Jesse Plemons appears in the recently released A24 film Civil War, in a scene that has quickly become one of the more infamous in the movie. According to director Alex Garland, his appearance in the film came about by luck.
Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, Garland revealed that the original actor for the role dropped from the film just a week before principal photography can. It was then that Kirsten Dunst suggested contacting Plemons, her partner in real-life.
“I was standing out on the street when I got the call and I thought, ‘Oh s—. Now, now we’re in trouble,’” said Garland. “And so I went to the rehearsal and said ‘Bad news, guys, so and so can’t do it.’ And Kirsten said, ‘What? You should ask Jesse.’ And I thought, Oh, that would be amazing.”
Dunst noted that Plemons “was around,” to which Garland notes “it was a stunning bit of good luck,” says Garland. “That makes it sound like I’m being disrespectful to the other actor. I’m not at all. It’s just the film was very lucky to get Jesse.”
Who is Jesse Plemons in Civil War?
In the film, Plemons plays a man dressed in military gear that holds Cailee Spaeny’s Jessie and Evan Lai’s Bohai. Soon, Dunst’s Lee and Joel (Wagner Moura) are also invovled, leading to a tense meeting with the stoic character.
“In the near future, a team of journalists travel across the United States during a rapidly escalating civil war that has engulfed the entire nation, struggling to survive during a near-future where the government has become a dystopian dictatorship and partisan extremist militias regularly commit political violence,” reads the synopsis.
Civil War is written and directed by Ex Machina filmmaker Alex Garland. It stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman, Karl Glusman, Sonoya Mizuno, and Jonica T. Gibbs. It is produced by Gregory Goodman, Andrew Macdonald, and Allon Reich.