The Cold Descent – Exclusive Set Visit Report: Tony Todd, Michael Eklund, More!
Staci Layne Wilson
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Michael Eklund – actor
DC: I understand you and Tony worked together before, a long time ago.
Michael Eklund: The first time I worked with Tony Todd was probably 14 years ago on an episode of “Smallville.” It was one of my earlier jobs when I first started getting into the business and I was fortunate enough to work with Tony then, and he’s just as amazing and spectacular as he is today. Just by coincidence I decided to do this movie, and then they told me that Tony was working on it as well. Once I heard his name was attached, then I thought it was going to be a fun time.
DC: What makes it fun?
ME: The whole film is on a train, it’s one set that we re-dress for different scenes and it takes place over four different cars on the train but we have one set that we rebuild and redecorate to look like other train cars. So it’s a very contained set, which gives that kind of contained, claustrophobic feeling for a thriller which we need, which we thought was important. The train is almost like another character of the film because it’s a train going to hell, so they’ve done a great job decorating the train and it brings a whole new kind of element to the movie that kind of gives it that scary kind of eerie feeling, and contained on this train with six different actors, it’s fun. I just worked with Anson Mount on a film I shot in New Orleans called Mr. Right with Sam Rockwell, so yeah it has kind of like a “Hell on Wheels” feel to it except ours is a thriller.
DC: Is it mostly practical effects?
ME: Yeah, [but we also have an] amazing visual effects artist on set and he’s doing things I can’t even comprehend that he does on his laptop. The visual effects that he does that makes everything just look so real, it just brings that more high production value quality to the film. When you’re doing a movie about a train going to hell, then you definitely need somebody good, and we got one of the best.
DC: How’d you come onto the project?
ME: They sent me the script over the Christmas holidays, I read it, and then I thought it would be a lot of fun. They told me we were shooting in Los Angeles, which is rare nowadays to actually shoot in L.A., and so I said yeah, this would be a fun time and to work with Tony again… it was a no-brainer to jump on board this train. And I’ve only got one job [unlike some others], one of the writer/producers is acting in the film, Yousef is actually producing and acting in the film.
DC: Tell us about who you’re playing.
ME: I play Roland Bursley, who is a Confederate soldier, and he’s been hired by Annie’s father, the character’s name is Annie, played by Jennifer Laporte, her father, to transport her to Atlanta, and if I can get her to Atlanta, then he’ll pay me a bounty of $500. So I’m kind of a bounty hunter after the war. We build this relationship on this train ride, the Roland character and the Annie character, and I start off as kind of a cold-hearted criminal that turns into a soft-heart protecting Annie. Tony plays Jericho Whitfield, who is the most hardened outlaw in the West and we’re nemeses in the film. We go up against each other, and based on the circumstances of the film that we’re on a train to hell, we have to join forces and work as a team if we want to survive the train ride. We don’t know that at the time but we learn as much as the audience does as the script goes on, so we don’t know how this actual world works until we try to fight these demons, and then we realize that they’re a lot stronger than we expected and a lot smarter. And they put us through the gamut of different scenarios to survive this train ride, and if we do, then we get to meet the devil at the end of the film. If you make it that far, then you can strike a deal with the devil for your life. I have a past. When I was in the war, I fought for the South, and all I can say is my brother fought for the North; we were on opposite ends, and so I’m repenting for the sins I’ve caused in the past. Each character in the film has their own sins, and that’s what got us onto this train in the first place.
DC: Was it the horror genre that attracted you?
ME: No, no, not at all. I’ve done everything from science fiction to dramatic to romantic love stories to thrillers, horrors… I like doing all of it because they are so different and they force you to exercise different muscles in your acting toolbox that you don’t usually get to use. So after this one I’ll probably follow it up with maybe a romantic comedy if I had my choice. [In the meantime] you can expect a film coming out this year called Edward, which is a biopic about the godfather of motion pictures. He’s the guy who created moving pictures in the 1800s, and he is the reason why we’re even making movies today. That comes out this year.
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