The Killer's Game Star Sofia Boutella Talks Rebel Moon's Future

Sofia Boutella desperately needed a break from the action, and JJ Perry The Assassin's Game provided exactly that.

After dedicating most of 2022 to her most physically demanding role yet, that of Kora/Arthelais in Zack Snyder's film Rebel Moon franchise, Boutella was relieved not to have to shoulder the burden of being the lead action heroine in Perry's action comedy. Instead, she was intrigued by the romantic lead she was offered opposite her ex Hotel Artemide co-star Dave Bautista. His Rebel Moon the character didn't have much luck in the romance department either, so The Assassin's GameProbably also the most hopeful love story of .

The Algerian actress's physical training is still on full display in the opening sequence, as her character, Maize, is a dancer who is thinking about retirement when she meets Bautista's assassin, Joe Flood.

“I liked being in an action movie and not doing any action,” Boutella says. The Hollywood Reporter with a laugh. “I do action movies, but I also try to play roles that are different from that style and genre. So it's been fun to continue to be in that genre and not do any action. I guess it's a little bit like when I did Atomic Blonde.”

Boutella and Bautista stayed in touch after becoming friends in Hotel Artemide makeup trailer. In fact, Bautista sang his praises to Snyder when he was in the preliminary stages of setting up Rebel MoonAnd when Boutella SAS: Rebel Heroes the program clashed with The Assassin's GameDuring mid-strike production, Bautista refused to consider other candidates and helped move mountains so Boutella could still play Maize. (The Assassin's Game filmed in the strike-torn summer of 2023 under a SAG-AFTRA tentative deal.)

As for the future of Rebel MoonThere’s nothing official yet, but the prospects for Snyder’s multi-film ambition aren’t looking too promising after Netflix’s recent regime change. The streamer is the only entity to have weathered Wall Street’s write-down of streaming in the summer of 2022, but there have been plenty of signs that it’s joining its streaming rivals in making fewer and fewer big-budget features.

Regardless, Boutella is shedding some light on where Kora/Arthelais was headed, and believes her already redemptive arc was putting her on a trajectory to become the new “Redeemer.” When she was kidnapped and “adopted” by the evil Imperium as a child, Arthelais found hope in the myth of the original Princess Issa, who was considered “The Redeemer.” Under the tutelage of her adoptive father Balisarius, Arthelais grew up to be a gifted soldier until her father tricked her into murdering the current Princess Issa for the sake of his power. And while we may not see it completed on screen, that seismic event began Arthelais’s long road to redemption.

“Yes, of course,” Boutella says when asked if she believes Kora was destined to be the new Redeemer. “It's a redemption story through and through, and she's learned so much from that. [assassination] moment when Issa tells her: “I forgive you”. It was something Arthelais didn't understand at the time, but as time went by, it gave her the strength to move on and not kill herself or let herself be killed despite that amount of guilt [she was feeling].”

Below, during a recent conversation with DAYBoutella also discusses how her character as a dancer differs from her career as a dancer, before explaining why she compared it Rebel Moon character of a drug addict.

It occurred to me that I've spent more time watching you on screen than any other actor in the last year. Between four different Rebel Moon cuts and The Assassin's GameIt's just over 12 hours of Sofia Boutella.

(Laughter.) I hope you're not bored of me!

No, never! You've always held the screen well.

Fine thanks.

Era The Assassin's Game the first project you shot after your almost year-long commitment Rebel Moon?

No, it was the second one. In the meantime, I did the second season of a TV series called SAS: Rebel Heroeswhich I believe will be released in January or February 2025.

You have some physical moments in The Assassin's Gamesure, but after almost a year of intense work as Kora/Arthelais, was it nice not to be the one taking on all the action?

Yes, I liked it. I liked being in an action movie and not doing any action. (Laughter.) I mean, I do a little bit of dancing and I kick someone's face, but I enjoyed it. I do action movies, but I'm also trying to play roles that are different from that style and genre. So it was fun to still be in that genre and not do any action. I guess it's kind of like when I did Atomic Blonde.

Maize is a classical dancer and, at the beginning, explains how she wants to retire because dancing has taken a toll on her body. Do you relate to that? Is dancing more exhausting than most people think?

Yeah, it demands a lot from your body. It's also very demanding, mentally and physically. It really hits you from every angle, and there's a point where your body can't keep up. There are some dancers who can push, but depending on whether you've had injuries, that meter changes and varies. It's a really important topic because your brain can still go forward and sometimes your body doesn't want to. It can't. But it's something that I was actually Not I can relate to it because, fortunately, I have never had an injury or accident that prevented me from continuing as a dancer. I chose to step away because I fell in love with acting and really wanted to pursue that art. But I understand it because I have seen it happen around me many times. So I can understand what it can be like when your body doesn't want to or can't continue.

You and Dave Bautista have not interacted on screen in Inn Artemisbut you two are Zack Snyder's two most recent lead actors. Did you use that bond to get to know each other better and create your on-screen relationship?

We talked about it a little bit. We did a scene together in Hotel Artemidebut we didn't interact with each other in that scene. We did talk between takes, though, and I thought he was a lovely man, very kind and thoughtful. We've stayed in touch through DMs over the years, and we talked a lot when we were about to shoot this, because there was a lot of scheduling and maneuvering to allow me to join him. So I'm glad we were able to make that happen, but he's always been very kind and thoughtful, so I'm really glad I got to work with him.

There's a montage where you see Joe and Maize falling in love, so it looks like you had fun watching Dave's character transform into a gentle giant during that sequence.

(Laughter.) Sure, and a gentle giant is also what [Dave] is. So I was able to play with his energy. [Joe] he can be a little shy, and I really wanted Maize to be fiercely outgoing and very bubbly and happy to get that smile out of him. When they have their first dinner date, she says to him, “You should smile more often, it suits you.” It was super sweet, and it was a lot of fun for me to be that little bee buzzing around him to get that cuteness out of him. So I thought that would be a nice contrast to [Joe’s] killer energy.

Dolly Parton's line, “Don't be so busy making a living that you forget to make a life,” is the underlying theme of this film. Is that something you've had to remind yourself of throughout your career?

Well, I'm lucky that I really love what I do. I really enjoy it. I feel most alive when I'm making art and creating a character on set. So I appreciate every second and I don't take it for granted. I also don't feel like I'm repressing other aspects of my life, really. When I'm not shooting on set, I take time to explore nature and do activities, which is really important to me. This year, I learned to freedive for the first time and I found it very meditative and calming. So I explored things like that for the first time this summer and it gave me so much while being completely different from what I normally love to do. But once I got back to work, I felt most alive as I did when I was freediving. You get to own different characters and different personalities and it's a different, but enjoyable, experience every time.

Sofia, I thought you were phenomenal in Rebel Moon film, and I knew it as soon as Kora yelled “Stop!” at the soldiers attacking Sam (Charlotte Maggi) inside the barn. She was partly making a plea to them because she didn’t want to have to unleash Arthelais again. She’d been on the run from that side of herself for years.

Yeah, I also explored a little more complex area. I likened it to the relationship someone might have with an addiction. They know what it feels like because that’s all they know, and they have a hard time letting go. So I played it like she was addicted. She had held out for a couple of years, but she knew that once she opened up to Arthelais again, there would be no stopping her. She would be feeding that side of herself for a long time, especially when it’s fueled by so much animosity and guilt and complicated, difficult emotions. So, yeah, that’s exactly what I did. She was trying to keep Arthelais in a bottle for as long as she could, but in that moment in the barn, she knew it was over. She was going to have to fight.

After being kidnapped as a child, Arthelais consoled herself with the myth of the first Princess Issa, who was called “The Redeemer.” Since Kora was in her redemption arc, do you think she would eventually become the new Redeemer instead of the current Princess Issa?

Yes, of course. It's a full-blown redemption story, and she's learned so much from it. [assassination] moment when Issa tells her: “I forgive you”. It was something Arthelais didn't understand at the time, but as time went by, it gave her the strength to move on and not kill herself or let herself be killed despite that amount of guilt [she was feeling]. Ultimately, this would have been an act of selfishness, but being forgiven by Issa and understanding forgiveness is the hardest work at the end of the day, and it is the path he chose.

Decades from now, when you look back at the Rebel Moon experience, which day will you remember first?

There are so many, but I think it will be the day when we were in our practical village set in Santa Clarita and Zack was blowing everything up. I might also think about the conversation he has with Hagen [Ingvar Sigurdsson] at the beginning of the first movie. I was finding the heart of the character at that moment, which was really important to me.

And what about the same question for The Assassin's Game?

For The Assassin's GameI had a great time in the beautiful city of Budapest and filmed in all its beautiful locations, but I think the most emotional moment was the day on the church set where Dave had to lift me up over and over again. (Laughter.) It was a lot of fun, and it was a very fun movie. Compared to Rebel Moonthey are two very different projects.

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The Assassin's Game It will be released in theaters on September 13th.