A very in-depth exclusive conversation with SHARLTO COPLEY diving deep into TED K and immersing himself in the character and becoming the infamous Ted Kaczynksi, best known as The Unabomber.
A tour de force performance that is perhaps the greatest work of SHARLTO COPLEY’s already stellar career (The A-Team, Europa Report, Maleficent, Hardcore Henry, Chappie, District 9), as The Unabomber Ted Kaczynksi in TED K, Sharlto is mesmerizing. He at times brings a malevolent naivete to Kaczynski, who goes from moments of appearing maniacal to flashes of lucidity, clarity, and righteousness as to man’s destruction of the environment, all the while trapped inside the mind of someone who doesn’t know how to express or socialize those thoughts and ideas in an acceptable non-violent manner. The level of societal confusion is embedded within Copley’s performance as the character plots and plans before Sharlto himself morphs into Kaczynski’s idea of “normal” in a dangerous pursuit of his endgame. Sharlto takes us on this ride that is palpably uncomfortable, chilling, and riveting. His performance is mind-blowing, delivering one of the most fascinating character studies on screen.
Ted Kaczynski is a mathematics prodigy, an academician who was a math professor before abandoning academics in 1969 and becoming a recluse, moving into a small cabin off the grid with no electricity or running water deep in the woods of Western Montana. In 1971 he wrote the now infamous 35,000-word manifesto, “Industrial Society and Its Future” advocating for “an ideology that opposes technology” and the “counter-ideal” of nature. Kaczynski consistently argued that technology and an industrialized society would bring about the destruction of human freedoms because it needs to “regulate human behavior closely in order to function.” Over the course of 17-years, Kaczynski conducted a series of attacks using mail bombs targeting academics, business executives, and others. The bombings began in the late 1970’s eventually killing three people and injuring 23 before Kaczynski was caught in 1996 following what became the longest and most expensive manhunt in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Directed by TONY STONE with a script by Stone together with Gaddy Davis and John Rosenthal, TED K explores the life of Ted Kaczynski in the years leading up to his eventual arrest in 1996. Stone, a strong visualist, delivers a film that is visually arresting yet intimate thanks to delicious visual grammar and tonal bandwidth designed by Stone and cinematographers Nathan Corbin and Ethan Palmer. Using all the tools in the cinematic toolbox, we are greeted with the visual artistry of dissolves, horizontal and vertical swipes, 360-degree lensing, and unexpected but extremely powerful use of slo-motion, all of which showcases the award-worthy performance of Sharlto Copley, taking us into the mind of a genius and madman.
Punctuating SHARLTO COPLEY’s performance and the power of Stone’s visuals is the sound design. It is stunning as Stone celebrates silence, relying on visuals and sound design much more heavily than dialogue. Using voiceover from Kaczynski’s own manifesto immerses us deep into his thoughts which are emotionally personified with an eclectic meld of music thanks to Blanck Mass embracing classical, techno, and opera to create a tone akin to a work by Dario Argento.
A fascinating conversation with SHARLTO COPLEY that goes even beyond this role and into philosophies on film violence, society, global warming and the environment, and more, all relating back to much of what Kaczynski argued in his 1971 manifesto and thereafter.
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 02/10/2022
