In An Exclusive Chat, Tom Bateman Reveals What He Loves About His Role

Tom Bateman, who is part of Hans Petter Moland’s Cold Pursuit, plays the role of Viking in the film. The actor says that it is rather a unique role. “My character, Viking is so interesting because he doesn't really operate on the same wavelength as others. He is a psychopath. I read a book called Psychopath Test before I worked on this. These people don't really function on the same wavelength as everyone else. But they do function in society, so it makes it very interesting to see someone making decisions like shooting someone on a whim, in the face, even if that person happens to be close to them. The audience never knows what's going on in this guy's head and just when you think he is going down on one road, he flips and goes down on another. So, you may think, ‘Oh! he's about to be violent,’ and then he might be seductive and charming. And then you feel, Oh, it's about to be funny and then he shoots someone in the face and cuts their head! So, it just constantly keeps the audience guessing and kept me guessing as an actor,” he says.

In fact, the actor has experimented a lot with his character as well. “It’s quite fun. As I rehearse the scenes in my own hotel room, I feel that I can play the character in a hundred different ways and each scene can be played in a hundred different ways. The lines can be completely subverted. I can play them in the deadpan down the line way as they are written. Or I could play around with them and go like what if I make this line funny, even if what I am saying is horrible or vice versa. So, it’s like being in a candy store and I can just pick and choose what I like,” he says. 

Talking about his character, he adds, “Viking’s job in this movie, if he has one, is running a club. But really that's just a front and a bit of a vanity thing for him. He likes the idea of being a club owner, but his main job is of a drug dealer. He supplies cocaine to the village and the town of Kehoe. He's got a lot of people who work for him. He hasn't built up an empire, he's one of these spoiled brats, who's inherited something but wears it like a crown. And you know he loves that he is seen as this powerful guy but he hasn't done himself anything to deserve that status.”

Cold Pursuit is a remake of 2014 Norwegian film In Order of Disappearance, which was also directed by Moland. Director Hans Petter Moland’s Cold Pursuit stars Liam Neeson, Tom Bateman, Tom Jackson,  Emmy Rossum,  Domenick Lombardozzi,  Julia Jones and John Doman to release on 8th February.