Actor Joel Kinnaman’s most recent outing at the cinemas was a much-anticipated project in the form of Silent Night. Directed by the legendary John Woo, the film marks the return of Hong Kong cinema’s most inventive director to Hollywood. As a result, a collaboration between Woo’s action sensibilities and Kinnaman’s acting range was bound to be an intriguing prospect, to say the least.
Silent Night was widely marketed as an action thriller with limited spoken dialog. Joel Kinnaman recently sat down for a conversation to discuss Silent Night and admitted to being scared to tackle the project because of its unique nature. However, despite his reservations, Kinnaman shared he was excited for the cinematic experience the film would provide. Here is what Kinnaman said about his fears of Silent Night going sideways.
Joel Kinnaman Was Scared John Woo Film Could Go Wrong
Directed by John Woo, Silent Night stars Joel Kinnaman as Brian Godlock, a vengeful father who targets the gang responsible for his son’s death. After the film’s release, Kinnaman chatted about the movie with The Hollywood Reporter. During the interview, Kinnaman discussed his excitement and fear regarding the project mainly because of its nearly dialog-free nature.
I would say the [excitement-fear] ratio was something like 80:20. If you get it wrong, it can really turn into dog shit. It’d be a failed attempt to do a movie with no dialogue, and that just sounds like a boring travesty
Kinnaman’s statement confirms that the actor had some reservations before tackling the role. However, The Suicide Squad star elaborated on his comment by stating he has to feel a sense of fear with all his projects. Kinnaman explained that the fear acts as a motivator for him and brings out a better performance. Moreover, with the actor stating an 80:20 excitement-fear ratio, it is safe to say Kinnaman was more excited than scared to tackle the John Woo project.
Joel Kinnaman Calls Silent Night a Cinematic Experiment
In the same interview, Joel Kinnaman expressed his excitement about teaming up with director John Woo. Kinnaman stated that while he was a little fearful about the movie’s dialog-free nature, he felt it was an opportunity to do a cinematic experiment. Kinnaman revealed he was excited by the lack of dialog in the movie as it allowed him to convey more of the story through his acting.
If you can get the same thing across without saying anything, it’s a better way to tell the story. It’s more subtle, and the audience gets to tell themselves the story in a way.
The actor also called the movie artistically courageous and was pleased to collaborate with a director of John Woo’s stature, which is nothing short of legendary thanks to movies such as The Killer, Hard Boiled, and Face/Off.
However, Silent Night failed to generate the same fanfare as some of the director’s previous works. The movie was released on December 1, 2023, and received mixed reviews from critics. As of this writing, it has grossed less than $10 million at the global box office. It was released on Premium Video On Demand (PVOD) services on December 19, 2023.
