“This was such a brave performance by Will” says Pepper. “He sheds the pyrotechnics of his popular action roles and allowed himself to be still and expressive vulnerable. I was absolutely immediately impressed with the script and it was the only role available with just a couple of scenes as childhood friend who becomes his attorney and helps him in this difficult mission he’s on.”
Pepper’s performance came from tough slogging. His character navigates the emotional and moral issues of Smith’s character’s decision to give life to others by giving his own.
“Dan begins so at odds at his spirit and conflicted about what they’re doing. Not only is it illegal but ultimately, he’s signing his friend’s life away. It weighs so heavily on his soul. Because of the in-depth detail we explored during rehearsal time and understanding the back-story, it meant a lot, even though the audience will never see that process."
Making the Emotional Connection
Pepper’s work on any part begins on the first reading. He says that’s when his unfiltered emotional responses are the most visceral.
“I try to make an effort to keep extensive journals when I read a script. I make detailed notes of initial emotions, because from everything I've read from masters of our business and craft, those initial emotions are the most powerful and then your job is to recreate the initial emotional instincts which are crucial.”
Dealing with the Aftermath
Although his job is to recall those emotions for filming, he says they sometimes leave an imprint that haunts him.
“At the end of the day, I’m not very good at sloughing it off”, he admits. “I’m a sleep walker and talker. My dreams are where it affects me. It’s not that I come home carrying the burdens of the characters, lingering in there. I’m always chewing on them. My wife has to bring me back. I wake up frustrated in the night, pacing in pyjamas, and she says 'Honey, come back to bed'. That’s how I carry it sometimes.”
Getting Away From It All
Pepper has worked with the biggest names in contemporary cinema – Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Spike Lee, Edward Norton and Leonardo Di Caprio, but when he arrives home at his farm on Vancouver Island, the trappings of Hollywood melt away.
“It’s lovely, it overlooks the ocean. There are vegetable and flower gardens and an orchard. I’ve already done the pruning, made the raised beds, and prepared the grapevines in pots. I used 6 or 7 yards of composted soil. I do all the digging, wheel barrowing and getting my garden done.”
“But I'm in LA now, surrounded by concrete,” he says, sounding positively misty. He’d rather be home to do the work.
“I'm growing grapes, cucumbers, peas, beans, broad beans, blueberries, kiwi, and nectarines. But the orchard is really my great love. I have two big mature fig trees, three plums pears, three varieties of apples, grapes and blueberries. I also enjoy working with bonsai and Japanese maples. My wife is the green thumb of the garden and I do the mule work, digging, building and fencing.”
Connecting with Nature
Pepper starred as a pilot stranded in the Arctic tundra in The Snow Walker. His character was forced to learn the ways of nature to survive. It was familiar territory for the multi-faceted actor.
“I was raised in a hunting fishing family on Pacific Northwest. Everyone lived off the land. We ate venison and gardened. Whatever you could eat wild, you did. My parents were naturalists and knew where and when to pick chanterelles and pine mushrooms. We harvested a lot of wild things, clams, oysters, crabs, clams.”
“It was a wonderful way to grow up as a hunter and fisherman. There was such joy. We often went up into the mountains to hunt; it was about the adventure in these alpine meadows, where you set foot where no one else may have.”
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