Joel Edgerton talks Midnight Special, Loving, diversity in Hollywood and alien life

“A man like Jeff [Nichols] comes out of the blue,” says Edgerton of his double header with the director. “It’s amazing how one film leads to another.” On Loving, he gushes, “It’s one of the most special things I’ve ever been involved in. What Jeff has done is take a very accurate, very simple nonviolent story that became massive in civil rights and focus completely on a love story rather than the changing [cultural] events. He just allowed that story to speak volumes for people who should have a right to be together.”

His directorial debut, 2015 thriller The Gift, was a total stunner. (Oh, Edgerton also wrote the screenplay—and even earned a DGA Award nomination.) “To be acknowledged in that way is such a huge thing,” he says, before tipping us off to what he has planned next. “There are a couple of dramas I’m working on. There is also a small science fiction idea, a mash-up of genres.” Tight-lipped. We get it.

“He really urged me to make The Gift,” Edgerton says of his stuntman/filmmaker brother, Nash. “Through that experience, [Nash got] more excited to get on the director’s chair, and he’s literally prepping right now.” Remembering the time they worked together on an Australian TV show, Edgerton says, “My character was about to get hit by a car, and of course, I watched my brother, the stuntman, [jump] in and [get] hit. I remember thinking how funny it was that I got to sit there under a blanket while my brother got the glory.”

“When that conversation is happening and everybody’s eyes and ears are open, I think it’s a very positive thing because it means there is a necessity to shift something,” he says. “It’s not just a question of who’s vying for films but also one of who’s getting to make these. In this country, I’m especially talking about Hispanic-Americans, African-Americans and Asian-Americans. What stories are they telling? As a white male in America, there are so many roles tailored toward me. It’s a great thing to strive for, that you can be an African-American actor and be considered for any role.”

“I have pondered it. Ridley Scott is a friend of mine, and he and I talk a lot about the conversations he’s had with the people at NASA. It’s very hard to not imagine that there is a planet somewhere that has conditions to support [intelligent] life. It sometimes makes me laugh because sometimes the things we do as humans lack intelligence.”