Writer Greg Rucka and artist Leandro Fernandez have created a world full of modern mythology blended with an action blockbuster in the 5 part mini-series graphic novel, The Old Guard, which has been adapted for Netflix and will be available for streaming on July 10. One of the highlights of the film are its incredibly talented supporting cast, featuring Marwan Kenzari (Aladdin), Matthias Schoenaerts (Red Sparrow and The Danish Girl) , and Luca Marinelli, (They Call Me Crazy Jeeg).
Recently, Screen Rant had the opportunity to talk to the trio about what themes attracted them to The Old Guard and how immortality, friendship, loyalty, love, and war have bonded their characters together.
Can you guys talk to me a little bit about your characters and what era they're from?
Marwan Kenzari: I play Joe, he's a Middle Eastern human being with extraordinary abilities; highly skilled. He's from the Crusades, so he's been around.
He has been around. How about you guys?
Luca Marinelli: My character is Nicky - Nicolai. He comes from Europe, from Italy, and he comes from the Medieval age. He passed through the century with Joe together, so they met in the Crusades.
And Matthias, your character Booker?
Matthias Schoenaerts: Booker is a French guy. He loves his whiskey, and he loves a lot of it. He's from around the 1700s, so he's been part of the French Revolution, Napoleon, all that type of historical moments.
The Old Guard blends mythology with a fresh new take on characters. What was it about the themes that spoke to you?
Matthias Schoenaerts: Well, immortality and eternity. Friendship, loyalty, love. Sexuality, pain, despair, desire - all those things. These very existential and human emotions, and I think that was beautiful because I think that enables the viewer to really identify and relate to the characters. And it makes the characters less supernatural; it brings them down to earth and grounded. They feel human, and we can we can get into their hearts and see that it's the same as ours.
Beautiful is exactly how I would describe Joe and Nicki's relationship, because they explain that they've killed each other time and time again, but yet they found each other as lovers. Can you talk to me a little bit about their relationship?
Marwan Kenzari: Thank you, man. That's kind of you to say. They've been, obviously, each other's enemies. And at a certain point they've discovered that they're closer to each other than they thought they were, and they they love each other in many different ways. I think it's a friendship, and it's a camaraderie. They support each other and know each other really well.
I think without the other one, they would have a bit of a harder time dealing with the immortality than they have now.
