Alexander Ludwig meets me via Zoom from a small cafe in the south of France.
“I’m sorry, but my internet connection at my Airbnb is terrible,” he says. “Hopefully it won’t be too loud.”
Then he says: “This is my really hard life right now.”
Life is not difficult at all for the 34-year-old actor. He is in France to shoot Season 4 of “The White Lotus.” But we will tell you more about this in a moment.
First, Ludwig is promoting his new Netflix biopic, “Unabomber,” about domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, who killed multiple people by sending bombs between 1978 and 1995. Shailene Woodley plays the FBI agent who insists on following up on Kaczynski’s tip that leads to the identification and arrest of her own brother. Ludwig plays a fellow agent who is not very supportive.
Jacob Tremblay directs the film, playing a young Kaczynski who participates in a controversial psychiatric study during his undergraduate years at Harvard. The film raises questions about how the study’s traumatic impact on Kaczynski may have led him to radical beliefs and deadly actions.
“Netflix coldly pitched it to me, and I read the script and thought, ‘I love this because we’ve all seen versions of this, but I’ve never said it from where you can actually see the making of this genius monster,’” Ludwig says. “I thought it was a fascinating way to tell the story.”
“Unabomber” occasionally offers a sympathetic portrait of Kaczynski as a young man abused by an unethical professor (Russell Crowe). “One thing is certain: he was an incredibly intelligent person and was completely deceived at a young age,” says Ludwig. “He was clearly abused.”
Ludwig, who grew up in Vancouver, Canada, first came to attention for his role as Cato in the original 2012 “Hunger Games” movie. His death scene, in which he is mauled by a pack of wolfhounds before being shot with a fatal arrow by Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), is one of the series’ most memorable scenes.
“I thank (writer and director) Gary Ross for this,” Ludwig says. “Actually, if it wasn’t for that scene and the scene that just happened, the scene with the little monologue that Gary wrote that day, I don’t think that character would have been as memorable because if you watch the movie, I’m not really in it at all. It’s just that that character had such a presence, and I owe a lot of that to Gary. I really owe my career to him. That’s what prepared me in the beginning. Being consistent in this job.”
He is excited to see the next movie in the series, “The Hunger Games: Harvest Sunrise.” “I saw the trailer yesterday,” says Ludwig. “They invited me to the premiere and I said, ‘If you fly me, I’ll come. I literally turned to my wife and said, ‘I can’t believe they’re still doing this. This is amazing. This is crazy.'”
He recalled his first days on the set of The Hunger Games. “I remember Jen and I getting in this van together and she being so cute and me being like, ‘Gosh, she’s only a few years older than me and she’s already been nominated for an Oscar.’ [for ‘Winter’s Bone’]. Like what? This is so crazy,'” says Ludwig. “I remember seeing the Cornucopia for the first time and being in awe of my life and how lucky I was.
“This was one of those rare movies that wasn’t all that different from ‘White Lotus,’ where you knew it was going to be huge before you even shot a shot,” he continues. “You were famous just because you were cast.”
Ludwig and AJ Michalka were the first cast members announced for the new season of “The White Lotus.” The cast also includes Marissa Long, Ari Graynor, Steve Coogan, Max Greenfield and Kumail Nanjiani. Although details have not been officially released by creator Mike White or HBO, Variety previously reported that the story involves two rival film production teams vying for the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The production was seen filming in and around Paris, Monaco and Cannes, including the famous Palais des Festivals.
“The only thing better than having a film premiere at the Cannes Film Festival is having ‘White Lotus’ filmed at the Cannes Film Festival,” says Ludwig. “Let me tell you, it’s like I had this golden ticket. I was at this event at the Hôtel du Cap – which was already the most disgusting expression of my life – and who else can walk the walk but George Clooney? My wife and I start talking to him for about 15 minutes. The moment he heard ‘White Lotus,’ he said, ‘Tell me everything. Tell me.'”
Did it jump to Clooney? “Go, no,” Ludwig tells me with a blink of an eye. “He will have to wait like everyone else.”
Ludwig calls the new season the most “over-the-top” yet. “It’s so wild,” he says.
Fans know how wild things can get on the show. Who can forget last season’s shocking incest scene between Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola? “My first question to Mike was, ‘Who am I doing this to?’” Ludwig says with a laugh. happened.” “I was joking, of course, but I said, ‘Just tell me.’ I said. [I’ll do it] happily.
“Unabomber” is available to watch on Netflix.