Christopher Abbott on Filming “Bring Them Down” & Being Present
Christopher Abbott is calling from New Zealand. It’s just past five p.m. in Toronto, but across the Pacific, the actor is already well into the next morning. “I was on the South Island for the last couple weeks, in what felt like the middle of nowhere, in this big mountain range,” he tells me. “Then, Wolf Man comes out in the States. It’s such a wild thing.”
By the time his current project wraps, Abbott says he’ll have been on the island for almost six months — long enough to justify a (reluctant) break. “I’ll need to just chill out for a second,” he admits, explaining with a laugh, “It’s not some mental, like, actor thing, where I need to come down from this character. I just need to come down from, you know, the hours.”
To be clear, Abbott is no stranger to long hours. Since 2023’s Poor Things, he’s added an extra page to his resume, including titles like Kraven the Hunter, Wolf Man, and, of course, the subject of our interview: Bring Them Down, a dramatic thriller by first-time director Christopher Andrews.
“It’s a discrepancy on a bit of land that leads to wildly dramatic violence. It’s something about the human condition; like, at our core, what are we made of? I always find that interesting.”
Christopher Abbott on “Bring Them Down”
The actor isn’t coasting on these releases, though. As we speak, he’s got multiple balls in the air. Abbott stars in Netflix’s East of Eden, an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel, with fellow thespians Florence Pugh and Mike Faist. Elsewhere, you’ll see him share the screen with Amanda Seyfried in the upcoming drama musical, Ann Lee.
“I’m often working when things are coming out. So, I weirdly feel separate once I finish something,” Abbott elaborates. “Once I’ve finished being in the thing, then I naturally, just an actor, I move on to the next bit, you know what I mean?” Of course, that’s not to say the actor is disconnected from his past projects — far from it, in fact. When he’s on set, Abbott is immersed in his craft. As we talk about filming Bring Them Down, Abbott’s dedication comes to the surface with striking clarity.
Set in rural Ireland, Bring Them Down chronicles a complex dispute over land, family, and honour. Abbott takes on a steely exterior (and a flawless Irish accent) to become the gruff Michael O’Shea, a shepherd and solo caretaker for his wheelchair-bound father, Ray. Alongside his co-stars — SHARP cover alum Barry Keoghan as the angsty adolescent Jack, supported by Paul Ready (Gary), Colm Meaney (Ray), and Nora-Jane Noone (Caroline) — Abbott’s role explores the psychological limits of vengeance. Laced with tension, Bring Them Down‘s 105-minute runtime flies by.
Recounting an explosive revenge saga, the film raises questions about conflict, family, and material realities. “It’s definitely there on the page — Chris [Andrews] is a great writer,” Abbott agrees. “Without even physically being in the world yet, just reading the script for the first time, I sort of understood.” Of course, the script is more than its words; setting drives the story as much as dialogue. Bring Them Down paints a precise picture, with sweeping views of the Irish countryside, conversations held entirely in Irish Gaelic, and lively scenes in the local livestock market.
“The environment inherently lends itself to the drama, the melodrama, of the story. It would be very hard to set the story anywhere else because it’s so connected to the land and the animals,” Abbott agrees. “The conflict is so connected to the distance of the two families — or the lack of distance — and fight over the land. Every element is a character in that sense.”
Plus, Bring Them Down offered an opportunity that Abbott couldn’t refuse: a flock of fluffy white sheep and a cheerful dog to match. “Honestly, I know it almost sounds boring, but it’s a reason that I wanted to do it — like, being able to work with a shepherd dog and do the commands. Call it acting, call it whatever you want. Being able to try those shoes on for a little while, I thought it was extremely fun,” he says.
Save for the more violent scenes, (“those were not real sheep, obviously,” he assures me), animals filled the set. This, coupled with the chance to explore a new accent, pick up a bit of the Irish language, and learn about a different lifestyle, only sweetened the deal. “It’s a world that I don’t — I didn’t — know very well at all,” Abbott adds. “I’m always gonna jump at that kind of opportunity.”
“If you strip someone down and you force them into a life and death situation — no pun intended — but… an animal instinct kicks in. That’s an interesting thing to observe.”
Christopher Abbott
Yet these perks are just that: perks. However attractive, they’re nothing compared to the draw of a good script. On the set of Bring Them Down, Abbott enjoyed both. “[Michael and Jack] are, somehow, unknown enemies, all based on a series of small events,” Abbott explains. “I love stories like that. It’s a discrepancy on a bit of land that leads to wildly dramatic violence. It’s something about the human condition; like, at our core, what are we made of? I always find that interesting.”
On screen, this translates into nuanced, emotional performances from both Abbott and Keoghan. Tension fills the theatre as characters tailgate and trespass, stakes climbing higher. “These characters are pitted against each other, and neither of them know why. That speaks to the — I don’t know, whether you whether you wanna call it a masculinity thing, not talking about it — but it’s all there,” Abbott reiterates. As the actor sees it, Michael’s actions — whether they’re a consequence of dysfunctional family dynamics, toxic masculinity, or some combination of the two — reflect a universal sentiment.
“As a human, when you get into survival mode — and, in this case, it becomes survival mode for both of them, for Barry’s character and mine — these small things escalate to life and death decisions eventually, right? I think, in most cases in life, too, if you strip someone down and you force them into a life and death situation — no pun intended — but… an animal instinct kicks in. That’s an interesting thing to observe, but also, for me to play with,” Abbott explains.
Questions like these prompt a level of introspection. When their livelihoods are threatened, Michael and Jack fear for their basic needs: food, safety, security, and respond from an instinctual place. Abbott muses that these ‘animal instincts’ inform contemporary conversations around conflict and resolution. “It’s 2025 now, but you know, we come from a long line, long, long line of humans, and I think there is an instinct still there, even in modern day. No matter what, if it gets down to a life or death situation, you’re gonna go to your gut instinct, you know? Your base level human instinct, whether it’s to protect, whether it’s to attack,” he says. “I think we all we all have that in us, and I think that’s what [Bring Them Down] is exploring.”
While there was plenty of physical preparation, (“accent, language, stuff to understand the world that you’re working in; a little bit of animal work,” Abbott recalls), the role’s primary challenge was for Abbott to tap into his basic instincts. Themes are already written into the story, he explains. An actor’s job is simply to translate the action. “I don’t know how to act toxic masculinity, right?
There’s no way to to act that. You just have to do the story as written and commit to the thing,” says Abbott. “The preparation changes here and there, but the thing that’s consistent is ‘prepare, prepare, prepare,’ and then try to forget it all, and just be present and play.”
That’s sound advice for any script, but it’s especially relevant to Bring Them Down, where communication often takes the shape of physical conflict. Violence is a manifestation of emotional turmoil; altercations between Michael, Jack, and Gary reveal something about each character. “It speaks to the human nature aspect of this film. It’s sort of allegorical in that way. Now, it is not by any means a remark like, ‘Well, people that live in the country don’t talk about things, so they resort to violence.’ Not at all — I think it’s a human condition thing,” Abbott says. “It’s melodrama, right? There’s a reason why this story is a movie, and not just something you read in the local newspaper article. There has to be something there, in a dramatic sense.”
For viewers, topics like these — allegories and themes — tend to emerge as the credits roll, colouring exit conversations on the way home. When I ask what it’s like to see the discourse unfold, the actor says he doesn’t get caught up in the feedback. “I become the audience too, in that way. You know what I mean?” Abbott says. “Even talking to you now, about Bring Them Down — I’m in New Zealand now, and I’m working on another thing.”
So, when recognition comes, it’s a pleasant surprise. On the Gen Z-fuelled resurgence of HBO’s Girls, for instance, (viewing numbers doubled from January to November 2023, over a decade after the pilot episode), Abbott says it’s great to see his work resonate: “I hope everything I do comes back around in some way.” Should that happen, though, the actor might be the last to know. “It’s nice to hear that stuff,” Abbott admits, “but I’d be lying if I said I thought too much about it, because I’m usually thinking about something else that I’m doing, you know?”
Perhaps it’s not a surprise to hear the actor so unconcerned with reviews or reactions. After our conversation about committing to the craft, Abbott remains lives up to his words — he’s focused on being present.
MUBI’s Bring Them Down is now playing in theatres.
Feature photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for IMDb.
