Exclusive: Hunters star responds to critics who think show is too violent
Amazon Prime's new series Hunters might boast legendary actor Al Pacino among its cast and be produced by Get Out's Jordan Peele but its Nazi-killing theme is sure to cause some controversy.
The storyline centres around a group of Nazi hunters living in New York City in 1977, who discover that high-ranking Nazi officials are conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the US and set out on a violent quest to stop them.
Producer Nikki Toscano previously revealed that she was "terrified" about working on the project, while series creator David Weil said pitching it had been a "thrilling and also very strange" experience.
"It's a really bold show. It certainly doesn't shy away from certain things," he said.
Now actor Saul Rubinek has responded to criticism of the level of violence in the show, exclusively telling Digital Spy that the show deals with the consequences of violence properly.
"You know, when a movie is trivial, or a television show – for that matter – is trivial, sometimes the violence is exaggerated for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work.
"I would say: yes, I think that our show absolutely tries to go up to a line, to try to deal with the issue of violence.
"I know sometimes the violence is quite bad, but we're talking about a period of time when people were revenging themselves of the murder – of the organised murder – of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, Communists, whoever they wanted to... you know, millions."
He went on to say the violence in the show is "not in any way being romanticised" but instead is "trying to provoke you".
"If the theme of the show was just violence – yes, maybe they'd have a point... But it's not just about that. It's about the consequences of it.
"So trying to deal with violence as a means of revenge, and showing how brutal that is – it's in line with a show that is thematically trying to deal with the extreme, profound consequences of using violence as a means of dealing with what happened in the past."
Two-time Academy Award-winner Pacino, who has featured in Oscar nominated films The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, recently told Digital Spy why he chose Hunters as his first ever TV project.
"I'm very affected by the text. I always was," he said. "I think because I was brought up in the theatre, the text became my gauge. What I liked about this particular text is, I liked the ideas.
"I felt good about it. The project that you respond to is the one that you should do, I think."
Hunters is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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