Parker returns home to take over her father’s bar after his sudden death in Trigger Warning. However, not all is as it seems in this small town. As she tries to figure out how her father died, Parker discovers that her hometown has been overrun by gang violence. As she digs deeper, it seems a larger conspiracy is at play that could be the key to finding the truth about her father and saving her home.

87eleven once again brings their ability to deliver story-driven, intense action sequences to the screen, with star Jessica Alba infusing her performance with impressive stunt work, but pathos as well. Director Mouly Surya helmed Trigger Warning from a script penned by John Brancato, Josh Olson, and Halley Gross. Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, best known for producing the John Wick franchise, served as producers on Trigger Warning, launching a new action hero into the spotlight.

Screen Rant interviewed Anthony Michael Hall about his new Netflix movie Trigger Warning. He discussed Surya’s directing style and the importance of the dynamic between the director and the cinematographer. He also praised Alba’s chops as an action star and reflected on how impressed he was by 87eleven. Hall also teased his role in Reacher season 3.

Anthony Michael Hall Praises Jessica Alba & Director Mouly Surya As Leaders On Trigger Warning Set

Hall explained how he became involved with Trigger Warning and his admiration for Surya’s leadership on set as well as her collaborative directing style. Hall also praised the impressive stunt work done by 87eleven on the movie. He also sheds light on his character, Senator Ezekiel Swann, and the complicated relationship he has with his sons.

Anthony Michael Hall: Well, what was interesting, I heard about the project, it’s going on four years ago. We shot it three years ago, I think. I have a great management company called Untitled, and they brought it to my attention. And then what happened was I found out that the director, Mouly Surya, wanted to meet with me on it. We had a great Zoom session where we just kind of talked and I did the same thing when I did Halloween Kills.

Sometimes I’ll just request a meeting with the filmmaker because ultimately at all levels of our business, including A-listers and everybody else, you have to audition, you have to screen test or what have you. So in this case, I did the same thing I did with David Gordon Green. I just requested a meeting, and I spoke with Mouly and she didn’t actually need me to audition or read or screen test at all. We just had a really nice conversation about it.

I guess she had grown up watching some of my films and she was aware of my work and my more recent work, and she was just lovely. And then what happened was I then watched her film, which I thought was pretty incredible. If you haven’t seen it, it’s really worth the look. It’s called Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts. It was incredible, man. It’s almost like a Kill Bill type of thing. She’s a really intelligent, lovely filmmaker, really talented.

And then what happened was, as you probably know at this point, Thunder Road made the film, which did all the John Wick films. So when we got to the set, it was incredible. We were in Santa Fe and it was the 87eleven, which is the stunt organization that was created by Chad [Stahelski] who did the John Wick films.

The director was a stunt coordinator, so we had the top notch stunt team. Jessica is the full on pro, obviously has a lot experience with an action film with Robert Rodriguez and other films. So she knew her stuff. And then we had this really kick ass, really cool core group of women that were at the helm. It was the two producers from Thunder Road, Jessica and her counterpart that run Thunder Road with Basil [Iwanyk].

We had a female cinematographer named Zoë [White] who was excellent. She had done The Handmaid’s Tale and a lot of other great stuff recently. And then Mouly just couldn’t be sweeter. She’s just this wonderful, very peaceful woman from Indonesia. She’s just really down earth and I found her to be a really excellent director. She had great notes and great adjustments, but also worked seamlessly with Zoë, her cinematographer and these other producers that I mentioned.

It was really cool to see all these women in charge doing their thing, running the project. Because it’s Netflix, they have the resources, and they’re such a great company, we had such a topnotch crew. lot of the fun too is just going to a place, being an actor, a lot of it is just the adventure of it. You wind up like, Okay, I’m going, where you up? You got your hotel room and you start exploring the town. Santa Fe is a place that I think I’d been to, but briefly. So it was great. All of a sudden, you’re in Santa Fe for three weeks or a month.

The character is a trip. He’s this kind of corrupt senator. I liken it to his two sons are like Cain and Abel. Jake Weary is a talented young actor. He plays the dirty one, he plays Elvis. And then Mark is a real interesting guy. I really hit it off with him. He’s a great guy. He’s also a filmmaker and has directed films. He plays, obviously Jessica’s love interest. There’s a backstory with him in the past and it was wonderful. You know you’re getting old when you get to set and you got two adults playing your son.

I want to talk about Mouly for a second because the one thing that actually really stood out to me was how beautiful this movie looked. Can you talk about working with her as a collaborator and what her directing style added to the film?

Anthony Michael Hall: First of all, she’s kind of quiet when she works, but very accessible. She’s very quick to laugh, which is a beautiful quality. She had a sense of joy about her when she was working. One of the things I always look for is the dynamic between the cinematographer and the director on a project. And that was really right there with these two ladies. Zoë’s an excellent cinematographer. So I was really, as I always am, very aware of that dynamic. How is the DP working with the director and vice versa? So they had a great vibe and the two producers were the two of the ladies that run Thunder Road. So it was just like a core group. They were always bonded at the monitors together.

And then you had Jessica who had a lot of experience as with the Rodriguez films and other action stuff. When we were doing the scenes, she would have notes for us just like the stunt coordinator would. Suggestions about how to throw a punch or how to do this. The truth is, I have all that experience too, but I just buttoned my lip. I just watched. So she had great notes too. Jessica was excellent and fun to work with. She was really good. But Mouly, she was very cool. Drew upon the support of her counterparts. But also I felt like she was very fluid and open change. AnI think that’s very important too, to be open to a better way of doing something.

I felt like her camera awareness was right on top of it. And as I said, having seen her first film, I’m like, this lady’s a shooter. She knows how to shoot movies. She’s an artist. She really knows what she wants and what she’s doing. So it was a real pleasure working alongside these ladies. Then a lot of fun with the actors I got to work with too. I liked Jake a lot and Mark, primarily my scenes were with those guys.

It’s funny because we’ve stayed friends. We send stuff to each other on Instagram and she’s just a sweetheart, really kind woman and very lovely. She had her family with her too, her husband and her young child. And then I got to see her when I did some post production. I did some of the loopings, this was probably six months ago in LA, and all of a sudden you’re on the lot at a sound stage at Fox. It was a different environment to see her, but just a lovely warm spirit.

Can you talk about working with Jessica and what she brought to the role of Parker and just seeing some of those stunts in person?

Anthony Michael Hall: I was aware of those guys because of Chad, the director of the John Wick films. And then how the fact that he and David Leitch had helped lead the way in this great new trend of great stunt coordinators. Respected, top-notch, A-list stunt coordinators that have become great directors. So working with the 87eleven, first of all, those guys are so legit, incredibly prepared. You get there and these guys have already worked out the animatics or whatever, they’ve already shot it on video and they’re showing it to you on the computer. We’re going to do this, this, and this. Then there’s the pad work and then the separate days of training with them. But they were instrumental.

And to your question about Jessica, she knows her stuff, man. I’m telling you, she’s had a lot of experience, as you know, with action stuff. So when we were on set, quite honestly, they would defer to her too. She had notes for us about throwing a punch or selling something in terms of the and all that. So I just had my eyes and ears open and I was grooving on it because I was really aware of the work that they’ve done. That organization that was started by Chad, but to see the levels, those guys come in, correct. They come in so ready and prepared.

Anthony Michael Hall Explains What He Added To His Villainous Character

“My Instinct Was To Make Him A Little Bit Southern”

Hall explained how he, Jake Weary, and Mark Webber created the dynamic as a father and his two grown sons. He broke down how Surya crafted one of the most impactful scenes between the trio, which shows how the Senator’s corruption impacted his parenting style. Hall also discussed how he bonded with Webber and Weary.

Anthony Michael Hall: The scene that comes to mind is that scene in the office. They come to blows basically. They start getting in each other’s faces. So it’s really funny because in that scene, it was important to show what a son of a b-tch my character is. He’s clearly a corrupt senator in this nondescript, fictitious town of Creation. But that scene quickly becomes about them.

I remember when we were shooting that scene, it was shooting an action sequence because what we were doing was playing, and Mouly was modulating it in terms of how in their face did they get with each other as brothers? Did they come to blows? They didn’t, but they pushed each other the whole thing.

Meanwhile, even though the scene starts out with me, it really becomes their scene. They’re driving it because their animosity towards each other, but I just found them to be great. Before I saw them on set, we had one kind of Zoom cast readthrough once we all got to Santa Fe. So I just saw heads in boxes like the Brady Bunch there when we were on Zoom calls. But I found them to be great guys.

I didn’t spend as much time with Jake as I did with Mark, but I found Mark to be a great guy, super cool, really down to earth. We had a nice vibe and camaraderie. And then I like Jake a lot too. I thought Jake’s work in the film was really good. I think he jumps off the screen too. He’s really good. So I enjoyed it.

I actually love this fictional town of Creation because it feels so lived in, and we get a glimpse of this small town America. What did the city of Santa Fe kind of add to the film, and the film’s energy?

Anthony Michael Hall: Well, I would just say, first off, the crew. Obviously, really top-notch, great crew of local artisans. All the departments were great. I thought they were really prepared and obviously with the support and the resources that Netflix can give you. It was legit. When I got on the set, it looked like a big huge studio movie because Netflix doesn’t play around. They give you the resources. So the first thing I would say is just the local people. I’ve worked with crews all over the world and all over the us, but I just found the professionalism of the crew was great. They really took it seriously.

At the same time. There was a sort of earthiness to them because of where they are. I hadn’t spent much time in New Mexico before that, but I got to say I’m not a huge fan of Arizona, but New Mexico is cool. It has more of a vibe, I feel. Also the town itself, we didn’t shoot too much in the actual town because a lot of it was stage work and then locations sort of outside the periphery of downtown Santa Fe, which if you’ve been there, it’s really small. But what was cool is I got to stay there. It was really cool because it was actually a hotel that they converted from an old mental hospital or a hospital, but they made into this very cool hotel. Wow. And so it was really cool in the downtime just to kind of vibe off the energy of the town.

It’s a very artsy town. There’s a lot of cool crafts and there’s obviously a lot of culture. The Native American influence is everywhere. You feel that, it’s beautiful. And then the people I grew up in New York City and the actual town of Santa Fe is very mixed, very multicultural, very interesting, even though it’s like a tiny little town. I also happened to be Catholic, so I would find church to go to on Sunday and a lot of beautiful local churches to explore. So I just really loved getting into being there. So that does feed you and it feeds the work.

In this case too, something as simple as the costumes too. Once I met with the costume department, they were on top of it. They had this kind of look that you saw that it had in the film that was very much influenced by the Southwestern Palette. Rust and earth tones and the whole thing. So that can go a long way to help an actor too, in this case it did for me. I’m playing the center, but then they’re putting me in these clothes. And it was just kind of interesting. It fed me as an actor that it helps you get there, if you will.

In terms of how I played it, it was just kind of like, I felt my instinct was to make him a little bit Southern, even though Creation was just kind, nondescript, southwestern looking town. I felt like he might’ve been from the south and maybe migrated there with his kids or had his kids there. Obviously they weren’t playing the southern thing, but I kind of wanted to go give a little hint of that, but it’s kind of nondescript. I kind of made him a little bit southern and a little bit corrupted and corruptible, but it was all there.

Once we get to the set, I was inspired by seeing this core group of Kick-ass women in charge running the show. They really were right there, working shoulder to shoulder, the two producers from Thunder Road and Mouly and Zoë. And then of course, adding Jessica to that because Jessica, she’s a pro. She really knows her stuff.

What did you want to bring to the role of the senator that wasn’t on the page?

Anthony Michael Hall: When I was growing up, some of my favorite actors, certainly Nicholson, even Christopher Walken, and what I’ve noted over the years is that I just always enjoyed seeing those guys play bad guys. And I think that you can inject some humor, some larceny. There’s different elements you can bring to that. So I’ve enjoyed it. What I do is when I do something like this, you just fully go for it. It’s almost like a misnomer, acting, it’s almost like the wrong word for it, because really you want to be as real as you can.

So you’re drawing upon your imagination. You’re coloring it, like I said to you in this case, making ’em a little bit southern. You’re incorporating how the wardrobe makes you feel. And so all these things contribute to kind of getting you there as an actor to bringing the character to life. It’s also that thing of just reacting, taking from the acting partner that you’re working with just like in life. People when they’re in public, like Okay, they can be interacting, they can be face to face, they can be conversing honestly about work or life or whatever. But often it’s also like, how are you listening and stolen glances and little subtle things that we do as human beings when we’re around other people.

So I think what I try to do is incorporate all of that, really being attentive to listening on film, taking from the actors that I’m working with in whatever ways, just listening and just being as present as I can be. But because it was a villain, I just have fun. I just kind of immerse myself and go for it. Because he’s a dirty character to a certain point, there’s no looking back. When I’m pulling the gun out in that same scene we’re talking about with my sons, it’s like, Well, this guy will go to that point. So that tells me enough about who he is to his sons, that he’s been a tough love kind of parent. He’s willing to pull the f-cking gun out to stop them from having a can enabled battle.

So often you’re informed by the script too. What’s there? The action setup, read between the lines, what’s there? This guy’s pulling a gun out to settle his two boys. And then, as I said, I didn’t think about it while I was making it, but they are kind of like Cain and Abel in way. One’s the bad seed and then Mark’s character is obviously more likable. He’s trying to do the right thing. It’s a testament to actually too, he doesn’t overdo it where he’s longing for her when she comes back. They’re trying to figure it out. Are they still into each other or not? But obviously there’s a backstory and there’s love there between the two of them.

Whereas the other son is all about the money, and he’s trying to get the arms deal going. So having been father to both of them, you just kind of go with the circumstances and you really just try to immerse yourself and dig into it. But again, the clues are there. If he’s pulling a gun out at the end of that scene that says a lot about the kind of father he’s been to them.

Anthony Michael Hall Teases His Character’s Dynamic With Reacher In Season 3

Hall has another action-heavy project with his role in the highly anticipated third season of Reacher. Hall teased the dynamic between his character, Zachary Beck, and Reacher including how they meet. He also discussed how the season was impacted by the strikes and how Alan Ritchson is a leader on set.

Anthony Michael Hall: I like Alan a lot. He’s a standup guy. He’s fun to work with. He’s a very serious about the filmmaking aspect. I mean, it’s a television show we’re making, but it’s streaming all around the world. I know that he’s put in his time, he’s 41. There are moments that I’ve had on the set where it reminded me when I had The Dead Zone. Suddenly you’re set with a great opportunity, you’re the star of the show, and you don’t get a day off, but you got to really summon the energy to really be there, present and doing your work. Also he, on this show, I was an executive producer on The Dead Zone when I did that. So there’s things that I’ve seen and by being on set with him that I can relate to because I’ve been in that position where I was the star TV show and there was a lot of work involved.

He’s a very nice guy, very humble guy, and he’s very personable too. He’s very cool with people on the set. He’s a nice guy. In terms of the character. Here’s what I can tell you, I wasn’t aware of the Lee Child book series, but fortunately, because I’ve got a great team I was able to work on these two Amazon shows, which were both based on book series. Michael Connelly, I worked on Bosch Legacy a season of that. Lee Child, which I wasn’t as familiar with, but there have been 26 or 28 of these novels. So hes incredibly prolific. He’s been around a long time. What Alan told me on set was that Lee is actually retired now, but I think his brother [Andrew Child] continues to write the book series now.

Now, this particular season, we teased it a couple months back before the new year. It’s based on one of the books called Persuader, which is a type of gun. And what I can tease about it is, I’m playing a great character and a lot of it has been drawn heavily from the book. I read the book a few times. I haven’t read the others in the series, but I read this one for sure. So the character is Zachary Beck, and on the surface, he’s like a kingpin of wholesale rug dealing. But the truth is it’s a front and it’s a cover for something a little seedier. I don’t want to say much more than that, but it was also an interesting dynamic because he’s not an outright villain, I think in the way that you would see this character of Ezekiel Swan that I played in Trigger Warning.

By that, I mean the intro into this third season is Reacher basically saved my son’s ass. He’s getting roughed up by what we think are a bunch of townies, and ultimately it’s a dirtier group of people. So when the season opens, in the first episode you see my son’s character, and it’s played by a guy named Johnny Berchtold, really talented young actor. He kind of gets roughed up in the town and Reacher comes to save his day in the way that Reacher does. So he basically saves my son’s ass because he’s getting beaten up and then from that point, Johnny’s character, my son, he says to him, Look, you should come talk to my dad. He’s kind of a maid guy. He can help you out, maybe put you to work.

And so what it leads to is me hiring Reacher. I don’t want to say too much more than that, but basically that’s the end of the story, this father son dynamic. But then there’s also this whole thing of Zachary Beck and who he represents to Reacher and that Reacher will be working for him, but as you know, he’s kind of a double agent agent too. There’s an excellent actor named Brian Tee, who’s also a part of this season. And then Brian, his character, this is probably as much as I can say, but he kind of steps out of the shadows too. And then you realize that the two of us are into some dirty dealings and it’s going to lead to a broader story that my son gets involved and further linked into, if that makes sense.

So it starts out with him kind of saving Johnny’s character’s ass and then it leads to him bringing Reacher to me, and then the whole season kind of unfurls from thereIt’s really intense. On the page it looked like, Okay, this guy’s the villain, but the truth is there’s a lot of good redeeming qualities to him, and it may not be what it seems on first sight is what I’ll say. What that provided me is an opportunity to color it like that. Sometimes you want to misdirect the audience. So I’m working with this great director, Sam Hill, who’s doing the whole season with the exception of one episode, which is being directed by Gary Fleeter, who’s an excellent filmmaker.

He did Runaway Jury and a lot of great films over the years. So those are the two directors I’m working with this year. So what’s fun about this role for me is that there’s a way to sort of misdirect the audience to kind of keep ’em on their toes where you think he’s more of just a straight out villain, but there’s other stuff too. So yeah, there’s a really dynamic, great role. I’m in every episode I’m starring in the season with Alan. What’s interesting about it is, it’s taken a year because we started this right before the strike started, last summer started, and then the four months put a wedge in it. Had we originally stuck to that schedule and the strike not happened, we would’ve been done in November.

Well, what happened is we resumed in November and now we’re shooting until this July. So season three, just a footnote, doesn’t matter much to people, not involved, but it will have taken a year by the time we finish it because of the strike and everything. BIt’s been a great, great opportunity. And I love the people I work with, like Nick Santora. I really hit it off of him. He’s the show runner. And what Nick told me about Amazon specifically, he’s like, They’re really not hung up on the length of the episode. So some episodes might come in at 43 minutes and some are like 55 minutes. They don’t care. They’re just like, Just give us good episodes. So it’s a great company to work with.

About Trigger Warning

A Special Forces commando uncovers a dangerous conspiracy when she returns to her hometown looking for answers into her beloved father’s death.