Interview: Tom Hopper Talks ‘SAS: Red Notice’, Working With Andy McNab, and More! [EXCLUSIVE]

Lindsey
4 Min Read

The premiere of the epic action film SAS: Red Notice is just around the corner, and Nerds and Beyond had a chance to catch up with one of the film’s stars ahead of its release — Tom Hopper!

SAS: Red Notice, which is based on the novel by former SAS operator Andy McNab, follows a special forces operator named Tom Buckingham (portrayed by Sam Heughan) as he takes his girlfriend Dr. Sophie Hart (Hannah John-Kamen) from London to Paris to propose. However, those plans are dangerously derailed when their train is seized by Grace Lewis (Ruby Rose) and her team of heavily-armed war criminals. Hundreds of passengers are held hostage while the train sits deep inside the Channel Tunnel, as Grace threatens to expose the British government’s darkest secrets and blow up the tunnel if her ransom demands aren’t met. Unarmed and cut off from his counter terror team, Tom is the only hope that the passengers have to make it out alive. SAS: Red Notice also stars Andy Serkis, Tom Hopper, and Tom Wilkinson.

In the film, Hopper portrays Declan, a fellow special forces operator that works alongside Heughan’s Tom. There’s more to Declan than first meets the eye, which will become apparent later in the film. When asked what audiences will think about the layers to Declan’s motives and allegiances, Hopper said that he hopes that they will be surprised. He explained how Declan had been planning to get out of the special forces and move into the private sector, but he’s then dealt a hand that he never expected to have to deal with when his choices begin to test his morality and the friendships that he’s built.

When asked if he underwent tactical training for this role, he said that they were taken to Budapest and were put through a lot of training with McNab himself to ensure that they were operating at a certain level. McNab was prepared with resources for the cast from the get-go, and he was a source of endless information in regards to his own experiences as a special forces soldier.

Hopper reflected back on what was a technically challenging but also very fun scene that occurs early on in the film, when he, Heughan’s character, and the rest of the SAS breach a house for a hard arrest. At one point, he and Heughan were given the opportunity to take turns as camera operators to be one another’s POV, which Hopper particularly enjoyed.

Finally, when asked to give audiences three words to describe SAS: Red Notice, Hopper said — action-packed thriller!

SAS: Red Notice will be available in the UK via Sky Cinema on March 12, and it will launch On Demand in North America on March 16. Make sure to check out our SAS: Red Notice interview with Ruby Rose as well!

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By Lindsey
Lindsey joined the Nerds and Beyond team in 2018. If she's not writing or out and about with her camera, she's probably watching anime, nerding out over Star Wars, reading manga, and definitely forgetting to water her plants. And waiting for the Genshin loading screen to pop up. Contact: lindsey@nerdsandbeyond.com
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