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Premiering on MGM+ September 20th is ‘American Hostage’, which is based on a true story and the podcast of the same name, and was created by Shawn Ryan (‘The Shield’), Eileen Myers (‘The Night Agent’), and directed by Adam Arkin (‘Life’).
The series stars Jon Hamm (‘Top Gun: Maverick’), Mireille Enos (‘World War Z’), Giovanni Ribisi (‘Avatar’), Kristoffer Polaha (‘Jurassic World Dominion’), William Jackson Harper (‘Midsommar’), Jonathan Tucker (‘Charlie’s Angels’), Kat Cunning (‘The Deuce’).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Giovanni Ribisi, Mireille Enos and Kristoffer Polaha about their work on ‘American Hostage’, Ribisi’s approach to his character, working with Jon Hamm, and how they filmed the show’s most complicated scenes.
Related Article: Actor Giovanni Ribisi Talks Paramount+ Miniseries ‘The Offer’
Moviefone: To begin with, Giovanni, can you talk about your first reaction to the idea of making this series based on the true story, and how do you approach playing a character that is based on a real person?
Giovanni Ribisi: So first question, I’d never heard of this incident or Tony Kiritsis. Adam Arkin, who I had known and worked with on several other things, called me and pitched it, told me about this guy who had taken another person portrayed by Kristoffer Polaha. He’d taken him hostage and was holding press conferences with police officers standing this close to him and trying to tell his story. So, many things about that, just that initial introduction resonated with me. First and foremost, just the absurdity of it and how ridiculous it was. We were laughing at it. But also just the fact that it was right there. As an actor, to get into your second question, especially if you’re playing real events or a real person that existed, there’s an impetus to want to be loyal or really understand who that person was, so maybe not disrespect them. For me, I think in exploring this, it was really about his quest or his moral stance on telling the truth. There were several times, Tony, my character, would say, “I’ve never told a lie in my life.” So, I think that was his whole thing. I think he felt like his back was against the wall. He needed to rattle the cage and get attention so that he could find a conduit to tell his story. I think that was really, I guess, the summation of it.
MF: Kristoffer, you have some really intense scenes with Giovanni, what was it like working with him to shoot those sequences?
Kristoffer Polaha: For young actors out there, they might know the Konstantin Stanislavski book, ‘An Actor Prepares’, working with Giovanni was so interesting because this guy showed up to the table reads with tracks of dialogue already memorized. He would get to work at least an hour early. I mean, it was Winnipeg and it was cold, and so it was dark and snowy. I’d pull up thinking I was early to work and Giovanni would already be in his trailer getting ready. There’s a portion where he has to speak Greek and there was a woman who speaks Greek on set, and he did the scene in Greek. Afterwards, I was just curious, so I ask her, “How did he do?” She’s like, “Oh my God, it was perfect. Perfect accent, perfect dialogue, perfect.” So this guy, he was bringing, I think 40 years of experience in a craft to the table and laid it all out. I think the audiences are going to be excited. Then that compliment just trickles throughout the rest of the cast. I mean, Mireille is amazing and what she brings to her part gives weight and gravitas and this depth and this beauty to a character that in other actors’ hands might not have been as prolific or as beautiful or as graceful or as full of strength. All the different perspectives. I think that goes back to the writing.
MF: Mireille, can you talk about Barbara and Fred’s relationship and what it was like creating that on screen with Jon Hamm?
Mireille Enos: Well, Jon and I knew each other a little bit because ‘The Killing’ and ‘Mad Men’ were both on AMC at the same time. So we both had these very exciting moments in our lives that were happening. We were in similar rooms around then and there were some high-fives. So we weren’t strangers. Then also, he’s such an open, lovely guy. He is not hard to fall into a very familiar rhythm with. So that was easy shooting that first scene in the house where we’re just, it’s family life, he and I talking about work, and him eating right out of the center of the pot pie. It all happened very naturally, which was lovely.
MF: Finally, Giovanni, can you about exactly how you shot the phone sequences with Jon, and what was the biggest challenge for you performing in those scenes?
GR: So, there were a lot of challenges for the whole thing. For me, I had the material months before and it was really important. I knew that I was going to be walking into a wall of working hours and scenes that the schedule couldn’t afford. We actually were doing those scenes live together. They had built my apartment and then Fred’s radio station on the same stage, and it was only divided by a hallway. We had a closed circuit phone line. I had two camera crews with me, and Jon had two camera crews with him. So, we were doing it live. It was almost like doing a one-act play every day. I think we were doing 8 to 11 pages a day. I’ve never heard of anybody doing that and I’ve certainly never done anything like that myself. It wasn’t always perfect and you go back and go, “Oh, I missed that moment or whatever.” But at the end of the day, collectively, everything as a whole, you would just say, “Well, that’s it. I mean, that’s what it was. That’s what the jazz was between us.” Hopefully you could get to that point where there was some sort of connection or music.
What is the plot of ‘American Hostage’?
Beloved Indianapolis radio reporter Fred Heckman (Jon Hamm) is thrust into the middle of a life-or-death crisis when hostage-taker Tony Kiritsis (Giovanni Ribisi) demands to be interviewed on his popular radio news program.
Who is in the cast of ‘American Hostage’?
- Jon Hamm as Fred Heckman
- Giovanni Ribisi as Tony Kiritsis
- Mireille Enos as Barbara
- William Jackson Harper as Ben Hairston
- Kristoffer Polaha as Dick Hall
- Jonathan Tucker as Cormac McNally
- Kat Cunning as Ibby Hall
