Lucky McKee's Old Man: Stephen Lang Reveals What Piqued His Interest for New Thriller

Though perhaps best known to audiences for his role of Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar, actor Stephen Lang has carved out his own little area in genre films thanks in part to his starring role in the Don't Breathe movies. He's planting his roots even further into the horror-thriller world with the new film from May director Lucky McKee, the recently released Old Man. Though the title may have you wondering if it's related to Don't Breathe, these two characters are totally different kind of animal from each other, but still carry something sinister with them. Speaking with ComicBook.com's Chris Killian in an exclusive interview for the film, Lang revealed what exactly about it drew him in, and it's not going to be what you think.

"I remember when it was sent to me, it sort of piqued my interest as I read because I didn't know what I was reading," the actor revealed. "I wasn't quite sure where it was going. I thought the writing itself had had an interesting quality that I hadn't quite encountered before and certainly not in a conventional film sense at all. I think very early on I kind of felt I was reading something that was that may have been a theatrical piece. But as I began to think about it, it actually felt less like theater to me than it did like some kind of a tone poem. It felt almost like a very, very immediate piece of extemporaneous poetry. If I had to liken it to anything, it probably would be to Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl' because it had that almost immediate sort of aggression and intimidation and violence to it that I kind of associate with that."

He continued, "So there was something kind of beat about it, you know, And I mean, beat poet about it. And so that harkens back to a whole other kind of an age for me in a way. So that was just my (first) impression. And after I finished it, I kind of put it down and I went, huh, what the hell was that? And a lot of times I I think when you respond to something with maybe a little confusion it's not such a bad thing, you know? Maybe part of the reason I did the project was just to find out why I I found the project so intriguing in the first place. You do it to find out why you're doing it."

Available now  on demand and across digital platforms, Old Man hails from RLJE and also stars Marc Senter (Starry Eyes), Liana Wright-Mark (Ocean's 8), and Patch Darragh (Succession). Joel Veach wrote the script for the film which is described as follows: "Old Man unfolds as a lost hiker stumbles upon an erratic old man living in the woods. That chance encounter triggers an unimaginable nightmare." Check out the full trailer for it below.