John Bradley Talks 'Moonfall,' The Tender Moments In The Chaos & More [Interview]

John Bradley is poised to save the world in “Moonfall.” The epic sci-fi film from Roland Emmerich sees the actor portray an unlikely hero whose contributions prove that anyone can make a difference. For Bradley, its significance goes well beyond a standard popcorn flick.

This isn’t his first chance at reaching a worldwide audience with a meaningful character. Many will know him as the lovable Samwell Tarly on “Game of Thrones.” Sitting down with The Playlist, he proved to be as humble and sincere as the roles which have defined his career up to this point.

I was lucky enough to see “Moonfall” last week. I adore KC. He’s the underdog character that we all root for. Was that one of the reasons why you wanted to play the role?

Yeah, it really was. It was at the heart of “Moonfall” there are three redemptive stories of our three central characters going on these enormous journeys. Physical journeys in terms of going into space but also very meaningful psychological journeys when it comes to overcoming obstacles within themselves, healing relationships, and healing old wounds. The thing about KC is in the early stages of the film he’s overlooked and he’s ignored and he’s ridiculed. Nobody will give him the time of day. He’s got a burning sense of frustration because of that. He knows that he’s got something to say and he knows what he has to say could potentially save the world.

When nobody believes you it must be a very, very depressing place to be. Combine that with the fact that he’s totally isolated in the world. His mother’s sick and doesn’t recognize him. His father has already died. He’s got no brothers and sisters. He doesn’t have any friends. He works with people that he has no communication with. So, he’s completely alone. To take him from that point and go with him on this unlikely journey where his greatest dreams that he never thought would be possible manage to come true and he’s accepted. He gets to go into space having been a space-fixated child who always wanted that and was always told he was too fat to go into space. To go on that journey of self-discovery and self-healing and discovering his self-worth was a really beautiful journey to go on with that character and it was a real privilege.

One of the scenes that really stood out to me is the scene of KC and his mom. She can’t remember him. I dealt with a family member who had dementia and it hit because I knew what that felt like. Did it connect with you? Did you realize when filming that scene that it would be something that would touch people?

I hoped so. I was very aware of what a huge responsibility to play a scene like that with themes, as you say, themes touch people very deeply. I wanted to invest as much time and as much sensitivity and as much thought in that scene as I could. What I went into that scene thinking about is that KC is already isolated. He’s already spent so much time alone, the only mast that he has to cling to is his mom. She’s his only relative. She’s the only point of tenderness in his whole life. She’s the only connection in his whole life. He speaks to her. Every time she doesn’t recognize him or there’s a breakdown in communication between them it’s a bit like his grip on that mast is loosening. She’s drifting away from him and he’s getting cast adrift more alone in the world than he ever has been before. That fuels a lot of what happens to KC throughout the course of the movie. He goes up into space. There’s nothing left for him on Earth, there’s nothing left for him to come back for. That informs some of the decisions that he makes later on in the movie. Everything that he loved, not just everything that he’s ever loved, but everything that’s ever loved him is also gone. Big effects sci-fi movies can have all the explosions they want and have all budget and green screen, but if you get to play little tender moments like that and universal moments and moments that people all over the world have gone through and can see on the screen it makes everything so much more poignant. If you don’t care about the people you’re not going to care about the destruction of the Earth. It’s just not going to happen.

Absolutely. Did you find yourself on a level connecting with KC? The thoughts, the emotions? Did you find yourself connecting with him in that way?

Yeah, I really did. In that scene especially with the mom in the home where I got to see her. We’ve got that scene where she clouds over and she doesn’t recognize him anymore. The thing that helped me through that were real pictures of me as a little kid.

Oh, really?

I think that scene opened, when I got to see it, with a shot of a little boy. It was really me when I was six years old. It’s actually quite heartbreaking to play a moment like that even in fiction. I was working with a wonderful actress on that scene. It still brings it close to home when you see yourself as a kid and you realize that so much of your life has gone by and you can’t get it back. You’re never going to be that person again. We all ask ourselves the question. What are we doing in the world? Are we making a difference? I’m in my early thirties now, I’m not that little kid anymore. It’s just something about KC wanting to make a difference and not wanting to be a passenger in life, and not wanting to be ridiculed, wanting to be taken seriously. Having someone who’s been laughed at and ridiculed when he says he has a dream and he says he can make a difference. People thought I could never be in movies. I could never get to work with Halle Berry in a movie just because of my background, because of other things that, other parts, my weight, and certain self-esteem issues I’ve had in the past. People don’t necessarily think they’re capable of stuff. Hopefully, this movie will let people think that you’re capable of more than you think of. You’re just waiting to meet the right person, have the right bit of luck, and you’re off and running.

Isn’t it great to think it’s going to be some little kid who sees your movie and goes, “Wow, I saw KC and he’s living this hero’s journey and living this dream.” You don’t know who you’re going to inspire with this film.

Yeah, I hope so. I was inspired so much as a little kid. Life is unpredictable and who knows what’s around the corner, but something amazing could happen. Just don’t give up. That’s another thing about KC that’s such an interesting character point is his tenacity and how indomitable he is. He doesn’t want to roll over. He doesn’t want to give up on this, that’s a life lesson as well. I always say to people never give up because if you give up on a Tuesday what if something amazing would have happened on a Wednesday. What if he had given up and then on a Wednesday he could have met Brian and he never did. You’d never forgive yourself. It is about the triumph of the human spirit. It may be a big sci-fi movie but that’s a universal lesson to take from it.

I love that, the thought of don’t give up.

Yeah.

It’s such a great thought right now. So many times people, especially in this pandemic world we’re living in, feel so overwhelmed and are going through so much. Just to see someone saying, “Don’t give up, keep going, keep fighting for your dream.” It’s that great line his mother says to him about making them listen. This film in the end is about hope.

It’s about hope and it’s also about how the ordinary people in the street can contribute to triumph over some overwhelming adversity, and pandemics, global warming, and climate crisis. We’re all got a part to play in saving the world. If we do our best we can get there together. It sounds like a trite thing to say but I think it’s true.

Shifting gears here, were you ever aware of the topic of megastructures before this film? I had never heard of this until “Moonfall.”

No, I’ve never heard of it either. So many people watching the movie, I’ve never heard of this conspiracy theory. KC Houseman’s big conspiracy theory is the Moon is not a natural object, it’s an alien construct and it’s been hanging above the Earth for millions of years waiting to do us some serious damage. That’s a huge thought that takes a huge investment to get your head around. For people who are just getting introduced to that theory now through “Moonfall” maybe the legacy of it will be that they’ll never look at the Moon in quite the same way again. I really find that’s the biggest hook of this movie. Roland’s done movies before where aliens have come from the other side of the universe to blow us up. The threat in this movie has been there all along. Something that we’ve seen, thought about, written about, sung songs about ever since we were little, tiny babies — and that’s the thing that’s gonna kill us all. There’s an extra element to that. Maybe people will look up at the Moon and think what’s going on there. What are you planning up there?

Did you talk to anybody about this science or megastructures or anything like this when you were researching for the film?

I did some reading up on it. I tried to go to the best sources. It soon became apparent that you could spend the rest of your life on these kinds of things and they’re so twisty and turny you’re only gonna ever scratch the surface. I looked at some conspiracy theories, but the thing that fascinated me more than conspiracy theories were conspiracy theorists. They’re fascinating in of themselves because there’s something that I don’t have in my own life where they refuse to listen to anything that doesn’t fit what they believe in. They believe in it with such conviction, they believe so strongly they will go to the ends of the Earth to try and prove that they’re right. KC Houseman is absolutely brimming over with that energy. So, it was more about the practice of conspiracy theories and the cult of them and the world of them. KC Houseman wouldn’t say he’s a conspiracy theorist. The thing that differentiates him from so many other conspiracy theorists is he’s right, scientifically proven to be right. How many conspiracy theorists can say that?

KC is a dreamer, but he’s smart. Too often people will write off somebody, he’s a quack or whatever. KC is a smart guy to put together all that, you would have to learn about the orbit of the Moon and everything. Every so often somebody figures out something that the rest of us didn’t. One of the best scenes is KC’s meeting. The Moon’s out of orbit, everything is going crazy, he’s like ‘hey everybody come to this meeting with free bagels.’

He knows how to tempt people. He knows the way to people’s hearts. You can come and save the world if you want. ‘Well, I’m a bit busy,’ but it’s free bagels. ‘Oh, alright then. I’ll cancel it. I’m free as a bird suddenly.’

I laughed at what’s being said at the meeting. There’s one guy that gets up and says ‘I think it’s Oswald.’ KC’s like ‘sit down, sit down, I’m having a conversation here.’ What scenes did you really like? What made you say ‘that’s my favorite, I loved that scene?’

I really enjoyed that scene. First and foremost, did I enjoy it? It was the first scene I shot for the movie, that was day one for me. We shot that in the morning, in the afternoon was the scene with Brian in the diner. It was quite a big first day. It’s very rare that you get to start a movie shooting two such acting scenes. Normally, your first day and last day tend to be you just walking down a corridor or a shot of your hand as you just turn the page of a book. That tends to be your opening day so you can ease yourself into it. I have two huge scenes for my first day and I think they went really well. Roland seemed really pleased. So, at the end of that just the relief of not embarrassing myself and hopefully proving to Roland that he was right to give me this chance. I’ve a lot of affection for those two scenes, not because necessarily of anything that happens in them, but the circumstances around shooting them. I was very pleased to get them done and very pleased I think went pretty well.

I think they went well too.

Thank you very much.

I want to wrap this up with one question that is… spoilery. I’ll have to put a spoiler warning on this. Will we see this version of KC again? It’s such an intriguing thing. Any talk, because the last we hear is we’ve got work to do and there’s this consciousness of KC loaded up in the Moon.

Yeah, Roland wants to do more I think. The problem that he’s given himself is after “Moonfall” he has to find a way of making the next one bigger and better than this. How do you top the Moon crashing into Earth and trying to wipe us all out? There’s a lot of space out there. There have been a few things going around that the Moon isn’t the end of this and the universe is bigger than we could have possibly imagined. So, if we think the Moon is the only threat we have in the universe then we’re sadly mistaken. So, KC maybe, just might have his work cut out going forward.

We haven’t seen the last of KC Houseman.

Fingers crossed. God knows we need him.

“Moonfall” opens nationwide on February 4.