#‘Land of Bad’ Director William Eubank Talks His Full-Circle Experience with Russell Crowe

In late 2011, William Eubank took a job as second unit director of Allen Hughes’ Broken City. Hughes hired Eubank off of early footage from his feature directorial debut, Love (2011), which is a Kubrickian arthouse film that he made in collaboration with Tom DeLonge and his band Angels & Airwaves. The second-unit gig was especially meaningful because it not only landed Eubank his DGA card, but it also marked the beginning of his career-long trajectory with Broken City’s co-lead, Russell Crowe, who’s now leading his action-thriller, Land of Bad.

In 2016, while Crowe was on the promotional trail for Shane Black’s The Nice Guys, Eubank met up with him to discuss his now long-gestating fantasy actioner, World Breaker, however, despite Crowe’s interest at the time, the filmmaker was pulled away when Underwater got the green light from 20th Century Fox. A handful of years later, when Eubank revisited his Land of Bad script that he wrote during production of his second movie, The Signal (2014), he decided to send it Crowe’s way.

“[Crowe] said, ‘It’s been a long time, but it’s great to hear from you. I don’t know if I have time to do anything, but I’ll take a look [at Land of Bad] and let you know in a couple of weeks.’ And then he called me the next day and said, ‘Hey, if you can pull it together somehow, I’m in,’” Eubank tells The Hollywood Reporter.

In Eubank’s tonal throwback to ‘90s action films, Crowe plays Captain Eddie “Reaper” Grimm, a U.S. Air Force drone pilot who must communicate with Liam Hemsworth’s Sergeant JJ “Playboy” Kinney, as the latter, despite minimal JTAC experience, has to go on a dangerous Delta Force mission in the Philippines that requires air support. The film then explores the evolving relationship between technology and warfare, and how human soldiers fit into that equation.

An earlier version of the script was actually thrown out after Eubank and co. spent time with Land of Bad‘s real-life counterparts at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert.

“[Jason] Kinney, who was a real JTAC instructor at Fort Irwin, called us and said, ‘Hey, you guys have got to come out and see what we actually do,’” Eubank recalls. “So we went out there and stayed for two weeks, calling in 9-lines to F-35s. So that changed how we looked at everything, including the script. We met real drone operators, and we just scrapped how we had written the initial film. We started over.”

Eubank is also looking back at his post-theatrical sleeper hit, Underwater, starring Kristen Stewart and Jessica Henwick. The film got caught up in the Disney-Fox merger and faced a long delay until its January 2020 release, and despite its mixed reviews and modest box office, the film has benefited greatly from the “Netflix bump” on more than one occasion.

“We were so lucky that the film ended up getting released right before Covid. Oh my gosh. We’d already been shelved for two years, and I really thought that was the end of my career at the time,” Eubank says. “So it’s really nice that it’s found an audience all these years later. It’s validation for your own feelings. With the way that movie was going and then Covid and everything, you’re like, ‘Ah, man, it never really got its shot.’ So, for Underwater to find its audience later, it just reminds me to trust my gut.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Eubank also discusses casting two-thirds of the brothers Hemsworth in Land of Bad, before reflecting on his early directorial days with DeLonge.

Once you wrapped and released Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021), what happened from there en route to Land of Bad?

Well, we wrote Land of Bad in a coffee shop called Satellite Coffee while we were shooting The Signal [2014]. I remember coming home super tired one morning after shooting all night with Robert Longstreet, when he faced Laurence Fishburne. And I was just like, “Whoa, this movie is so weird. I’m never going to work again.” So I was really scared. When you’re making your first film, you’re scared. You’re like, “I’ve got to think of something more mainstream and something more action packed.” And so we thought of this crazy idea that became Land of Bad. [Writer’s Note: The Signal is technically Eubank’s second film, but it was his first film with a proper crew and team of producers.]

At the time, drone warfare was really getting going, and it was just interesting to dive into that world. And the more we got into it, we started thinking about psychological stuff, such as a guy being separated from the theater of war all the way in Vegas. And then, as soon as we got done writing it, Good Kill came out. So we were like, “Aw, Ethan Hawke just did this.” 

But somehow, somebody found out that we were writing a JTAC [Joint Terminal Attack Controller] film, and this guy, [Jason] Kinney, who was a real JTAC instructor at Fort Irwin, called us and said, “Hey, you guys have got to come out and see what we actually do.” So we went out there and stayed for two weeks, calling in 9-lines to F-35s. It was really, really wild. 

So that changed how we looked at everything, including the script. We met real drone operators, and we just scrapped how we had written the initial film. We started over, and then it stood on the shelf for a really long time because other movies happened. But then, [after Paranormal Activity], we were like, “Okay, there’s finally some time now. If we want to do this, let’s do it.”

I don’t know what your budget was, but it looks more expensive than it probably was, and that’s been a pattern with all your films. 

I appreciate that. Yeah, this is pretty small; it’s not even half the size of Underwater. We are just under $20 million on this. So, yeah, it was a little tricky, but because we shot in Australia, we were able to shoot Australia for the jungles in the Philippines. 

Yeah, I’ve noticed for a long time that the dollar seems to go relatively far in Australia.

It was 66 cents on the dollar at the time. So the dollar definitely goes a lot farther in other places, but if you actually went to shoot in the Philippines or Vietnam or something, it gets really tough to get certain types of crew in there. So you’re trying to balance your planning with ease of shooting.

According to the Internet, you directed second unit on Allen Hughes’ Broken City (2013), co-starring Russell Crowe. 

Oh, that’s right! Nobody has asked about that. 

Did that help you at all in getting him on board?

Not at all! (Laughs.) Russell probably doesn’t even know that; I never brought it up. But that’s so funny. Yes, Broken City was a fun movie. That was how I got into the DGA, and I was so stoked to get my DGA card. So I am proud of that fact, and I have that movie to thank for it. 

But what really happened was I have another film that I’m still really hoping I get to do. Fingers crossed, but it’s a fantasy that’s very Conan the Barbarian-ish. It’s loosely based on the Norman Invasion of England, and that movie is called World Breaker. So Russell had read that and he was keen to do it. So we met when he was in town doing press for The Nice Guys, which is obviously a great movie, and we kind of hit it off. But then Underwater happened, which took me away from World Breaker. 

So that fell through at the time, but then I sent him the Land of Bad script [in 2022] and he said, “It’s been a long time, but it’s great to hear from you. I don’t know if I have time to do anything, but I’ll take a look and let you know in a couple of weeks.” And then he called me the next day and said, “Hey, I really like this. I like the character, I like the themes that it explores. If you can pull it together somehow, I’m in.” So that really helped us, and that’s how we got it going.

This movie is also a family affair between the brothers Hemsworth, Liam and Luke. How did that package deal go down?

The crazy thing is that we went out to them separately. My other producer-writer, David Frigerio, knew Luke Hemsworth, and so he sent it to his people at the same time that we were offering it to Liam. So getting Russell first was really helpful all around. It’s always great to have an anchor. And then Liam called and said he really enjoyed it, so the rest is history.

Is that third Hemsworth brother wearing a disguise in the deep background of one shot?  

(Laughs.) We played with that a lot: “How can we sneak him in?” But, no, he’s nowhere in there. They are a great group of dudes who are lovely to hang out with, and their creative energy is always there. 

How did you handle the back and forth between Russell in the control center and Liam on the ground? The editor probably had their hands full, I imagine, but would someone read out of frame for both their sakes?

Well, we shot all the action first. It was super important to have that and then show it to Russell. So we did all of that first, and we read out of frame, but Russell and Liam had multiple read-throughs just in case there were changes or feelings of like, “No, I wouldn’t do this way. What if we spitball on this?” So we did that in advance, and then we shot all the action. I also had an actual drone overhead.

So when it came time to shoot Russell’s side, Liam was a couple rooms down the way, wearing all the communication stuff and talking to Russell. And what was so crazy was our art department was able to build the drone consoles with the actual feed of the action, and then Russell’s joystick could zoom in or move around as it was happening. So it was really cool that we were able to pull that off for them. 

Thematically, you’re covering similar territory as Top Gun: Maverick, in that technology should never replace the human element, and the tech that we do embrace still needs human judgment to administer properly. This applies to many different walks of life, not just warfare.

Absolutely. It’s easy to think you’ve come up with an easy solution to things. I think Stanley Kubrick said, “The second you think you’ve figured out the winning chess move, take a step back.” I’m not exactly quoting him, but the idea is to not make that move until you’ve rethought it. And with tech, we think we’ve solved this and we think we have the answer for that in all walks of life, whether it has to do with military conflict or even just fixing your own computer, but it’s important to really evaluate where we’re at right now.

It’s funny, because I had a terrifying dream the other night about tech. Some weird David Cronenberg-type thing was climbing up the stairs to get me, and when I woke up, I was like, “Man, maybe the Internet was coming to get me.” So I had this weird feeling that maybe we never should have figured out how to connect everyone’s computers, but I’m pretty sure I’m just talking about the plot to Terminator. (Laughs.)

I watched Land of Bad on the day that Carl Weathers died, and so I had Predator on my mind already, but I actually drew some comparisons between the two films. There’s also a masculine quality to both that you don’t see as often anymore. Were you aiming for a throwback tone?

Honestly, we knew we were making a ‘90s throwback, and we just wanted people to have fun with that. It’s weird because the film was born from such a younger version of myself, and so I was constantly re-meeting my younger self while making this movie. I’d be like, “I don’t know if it should work like that.” (Laughs.) But the cool part was seeing the enthusiasm I had when I wrote it so long ago, and it was fun being reminded of the energy and the spirit that I wanted to bring to this. This is a very tough business, and often, that youthful energy that you have is lost in the crazy politics of this business. So it was really cool to be able to direct a script that I had written so long ago, while also trying to find the movie that I wanted to make back then, which was this ‘90s action-thriller and seat-of-your-pants type of thing. I don’t feel like we see too many of them these days.

You previously captured female heroism in Underwater, and that movie has had a really nice afterlife. It received the Netflix bump on at least a couple of different occasions. Has that been quite rewarding since it got a little lost in the Disney-Fox merger and the chaos of early 2020?

We were so lucky that the film ended up getting released right before Covid. Oh my gosh. We’d already been shelved for two years, and I really thought that was the end of my career at the time. We put so much energy into that. Kristen [Stewart] and every one of those cast members put so much energy into making this pulpy, fun, underwater, metal, science-fiction thriller. When we were making it, we all secretly loved what we were doing even though it was hard. So it’s really nice that it’s found an audience all these years later. It’s validation for your own feelings. You never want to distrust your own wants while making a movie, and at first, with the way that movie was going and then Covid and everything, you’re like, “Ah, man, it never really got its shot.” So, for Underwater to find its audience later, it just reminds me to trust my gut. People constantly hit me up about it, and I now know that there are audiences who want to see the movies I want to make. So that has been really awesome, and I still appreciate how you were a great proponent of it back in the day.

So I interviewed your old friend Tom DeLonge last year about his directorial debut, Monsters of California. 

Oh, no way!

I know you mostly worked from home on Love, but did he look over your shoulder enough times to where you aren’t surprised that he took a crack at directing?

He loves movies. He loves stories. He’s such a character, and he has so many ideas. So it did not surprise me at all that he directed a movie, but I can’t say that I gave him anything. Taking cues from me is probably a dangerous endeavor, but when I worked with him, there was never a day where I did not feel his absolute enthusiasm. Whether you’re a musician or a filmmaker or any kind of artist, enthusiasm is your engine. That’s what propels you, and he has that. 

But I’m so excited for him these days, because there’s so much crazy alien shit happening. He was right! He had all of this figured out. There were so many times where people were like, “You are crazy.” (Laughs.) I mean, there were days where even I was like, “No, Tom, that’s crazy.” And now, there have been so many times where I’ve texted him and been like, “Dude, you were so right. Oh my God.”

Lastly, you mentioned World Breaker, but what else is happening on your development slate? 

There are a lot of things because you never know what’s going to happen. So I have a project that I’m working on with Safe House. It’s an alien abduction movie, but it’s super grounded and just beautiful. I hope I get to make that film, so we’ll see. I don’t know if I should say this, but that’s with Elisabeth Moss. She’s on board. Things could always change, but I think they’re on board to produce.

And I’m always working on World Breaker. I have another project called War Bot, but those two movies are big, so they’re hard to make. And then I’m doing another movie with some of the Land of Bad producers called Blue Fly. It’s sort of my version of Heart of Darkness. They’re going up a river to retrieve a downed aircraft, and they find out that Kurtz is on the boat with them and that he’s an alien. (Laughs.) So that’s a crazy one. Anyway, there’s lots of movies, and it’s all about who says, “OK, let’s go make it.”

Tom DeLonge has clearly rubbed off on you. You’re all about aliens now.

(Laughs.)

Well, congrats on Land of Bad. I look forward to the spinoff about Russell’s character’s three ex-wives, current wife and nine kids.

(Laughs.) There were jokes on set that the next movie is going to be called Land of Dad. 

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Land of Bad opens in theaters on Feb. 16.