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Alexander Ludwig is meeting me on Zoom from a small cafe in the south of France.
“Apologies, but my internet connection in my Airbnb is so terrible,” he says. “Hopefully it doesn’t get too loud.”
Then he cracks, “This
is my really hard life right now.”
Life is anything but hard for the 34-year-old actor. He’s in France filming Season 4 of “The White Lotus.” But more on that in a bit.
First up, Ludwig is promoting “Unabomber,” his new Netflix biopic movie about Ted Kaczynski, the domestic terrorist who killed multiple people between 1978-1995 by mailing bombs to them. Shailene Woodley stars as the FBI agent who insists on following the tip from Kaczynski’s own brother that led to his identification and arrest. Ludwig plays a less-than supportive fellow agent.
Jacob Tremblay leads the film as a young Kaczynski when he participated in a controversial psychiatric study during his undergrad years at Harvard. The movie raises questions about how the study’s traumatic impact on Kaczynski may have led him to his radical beliefs and deadly actions.
“Netflix kind of cold offered it to me, and I read the script and I was like, ‘I love this because we’ve all seen versions of this, but never told from this place where you actually can see the making of this genius monster,” Ludwig says. “I thought that was a fascinating way to tell the story.”
At times, “Unabomber” presents a sympathetic portrait of Kaczynski as a young man taken advantage of by an unethical professor (Russell Crowe). “One thing is for certain: he was an incredibly intelligent human being and was totally bamboozled at a young age,” Ludwig says, adding, “He was clearly abused.”
Ludwig, who grew up in Vancouver, Canada, first gained attention for his work as Cato in the original “The Hunger Games” movie in 2012. His death scene — he was mauled by a pack of wolf mutts before being fatally shot with an arrow by Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) — is one of the franchise’s most memorable.
“Shout out to (writer and director) Gary Ross for that,” Ludwig says. “I actually think without that scene and the scene that happened just prior, where I have this little monologue that was written on the day by Gary, I don’t think that character would have been nearly as memorable as it became because if you watch the film, I’m not in it a ton. It’s just that character had such a presence, and I owe so much of that to Gary. I really owe my career to him. That was kind of what set me up at the beginning. It kind of teed me up for being able to work consistently in this business.”
He’s excited to see the franchise’s next installment, “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.” “I just saw the trailer yesterday,” Ludwig says. “They invited me to the premiere, and I said, ‘If you fly me out, I’ll come.’ I literally turned to my wife and I said, ‘I can’t believe they’re still making these. It’s amazing. It’s crazy.’”
He recalled his first days on the “Hunger Games” set. “I remember Jen and I riding together in this van, and her being so lovely and me being like, ‘God, she’s only a couple years older than me and she’s already been nominated for an Oscar [for ‘Winter’s Bone’]. Like what the hell? Like this is crazy,’” Ludwig says. “I remember seeing the Cornucopia for the first time, and just being in total awe and being in total awe of my life and how lucky I was.
“That was one of those rare films, not dissimilar from ‘White Lotus,’ where you knew it was going to be massive before you had even shot a frame,” he continues. “You were famous for just being cast.”
Ludwig and AJ Michalka were the first cast members to be announced for the new season of “The White Lotus.” The cast also includes Marissa Long, Ari Graynor, Steve Coogan, Max Greenfield and Kumail Nanjiani. While details aren’t being officially revealed by creator Mike White or HBO, Variety previously reported that the story involves two rival filmmaking teams as they compete for the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Production has been spotted shooting in and around Paris, Monaco and Cannes, including the famed Palais des Festivals.
“The only thing cooler than having a film premiere at Cannes Film Festival is shooting ‘The White Lotus’ at the Cannes Film Festival,” Ludwig says. “Let me tell you, it was like I had this golden ticket. I was at this event at the Hôtel du Cap — which is already the most obnoxious statement of my life — and who walks up but George Clooney? My wife and I start talking to him for like 15 minutes. The second he heard ‘White Lotus,’ he was like, ‘Tell me everything. Tell me.’”
Did he spill to Clooney? “Go, no,” Ludwig says while giving me a blink of an eye. “He’s going to have to wait like everyone else.”
Ludwig calls the new season its most “extravagant” yet. “It’s fucking wild,” he says.
Fans know just how wild things can get on the show. Who could forget last season’s shocking incestuous scene between Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola? “My first question to Mike was, ‘Who am I doing that to?’” Ludwig says, laughing. “Obviously joking but I was like, ‘Just tell me.’ [I’ll do it] happily.”
“Unabomber” is available to stream on Netflix.
