Joel Kinnaman Says He Tried Not Speaking for Two Months While Filming ‘Silent Night’

Joel Kinnaman shares his failed attempt at method acting for his role in the upcoming action film Silent Night.

During a performance op The tonight show Wednesday, the For all humanity actor told host Jimmy Fallon that since he doesn’t have any dialogue in the John Woo-directed film, he decided to “go all out for this for the first time.”

Kinnaman recalled telling his fiancée Kelly Gale, “Listen, this is going to be hard on our relationship. I’m not going to talk for the entire shoot or talk to you. So we will have no communication.”

Since Gale was understandably hesitant about the idea, the couple decided to consult their relationship coach to find a way to work through it. When Fallon asked Kinnaman if the relationship coach thought it was a good idea, the actor laughed: “No.”

But he said his fiancée eventually came around and told him, “This is a sacrifice I will make. And you know, we’ll find a way to do this.

After working out the logistics, Kinnaman said he would officially stop talking once he arrived in Mexico City to start filming. But it wasn’t long after the actor landed that he realized he was “feeling a little lonely” because he didn’t know anyone there and decided to call Gale.

Kinnaman noticed that his fiancée was so confused during the phone call and told him, “You have to keep quiet for the entire two months.” But The killing The actor decided to wait a little longer before diving into the immersive acting approach, saying he would stop talking on his first day on set.

“Then the first day of recording begins and I get into the car. The whole car ride was super quiet,” Kinnaman remembers. “And then I get in the makeup trailer and everyone’s hanging out and talking, and I’m sitting there in the makeup trailer.”

He quickly realized that he would not be able to last six weeks without any verbal communication and decided to give up the method-acting approach.

“I had to take a very, very intense, silent car ride. The car ride was kind of the whole thing, you know? So that gave me enough silence that I needed for the rest of the shoot,” Kinnaman joked.

Silent Night follows a grieving father, recovering from a wound that cost him his voice, as he carries out his long-awaited revenge on Christmas Eve after his young son is killed in the crossfire between warring gangs.

The film will be released in theaters on December 1.