Former James Bond director Martin Campbell has made many iconic action movies and now he’s back with Dirty Angels. The realistic military film takes place in Afghanistan and features an all-women commando unit. Campbell talked to News about his latest film, which is now playing in select theaters, on digital, and on demand.
“From Martin Campbell, director of Casino Royale, comes this tense action-thriller. When a group of schoolgirls is taken hostage in Afghanistan, an American soldier named Jake (Eva Green) joins an all-women commando unit to liberate them. The plan: Gain the trust of the terrorists by posing as members of a relief organization. But double-crosses, tragedies, and the ghosts of Jake’s past complicate the rescue in this do-or-die mission. With Maria Bakalova, Ruby Rose, and Jojo T. Gibbs,” says the synopsis for Martin Campbell’s Dirty Angels.
Tyler Treese: Congrats on Dirty Angels. I really enjoyed the film. You’ve had a rapid pace in the 2020s, project after project. I believe you’ve shot four films already this decade. What has led to these quick turnarounds for you?
Martin Campbell: Well, the point is in the independent world and so forth, right? You know, there’s a, “Guess you can do that.” I’ve just finished Cleaner with Daisy Ridley in London. I’ve [also] just finally completed a movie about two weeks ago. I’ve done that, and this movie was obviously before that, and so forth. It just happened to be a script that really appealed to me and went to work on it. And the money came to make the thing came pretty quickly. So we just got on with it.
Yeah, it’s great to see. All your films have been really fun lately, and this has a really unique setting. I haven’t seen many films that take place during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. What about that backdrop really appealed to you?
It did. And the current situation, yeah, it was after the Americans pulled out, of course. In fact, I think the opening is before the Americans pulled out. Then of course, we bring the thing up to date and so forth, but also the war between ISIS and the Taliban that goes on. I mean, that’s raging as we speak, right? It’s a civil war, and so it’s very current in those terms. ISIS obviously within our story, they’ve kidnapped six school girls out of Pakistan, and they’re holding them to ransom, basically. So very topical as a story, which appealed to me as well.
I wanted to ask about your lead, Eva Green. She has such an edge to her performance in this. What really stood out about her and made you feel confident that she was the right fit here?
Well, she couldn’t be more opposite than when she did Casino Royale [laughs]. Hell, right? And I think what probably appealed to her was the very fact that she’s down and dirty in this, right? She’s the opposite to what she was in Casino Royale, and I think that’s what attracted her to her. And it attracted me, because I loved the idea of someone who I’d worked with before in an entirely different role, to be able to then adapt to something that is like 180 degrees from what she did before. I knew her as an actress, and I knew she was good. So it was that was the challenge. And she really rose to it, I have to say.
Yeah, it’s really interesting that you’ve gotten such great performances out of her on totally different ends of the spectrum.
In this movie, I love her scenes that are hand-to-hand combat. She’s really great and really has the choreography down.
Yes, there are some vicious fight scenes. I mean, I tried to keep all the action grounded in reality. I don’t think there’s any of the action I think those girls in reality couldn’t do. It was never heightened, right? A lot of the action is military, basically. And of course, she has the final confrontation when they all get into that that old Russian bunker, right? Where ISIS are holed up and she went for it, I have to say. To a credit, right? She really knuckled down and she trained. She worked extremely hard. And when you see Eva physically, she’s the last person in the world you would actually think would play this role. But of course, being the actress she is, she grabbed it with both hands.
You’ve worked with badass women before, but you have a really great ensemble here. Eva, Ruby, Maria, Jojo, and some more. How was it determining some of that casting? Because Maria, I’ve never seen her in an action film before, but she picks it up really well.
Here’s the thing. I didn’t want it to look like a Miss Universe team, right? If you understand what I mean by that. In other words, casting a lot of glamorous actresses and so forth, right? So the team was, in terms of casting […] I went through, God knows how many actresses to select the six who are very different.
Ironically, I had Eva, who’s French. We had Rona from Israel, we had Jojo who was American. We had an English actress. We had, in fact, I think they were all from different countries. Ruby Rose is one as well. Obviously, Maria is from Bulgaria, right? So it was very much an international cast as such. As a team, I think they all think worked extremely well.
I was talking to Maria, and she told me about a boot camp before filming started for them. Do you think that helped them really get the camaraderie that we see in the movie?
Yeah, I think you’re right. It does give them a camaraderie. Also, I don’t think any of the women had ever played in a story like this. I may be wrong, but I don’t think they’d played the part of a soldier. A ballsy part. I think they probably grabbed it with both arms, simply because it was so different to anything that they’d done before. Which I think they all worked bloody hard to be as realistic as possible. They worked hard on their performances. And I think I think it shows.
You mentioned you just wrapped up Cleaner with Daisy Ridley. What can we expect from that – and how was it working with Daisy?
Well, Daisy’s terrific. God, I shouldn’t mention another film, but it’s a Die Hard-type story, right? And she plays a window cleaner. As simple as that. But I’m not gonna tell you anymore. But again, Daisy is excellent in the movie. We had another actor called Taz Skylar, who is new – very new and is really good. [And] Clive Owen, who I’ve directed before. Most of it takes place at 700-foot on the side of a skyscraper [laughs].
Thanks to Martin Campbell for taking the time to talk about Dirty Angels.
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