This is Later with Lee Matthews The Lee Matthews Podcast more what you hear weekday afternoons on the Drive. You know Eric Banner from Ridley Scott's Blackhawk down at Troy, Munich with Daniel Craig and Jeffrey Russian, my favorite time Traveler's wife. His new force is called Force of Nature, The Dry Too. It's in theaters now. Eric Banner agreed to have you along today. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me. So tell us about The Dry
Too. Force of Nature. It's a it's a follow up to our first film, The Dry and it's based on a novel by Jane Harper call Force of Nature. It's about a group of women who go on a corporate retreat team building exercise and get lost in the bush and we discover that one of the women who's missing is my informant. I'm a I'm a federal cop Aaron Fork. So you are are with the CIA your character. I'm a federal policeman in Australia who works for financial services and I'm trying to bring down the
owner of a of a of this particular company. Is this a gritty role for you where you have to do a lot of action. I'm not a ton of action. Is a little bit, there's a little bit there in the end, but no, it's it's we're stuck in a forest. So we shot in the middle of winter in a subtropical rainforest outside of Melbourne. So it was it was pretty It was pretty intense in terms of you know, weather and exposure, but you get to see some incredible Australian landscape,
incredible Australian creatures that are trying to eat you. Just leeches in this case, Okay, let too much. Yeah, that's always one puzzled me. When you're in a tropical situation like that, in a place that is known to have dangerous preachers. On the set, do you come across them by accident? I'd say people got leached every single day on the production, without a doubt. Yeah, sos. We became experts at leech removal and some had some had it worse than others. Some had them, some had them
in worse places than others. But they were just a constant reminder force of nature. The dry to its in theaters everywhere. Eric Banner is with us. You're always very good at getting into the character and the accents. What is it with you? Do you have an ear for other accents? Well, it also just comes. Yeah, I guess I do, and I
sort of used to do it when when I was growing up. But it's just necessity, right because you know, as Australians, we're just always having to do accents because you know, there are no Australians who ever appear on cinema anywhere in the world. That's a funny thing, you know, discriminatory, it's no Australians. So yeah, it's just it's just part of the deal. When you're growing up in Australia, you know that if you want to be an actor, you're going to have to be able to do American
and British accents. And I imagine you're inundated with enough American and British content that okay, just watch enough TV and you'll get it. Yeah, well, I guess it's you know, one of the benefits of growing up with so much American and British television as a kid is you are exposed to it. That's why it's always much harder for American actors to do Australian accents because you know, you guys don't grow up on our on our TV shows.
Yeah, yeah. What is it about the Australian accent that is that is different. I've heard a lot of different theories that it developed as a result of the blowfly infestation, uh, or just being away from Britain for so long that things kind of take off on their own. What do you think. It's a very good question. I've never thought about how how we ended up or how New Zealand has ended up with their accent. It's it's I don't know, it's any very unique. Obviously it's very different to others,
but I'm not sure, not sure. Maybe it's you know, because we perceive ourselves as being a bit more light back, maybe went it up with this sound that kind of reflects how chilled we think we are. I grew up around My grandparents were from the Deep South, United States, and they had that old characteristic Oh a, do declare magnolia's on the lawn, The batteries must be run down in your torch, you know, that kind of
thing. And I think that it evolved out of so many British settlers in Colonial America settling in the South with God forbid, I say it slavery, integrating that kind of the African dialect into that English dialect. I really think that's where that all Southern accent came from. But I'm not an a linguished expert. You can tell I have a bit interest in it because I've I've seen and heard so many of them. But you get to see force of
nature, the dry too with Eric Banna. Uh is it easier to play a tough guy or a sensitive nineties guy like the Time the time Traveler's wife, her husband, time Travelers. They were all really different, aren't I. It's like that's a that's the beauty of beauty of the job. And in a movie like a Tom Travis Lofe. What makes it easier is having great co stars, you know, so having Rachel McAdams on them, and that film was amazing, you know, she's so fantastic, it was.
It was an amazing film to Mike. Actually, well, I was a big fan of the book. My wife was one who turned me on to it. Hey, you'd enjoy this book and it's kind of a chicks book, and she goes, yeah, but you'll like it. And I read it and I did. I fell in love with it. And was delighted at the casting in this movie. You and she were perfect for the roles. Thanks mat. Yeah, and I was I was a it was,
it was. It was a great book and it was. It was a tough adaptation rot because there's a lot of jumping backwards forwards, you know, the timelines and armander. Even on the set, you know there some days we're outside of the director, Robert. I'm like, okay, just remind me again where I've come from. What year is it? Why am I dressed like this again? And just tell me just yeah, I've got gray
hair, but she's a child. This is weird Cose Force of Nature, The Dry Too featuring Eric Manna. It's out now everywhere you get your movies. I thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing your next project. Thank you very much. Describe to talk. Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and Iheartsmedia Presentation