As DEA Agent, Jason Clarke Takes Cyber Tour Of The ‘Silk Road’

Jason Clarke is living in what he calls “a parallel universe” right now. He’s on location on his home turf, the Gold Coast of Australia, filming the action thriller Black Site alongside Michelle Monaghan and Jai Courtney. After a week in production, he reports smooth sailing, complete with late night shoots, in a film about a group of CIA agents who square off against a dangerous escaped criminal at a top-secret labyrinth-like location.

“I’m looking out at Surfers Paradise Beach,” he reveals by phone. “I always wanted to do an action movie in Australia.”

Clarke, of course, is best known for starring in other big Hollywood action movies, including Zero Dark Thirty, Everest and Terminator: Genisys. Though a native of Queensland, with a distinctly Aussie accent in real life, he is able to disappear into American characters, such as his recent turn in the Antonio Campos crime drama Devil All The Time, in which he played a Southern serial killer, and delivered a perfect Hyannis Port accent as Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy in 2017’s Chappaquiddick.

In Silk Road, his latest film, based partly on true events, he plays Rick Bowden, a DEA agent recovering from drug addiction and psychological issues, having spent too many years immersed in bringing bad guys to justice. Back on the job after a stint in rehab, Rick is demoted to a desk job in the agency’s cyber crimes division, where he fits in like a square peg in a round hole. Barely able to type in his password, the old-school agent is soon attached to a case involving illicit drug sales on the dark web. Lacking support from his young boss, Rick turns to a young, computer-savvy informant Rayford (Darrell Britt-Gibson). The two begin to hone in on Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson), an Austin college-age cybercriminal behind the “Amazon
AMZN
AMZN
for illegal drugs,” who has turned his hobby into a multimillion dollar empire, using bitcoin and anonymous transactions.

As Rick and Rayford follow Ross’ cyber-trail, Rick struggles with moral issues. He needs more money than he is earning as a DEA agent to send his daughter to an expensive school for children with learning disabilities. Maybe he can catch the criminal and make a few million dollars in the process.

The film is the latest crime drama from investigative journalist and documentarian Tiller Russell, one of the executive producers and episode directors of the popular Netflix
NFLX
NFLX
series, Night Stalker: The Hunt For A Serial Killer and the Amazon Original docu-series, The Last Narc. 

With Russell’s knowledge and experience covering the criminal world, Clarke knew he was in good hands. Silk Road also stars Jennifer Yun, Jimmi Simpson and Alexandra Shipp. The Lionsgate film will be available on digital, on demand and in select theaters Feb. 19, and will out on Blu-ray and DVD Feb. 23.

Angela Dawson: In Silk Road, your character is kind of an antihero.

Jason Clarke: Yeah. He’s a complicated man. He’s an amalgamation of people. After chasing bad guys, he’s almost had to become a bad guy. He was an undercover agent working to expose these drug cartels. He’d gone down the road and burned himself out. He’s archaic and the force has no place for him anymore. Now he finds himself working cyber crimes and he still has those instincts to catch bad guys, but the world’s moved on.

Dawson: Many viewers may be able to relate to Rick’s feeling of obsolescence on the job, despite his years of experience.

Clarke: Yeah. We think it only happens to our parents and grandparents. One day you wake up and you realize how fast this world is evolving and changing—not just with the pandemic but with technology.

Dawson: One of the things Rick has to figure out is the workings of new technologies and innovations, like Bitcoin. He doesn’t understand it.

Clarke: Neither do I. So, Rick’s an interesting and identifiable character in that regard.

Dawson: Rick also is facing personal issues: He’s a recovering drug addict and he’s trying to take care of his child who has a learning disability. He wants to put her in a good school but it is very expensive. He’s got a personal stake in the cybercrime investigation he’s involved in, so he’s in a moral quandary.

Clarke: American films have always done those really well —films like Cool Hand Luke—about an antihero, an iconoclast. The truth is the older you get, you realize how life is complicated. We spend most of our time in the grave. We all want good, particularly for our children.

Rick is this man who’s used to kicking in doors and bringing in bad guys by pointing a gun, and he has this little girl whose future is everything he hopes for, and represents a side to him in his heart of hearts. He decides to put his career on the line for her benefit. There’s quite a few complications.

Dawson: Yet he’s able to utilize his well-honed crime investigative skills to outwit the criminal.

Clarke: Yes, experience matters. He still has a nose for how to catch bad guys. At the end of the day, it’s not the computer, it’s the person hitting the keys. (The audience) sees there are things to learn from Rick. I liked his relationship with his informer, who’s now selling sneakers online. For all their differences, these guys are actually good buddies. They form this bond, this connection, and Rick tries to help him out in the end. That’s where the film becomes very unexpected.

Dawson: How was it working with Darrell Britt-Gibson, who plays Raynard? You two have a very believable onscreen chemistry.

Clarke: Thank you. Darrell’s a really funny cool guy. We just decided to find this great relationship together and Tiller was great for allowing us to spark that. We just had a great time. We listened and learned from each other. I’m an Australian guy from the country and he’s an American from the city. There were just so many funny things he would tell me. I couldn’t get enough of his stories. From that, we just opened up to each other and found this way to relate to each other, which is what these two characters do in the movie as well. They educate and learn from each other and change. Darrell finds a way to go on.

Dawson: Rick, as you said, is a composite of various people Tiller has known, but was there someone or something specific that helped you shape this character? Did you speak with DEA agents, for example?

Clarke: One of them was Hector Berrellez, a famous former DEA agent who’s in (Russell’s docu-series) The Last Narc. He was one of the guys who brought down these cartels. Also, I’ve played police officers before. The other thing I use (to get into character) is music. I love Latin rap (like) Bad Bunny and J Balvin—just to get that chaos. The man just brings in chaos. That’s part of the set-up in how you get these dudes and live in their world. You’ve got to be amped up.

At the beginning of the script, Tiller wrote, “Based on a true story. Please forgive my lies.” So, on the one hand, we’re telling a true story about the Silk Road, and this man who invented it, and on the other side, there is this moral tale about how we look at crime and the people who perpetuate it, and what it takes to catch a criminal. We live in this world where it’s easy to buy drugs online. There’s a separation of money and reality if you’ve got a good deal.

Dawson: What did you make of Tiller Russell, as the writer of this as well as the director? He has a distinctive writing style.

Clarke: There’s a great documentary he made (in 2014) called The Seven Five, about a dirty New York police officer (arrested in 1992 after he was caught stealing money, guns and drugs from dealers). He’s an investigative journalist; someone who likes to dug deep down and grab a hold of something. That is just part of who he is as a person. He’s very American in that way—he’s after the story, the people and he’s prepared to put himself on the line to find it. For his Operation Odessa (2018 documentary), he flew to Panama and went to a jail to research a story he’d heard about the Colombian cartel trying to buy a Russian submarine in order to transport drugs to the U.S. That’s what you get when you meet Tiller. He’s a wonderful man.

Dawson: Where are you in the production on Black Site?

Clarke: We did a night shoot last night until 3 a.m., and finished our first week. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in front of a camera and it’s been good.

Dawson: Is this the first project you’ve done during the pandemic?

Clarke: Yeah. There have been a bunch of things that they’ve kept pushing back. Everyone’s slowly accepting the reality of things getting back to normal. We’ll see.

Dawson: Next up, you’re scheduled to play former Lakers player and general manager Jerry West in an HBO limited series. What can you say about that?

Clarke: We’re starting the basketball series about the Lakers in the ‘80s and ‘90s—the Showtime years. We’ve got John C. Reilly playing Jerry Buss. (The pilot episode is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book about the Showtime Lakers, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, and is being produced by Adam McKay). We have some new young actors playing Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar. It’s a fascinating story. It was an amazing time that changed a lot of things.

Dawson: Have you talked to Jerry West yet?

Clarke: I was hoping to and then after Kobe (Bryant) was killed in the helicopter crash, he took it very very badly. So, I haven’t spoken to him at all yet. I’ve been reading his autobiography, West By West: My Charmed, Tormented Life.

Dawson: You’re probably in one of the safest continents on the globe in terms of the pandemic. How are things in Australia?

Clarke: In Queensland, where I am, it’s pretty much business as usual. I’m looking out at the beach and there’s no Covid-19 here. There’s some in Victoria, where there are returning travelers. Australia had a very strict quarantine program and it’s worked out successfully. Schools have been going the whole time. We sign into our QR login whenever we go to restaurants. The contact tracing runs very efficiently, stringently—aggressively, at times—but I think it’s benefitted us all. It truly is a parallel universe. I’m happy that my kids can still go to school, make friends and interact. It’s been wonderful.