James Badge Dale is the Dan Reid this story needs
Sure you may not instantly recognize his name but this is the summer of James Badge Dale.
Not only has the 35-year old actor been steadily rising in the ranks through supporting film roles and as a star in both HBO’s The Pacific and the acclaimed television series Rubicon but this summer Dale also landed notable parts in no less than three of cinema’s biggest blockbusters. There’s just one catch — in each movie his character’s fate is pretty much predestined from the outset.
“That’s what I do. I get in and I get out” says the amiable thespian during a recent sit-down interview. “It’s been a good summer — three very different films three different characters three different genres (but) I don’t know if people will put together (that it’s me) under all the facial hair experimentation.”
From kicking off the season as villainous Savin in the superhero smash Iron Man 3 to playing a valiant military captain in World War Z to taking on an influential Texas ranger in the upcoming feature The Lone Ranger Dale couldn’t have starred as a more diverse set of characters.
“(This is) the bookend of the last three years of my life. And instead of dragging out that bookend I’m just slamming it down” says Dale of the varied collection of characters. “I love being able to walk down the street and people don’t recognize me. I love different characters and I like stories (and) I like doing things that I feel passionate about and if I can find a way to make it unique or need to make it pronounced that’s what thrills me.”
Dale’s Dan Reid is certainly crucial to filmmaker Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger — his character is the central motive for his honourable brother John Reid (played by The Social Network ’s Armie Hammer) morphing into the 80-year-old pop culture icon. Dale admits though that his character is a little-known piece of Kemosabe’s cinematic history who didn’t even make it out of the pilot episode of The Lone Ranger television series.
“He is more of a part of this story obviously” says Dale. “If you see the film you’ll know why. In terms of progress he is representative of something that is not really relevant anymore and that’s kind of his passing of the torch to his younger brother and the younger brother growing and changing but Dan Reid is in a lot of ways a dinosaur of the Old West.”
That progression isn’t just important to the rendering of a new Lone Ranger story. In many ways Dan Reid represents Verbinski’s attempt to adapt the well-known character for more modern audiences. As such sidekick Tonto is more constructed and many of the folklore’s iconography (silver bullets the William Tell Overture theme music etc.) has been given a twist.
“One of the brilliant things Gore did was address all those iconic images. That’s a brave thing to do but the right thing to do” says Dale. “It’s almost a punk rock version of (the story). There’s something outlaw about this entire thing and when I say people are going to be surprised by this film it’s not what you think.”
For Dale the film may not have been what he expected either. One of the more surprising experiences was working alongside Johnny Depp — who showed up from Day 1 (at the cast table read) in character and remained so the rest of the shoot.
“I never saw him without the makeup” admits Dale insisting the eccentric decision helped ease the pressure for all involved. “It was really nerve-wracking… you got the executives from Disney (who) flew in to watch the table read so there’s just that moment where people are deciding is it going to work or is it not going to work. And Johnny walks in the room in full makeup and everyone smiled and took this sigh of relief and it was beautiful and funny. It was the moment we all realized we all had something very special.”
