Offerings #6: What happened on the set of the A24 Iraq War movie?

Charles Melton and Kit Connor pray tell, why are you boykissing on the press tour for the A24 Iraq War movie? This is just one of dozens of questions I have for the cast of Warfare whose comments on their experience filming are frankly so bizarre they cannot go unaddressed. 

Many jokes have been made about the concept of an A24 Iraq war movie starring the likes of Noah Centineo, Connor, Melton, and Joseph Quinn, with their Gen Z Netflix fanbases who weren’t alive when the U.S. invaded Iraq, as blatant propaganda for the U.S. military. And while it’s not that simple, the spectacle of the cast leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

Warfare bills itself as a hyper realistic war film based on memory and told in real time. My sense is Warfare’s realistic portrayal makes incremental change within the problematic genre of American war movies, a genre I don’t really engage with. In The New Yorker Justin Chang describes it as “waging a war of its own — against the glamorizing tendencies and readily digestible classical conventions of its genre.” While IndieWire’s David Ehrlich writes, “if you’re selectively looking for propaganda … Warfare gives you plenty of material to piece into an argument; while there isn’t a millisecond of this movie that made ‘serving out country’ seem like a fun or noble pursuit to me, I’m also stuck on the fact that even such a pointedly apolitical project would be impossible to finance or advertise if told from the Iraqi POV.” Similarly, Chang ends his review with, “it also leaves us pondering all the war movies we will never see.” 

Poulter explained when he first met with co-director Alex Garland his “heart dropped” because so many films glorify war. He was relieved to hear Garland’s intention to show, “the horrifying consequences of war.” I forgot that we need a movie to tell us war is bad! 

The subject matter directly contrasts with how these clowns talk about their experience preparing and shooting. The 13 stars started with an actorly version of boot camp for three weeks and then for the duration of the roughly five weeks they shot, they engaged in what I have to describe as some sort of group method acting that changed them for life. I haven’t heard this kind of affected speech since I worked at a summer camp for 10 weeks when I was a teenager. 

Kit Connor told The Cut, “We spent the first three weeks training, and within the first week we were saying ‘I love you’ to each other.” Is this what happens when there’s an all male cast? Even more reason to fund stories about women.

Throughout boot camp and the shooting of the film, Poulter acted as the leader, waking up his castmates in an American accent and announcing the plans for the day in military time. This earned him the nickname “Daddy,” because, “he was so responsible and productive while they bunked together.” 

During the promo for this film a photo of Poulter in a Clifford the Big Red Dog suit, collar and all, with Melton beaming in the background emerged. My immediate question, of course, was what could have possibly warranted this costume and why would evidence of it ever be released to the public? Poulter explained to Vulture, “Clifford the Big Red Dog relates to a story that involves the gentleman that I represent. His identity is protected because he still serves, but there’s a story about him wearing that outfit on a night out many years ago in Iraq. At the wrap party, I came in the big red-dog outfit and sent him a photo.” Ah, of course. That explains everything.

Luckily, Melton and Poulter went on the A24 podcast providing a rich text for getting to the bottom of the cast’s supposed unbreakable bond. Poulter explained, “We were all together, all the time.” Melton said, “It never felt like we were acting.” 

Later in the conversation Poulter starts talking about how much fun he had filming Death of the Unicorn. But he quickly explains that he’s worried about saying how much fun he had because of the risk of offending his Warfare co-stars… He tells Melton that he explained this to his castmates. You’re telling me he looked Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, and Richard E. Grant in the face to tell them that he can’t say how much fun he had with them because of the war movie with all the boys?

He went on to say, “My experience on Warfare with you guys was the most transformative, meaningful experience I’ve had with a cast. I never wanted to get that twisted. [When] I’m saying how much fun I had with Death of a Unicorn and I never want any of our guys to go ‘Hold on did you not have fun on our thing? I thought we were like a family.’” Middle school behavior if I’ve ever heard it.

The cherry on top is the entire cast got matching tattoos — something some people at the summer camp did, not me though! — that say, “call on me.” Revealed in a photograph, the placements are really something else. Aside from Connor and Adain Bradley — whose tattoo I literally cannot find, despite him taking his shirt off for the shot — the cast got them on their upper thigh. They have their pants down in the street to promote this movie!

Melton clarified in the podcast,  “We didn’t get the tattoo to connect…we just connected and wanted all those things. I don’t think I will ever experience what we experienced through this process.” He went on to explain they talk every day, they love each other, and they are all one body. 

Because I know you’re curious, Melton and Poulter are both in their 30s. 

Let this be a painful reminder that hot actors are still theater kids who probably cried at the cast party for their high school production of “Fiddler on the Roof.” But if it’s any consolation, the second-string pretty boy convention and their antics could never convince me to see an Iraq War movie! 

JONATHAN MAJORS AND TRYING TO UNCANCEL A MAN In a Vulture story detailing the blueprint for a press tour for a canceled man timed to Jonathan Majors’ hopefully failed comeback, crisis PR firms explained how they decide whether to take on clients. They all said something along the lines of, “They would have to believe that the canceled man was sincerely committed to becoming better.” Sounds like BS to me! But they all, even Harvey Weinstein’s PR team, ensure there are “moral lines they would not cross.” It’s so much labor to rehabilitate these men’s images: strategizing, months of intense media training, building relationships with the press, finding the right writer to cover him, and doing damage control. 

The most interesting part of the story detailed how social media changed crisis comms. “Every journalist in the world can hate you, but if you have 3 million fans who consistently love you, then they’re the ones you want to rely on,” said one PR professional. “You can see if they’re willing to look at things the media hasn’t shown them,” they continued. But it can go both ways, Keke Palmer pulled her interview with Majors — part of his strategy of trying to appeal to Black women — after facing backlash from her fans. The story also revealed that the going rate for influencers to aid in image rehabilitation is $5,000 to $10,000. Horrifying, but I can’t say I’m surprised. 

For more on Majors, read Doreen St. Felix’s excellent analysis of his image rehabilitation attempt in the New Yorker.

DO WE FINALLY HAVE ANOTHER YOUNG MALE AMERICAN ACTOR? Vulture proposes Fred Hechinger as an answer to a problem I won’t stop talking about. There are no young male American actors who have star potential who have already been in multiple movies, aside from Timothée Chalamet. They are all English, Irish, Australian, or even Canadian. I know you’re thinking of Austin Butler, but he doesn’t count to me. Sorry! 

I honestly didn’t realize Hechinger was so young, only 25, and he’s already played roles in Nickel Boys, White Lotus, Eighth Grade, and he’s the only young American that snuck into Gladiator II. Many can’t say the same. In the piece a casting director says, “There’s something off, but fascinating, and really funny. He’s going to rule Hollywood one day.” I like that he’s leaning into being a character actor, but he brings up wanting to be in a rom com in every interview. Girls are supposed to beg for you to be in a rom com, not the over way around. Not that I’m opposed! He’s extremely charming as the pathetic grandson to June Squibb in Thelma. 

SHOUTOUT NOAH WYLE The boldest and bravest doctor on television, Dr. Robby, stood up to Jennifer Hudson’s spirit tunnel. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s another site of the viral clip economy where the producers of The Jennifer Hudson Show sing an original song at the guest and the guest has to dance along trying to appear cool. Wyle refused to participate citing previous unfortunate incidents of public dancing. He said, “It would’ve triggered a bigger breakdown than I had on [The Pitt] two weeks ago. No spoilers, I'm only on episode 7! Instead he opted to walk down the hallway to the sound of claps. Even then, he looked mortified. While it did give us, that Ethan Slater video, more people should say no to this stuff. 

INDULGENCES: MY ALTAR BOYS (AND ONE ALTAR GIRL)

Former Skins cast members, anyone Irish, British actors whose breakout role was “playing gay,” rappers from Kentucky, and men in Ocean’s Eleven (and their codependent best friends) are all fair game.

HARRIS DICKINSON’s directorial debut, Urchin, will premiere at Cannes. Per The Hollywood Reporter, it’s about “a drifter on the streets of London.” Dickinson previously directed his partner Rose Gray’s music video “Afraid Of Nothing.” Wishing him all the luck in the world with Urchin!

LOGAN LERMAN will be a recurring guest star on Only Murders in the Building Season 5. It’s not often there’s an update with that guy! Suffice to say I will be texting my dad for the Hulu code whenever that comes out.

Ending with the most important news of all. LORDE teased new music. A fortuitous sign for the months to come. Yippee! 

As always, I’m open to your feedback and suggestions of what to include in Altar Boys. I’m still off social media, so if you see an Altar Boy, say something! Thank you for reading and maybe send this to a friend to subscribe <3