Role as racist 'Detroit' cop took actor Poulter to 'frightening place'

Record ID: 904934

  • Title: Role as racist 'Detroit' cop took actor Poulter to 'frightening place'
  • Date: 2nd August 2017
  • Summary: DETROIT, MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES (JULY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) WILL POULTER, ACTOR, SAYING: "I think there is no obvious way of resolving the issues that we address in this film. And although there has been a great deal of work done to better the situation when we talk about race relations and the relationship between police and ethnic minority groups. The best thing we can hope for when it comes to audiences responding to "Detroit" is opening up conversation, inviting a wider audience to engage in the conversation. I hope that white people in particular will engage in the conversation when they are invited to and they won't shy away from talking about race and racism and that we encourage a better level of understanding and empathy."
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2017 00:48
  • Keywords: Detroit movie Will Poulter Kathryn Bigelow police
  • Location: DETRIOT, MICHIGAN, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
  • City: DETRIOT, MICHIGAN, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA0046SGTNIL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The sadistic, racist police officer at the center of the movie "Detroit" may be one of the more terrifying characters seen on film this year.
    Playing him was equally frightening, according to actor Will Poulter.
    "You have to momentarily convince yourself that just because someone belongs to a different ethnicity group they are a threat to you or that they are immediately a criminal," said Poulter, 24, who portrays a white Detroit cop who taunts, pistol-whips and beats up a group of black men and two white women in an hours-long interrogation during the 1967 Detroit riots.
    "You are not forming your opinions on any kind of truth or rational basis, you're having to accept ignorance as the thing that informs all of your behaviors and it's a quite frightening place to be," he added.
    Director Kathryn Bigelow's "Detroit" is based on a hitherto little-known incident that ended with the police shootings of three black men. Reviewers have called it powerful but painful to watch.
    Poulter's character, Krauss, is a composite of some of the actual Detroit police officers who were later tried and acquitted of any crimes over the incident.
    Deadline.com film critic Pete Hammond called his performance "the epitome of evil," while A.O. Scott of the New York Times said Poulter played the role as "a callow sociopath."
    "Detroit" opened in major U.S. cities last week and expands to movie theaters nationwide on Friday.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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