Chase Stokes and Lana Condor are joining forces in Valiant One. The seasoned Netflix actors step away from their familiar coming-of-age worlds in Outer Banks and To All The Boys to crash-land in North Korea and carry out a military mission that neither of them were prepared for. Stokes stars as Sgt. Edward Brockman while Condor suits up as Selby.

Valiant One is another big step forward in both Stokes and Condor’s careers. Stokes is best known for leading Outer Banks, starring as series frontman John B. for four seasons, but had yet to lead a big action-thriller until this project. Condor finds herself in a bit of a full circle with this genre, as her career started on an action blockbuster when she portrayed Jubilee in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse.

In celebration of Valiant One hitting theaters, ScreenRant spoke with Stokes and Condor to discuss the film’s debuting director, their personal connections to their characters’ circumstances, Stokes’s anticipation for Outer Banks Season 5, and whether Condor’s unreleased Coyote vs. Acme movie will ever see the light of day.

Valiant One’s Steve Barnett Makes His Directing Debut

“He was prepared, he was diligent, and he’s really an actors’ director too…”

ScreenRant: You’re working with a first-time director, Steve Barnett. You guys have tenure in this world. What do you both learn as actors when you’re working with a first-time director?

Chase Stokes: Although he’s a first-time director, he is an incredibly seasoned producer and he’s somebody who’s been in this industry and brought some incredible franchises to life. The Spiderwick Chronicles, he did 300. So although he hasn’t been in the director’s chair, he’s been in the chair directly next to them. So there’s a little bit of safety there. And all of our producers, Bernie Goldmann, Alan Powell, I mean, we had a really, really great crew around us that allowed it to not feel like it was Steve’s first time and that he was prepped and ready. He really knew that going into this film, as his directorial debut, he didn’t take it lightly. He was prepared, he was diligent, and he’s really an actors’ director too. He really allowed us the creative freedom on this film.

Lana Condor: I also think [ᴀssociate producer] Todd (Sharʙuтт) is his friend, and it was very much based off of Todd’s experience of serving for 25 years. So I think Steve, there was this weight, there was this, ‘I have to get this right for my friend.’ I think he really would come to work with that sense. And he did. He did a great job. I think he really genuinely cared a lot.

Lana Condor’s Personal Connection To Her Valiant One Character

“My brother is in the Navy, and he wanted to join for that very reason…”

Lana, your character of Selby, her reason for joining the military is to give back to her country. After a mission like this, how does her perception of giving back change?

Lana Condor: My brother is in the Navy, and he wanted to join for that very reason. We were both adopted from Vietnam, and literally, he was like, ‘How lucky am I to be here in America? I want to serve my country.’ I don’t know, I never thought about it after the fact, but I think there’s a sense of if the story were to go on, I think Selby would I be very proud of how willing she was to tough it out and just sink or swim and just keep going. I think she learned that she’s a pretty tough girl, but I think she would come out of it being like, ‘I am proud of what I did and I would do it again in a heartbeat.’

Chase Stokes Finds Parallels Between Valiant One And His Career

“When you get the opportunity to lead a project, there is responsibility in ways that are not on paper…”

For Edward, he’s thrust into this spot. He’s forced to step up, forced to be a leader. For you in your career, have you ever had that moment when opportunity strikes, and you might not feel like you’re ready for it, but it forced you to evolve?

Chase Stokes: I think in most jobs that I’ve had in my career, I mean, I’ve done everything on the call sheet from a featured extra to a co-star to recurring co-star. I think when you get the opportunity to lead a project, there is just responsibility in ways that are not on the paper. It’s not just a script. It’s setting an example. It’s showing up on time. It’s being responsible to make sure that your other castmates show up prepared and setting an example across the board, even with your director, if your director is not prepared to be able to call those people out and to be honest. So I think, yeah, I’ve absolutely been faced with those challenges, but this is one of those rare occurrences, and sharing the screen with Lana, her instinct is so incredible and she’s such a gifted and hardworking actress. And then you have Steve, who really wanted to come out of the gate and into the director’s chair and make an impactful film. So we were very lucky to come into this and play a character that I’ve had those experiences in my career in the past, but ironically not have it with this film.

Chase Stokes Anticipates A “Bittersweet” Outer Banks Season 5

“I don’t know if I’ll ever [be ready to say goodbye]…”

You complimented my suit before we started rolling. I really wanted to wear my bandana, though. I’m sure you’re getting bombarded with Outer Banks Season 5 questions. I know the writing process is still very early on. Are you ready to say goodbye to John B? Does it feel emotional?

Chase Stokes: I don’t know if I’ll ever [be ready to say goodbye]. I think when you have a character that you’ve grown with, and you’ve watched your career flourish with, it’s bittersweet because it’s a safety, it’s somebody that I care so deeply about and where he’s like an alternate personality for me at this point, and it started with him being on the page, and now I have the beautiful conversations with our writers and they’re like, “What do you think you would do in this situation?”

So it’s gone from just getting hired to do the job, to now being really involved with the process in a lot of different ways. And I’m grateful for that because I’ve learned so much as an artist and as a filmmaker. But I think it’s not how the plane takes off, it’s how you land it.

And so we’ve seen a lot of shows end in ways that people are not very happy with the ending, and then you have shows [like] Breaking Bad who do it. So I hope that our showrunners and our writers and our writers’ room are really being diligent and mindful and listening to the world around them so that we can land this plane in the ways that I think the world wants us to.

Does it feel weird without Rudy?

It does. Yeah, it is. It’s never an easy thing to see a character go, but that’s part of filmmaking. You got to have those moments. You got to have those experiences that keep the audience on the edge of their seat. And so, I adore him, and he’s been a dear friend for years. An incredible artist. An incredible, incredible artist. So I’m equally as sad to see him go, but I’m equally excited to see where his career goes next.

Lana Condor’s Unreleased Coyote vs. Acme Film Remains Vaulted

“They invited me to a funeral screening…”

Lana, you sH๏τ a film, Coyote vs. Acme, a while ago, and we still don’t know if it’s ever going to see the light of day. Do you have any update?

Lana Condor: I have zero update. That’s probably definitely the most devastating thing in my career thus far. Yeah, I loved that movie so, so much. I had the honor of working with incredible artists for it, and we built the most amazing worlds and we got to work with phenomenal puppeteers and CGI and just all these things, and it was so nostalgic and I loved the story through and through and we had a blast making it. And I am genuinely heartbroken that there’s a world that no one will ever see it for tax purposes, I think. That’s so, so sad. And when I got the news, they invited me to a funeral screening, which is the saddest thing ever.

The film was predominantly myself, Will Forte and John Cena. We were kind of the only humans. Everything else was all green screen and everything, so I didn’t really know what it was going to look like. So when I went to the funeral screening, I thought to myself, ‘Maybe the movie isn’t good and maybe I was wrong.’ Watched the film, and I personally think it was my best work I’ve ever done. And I think it was funny and kind and put a real positive message. That was really, truly devastating for me, for me, and for everyone.

About Valiant One

A small Army team in present-day Korea is unexpectedly under the command of a soldier fighting extraordinary circumstances in director Steve Barnett’s dramatic military thriller VALIANT ONE. Sgt. Brockman (Chase Stokes, Outer Banks) and three corporals based at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, are ordered to escort a civilian defense contractor to the North Korean border for a routine ᴀssignment to fix surveillance tech. When extreme weather pushes their helicopter past the Demilitarized Zone and they crash in North Korea — Brockman must make sure he and his fellow solders Selby (Lana Condor, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Alita: Battle Angel), Lee (Daniel Jun, The Expanse), and Ross (Jonathan Whitesell, Riverdale), and the tech specialist Weaver (Desmin Borges, Only Murders in the Building) survive long enough to get out of enemy territory.

Source: ScreenRant Plus