You might think going from the intense, real-time Iraq War drama “Warfare” to playing Romeo in “Romeo + Juliet” on Broadway might be a whiplash-inducing change of pace. And Kit Connor acknowledges right away that “they were two very, very, very different projects.”
The 21-year-old actor did find a point of comparison, however. At a Q&A for “Warfare” conducted by IndieWire, the English thespian noted how much the Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland-directed movie relies on long takes to create its you-are-there “real time” sensibility. That, plus the fact intense rehearsals for those takes were required beforehand, was a similar energy to performing live on stage — where there is no room for error.
“They were two very, very, very different projects,” Connor said. “But in many ways, I found that ‘Warfare’ was one of the projects that has stretched me the most as an actor. And I do find that whenever you do any job [like this] they challenge you and they stretch you and you generally come out a better actor.”
“Because of the way that we shot this film, we would often do 10, 15 minute takes,” Connor continued. “And we’d almost treat them, as Ray would say, like mini plays. We’d rehearse them out. We’d drill them. We’d go over and over them. We’d get it down to the second to a point where we could do it over and over again in front of the camera. And I think that really benefited me as an actor for then going and doing another project on stage because you’ve got to be able to stay in it and stay awake, stay present.”
Directed by Sam Gold and featuring music by Jack Antonoff, “Romeo + Juliet” bowed last fall and closed on February 16. Rachel Zegler played Juliet to Connor’s Romeo. Connor had appeared on stage before, including playing Alexander in the Old Vic’s 2018 production of “Fanny and Alexander” in London.
“Warfare” was absolutely a singular experience for Connor. “I’d say it was incredibly formative for me,” he said. “I’d never been on a project where so much was expected of us and we expected so much of ourselves. For example, if you were playing a character who had to carry a really large backpack or a really heavy gun for two months, then we would work our asses off to be able to do that. And often when you train for a film, it’s to have a six-pack or to look a certain type of way, where there was no aspect in this film that we do that. We were training to be able to do the job which was really refreshing.”
