Robert Boyd Holbrook an American actor & fashion model, has appeared in films such as Milk, Out The Furnace, Run All Night, A Walk Among The Tombstones and Gone Girl. He also starred as DEA Agent Steve Murphy in Netflix series Narcos. Besides Hatfields & McCoys as "Cap" Hatfield, and in the year 2017, he had portrayed a villain’s role named Donald Pierce in Logan. Incidentally speaking Boyd Holbrook was discovered while he was working as a part-time carpenter for Jenny Wiley Theatre in Kentucky. Later on, he signed with Elite Models, whereas he has also worked for other agencies such as Wilhelmina Models. Boyd Holbrook has been a model for such designers & labels as Gucci, Jean Paul Gaultier, Hugo Boss, Bill Blass, Calvin Klien, Moschino, Marc Jacobs, DSquared et al.
Boyd Holbrook has been steadily building an impressive career, working in drama & action on screens big & small. In his latest released movie The Predator, he enacts the role of a troubled military man, Quinn McKenna, looking to protect his family from an otherworldly threat.
1. To set the ball rolling in your court, tell us what role are you enacting in your just-released movie The Predator?
In my latest released movie The Predator, I am enacting the role of a character named Quinn McKenna, he is an ex-Special Force. He's basically doing contract work. Probably not a lot really to live for in the sense that he is very detached from his son. He is also estranged from his wife. He is kind of a rogue. He is living from paycheck to paycheck; if you got a job in South America and you need somebody, he is your guy. We find him in Mexico and he has got these objects on him after a mercenary job has gone wrong. He has found all this Predator gear, these gauntlets & this de-cloaking thing. He needs to get them back home because no one is going to believe him. He sends them to his son, but then he gets arrested & sent to a military psych ward for some evaluation, partly because the Government is trying to keep the Predators under wraps. He is aware of them, but there's a cover-up. He has to team up with these guys who in some ways have been kind of rejected and are all suffering from some form of PTSD. They call themselves “the Loonies” and they’re a throwback to the team from the 1987 movie.
2. And how does another character namely Jacob Tremblay’s Rory becomes a part of the story of The Predator?
-Rory happens to be Quinn McKenna’s son and they don’t have a close relationship, mainly because Quinn Mckenna doesn’t know how to connect with him or relate to him. I think that audiences will relate to the challenges they deal with as it speaks to some very human issues.
3. Now tell us how did you land the role of Quinn McKenna in the movie The Predator?
-Initially, I had met director Shane Black & we sat down for a lengthy discussion. I read out the script and I talked to him a little bit about it. And then we just kept a long conversation going on. So that's basically how it worked out.
4. So how was it working with director Shane Black as a director?
-I found him to be pretty brilliant. He has a way to hinge a scene that, whatever the subject matter, he finds these comedic beats. You have to be on your toes with him, really on your toes.
5. Was he also collaborative with the entire cast of The Predator? Besides did you all of you get to pitch ideas?
- Oh, absolutely… the 1st ever day on the sets, we rehearsed a scene before lunch. Everyone was spitballing ideas, coming up with lines, you know. We broke for lunch, and afterwards, Shane Black just asked us to sit with him. He had turned our spitballing ideas into a 2-page scripted scenes to shoot right then & there.
6. By the way did the entire cast of The Predator bond well?
-Yeah. I think in general, actors are pretty playful & empathetic people, so no one was a diva by any means on this one. You couldn't have cast the film better because of the way it was shot. Augusto Aguilera plays Nettles, & he’s brilliant. Alfie (Allen) did something great with his character. Keegan’s (Michael Key) had all this experience with sketch comedy & knows what works & what doesn't. And then you have Thomas Jane, who's doing one of the most incredible character.
7. In amongst all the CG movies, there are a lot of practical sets & locales. Did that help you as an actor?
-Yeah, it really did. We were actually working in a real space. It’s so much better than reacting to something that is an X on a wall or something like that.
8. By any chance did you watch the original Predator?
-I think the 1st ever Predator had come out when I was just 6 years old, and I probably watched it when I was just about 10 years old or maybe 12 years old. I thought it was terrifying. Yeah, it's pretty terrifying. I think it was also just one of the great thrillers like Bloodsport, Rambo & all those sorts of macho films of that time.
9. Lastly, tell us what exactly was the vision of director Shane Black for The Predator and did he succeed in putting across on the celluloid silver screen?
-I think The Predator sees writer/director Shane Black returning to a world he may have 1st experienced way back in the year 1987 as an actor. In this new film, The Predator I think he has expanded & explored the story of the alien hunters & the human beings that must face the threat. With the Government attempting to cover up the extent of Predator incursions on Earth, a ragtag group of military veterans must figure out what is going on and how to save the world, or at least themselves, as the battle spreads from the depths of the outer space to the once - safe suburbia. That’s all I can say as of now.