Steven SpielbergsBridge of Spiesis in theaters today.
Francis Gary Powers was a controversial figure to some during the height of the Cold War.
The role also required a dizzyingly spectacular set-piece of special effects work to capture Powers fateful descent over Sverdiovsk.
Austin Stowell was kind enough to sit down with us for a phone interview earlier this week.
Im so happy that his story is out there now.
Immediately, I got busy researching him.
And listening to him recount the crash, the imprisonment, and the entire ordeal.
Could you talk a little bit about the audition process forBridge of Spies?
That turned out to just be aMonopolyproperty; thats all they were referring to.
Did you see the script before the Coen Brothers came aboard?
Yeah, I did it before they came on.
Not to say the script wasnt already great.
Obviously if you get the attention of somebody like Steven Spielberg, youre cooking with gas already.
It was a joy to see.
Steven and Tom both talked about that [duringthe press conference].
Can you remember anything specifically that they both added to your characters journey?
Yeah, they added quite a bit actually.
Unfortunately, it didnt make the cut as you saw, but who knows?
Maybe itll make it onto the DVD extras.
One of the best sequences in the movie was when your plane goes down over the Soviet Union.
I thought it was just a brilliant, classic Spielberg set-piece.
We shot it in [Tegel Airport, in Berlin] inside one of the hangars there.
He could go up, down, around, twists, vibrateit was incredible.
It was hard work, it absolutely was.
When you see those shots of me getting thrown against the side of the plane thats all real.
And it came out just amazingly.
It was a terrific sequence.
Thank you for talking to me today.
Thank you very much.
