Director William Eubank made a name for himself a few years ago at Sundance with the Sci-fi Thriller The Signal and more recently with the Kristin Stewart starring Underwater. He sat down with us over Zoom to talk about his new action movie, Land of Bad. Starring Russell Crowe, Luke Hemsworth, and Liam Hemsworth (in their first film together!), Milo Ventimiglia, and Ricky Whittle, this is packed with military firepower along with brotherhood and camaraderie.
Liam Hemsworth is the new man in the jungle with a seasoned group of Delta Force operators, and after things go bad, he has to rescue his fellow brothers in arms. Crowe is his eyes in the sky, a seasoned drone pilot thousands of miles away who has to help bring them home. Land of Bad has a jungle, bloody action, worthy villains, and everything you could want from a movie that’s combat-ready.
Eubank shared a ton of exciting details about the behind-the-scenes of Land of Bad, including how Russell Crowe got onto the project. (Hint: The almost-movie World Breaker had something to do with it!) Eubank shared just how much planning goes into those explosive and fiery scenes that we see on the screen in the movie, and how the project evolved after meeting some JTAC operators. Read on below to check out the full interview, and then check out Land of Bad in theaters on February 16th.
The Interview with Land of Bad director William Eubank
[Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.]
Ayla Ruby: You wrote the project with your co-writer [David Frigerio]. You worked with him a lot and you also directed it. Can you talk about how the project came to be, how it evolved, just the story of that?
William Eubank: Absolutely. Yeah. It actually is very old. It’s really kind of a funny movie because it’s sort of a younger version of myself who wrote it. We wrote it in a coffee shop on the weekends while we were doing one of my first more… I wouldn’t call it my first real film, The Signal, which went to Sundance. And I remember we were just… Or I at least, was so… You’re always scared when you’re making your first film, because you’re like, “Oh, am I ever going to work again? Is this just like a one-off?”
William Eubank: And I got to follow it with something more commercial, and you’re so scared. And so we started writing this and the idea at the time was like, “Okay, it’s kind of like a video game where this guy has lost all of his stuff. He’s lost all of his guys and the only connection he has, his only real hope is this eye in the sky above him”.
William Eubank: So we were like, “Ah, that’s pretty cool. Let’s start writing that.” So we wrote it 15 years ago, and then it got shelved because at that time, drone operating was really coming into the public view. And another movie called Good Kill got made with Ethan Hawke, and that was more psychological about the effects of working so far away from something. And just over time we were like, “Maybe that’s not what the movie is.”
William Eubank: So it got shelved, and then we ended up meeting this JTAC and he had us come out to Fort Irwin and we spent two weeks out there with this guy. And it was just so insane and not what we had expected, and we were like, “Whoa, we got to rewrite this whole thing, change everything.” And we were put in touch with actual drone operators and we just got a whole different view of what we were thinking and we rewrote it all. And then, yeah, that’s really how the movie, from a long time ago, began.
On keeping Land of Bad authentic
Ayla Ruby: I’m actually glad that you brought up the JTAC person and that aspect because as far as I can tell, maybe I’m wrong, you guys don’t have a military background, right?
William Eubank: No, but actually my little brother is very active in the military and deep in places and all kinds of weird, crazy shit. But that’s the only military background I have other than my grandfather was in the Navy.
Ayla Ruby: Was there anything that surprised you about immersing yourself in this world and getting… Because how do you maintain authenticity while being who you are? Because I think it’s awesome. I think it turned out really well.
William Eubank: Thank you. I think the initial draft, if I ever pulled it back up, is so wrong. And then when I met the guys and I started seeing how real operators are and real drone operators are, you realize how committed they are to their job and how they go through so much to get there that they’re definitely not psych evaluations. They’re so committed to each other and to the brotherhood, and just being honorable people, that I was like, “Man, I really… The drama’s not in that. The drama is in their relationships.” And it just really changed my mind about a lot of things and I was like, “Wow, this is incredible.” So, yeah, just really the process of obviously writing it, but then meeting the real people and then really putting in real details of how it works.
William Eubank: And sometimes you have to “Hollywood” things, because for instance, Russell Crowe saying, “I’m Winchester.” That means I’m out of ammo. But most people don’t know you’re just going to be like, “Why is he Winchester all of a sudden?” And so yeah, Russell was always great at being like, “I’m out of bombs,” and just clarifying what on earth he’s talking about. But there’s a lot of realism and a lot of actual military, what would you call it? Not just dialogue, but planning and all that jazz.
On if Russell Crowe was always going to be Reaper in Land of Bad
Ayla Ruby: So you mentioned Russell Crowe. Can you talk about when you had your revised version, was he always the person you had in mind for Reaper? And as far as the rest of your cast too because you have amazing people in your cast.
William Eubank: Thank you. Yeah, Russell, I’d had a previous relationship with, for a fantasy movie I was writing about an old warlord.
Ayla Ruby: Is this the Scottish thing? [World Breaker]
William Eubank: Yeah.
Ayla Ruby: Okay.
William Eubank: Yeah. It’s loosely based on the Norman Invasion of England, but it’s fantasy. It’s totally-
Ayla Ruby: It sounds interesting. That’s why I ask.
William Eubank: Yeah. It’s an awesome story. Hopefully I’ll make that one. Maybe I’ll do it with Russell. We’ll see. But no, he was like, “Man, I love this.” And we started talking and it was during while he was doing Press for The Nice Guys, which is such a good movie. And we got to know each other through that. And then, that unfortunately fell through for a number of little reasons. Making movies is tough. But I went back to him on this one, I was like, “Hey, just curious if you’d be interested in this.” And he said, “You know Will, I’m super busy right now, but it’s great to hear from you. I’ll give it a look and I promise I’ll read it in the next couple of weeks.” And then he called me the next day and he was like, “Wow, I really like this. This is cool. I like the themes it explores. I’m in. If you guys can pull it together, I’m in.” So once you get Russell, then everything-
William Eubank: …falls into place. So that was really awesome.
On how Liam and Luke Hemsworth came onto Land of Bad
Ayla Ruby: That’s awesome. How about your other cast? There’s Liam and Luke Hemsworth.
William Eubank: Yeah, Liam and Luke. We got separately. It has nothing to do with them being brothers, but it’s so cool that they’re in a movie together. I guess it’s the first time, which I didn’t really realize, but yeah, just different angles. We went to both of them and they both were stoked to do it. And then we got Ricky Whittle and Milo Ventimiglia and those guys are just so awesome. They’re all great, great guys. We’re all in a group text right now just sharing funny memes and stuff, so they’re such a group of funny guys and they all are just so lovely. It was awesome. You don’t always get that when you’re making a movie. Sometimes as a director, you’re like a mom, dad, psychologist, a lot of things. But this movie, I was not that. It was just so much fun. You’re just a friend and making a movie.
Ayla Ruby: You’ve done some really cool genre stuff. And I really liked Underwater and I haven’t seen The Signal yet, but I feel like you-
William Eubank: You got to watch The Signal. It’s a fun movie. It’s a weird one, but it’s really, I think there’s a lot of heart in it.
On how how Eubank’s screenwriting and directing sensibilities intertwine
Ayla Ruby: Oh, well, that sounds good. Can you talk about how your, and maybe it’s chicken and egg, how you’re directing sensibilities impact your screenwriting or how maybe your screenwriting sensibilities impact your directing? It’s storytelling, but they’re different.
William Eubank: Yeah, I’m always just trying to, I just always like doing new things. I love so many different types of movies. There’s so many types of movies I still want to make, and hopefully I get the time to do it, and I would never, even though I love writing, it’s not like I’m a writer first. I’m really a shooter first. But sometimes you need to write things that you want to shoot if you want to shoot them. And it’s such a cutthroat business that sometimes it’s hard. It’s really difficult to get the great stuff. I can never even say all the awesome, maybe when I’m older, I can talk about all the projects I’ve pitched on and missed.
William Eubank: I’m like, “Damn, if I had that one.” So I’m always, sometimes I’m just writing because I really want to do this one idea. But for me personally, I really like doing different types of things. Shooting paranormal and making a found footage movie was just, it was so much fun. I really enjoyed that. I don’t know, I’m just a filmmaker who loves to work, and so if I’m doing other people’s stuff, that’s great. If I’m doing my own stuff, that’s great too.
On how they brought to screen some of the big stunts
Ayla Ruby: So this movie has some really cool stunts and a lot of really, it’s very bloody and it’s got a lot of cool stunts. And I want to ask about some specific sequences. So there’s this scene, midway, where there’s a canyon rocks and lots of fiery explosions and there’s cars flipping. Can you talk about how that happened, how you filmed that, how you brought that to screen? That was very dramatic.
William Eubank: Yeah. A lot of long nights. Yeah, lots of long nights. Yeah. That was a really wild, we were able to find a big quarry that would allow us to blow a bunch of stuff up because Julian Summers, our special effects guy, he was like the guy from Tropic Thunder. He just kept making the explosions bigger and bigger and bigger. But yeah, it’s careful planning. You’re trying to get your main cast in with the explosions. That’s always important to try to tie. But it’s so tough because the explosions only happen once or twice, and so the timing has to be perfect. But yeah, we spent probably a week in that quarry, so really, really dissected each little moment.
William Eubank: Yeah, so there’s just so many important aspects that you lay down the rules first and then around that you plan the smaller things. And believe it or not, at the end of the day, the last bit is like, “Okay, how do we insert our cast into this shot?” But yeah, it’s just careful planning and it is done well in advance on paper and Excel spreadsheets and all kinds of stuff.
On getting the jet flyover at the end of Land of Bad
Ayla Ruby: You’ve also got, you mentioned the helicopter, you’ve got a jet flyover at the end. How did that come to be? Was that in the script or was that just kind of…
William Eubank: No. Yeah, we knew we wanted to be one at the end. We had been talking to the Air Force about what kinds of planes would be used in a situation like that. So yeah, I think originally it might’ve been a different type of plane, but in the end they told us it would most likely be that type of plane. So yeah, that’s just how that one came to be. It was just more like we were told specifically, and then it was cool. They call them B-1 or they call them a bone one for short or something, or bones one or bone one. Anyway, it’s just weird. All their speak is so crazy. If you just talk to them, you’re like, “Wait, what did you just say?” And then-
Ayla Ruby: You need a dictionary or something.
William Eubank: Yeah, break it into layman’s terms. But it’s a very, very interesting, just a wild line of work that is for sure.
On using slow-motion to transport the audience into a mindset
Ayla Ruby: I know we’re getting pretty close on time, but I also wanted to ask about the slow motion because there’s the action, but then it feels like things slowed down a little bit.
William Eubank: Yeah.
Ayla Ruby: And that’s really interesting. Can you talk about why you chose to do that?
William Eubank: Yeah. I mean, first off, I just love slow motion. Even if you ever go back to The Signal or my first film, Love, you’ll see a lot of it. But for me, it’s just about finding a perspective of a, how do you put your mind… When Ricky Whittle is focusing in on his gun and focusing in on his targets, it’s a way to put the audience into that intense focus visually, because you can’t really just say, “Okay, he’s focusing.”
William Eubank: And it happens so fast that you wouldn’t really feel it and start to zone in yourself. So for me, the slow motion is always a way to take and transport the audience into a mindset. And I guess, yeah, I tend to use it in everything, so I try not to use it so much anymore. But I just love it, so it’s hard not to.
Ayla Ruby: It was really cool. I thought it worked.
William Eubank: Yeah, thank you.
On final thoughts about Land of Bad
Ayla Ruby: Is there anything you want folks to know about the film, about the story of it, or any last words?
William Eubank: I just hope people have a good time with it. It’s really built out of a love for ’90s action thrillers that just really obviously have to do with camaraderie and brotherhood and have some slight questions about what is violence – Is there a better version of that or not? So it deals with some, it always, you want to have your themes in there or whatnot, but it really is, at the end of the day, it’s just supposed to be fun and exciting and a little humorous when needed and at the end, somewhat hopeful. But anyways, yeah, just hope people enjoy it and have a lot of fun with it.
Ayla Ruby: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. It was really nice to meet you.
William Eubank: Likewise. Thank you.
Land of Bad will be in theaters on February 16th.
Are you excited about Land of Bad? What did you think of the interview? Leave a comment with us on X @MoviesWeTexted.
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