Aaron Eckhart and John Stalberg Jr. on ‘Muzzle: City of Wolves’ and the Evolution of a Reluctant Anti-Hero

It’s sort of hard to believe that it’s been almost 30 years since Aaron Eckhart first broke out as a movie star in Neil LaBute’s 1997 dark comedy In the Company of Men. And yet, nearly three decades later, he’s still number one on the call sheet.

Lately, he’s been doing a lot of action films, like 2023’s cult hit Muzzle, in which he played Jake Rosser, a K-9 unit cop who seeks revenge after his four-legged partner is murdered. Now, two years later, comes the sequel, Muzzle: City of Wolves, in which Rosser is now a dog trainer, and the cartel he took down in the first film comes looking for revenge.

He and director John Stalberg Jr., who has helmed both films in the series, spoke to us about the new movie, which hits theaters November 14.

Key Insights:

The concept for Muzzle was born from a spontaneous moment of inspiration involving a police officer and his K-9 partner, leading to an organically developed story.

Aaron Eckhart embraces complex, flawed characters who mirror real human struggles, reflecting his own outsider relationship with Hollywood.

Shooting in South Africa allowed the filmmakers to extend production time, collaborate with highly skilled local talent, and achieve seamless American accents through expert coaching.

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John, where did the idea originally come from, and what led you to cast Aaron?

John Stalberg Jr.: I had just filmed this movie called Crypto with Kurt Russell, and I was driving to the wrap party. It was raining, and my producing partner was driving, so I was just gazing out the window, spaced out, and we passed a cop in his car. He looked like he was alone, but he was talking to someone, and then as we went past, I saw there’s a dog in his passenger seat.

It was so cool, he was just talking to his partner, who happened to be a dog. And I thought, well, that’s interesting. Then I remembered that they give police dogs full dress funerals. So I walk into the wrap party, and there’s the writer of Crypto, Carlyle Eubank. I say, “Hey, dude, I got a movie idea.” So we got a drink, and a couple months later, we had a script. It was just a purely organic thing.

Regarding Aaron, I thought to myself that fits in really nicely in terms of the the type of characters that he excels at. He’s very natural on camera. He’s very real, through all the work that he puts into it, and there’s something inherently relatable and likable about him, even as he’s showing the Jungian thing, the shadow side of like, “Wow, there’s a monster in us all.”

Aaron, this is not the first time you’ve played this guy. What originally drew you to the role?

Aaron Eckhart: John’s vision of it. Of course, I’m a dog lover, and the idea of playing a character that’s a little bit more complex — he has a lot of judgment — a man who is trying to do the right thing in life and everything just piles on him, I think a lot of people feel that way.

So it was worth ignoring W.C. Fields’ advice about never working with children or animals?

AE: (Laughs) Children I could do without. I’ve done it. It’s funny, but there’s an infant in this movie, and he just cried the whole time. Whenever they put him in my arms, he cried. It’s interesting, when I did Erin Brockovich, I was a biker in that, and I had to hold twins. Everybody, the producers and everything, were just worried, worried, worried, worried. What was going to happen when they put the twins into my arms? So they did it, and that child fell asleep the entire day on my shoulder. This one, not so much. (Laughs)

With animals, it’s the handlers that are often the problem. They talk to you like you’ve never seen a dog before. But I made it my mission to have a good relationship with them and say, “Listen, you’ve got to hand this dog to me. Nobody touches this dog. Nobody feeds the dog. This is my dog.” And it worked. Some wranglers get very protective and precious about their animals, as they should, so you have to do a delicate dance with them.

You talked about the character being complex. This is not your entire career, but certainly lately, you play a lot of anti-heroes. Protagonists who you might not want to have over for dinner.

AE: That’s fair.

Gas Station – Convenience Store Scene 87 : Jake (AARON ECKHART) pulls the wounded Cutler (NICOLE FORTUIN) into the store and finds and finds a tracker on his belt.

Is that by design?

AE: Look, I’m lucky to have a job. I count myself to be blessed in that way, still be working after all these years. I’m in a place in my career where the big boys are up there. (Holds his hand up high) They’re doing their thing. I’m not in their world, but I’m just making movies that I want to make. I want to run around and hit some people and say a couple words. It’s really that simple.

If people said to me, “Aaron, you’re doing the same movie over and over and over again,” I go, “Yeah, I probably am.” Because I enjoy it personally, and I think that people want to watch complicated characters, characters who doubt themselves, characters who get angry, who go over the top, who don’t know how to solve every problem.

They’re trying to keep it together. I feel like, as I look at my own life, that’s kind of like me. Look at Hollywood. Do I fit into Hollywood? Not really. I don’t think they know what to do with me, and I don’t know what to do with them.

And that really is a lot of these characters, if I think about the characters that I’ve played lately. But I like it, and I think people, for the most part, like it. And they get the movies made. And I get to work with guys like John.

I talked to the casting director, Bonnie Lee Bouman, and one of the things she talked about is that you shot the whole thing in South Africa, and used all South African talent, aside from Aaron, none of whom sound South African.

JSJ: Yeah, we had a great dialogue coach doing the dialect. I always want to shoot in LA, but it didn’t calc out. It was like 18 days to shoot it in the States or 30 days to shoot it in South Africa, and then it’s, okay, when do I fly? Then they said, “Well, here’s the catch. It costs $20,000 to fly an actor over, or you could look for an actor here with Bonnie.”

She said, “Look, we have a small pool of actors, but they’re great, and they’ve got really good résumés. You’re getting really high-end crew and cast that are very well-oiled to work on big productions. They’re very professional people, and they’re schooled. It’s a small pool, but you can find great actors there.” So it made sense.

AE: They all speak perfect American English! It’s shocking because what they’ve done, which is smart, is saying, “Hey, we’re outsourcing our films so let’s just get the American accent going on and we’ll work all day long.” It’s shocking to hear them in real life with their South African or English accents, and then pop into American like that (snaps his fingers). I’m not an accent actor. It’s tough, but these guys have nailed it.

The movie sets itself up for a third film. Is that in store? And was that always the plan?

JSJ: It was designed as one, originally. But we had thought, “Hey, what would we do if they want a sequel?” He destroys a distribution outlet for narcotics, so what is a demonic drug cartel going to do about it? It leads to all these natural questions.

We wanted to make this movie a 90-minute shit your pants odyssey. That’s why we call the dog Argos. Odysseus was just trying to get home to his wife and family, whereas Jake has to traverse LA in 2025. We developed both scripts at once and considered shooting two and three at the same time, but decided against it. But we are doing a third film. It’s called, Muzzle: Blood of Patriots. That’s an exclusive for you. (Laughs)

Aaron, I assume you’re on board for as long as this goes?

AE: Yeah. I like John. The scripts are very good, and there are a lot of actors out there, but he chose me. I’m blessed to be in the film and I want to respect that relationship. There are some good things coming for three. I think it’s going to be challenging, both for us and for the audience as well. The movies are going to get tougher and tougher.

Key Takeaways:

Muzzle: City of Wolves continues exploring the gritty moral terrain of a man and his dog while expanding the world for an upcoming third installment.

Eckhart and Stalberg’s mutual respect and creative chemistry are driving forces behind the series’ authenticity and emotional depth.

The Muzzle trilogy aims to blend raw action with introspection, offering audiences both adrenaline and an exploration of the human condition.

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