Malin Akerman: ‘Playing a villain in Rampage gave me a new sense of freedom’

Jennifer Ruby17 April 2018
The Weekender

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Malin Akerman found that playing the villain in Rampage gave her as new sense of “freedom” as the role was so different to anything she’s ever done before.

The Swedish-Canadian actress, 39, is better known for light-hearted roles in film such as Couples Retreat and The Proposal, so found playing evil businesswoman Claire Wyden in Brad Peyton’s big budget action film a refreshing departure.

“It was something different, I’ve never played a villain before and I love a good challenge – this definitely was a challenge,” she told the Standard.

“I had to try to not smile, to not be friendly, to not be nice. But that was quite a freedom to drop into something completely different. It was actually easier to get into character as it’s so different to how I normally am.”

Co-stars: Naomie Harris and The Rock on the red carpet
PA Wire/PA Images

In the film, which so-stars Dwaine ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Naomie Harris, Akerman’s character develops a dangerous pathogen which infects animals and turns them into monsters.

Akerman said that the fact that Wyden had “no redeeming qualities” made her even more fun to play.

Rampage - In pictures

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“I don’t think she had any redeeming qualities, but I don’t think characters have to have redeeming qualities. It’s quite fun to just enjoy being evil,” she said.

“To be honest, between action and cut we were trying to be serious, but all the time we were on set we were laughing the whole time – it was like watching a comedy show. It was really easy to shake this character because right away we were back into our comedy bits.”

After a series of supporting roles in comedy films at the beginning of her career, Akerman said she recently made the decision to do something more dramatic when she took the role of Lara Axelrod in Showtime’s Billions.

“There was a conscious decision to move over to something dramatic when I chose Billions, I felt like I needed something that has more of a character base to it,” she said.

Rampage European Film Premiere - In pictures

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“And I loved that Lara was a mother and I could relate to that having recently become a mother. It really ends up being about the script or the character and if it resonates or f it seems fun or challenging.”

Ackerman, who got engaged to English actor Jack Donnelly last October, wants to wait until her five-year-old son Sebastian is a bit older before she tries her hand at theatre.

“It scares the crap out of me. I’ve never done it before but I’d love to do it,” she said. “I’m going to wait until my son’s a little bit older because you also miss bedtime every night but when he’s a bit older I definitely want to do it.”

Rampage is in cinemas nationwide now.

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