Apex\u00a0<\/em>made him realize his fear of heights\u2014and what it took to deal with it on set.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n
In\u00a0Apex,\u00a0<\/em>Egerton plays Ben, a charming psychopath who chases Theron\u2019s character, Sasha, through Australia\u2019s remote wilderness. Shooting the movie required intense physical demands: kayaking, falling off cliffs, and hiking for hours just to get to set.<\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s rated very, very high in my best actors that I\u2019ve ever worked with,\u201d Theron told me of Egerton in an interview for\u00a0Outside\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Spring 2026 issue. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been around someone who has that kind of natural instinct and great intuition. He\u2019s brave in the sense that he\u2019ll take big swings. Watching him from afar, I was like, Wow<\/i>. It\u2019s impressive to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n I spoke with Egerton ahead of\u00a0Apex\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>release to learn more about what it took to shoot the film, whether it was creepy to play the villain, and how he discovered he had a fear of heights on set.<\/p>\n(Photo: Courtesy Netflix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nExclusive Interview with Taron Egerton<\/h2>\n OUTSIDE: <\/i>I think your character, Ben, could have very easily been sort of like a one-note villain\u2014just a classic psychopath. But that\u2019s not how he came across. There is more depth to him. What interested you about his character?<\/strong><\/p>\n Taron Egerton: <\/strong>When I was asked about doing it [the film], I was most intrigued about the extremity of it and making a movie out in the wilderness in the rugged terrain of Australia. And the very strange, unnerving intimacy of these two characters. The nature of Ben\u2019s pathology was something that grew organically throughout the process, and I think it\u2019s fair to say he changed quite a lot from the script that I read to what\u2019s on screen. The whole process was very, very creative, actually, in terms of us all finding him, finding their dynamic, and finding his story. But the appeals were many and varied.<\/p>\nIn terms of taking on the project, working with Charlize was a very, very big draw for me, and being in Australia, and I admired Balt\u2019s [Baltasar Korm\u00e1kur] work. So yeah, I didn\u2019t really need to be persuaded.<\/p>\n
Did you find it unsettling to spend so much time in a character like Ben?<\/strong><\/p>\nI don\u2019t think so. I think it\u2019s all play; it\u2019s all fun, you know. It\u2019s larger than life and in some ways preposterous. Also, I think he kind of is me. He\u2019s a weird version of me. I don\u2019t engage in the behaviors that he engages in, but his expressiveness is my expressiveness. It\u2019s not like I found playing him to be a dance on the edges of madness or anything. I had a really good time. I mean, it was fucking hard work, I don\u2019t mind telling you, but it was very rewarding.<\/p>\n
I really enjoyed the physical aspect of it as well.<\/p>\n
It sounded like it was very physically demanding to film. Charlize shared that the crew would sometimes hike for hours before even reaching set. She told me she learned to climb and did some kayaking for\u00a0Apex. <\/em>Did you also learn new sports for it?<\/strong><\/p>\nWe did some training at an Olympic training facility here for the kayaking. It was really, really awesome. I loved it. It\u2019s not the kind of thing I would naturally be drawn to. I\u2019m not the most intrepid person. But they\u00a0were pretty unequivocal about it. They were like, \u201cYou can\u2019t stroll into this. You\u2019re going to need to show up, fit and ready.\u201d I took that very seriously and spent a number of months getting in shape for it. I\u2019ve played a couple of roles where I\u2019ve done work to try and look buff, but for this, it\u2019s definitely the best shape of my life in terms of just athleticism, strength, and functional strength.<\/p>\n
The climbing stuff was hard. The climbing I do in the movie involves quite specific upper-body strength, because I can\u2019t use my legs. It was no joke. There was a bit of a personal triumph in it for me, because I didn\u2019t really realize until this movie that I do have a fear of heights. The stuff that we shot at height was really challenging for me. I experienced the kind of cognitive fog where I couldn\u2019t really take direction up there. I couldn\u2019t really repeat simple technical moves, because the fear kind of clouded my mind a little bit. So overcoming all of that stuff was a real personal triumph.<\/p>\n\n(Photo: Courtesy Netflix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\nThere was a day on the movie [set] where they had me suspended on a wire and dropped me, and then would catch me on the wire. Balt wants the work to be as realistic and as gritty as possible. So he said, \u201cWe\u2019d love to get a shot of you falling here. We\u2019ll drop you, what probably amounts to 20 to 30 meters [65 to 98 feet], but it\u2019s perfectly safe. You\u2019ll be suspended. You\u2019re not going to hit the ground or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wanted to do it; I wanted to give him the shot, but I was petrified. I was absolutely petrified. There\u2019s a camera mounted above me for the close-up, and I fall away from it. We did it all at my pace. I was sort of having to control my breathing and not freak out. And I did it, and it was totally exhilarating. The crew was the most incredible crew I\u2019ve ever worked with. Aussies are made of something different. Everyone gave me a spontaneous round of applause because everyone knew I was terrified. There\u2019s something about overcoming those fears that\u2019s really rewarding and growthful.<\/p>\n
When people watch Apex<\/em>, what do you hope stays with them?<\/strong><\/p>\nWell, it is a popcorn movie, but it\u2019s one that has been quite lovingly crafted. We spent a lot of time, a lot of sweat, and a lot of galleries making it something that\u2019s really crafted. There\u2019s nothing disposable about the movie, so I hope people appreciate the fact that it costs something to make. I\u2019m a big horror guy, and I like a kind of walk in the woods away from the safety of my sofa. And I think Apex<\/em> is a walk in the woods. I hope people get a buzz, get a thrill out of it.<\/p>\nEditor\u2019s note:<\/strong> This interview has been edited for length, clarity, and flow\u2014and to avoid possible spoilers.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published April 20, 2026 01:51PM Taron Egerton knows range. The Welsh actor got his start as Gary Unwin in the spy franchise Kingsman (from 2014), starred as Elton John in Rocketman\u00a0(2019), and played the British Olympic ski jumper Eddie Edwards in\u00a0Eddie the Eagle\u00a0(2015). Now, he\u2019ll costar alongside Charlize Theron in Netflix\u2019s upcoming thriller Apex,\u00a0which is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wild-living"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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