Last night, in front of a room of media and invited guests, Aussie actor Stephen Peacocke helped introduce a special preview screening of Paramount’s new film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, ahead of its release this Thursday, May 12th.
The film stars Tina Fey as reporter Kim Barker, a real life story based around her book The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, documenting the reporter’s experiences while being embedded in Afgahnistan. The film also stars Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Billy Bob Thornton and Aussie actress Margot Robbie. Stephen Peacocke, meanwhile, plays Barkers’s bodyguard Nic in the film, which marks his first featured role in a Hollywood production.
In a short Q&A before the film, Peacocke reflected on his experiences working with the star-studded cast, “It was exciting – I was working with a couple of legends who I’d been watching for ages, Tina obviously, Margot’s doing exceptionally well at the moment, and Martin Freeman… going through University, The Office was my show. I was one of those nerds who could quote it, so I think I annoyed him on set. It was an extraordinary experience.”
He also revealed that they filmed not in Afghanistan, but rather in New Mexico, USA, “We shot for three months just outside Albuquerque and Santa Fe, there was a bit of snow on the mountains which there needed to be for the film, and there was a US Air Base out there… we had access to all the cool military equipment. I love all that stuff. The Marines helped us with a lot of the battle scenes, the combat that’s in there. And it was a mix of being boiling hot and freezing cold…”
As for how he would pitch the film, “It’s a smart comedy, which it’s inevitably going to be with Tina Fey having such a big part of the production, writing and starring in it. It’s got a lot of drama, there’s some really heartfelt moments in it, with enough comedic moments to make it relatable. That’s what grounds the film. It’s really intelligently written, I play the only idiot character in it… I bring something silly to it and it explains my funny accent…. It turned out really well, I’m really proud to have been a part of it.”
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot opens in Australian cinemas this Thursday, May 12th.
Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures Studios
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