K’naan is tired of the spotlight. So he stepped behind the camera for his first film Achi-News

NEW YORK (AP) – Before Aaron Pierre wanted to act, he wanted to be the fastest man in the world.

Growing up in West Croydon in London, Pierre was drawn to track and field. He thought gold medalist sprinter Maurice Greene was the coolest man on Earth. Pierre ran the 60-meter, the 100-meter leg and the second leg of the 4 × 100 meter relay.

“Something that’s instilled in me is to be calm in high-pressure situations — dude, one of which is the second leg of the relay,” said Pierre, speaking by Zoom from his apartment in Los Angeles. “When the whole school is out and you get that baton, you have to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.”

How quickly Pierre can put one foot in front of the other is a point of interest not only because of the rapid pace of his career. (This December, Mufasa’s voice will be in “Mufasa: The Lion King.” Barry Jenkins. surprising strength in stillness.

In Jeremy Saulnier’s “Rebel Ridge,” a tense, suspenseful thriller that premiered Friday on Netflix, Pierre plays Terry Richmond, an ex-Marine who, while cycling, is stopped by the police and has a bag of money – bail money for his cousin – confiscated. . What follows is a tense and evolving standoff with the country town’s corrupt police department and its chief (a brilliant Don Johnson). And until it isn’t, Richmond Pierre is relentlessly patient and non-threatening. He is a calm preternatural martial arts expert. Desperate Rambo.

“I had to use a level of trickery on my brain,” says Pierre. “This character that Jerry Saulnier has written and created is so bad. Understandably, it is very tempting to do too much. I told Jeremy I had to do my best to normalize how cool Terry Richmond was.”

“Rebel Ridge” is one of the most vivid experiences of going to the film: Pierre is so clearly a star in the making. From the moment he rides into town on a bicycle (“a modern horse,” says Saulnier), he commands the screen with singular power. He has the chiseled body of an athlete but the heavy, melancholy eyes and sonorous baritone (this is a man inheriting a role voiced by James Earl Jones, after all) of a thespian trained by Shakespeare.

Although Pierre has been seen in a number of earlier films and series (“The Underground Railroad,” by Jenkins, last year’s sci-fi drama “Foe”), “Rebel Ridge” is his first major role.

“After I went on Zoom with Aaron, I had only seen a clip of ‘Underground Railroad’ and that was enough to sell me,” said Saulnier. “I saw the chops. I saw his presence. I said, ‘That’s it. That’s my man.’”

Saulnier, writer-director of “Green Room” and “Blue Ruin,” is one of Hollywood’s most talented genre craftsmen. “Rebel Ridge” is his first film in seven years, but it’s a reminder of his ability to lend earthy authenticity and rich atmosphere to thrillers.

“I miss texture,” Saulnier said. “Like seeing shocks on cars and knowing you’re in a real vehicle, even when you’re doing a dialogue scene. That level of truth, I think, is taken away from filmmaking. If the top-tier filmmakers with $100 million-plus budgets can’t sell an interior car dialogue sequence, let’s go back to the basics.”

Saulnier first cast John Boyega in “Rebel Ridge,” but Boyega left the film just as it was entering production. Saulnier calls that rift “water under the bridge.”

“John and I would agree that’s the best route for both of us. There is absolutely no ill will,” said Saulnier. “Whatever pressure system was created when we were looking to cast that role, ultimately, this very unique experience. When I see the film and how people are reacting to it now, it’s undeniable what an amazing actor Aaron Pierre is.”

Pierre grew up on a council estate (government housing) in West Croydon. His father, he says, is an actor, teacher and life coach; his mother has been, among other things, a project manager. He speaks glowingly of them and of his youth in London.

“West Croydon is my favorite place in the world. It contributed enormously to the man I am today,” says Pierre. “It really instilled in me the importance of intentionality. It also contributed enormously to how I see my journey, the journey of my career. For me, as much as I’m very passionate about what I do and wouldn’t want to do anything else, before I’m a son, I’m a brother, I’m a friend. I’m many things before I’m an actor.”

Pierre started acting as a teenager and eventually graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In the summer of 2018, he won the role of Cassio in a production of “Othello” at the Globe Theater which starred Andre Holland and Mark Rylance. Barry Jenkins happened to catch him and that night he sent a message to Pierre via Twitter. “I was convinced that someone was having fun at my expense,” said Pierre. That led to “The Underground Railroad.”

Working with Jenkins, Pierre began to find himself as a screen actor. Jenkins, he says, taught him to place truth and honesty above all else in performance. On his first day on set, Jenkins approached him about an important scene that wasn’t landing.

“Barry came to me and was like, ‘Aaron, I love what you’ve done on these first things, but we’re not landing on the truth right now. I need you to find the truth, and I need you to find it now because the sun is setting,’” recalls Pierre, laughing.

“Rebel Ridge” brought a lot of new demands, though, including being first on the call sheet. The film had a torturous path to production, through the pandemic and Boyega’s unexpected departure. But Saulnier remained committed to doing it as he envisioned.

“There were certainly forks in the road where I could have tapped out, and been fine,” Saulnier said. “I dug in and made sure that whatever version we ended up with, if it wasn’t the best possible version, it would have been better on a shelf. The fight to hold the line was on a standard.”

Saulnier was inspired by real cases of civil asset forfeitures, when the police can seize money only on suspicion. There are some echoes of films like “Mississippi Burning,” Saulnier allows, in the way “Rebel Ridge” captures a Black man captured by Southern racism. But Pierre’s Richmond is a more modern figure, who encounters prejudice that has only gone a little under the surface, hiding under legal cover.

“One of the many things that appealed to me about this character was his ability to control his emotions even in moments that are undoubtedly, obviously unjust and intentionally so,” says Pierre. “He does it in a way that is not so demonstrative and therefore not braggadocious, even when he expresses how patient he is with you, you may not fully understand. He doesn’t bring out his extensive martial arts certificates or resume. He’s trying to share with you that you’re getting close to the line.”

For Saulnier, “Rebel Ridge” is the first film he has made that, while shrouded in sinister, shadowy darkness, is less reliant on high levels of brutality. Instead, “Rebel Ridge” heats up with a slow burn made possible by Pierre’s simmering performance.

“It’s been a long time coming, this moment,” said Pierre, with gratitude. “And I just do my best to be present in it.”