Press events at SXSW are like nowhere else. Forget civilized junkets with afternoon tea and posh hotel settings. The stars and director of Free Fire celebrated their upcoming shootout drama with a far more appropriate interview setting: a paintball battlefield.
On a chilly morning in Austin, helmer Ben Wheatley and co-stars Sharlto Copley and Armie Hammer joined a band of bloggers on the muddy grounds of Stunt Ranch for a rousing game of marksmanship and bursts of paint. But while Wheatley and Copley geared up in coveralls, protective masks and paintball guns, Hammer excused himself, explaining a recent surgery to his right arm demanded he not risk the kinds of injury this violent activity could bring.
After Copley and Wheatley fired repeatedly on this reporter (who did not get hit that round), Screen Rant sat down at a picnic table with the pair, who rejoined Hammer. We'll bring you full details on that conversation in the coming days, but we had to ask Hammer if his surgery meant he was out of the action movie game for the foreseeable future. And if so, does that put an end to those rumors he's on the short list for DC's proposed Green Lantern Corps?
If anyone is curious what the bruising looks like when you tear your pectoral muscle clean from the bone.... it looks like this. A post shared by Armie Hammer (@armiehammer) on
RIP chest hair.... A post shared by Armie Hammer (@armiehammer) on
Hammer offered, "I'm okay now. I'm in physical therapy. I have another month of that." He raised his arm high over his head to demonstrate his hardiness. But emphasized his refraining from paintball was to allow for proper recovery. Pressed if he's in the running for the Green Lantern Corps, he shrugged, "I don't know. Technically (I am), because they haven't hired anyone." When Copley cut in to gasp that they're making "another one" of the Green Lantern movies, Hammer amended, "I don't know if they're making another one," adding of his physical fitness for the role, "I'm not going be hobbled for the rest of my life. Let's say that."
Wheatley kindly pointed out that the Green Lantern doesn't really need to do much fighting anyway, offering it's the ring that does the heavy lifting. "You don't punch stuff in Green Lantern. You go like this (holds out his fist) and then a parachute or something--"
"A fist!" Hammer interjects, "No a fist comes out! And that punches them." So he's done his research? "I'm a kid at heart. I mean, everyone's read comic books."
While Hammer's being coy, Wheatley agreed that it's strange the strapping Hammer hasn't snagged a superhero role yet, saying, "because he looks like one." To this, the dashing leading man flashed a bright white smile and laughed, "Typecasting!"
