The Big Picture
- Collider’s Robert Taylor speaks with J.K. Simmons about his upcoming Netflix movie
The Union
. -
The Union
stars Mark Wahlberg as a construction worker pulled into a secret spy organization, led by Simmons’ Tom Brennan. - In this interview, Simmons discusses why he wanted to join the film, how the movie experiments with genres, and working with his costars.
In Netflix’s fun new action-comedy The Union, Mark Wahlberg plays a New Jersey construction worker who gets recruited into a group of top-secret super spies by his old high-school girlfriend, played by Halle Berry. Every great team needs a strong leader, though, and in The Union, the guy in charge is Tom Brennan, played with more than a touch of gruff authority by Academy Award-winning actor (and sometimes Spider-Man nemesis) J.K. Simmons.
In this exclusive, one-on-one interview with Collider, Simmons walks us through his character — a “street smarts” kind of guy who was supposed to be from Pittsburgh but, at Simmons’ request, ended up being a native Detroiter. He talks about hanging out with his co-stars, including fellow “bald, character-actor guy” Jackie Earle Haley, and why he was interested in joining the cast of The Union even though he’s not the biggest fan of the spy genre.
J.K. Simmons on “Book Smarts” vs. “Street Smarts”
COLLIDER: We’re here to talk about The Union, a Netflix film about a secret organization of blue-collar spies who don’t come from military or fancy Ivy League backgrounds. If the Union were a real organization, which member of this impressive cast do you think would be most likely to get recruited for it?
J.K. SIMMONS: What do you mean “if”?
Oh! [Laughs]
SIMMONS: Well, I got to go with Mark, who is recruited during the course of our fictional endeavor.
There’s a running theme in this movie of “street smarts over book smarts,” which is actually referenced in a line of dialogue from your character, Tom Brennan, who definitely falls more on the street smarts side of things. I was wondering if you feel that same way about yourself in real life, or maybe if there’s a healthy streak of book smarts in J.K. Simmons as well?
SIMMONS: Oh, I think I’m significantly lacking in both, which apparently has served me very well. [Laughing] I think it’s an interesting question actually for people in life in general, and especially as a father, because I think you’ve got to have a healthy balance to have a healthy, happy life.
Do you feel like you are able to have that balance?
SIMMONS: I think so. I’m probably a little more on the Tom Brennan side of street smarts over the book smarts. My siblings got the book smarts a little bit more than I did.
You and Jackie Earl Haley get to share a scene or two together in this movie, and I couldn’t find any evidence that the two of you had ever worked together before. But that seems like such a fun pairing to me, considering the long and eclectic careers that you both have had. Did you know Jackie at all before doing this film? And were you able to find time to chat or swap stories with him at all on set?
SIMMONS: We had never met before. When I was negotiating — is this going to work out? the schedule? the yadda, yadda, yadda — I went, “Oh, I got Jackie Earle Haley playing this!” And he’s had such an interesting career. Going back to Breaking Away, I’ve been a fan of his work. So that was one of the extra treats. Him and Adewale [Akinnuoye-Agbaje], who, of course, I’d worked with in the past. The whole team of Union employees was really a treat. And Jackie and I did have lots of time hanging around in between shots to kind of be the old, bald, character-actor guys and swap stories.
I noticed there are two types of scenes in The Union that are kind of standard for a movie like this, and you get to do both of them. One of them is the sort of “walk and talk” where you and Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry are giving a lot of exposition while also trying to walk somewhere really fast, and then the other is the sort of “arms crossed and glaring at the action on the TV monitors” while you’re barking out orders to your subordinates behind you. Of those two, which is the most challenging to make feel natural?
SIMMONS: Yeah, it was definitely the “looking at a bunch of blank screens” and having to invent the action in your own mind. Because when you’re walking down the street with Halle and Mark, and you’re in London, and you have a lot of information that you have to spew in a short amount of time — you’re with two great actors, and you’re in the environment — that feels completely natural.
The Evolution of Tom Brennan (and the Importance of a Good Detroit Tigers Cap)
Your character, Tom Brennan, introduces himself as “Local 1225,” which I looked up, and that’s an electrical union. There’s not a lot of his history, past that, given in the movie though. Did you get any backstory on your character that didn’t make it into the film? Or perhaps that you yourself had in mind while playing him?
SIMMONS: Well, the main backstory for my character that we do see in the film, if we’re paying attention, is … as originally scripted, he was a Yinzer from Pittsburgh, which is a very, very specific dialect. And I requested that he’d be a guy from Detroit, which coincidentally is where I spent the first 10 years of my life. Because, the way the schedules were working, I was like, “I don’t know if I’m going to have time to really nail this weird, specific dialect that only a million people are going to really fully appreciate and understand, anyway.” So the big backstory on Tom is that he’s from Detroit.
It’s interesting you bring this up because I myself am from Pittsburgh, and I am in Pittsburgh right this second. So what you’re telling me is that you could have been wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates hat, but instead it’s a Detroit Tigers hat in the film.
SIMMONS: Let me just say this: Either way, there’s a Jim Leland connection. So we’re good.
Very true! The funny thing is, not only am I in Pittsburgh, but I’m a baseball guy. So I was going to ask about the Tigers hat, anyway. I know you have a history with that team, both on and off-screen. Is that hat from your closet? Did you just wear it to set one day, and the director was like, “That works!”
SIMMONS: [Laughs] No. I did wear my own Tigers cap when I auditioned for Sam Raimi for For Love of the Game, which was the other one you were referencing. But, no, [in The Union], I loved the logo that they came up with that I wear for most of the movie. There are two different caps. One is the classic road cap with the orange “D,” but the one I wear most of the time is a sort of really subtle version of the logo that a lot of people wouldn’t even know what they were looking at. It’s just a guy in a baseball cap.
I definitely knew what I was looking at, but now that I know it could have been the (Pirates) “P” …
SIMMONS: Yeah, sorry, man! [Laughs] Love Pittsburgh, by the way. Great town.
J.K. Simmons on Getting in on the Action and Picking His Favorite Spy Film
You seem more than capable of handling yourself in this movie, but during the action scenes, you’re left on the sidelines a little bit. Am I wrong in thinking that if The Union gets a sequel, Tom Brennan needs to and deserves to get tossed into the fray a little bit more?
SIMMONS: I’m going to say you’re not wrong. I’m going to say maybe the producers are listening, and we let Tom get his uniform dirty a little bit. Clearly he’s one of those guys who started out in the field and had enough street smarts to get to the position he’s in of being the boss. But, yeah, as long as there’s not too much running involved, I’m happy to get out in the field.
The Union is fun, and it’s got a lot of humor, but at its core, it’s essentially a spy film. I was wondering if you have any personal favorites from the spy genre or maybe movies from that genre that you feel are underseen or haven’t been talked about enough? What are J.K. Simmons’ favorite spy films or ones that you revisit?
SIMMONS: Well, the first one that comes to mind is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Just a really, really well-made, intricate, classic spy film. I’m not a giant fan of that genre in particular because, as an actor and especially as an audience [member], I get so involved watching characters and watching actors that the plots of spy films sometimes … I’m like the guy, “Wait a minute, which one… Is he the good guy or…?” I get lost. I don’t have enough book smarts for a lot of spy films. This one is really fun because it does — as with any good spy film — get a little convoluted. We think we know what’s going on, and then, well, now maybe you don’t. There are some really fun twists and turns in it.
So, to follow up on that, when you get offered a script from a genre that maybe you’re not super interested in, does that make you more want to do the film and splash around in a genre that maybe you don’t have all the information on? Or maybe less likely? Are you more drawn to a genre that you’re attracted to or less?
SIMMONS: I’m actually more drawn to something that is messing with genre, at least a little bit. Like this one, as you said — it’s not a comedy, but it kind of is. We bring a lot of comedic elements to the classic spy-film genre. And Mark and Halle and Jackie and Adewale, all the actors in this film are so adept at both — finding the comedy but staying grounded and real and keeping the stakes up. That, to me, is an ideal kind of combo of genres to be a part of.
The Union begins streaming on Netflix this Friday.
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