Nick Offerman shares his “absolute favourite thing” about ‘Civil War’
In Alex Garland’s new film Civil War, Nick Offerman, previously known for his role in Parks and Recreation and The Last of Us, plays the President of the United States during a time when the country is ravaged by a modern conflict.
One might think that Civil War is rife with commentary on the real-life contemporary political landscape of America, but according to a new interview with Offerman, the film manages to avoid discussing politics in a detailed way, which is something Offerman admires, calling it his “absolute favourite thing”.
In an interview with Consequence, Offerman spoke of the first time he read his character in the film’s script. He said, “I called Alex and said, ‘This is amazing — you don’t really know what side this President is on. You never really know what has happened, who did what to whom, how did we get to this place?’”
Offerman admitted that there is an “obsession” in modern politics with tracing a facet of society back to its origin, but Civil War completely eschews any sort of genealogical narrative. “He transcends that conversation, with which we are all so obsessed in this day and age,” Offerman said.
The actor himself is no stranger to having strong feelings about politics, but Garland’s film does not allow for any kind of external commentary. He noted, “It occurs to me immediately to say, well, I have passionate feelings about modern day politics that I would love to slap the audience across the face with, Alex basically disallows the audience that.”
Critical reception so far has tapped into this and seems to be comprised of people wishing that they could detail their political knowledge onto the film. However, Offerman believes that such commentary does not actually do society any good, at least according to Garland.
“That conversation is not doing us any good,” Offerman said. “What he is addressing is that absolute divisiveness. And if I think that if the film had political specificity, it would be a failure.”
The actor added, “One side or the other would get mad and say, ‘This is propaganda for him or for him or for her.’ And instead the movie disallows that, and if you’re able to silence the pundits in your head, and take it in as a work of art, then you receive it just as a citizen of humanity, and not of any political faction.”
Check out the trailer for Civil War below.
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