Joel Kinnaman On New Philadelphia Drama 'Brothers By Blood': 'I Listened To A Lot Of UFC Fighter Eddie Alvarez For My Philly Accent'
(CBS Local)-- Joel Kinnaman has been in movies like "RoboCop" and "Suicide Squad" and TV shows like "House of Cards," but he's never had to do a Philadelphia accent on screen. The actor can now add that one to the list thanks to his new movie called "Brothers By Blood" about a man tormented by the death of his sister who now has to grapple with his cousin's involvement with a powerful family mob.
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Kinnaman says this movie was one of the best creative experiences he's had in a long time and the actor enjoyed bringing Peter Dexter's 1991 novel "Brotherly Love" to life.
"We had a blast shooting it. When you can't shoot in Philadelphia and you want something slightly similar, you go to Antwerp, Belgium" said Kinnaman, in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "This movie really drills down on the characters and their relationship. It's a family drama and the drama between these characters that is at the center of it. The mob world it takes place in becomes a backdrop and a dramatic accelerator for the events. The film is a really intense family drama."
Kinnaman is originally from Sweden, so he had to do some serious work to nail a Philly accent for the movie. The actor had done New York accents before and started from there when he began developing his character Michael.
"I came in with pretty short notice and doing a Philly accent is something I hadn't done before," said Kinnaman. "It's something that's pretty specific. Even though people from Philly talk in very different ways and you could find people who've lived there their whole lives and you could place them in a lot of different places in the U.S. I felt like this guy I was playing was real working class and he had to have more a specific sound. I was listening a lot to this UFC fighter Eddie Alvarez. I was listening to a lot of his interviews."
While Kinnaman has become a household name in Hollywood because of his role in superhero movies, "House of Cards" provided one of the first opportunities for the actor to break into the mainstream entertainment conversation. The show ended up foreshadowing a lot of what has happened politically over the last few years.
"It was a very well-written show and very thoughtful," said Kinnaman. "It was precise in its portrayal and somewhat with its predictions of where things were going. It was crazy being on that show when Trump started to run. It really felt like worlds were colliding and it also felt strange to be on that show and watch things going on in the world that were way crazier."
"Brothers By Blood" is available now on VOD and digital and watch all of DJ Sixsmith's interviews from "The Sit-Down" series here.
