Actor Brandon Sklenar talks to The Inside Reel about perspective, memory, intent, approach and time in regards to the Season 2 finale of "1923," on Paramount+.
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00:00anything worth having is worth fighting for 1923 new season streaming february 23rd like obviously
00:24going into the finale here is you know the aspect of perspective and perception of
00:29spencer's idea of that you know and how he sees pat and how you see his path as the actor playing
00:38yeah i mean they're kind of one in the same i mean i i um
00:45you know the season one process was so different to season two because obviously like we didn't
00:52we didn't know what show we were making yet and we didn't know what the tone was and i didn't know
00:57how this guy moved through the world and i didn't know how he sounded really and i don't know how
01:01you know what his vibe was um so we sort of found all that from season one and then
01:08you know we have two years between season one and season two in in real time in life which is a big
01:15two years i mean i i you know i started i started that show when i was barely 30 years old and i'm
01:2234 now so um those are some big years you know uh just in your own personal growth and development so
01:30um i really grew with that character and he grew with me and by the time we finished season by
01:35time we started season two he'd the guy had been in in inside of me for a couple years you know just
01:41marinating and just waiting um and you know he we are uh forever connected on that level so as it was
01:54i don't know there's not it's it's like my you know my thoughts become his thoughts you know there's
01:58not much from like an acting standpoint when i'm doing the scenes as spencer in season two like i'm
02:06genuinely thinking the things that he would be thinking because i've spent so much time with him
02:10um so sort of having an objective outlook on it is interesting you know because it feels so ingrained
02:20does that make sense they want to take this place from us this fight ain't over what's his name spencer
02:28he's a warrior the stone killer where are you headed montana family needs me i'll destroy everything
02:39they feel true you will carve this place to pieces they can try but that ain't happening
02:50my family is in danger no no because it becomes natural uh yeah it's interesting with with an
02:57instinct though in certain scenes in certain things in the way you move and react with whether
03:03you know it's on the boat you know when it's when you get off the boat can you talk about finding that
03:07movement in in him because you know the the physicality reflects the emotionality and back
03:12and forth and he's always thinking what he's doing a lot of the time but sometimes he goes on instinct
03:18yeah no that is interesting i mean he's he's a he's a really thoughtful guy i mean he's a hyper
03:25intentional person um almost uh out of out of fear of of who he would be if he allowed himself to be
03:36reactionary um and instinctual and that you know well what i can say about that is in the finale you
03:47definitely get a chance to see him be a bit reactionary which is which is uh exciting it's
03:55about memory i mean because when you look back at season one versus season two it's those memories
04:00the memories of alex it's the memories of togetherness but it's also an aspect of responsibility
04:06that pulls him back when you talk about looking at memory because the way memory is in your head it's
04:13sort of you know it it affects expectation uh both of the character itself but as people's expectations
04:20of the character does that make sense oh 100 yeah no it's interesting you bring that up because the
04:26memories the memory aspect is something that i did going into season one um i have like a a way that i
04:36go about creating memories for characters now and spencer was the first time i had done that um and i built
04:47i built specific memories for him from the war and from his childhood um in such a way that
04:57i have like a an emotional response to them as if they actually happened to me
05:01um so if someone speaks about those things it's real for me um it's a little kind of kind of crazy
05:10but um it's a thing you know and um the way that we shot season one and julie and i actually living
05:19in africa and actually being on a game preserve for months and actually doing everything that we did
05:25um all of his memories are my memories you know there's no separation between them because we
05:32just lived it um so such a gift you know messes with your mind a little bit on a certain level but
05:41such a gift um to have those those memories and to have such an emotional response to them
05:48is this drift east or west of fargo east the tracks go through a dip in the valley there gets
05:53covered up every year maybe they shouldn't put the tracks in the dip they were a little more
05:56concerned about sitting bull spotting gun than any snow drift back then sir tracks for livingston clear
06:01snow didn't hit there but from big timber to minneapolis the world is white got an arrival time
06:06for livingston let me see your ticket well you could switch in fargo or you could take a train to
06:16billings out of sioux falls would it make much of a difference well there's about everywhere but
06:20burger is going to be a mess not one of those trains is getting out you have to look at the
06:24journey per se brandon like you know the the journey back home what people you know not not
06:30people in terms of the audience but like what the family expects all that kind of stuff does that
06:36have to seep into sort of you know the choices he makes or the choices you make as an actor per se
06:42absolutely i mean yeah yeah there yeah absolutely i mean there's i think he's
06:54you know he's he's haunted by his memories you know and he's plagued by
07:02an expectation he puts on himself to show up a certain way and i mean
07:08i i i mean i left home i moved to los angeles when i was 19 and i didn't go back to new jersey for five
07:18years um you know and i didn't at all so for you know many reasons um but uh when i yeah i can relate
07:31to that as when i went back it was there's this expectation of like you know how you're going to
07:37show up and and and wanting to have that conversation um and wanting to have some level of connection to
07:45make up for the lack of connection um and that's all motivating spencer just as it motivated me you know
07:53when i was 24 25 years old going home for the first time um
07:57um yeah it's definitely in there and influencing his behavior and and and how he moves to the world
08:03and how he addresses um how he addresses these people i'll book you through sioux falls you'll wait
08:10a day on the train but at least you'll know when's coming thank you you do have a sleeping car book
08:15sir i can't sleep in those things where were you stationed hard going what battalion
08:27the one they lost i mean even when we see the last uh before the finale and not getting into
08:35anything of of that because you know we want to you know surprise the the audience is the the aspect of
08:41it's interesting loneliness and longing you know because you can see the loneliness they're going
08:45through but it's the stakes that drive them you know about what they might become who they might become
08:52because you are one person one part of life as you said and then once something happens you become
08:57something else um can you talk about how that the the relationship between the two of them have
09:04strengthened them as people but also made them specific to each other in that way they almost
09:10cannot be apart and yet they are does that make sense totally yes great questions um appreciate these um
09:18um yeah i mean that's that's like uh that's a love thing you know that's like
09:29it's interesting because i feel like
09:32when you've that that type of love is so rare and that's why i think people respond to it so much
09:39because everyone wants to feel that and everyone wants to experience it and some people go their entire
09:44lives and never experience that and it's it's what songs are about and it's what poetry is about and
09:50some of it's like could be classified and and contemporary psychological like you know breakdowns as
09:56codependency or whatever but like
09:59you guys are so good together so yeah but that's the thing is like at what point is it just people who are just
10:05madly in love and you know it's it's it's it's where is that balance you know but
10:09they're like it's it's it's such a profound love that you're willing to suffer for it you know like
10:18you're willing to be lonely for it and you're willing to put yourself
10:25you know almost kill yourself in defense of it um and and and to have it actualized and to have it
10:33realized and that's such a wild sort of paradox you know what i mean like this thing that brings you
10:39so much joy and beauty and and fills you fills your cup so much you're willing to smash that cup
10:46all together just to get a drop of it back you know um and you're willing to die for it that's
10:53the thing is that you know people in those situations you know so and i mean and that's just that's just
10:59kind of a beautifully tragic aspect of the human condition you know that i think is um
11:07um you know it's it's it's in literature i mean wars have been fought over it it's it's like a
11:13thing that's in us it's ancient you know it's primal it's tribal it's ancient it's it's um
11:19it's an animal kingdom shit you know wow and it's it's uh and it touches on that and i think it's it's
11:27something that people root for because it's in us and we all want it you know but it'll also drive you
11:35if if pushed to do some really insane things to protect it um and and you can't hate anybody for
11:45that you know for fighting for love it's universal my wife is lost to me and i don't have time
11:53all the things all the things i've heard of this grand jake's a king
12:13you