Advertisement 1

'A very scary conversation about today': Director of Alberta-shot crime thriller says The Order resonates with the here and now

Article content

Justin Kurzel was only a few pages into reading Kevin Flyn and Gary Gerdhardt’s book The Silent Brotherhood when he sensed the cinematic potential of the story.

Article content
Article content
Article content

Set in the 1980s in the Pacific Northwest, the book begins with some high-octane action sequences.

Article content
Article content

“There are two heists within the first 15 pages,” says Kurzel in a Zoom interview with Postmedia. “They were fantastically written. It reminded me of those incredible Sydney Lumet, William Friedkin, French Connection-type films of the ’70s.”

Article content
Advertisement 1
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

More than one reviewer of Kurzel’s Alberta-shot film The Order, which is loosely based on The Silent Brotherhood, has noticed that it bears a resemblance to those taut crime films of the past. But the more Kurzel read, the more enamoured he became. It had all the hallmarks of a crime thriller but was also based on a horrifyingly true story. The full title of the original book is The Silent Brotherhood: The Chilling Inside Story of America’s Violent, Anti-Government Militia Movement. It traces the origins of The Order, a domestic terrorism group founded in the early 1980s which based its ugly ideology on the white-supremacist novel The Turner Diaries.

Article content
Article content
Article content

Kurzel, an Australian director whose previous work includes the gritty 2011 crime drama Snowtown to 2016’s video-game adaptation Assassin’s Creed, liked the action, setting and premise. But he soon realized there was much more to the film than stylish genre hallmarks. The story seemed to be saying something about modern America.

Article content
Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

“It went from ‘Wow, this is a great ride. I’ve been looking for an American film and this feels like it is right in my lane’ to having a very scary conversation about today and the legacy of this particular group,” Kurzel says.

Article content
Article content

The Order received rave reviews and a lengthy standing ovation when it debuted at the Venice Film Festival this summer. It was snuck into a few American theatres as part of a limited release at the end of 2024, presumably so it could meet the deadline for Oscar nominations. But it won’t be available in Canada until Feb. 6 when it begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It seems like a curiously soft release for a film of this stature. For one, it features some serious star power. Two-time Oscar nominee Jude Law plays a fictionalized FBI agent in pursuit of the group while Emmy-winning X-Men, Mad Max: Fury Road and Nosferatu star Nicholas Hoult plays Bob Mathews, the real-life leader of the Order. Secondly, while it may be a period piece from the 1980s, it seems frighteningly relevant today given the divisive political climate in the U.S.

Advertisement 1
Advertisement 2
Advertisement
Article content
Article content

“As we wrote the script, shot it and edited it and now with the release, the world around us has been shifting and changing and creating a very different conversation, it seems monthly, about this film,” Kurzel says. “It’s interesting, when you get scripts that are set in a particular period, it sort of feels like ‘Well, that happened back then.’ But when you get those films where what happened back then feels like what is happening now and that, somehow, are feeding into a fear or zeitgeist today, you know you’ve got something strong. It always seemed to me to be a film about a particular set of events in a particular period. But I’ve definitely had more conversations about this film and its relationship to now than I probably thought I would have.”

Article content

Article content
The Order
Nicholas Hoult on the Alberta set of The Order. Courtesy, Amazon MGM Studios
Article content
Article content

Production began in May 2023 with Calgary, Didsbury, Drumheller, Dorothy, Hesketh and Wayne filling in for 1980s-era Spokane, Denver, Seattle and small-town Idaho. Law plays Terry Husk, an amalgamation of real-life law-enforcement officers involved in the investigation, but is also a take on the 1970s-1980s archetype of weary crime fighters. Law’s Husk is a dedicated but flawed protagonist who has been worn out battling organized crime in New York. Estranged from his family, he retreats to the one-man FBI office in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where he begins to investigate a disappearance and several heists. Hoult offers an equally compelling performance as Mathews, whose violent nature hides behind a somewhat bland, regular-guy stance. He oversees a splinter group that breaks away from the white nationalist/Christian identity organization in the area because he feels the movement needs to take more direct action. He and a group of young American men rob banks to bankroll what they think will become the violent overthrow of the government. They also bomb porn theatres and synagogues and murder Jewish radio host Alan Berg (played by Marc Maron.) All of this is based on fact.

Article content
Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

“There’s some really good research material on Bob Mathews, there’s actually lots of clips,” Kurzel says when asked about Hoult’s approach to the role. “It’s a formidable thing. It can be overwhelming to play a figure like Bob Mathews. Who is this guy? Why did he have this pull? Why did he have this reach? What are the aspects of him that can get you to key into something? For us, what was really interesting was how very clean he was: He didn’t smoke, he didn’t drink, he mainly ate red meat. Nick and I talked about it and he did that, he lived very, very clean. A lot of the questions I was asking him were like ‘How do you feel?’ He said ‘I feel amazing. I’ve got this clarity and energy in me.’ That, just in a very physical nature, becomes a powerful insight into the character you plan and there’s an energy you bring to the scenes.”

Article content
Article content

Law, who also served as an executive producer on the film, showed equal dedication. The British actor, who earned Oscar nominations for The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain, maintains a deep curiosity about acting and filmmaking, which “is a joy as a director to be around,” Kurzel says.

Article content
Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

“He was nervous,” he says. “He hadn’t played a role like this before and that nervousness and anxiety about that is a wonderful thing to be around. It’s got a tension to it. There was never a day when Jude got complacent. There was always this feeling of ‘I hope I don’t (expletive) this up.'”

Article content
Article content

Despite the high-profile cast – which also includes Tye Sheridan as a young police officer and Jurnee Smollett as an FBI agent – The Order was shot in just over a month on a relatively shoestring budget. This made the small-town Alberta locations valuable since very little had to be done to make them look like America in the 1980s, Kurzel says.

Article content
Article content

“It was very important to me that the locations felt real and I didn’t want to build sets,” he says. “There was something quite timeless about Calgary and especially some of the towns just outside of Calgary that spoke really clearly to finding an authenticity to the film. It has an old Americana feel that most of America doesn’t have.”

Advertisement 2
Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

The crew was equally impressive.

Article content
Article content

“You’re sitting there talking to horse wranglers or stunt people – we had this amazing props master – and? the films they have worked on is extraordinary,” Kurzel says. “There was this rich, healthy respect for that kind of cinematic history. I have nothing but amazing things to say about them. It was a very hard film to make. To make a heist-genre film in 33 days with a ridiculously small budget compared to what it should have been – to pull off a series of heists like we did – you need an incredible crew who were just on and professional and very, very focused.”

Article content
Article content

The Order streams on Amazon Prime Video starting Feb. 6.

Article content

Article content
Advertisement 3
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
soxtry.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
maw-pr.com
zaaksen.com
ypxsptbfd7.com
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
onlinenewsofindia.com
worldgraphic-team.com
bnsrz.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
webmanicura.com
osostore.com
softsmob.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
odskc.com
inzziln.info
leaiiln.info
cq-oa.com
dqtianshun.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
bartoysdirect.com
taquerialoscompadresdc.com
aaoodln.info
amcckln.info
drvrnln.info
dwabmln.info
fcsjoln.info
hlonxln.info
kcmeiln.info
kplrrln.info
fatcatoons.com
91guoys.com
signupforfreehosting.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
topsedu.xyz
xmxm7.com
x332.xyz
sportstrainingblog.com
autopartspares.com
readguy.net
soniasegreto.com
bobbygdavis.com
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
qazwsxedcokmijn.com
parabis.net
terriesandelin.com
luxuryhomme.com
studyexpanse.com
ronoom.com
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
snn01.com
hope-kelley.com
bancodeprofissionais.com
zjccp99.com
liturgycreator.com
weedsmj.com
majorelenco.com
colcollect.com
androidnews-jp.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
nova-click.com
abeautifulcrazylife.com
diggmobile.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
sizam-design.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
bamthemes.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com
avgo.top