The line between movie-star bravado and real physical strain can be thin in modern action filmmaking, and Alan Ritchson says his latest role pushed him closer to that edge than expected. According to ScreenRant, which spoke with the actor for a cover story interview, preparing for the Netflix sci-fi thriller “War Machine” required far more than the kind of training Ritchson has become known for on television.
Directed and co-written by Patrick Hughes, the filmmaker behind “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” the movie places Ritchson at the center of a high-concept military story. He plays a U.S. Army soldier known as 81 who is chosen for an elite Ranger training program. What begins as a brutal military exercise eventually evolves into something stranger when the unit confronts a mysterious otherworldly threat. For Ritchson, however, the toughest challenge came long before the cameras rolled.
The Demands of ‘War Machine’ Went Far Beyond ‘Reacher’
The production began with a multi week boot camp designed to prepare the cast for the film’s physically demanding story. Ritchson said his experience playing Jack Reacher gave him a useful foundation, explaining that the series “prepared me for this role in a lot of ways.” The actor has spent several seasons performing intense fight choreography for the Prime Video hit, but he quickly discovered the new project required a different kind of endurance.
While “Reacher” often focuses on close quarters combat, the challenges in “War Machine leaned heavily on outdoor action and environmental obstacles. Ritchson noted that the television series features “more hand to hand combat,” whereas the Netflix film tested him through relentless physical tasks performed in natural settings.
Much of the shoot took place in rugged parts of Australia, where the terrain itself became part of the challenge. “You’re going down the side of a mountain, you’re jumping in the class five rapids, you’re crossing zip lines, you’re running the obstacle course that those in the Ranger Assessment Program compete with,” he said.
Even with extensive preparation, Ritchson admitted the scale of the physical workload was difficult to anticipate. “There’s really nothing you could do to prepare for that much physicality. You just gotta get in there and do it,” he explained, adding that the experience ultimately left a mark. “It definitely took its toll on the body,” he said, while also acknowledging the excitement of taking on a role that demanded so much.
The intensity of the shoot occasionally led to moments of real doubt. Ritchson revealed that after particularly difficult days he sometimes wondered how he would manage the next round of filming. “There were a lot of moments of doubt for me, personally,” he said. “I’d come home and I would have serious reservations about how I would figure out physically getting through the next day.”
For him, the experience ultimately underscored how different “War Machine” was from anything he had done before. Even after years of playing physically imposing characters, the picture demanded a level of endurance that could not be simulated in training. In the end, the actor found himself relying less on preparation and more on sheer determination to get through the production day by day.