , and the actor really did a beautiful job of conveyancing that . It ’s a surd thing to draw in off . They were really fresh about how they approached those scenes . That ’s one of the great atonement in a movie like this for me : how much we could leave unsaid and still create a sense of stress and dread .
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