‘Rebel Ridge’ Star Aaron Pierre Talks Training, Stunts, and His Favorite One-Liner: “You Cannot Expect Me to Say This and Not Smile!”

Rebel Ridge—a new thriller from Jeremy Saulnier that released on Netflix today—feels like the best of ’80s action movies. It’s grounded, practical, and just a little bit cheesy. That includes a slew of cool-guy one-liners, smoothly delivered by the film’s star, Aaron Pierre. Pierre’s personal favorite? When his character, an ex-marine named Terry Richmond, responds to a comment that it’s getting dark out by saying, “Isn’t that what nights do?”

“That’s one of my favorite lines,” Pierre said with a laugh, in a recent Zoom interview with Decider. “When I read that for the first time, I said, ‘Sir. Jeremy. You cannot expect me to say this and not smile!'”

The 30-year-old English actor managed to keep his cool, for that line and more, during his character’s quest to retrieve his cash from corrupt, small town cops. Thanks to an unjust law—civil asset forfeiture—cops were able to legally seize Terry’s bail money, intended to free his cousin, despite no crime being committed. What the dirty sheriff (played by Don Johnson) doesn’t know? Terry is a martial arts-trained action hero. And he’s coming to get what’s his.

Written and directed by Saulnier (who also directed Netflix’s Hold the Dark) Rebel Ridge was originally slated to star John Boyega, before the Star Wars actor abruptly left the production mid-shoot. Four months later, Pierre—who starred in Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad and voices Mufusa in the upcoming Lion King prequel—was brought on to replace Boyega. If early rave reviews of Rebel Ridge are to be believed, Pierre, who performed many of his own stunts, might just be the next big action star.

“I’m just so thankful to the stunt team and the weapons team,” Pierre told Decider. “I had tremendous teachers in every department.” Pierre spoke to Decider about his training, working with co-star AnnaSophia Robb, and the one stunt that left him injured.

I know you performed a lot of your own stunts and fight scenes in this movie. Can you walk me through your training and your preparation?

Our home base was in New Orleans, Louisiana. I love New Orleans. I love the weather, I love the food, I love the culture, the community. Jeremy [Saulnier] had set up a warehouse, which is where we created Terry. We had a wrestling mat. We had boxing bags. We had gloves, pads, wraps. We had weapons training, just outside the warehouse. We had pedal bike training. I knew how to ride a pedal bike—been riding one my whole life—but not the way Terry rides one! I needed to know how to be chasing buses and stuff—how to pick up speed in that level.

That’s where all of it happened. That’s where I sparred, that’s where I did choreography, that’s where I learned how to handle the weapons Terry needed to handle—not only in the correct manner, but with efficiency, as well. I’m just so thankful to the stunt team and the weapons team, and everyone involved, for imparting their knowledge and wisdom. I had tremendous teachers in every department.

That first action scene when police realize Terry is a threat, is so cool—I was especially impressed by the way you unload a gun with one hand. Tell me about perfecting that move and filming that scene.

I absolutely loved that day. I think the crew loved it, too. We were all out there in this super intense Louisiana sun in the middle of the summer. That weather is exactly the weather we needed, for this moment. It felt like a pressure cooker. I remember that particular moment you mentioned—it’s quite visceral in my brain. Immediately, as you said that, I had a memory: The first time, I cut my hand doing it. In order to do it efficiently, and in the right way, you need to be very specific and precise. The first time, I didn’t quite do it the way I needed to. The repercussion was like I cut my hand—I can’t remember what cut me, but it was like a little cut, or graze.

That was enough for me to go, “OK. Let’s zone in now. All the training that I’ve done? This is the moment to actually make it all happen, and bring it to life.” So I did it the next time, and I got it, and I was thrilled. Then for the rest of the scene, I thought I was actually Terry Richmond! [Laughs.] I had an amazing time doing those scenes, with all of the wonderful artists I had the privilege of collaborating with.

Your character, Terry, had so many fun, action movie one-liners in this movie—do you have a favorite? 

I have a few. One of my favorites is a line in the final act of the film—AnnaSophia’s character, Summer, says something like, “It’s getting pretty dark.” And Terry Richmond gets to say, “Isn’t that what nights do?” [Laughs.]

When I read that for the first time, I said, “Sir. Jeremy. You cannot expect me to say this and not smile!” He was like, “Dude, you’re going to have to normalize it.” So I had to normalize it. This is just how Terry Richmond speaks. But inside, I was a kid about that line. I just think it’s so cool. Jeremy has the capacity to write lines that walk this line where they’re brilliant one-liners, but they never feel like they’ve got too much sauce. They never feel demonstrative. But that’s one of my favorite lines. “Isn’t that what nights do?”

You and AnnaSophia Robb have this beautiful connection between your characters. Can you tell me about working with her? 

I love AnnaSophia. She is a phenomenal artist. She is the epitome of a collaborator. She is so present. She is so generous. I feel safe when I’m collaborating with her, you know? In addition to that, something that really served our on-screen friendship and partnership, is the fact that we’re really good friends in real life. The fact that we have a real, true friendship outside of the context of work enhanced our ability to feel safe, explore possibilities, and be creative on screen.

No one says the word “racism” in this movie, but you feel it the moment you see police lights behind Terry in that opening scene. Did you and Jeremy talk about themes of racism and police brutality? Was there ever a version where that was more explicit?

Jeremy and I had countless, extensive conversations about a whole number of things. For us, one of the things that was so moving about Terry, is that even in moments where he presented with an injustice—a blatant injustice—he has an endless capacity to address it in a way that gives the person an opportunity to reflect on the injustice that they inflicted. That’s a hard thing to do in dialogue, sometimes. But Jeremy achieved that. Also, the way we had to make that manifest itself within Terry’s physicality—things he didn’t say, but that he did. This is a movie—and testament to Jeremy, of course—that touches on many things. One of those things is the enormous room for improvement we have, as a global community, as it pertains to those things in particular.

I learned something new from this movie—I had no idea that American cops have the right to seize your property, even if you’re not doing anything illegal. 

Civil asset forfeiture.

Yeah! Did you know about this, before doing this movie?

I was aware of civil asset forfeiture. I was aware that it was a subject matter that was controversial. Legal, technically, but not appreciated. When I embarked on this journey, I got to learn about it in a much deeper way than I had ever learned about it before.

Before I let you go, I have to ask about your upcoming role as the voice of Mufasa in the new Lion King movie. What it was like stepping into that iconic character, and what can fans expect from this version of Mufasa?

A tremendous honor and privilege to have the opportunity to contribute in a small way to the legacy of this character and this story—and the legacy of the character that one of my heroes brought to life, James Earl Jones. I’m tremendously honored. We’re really excited for people to see the journey towards the point at which we first met Mufasa in 1994.