John Magaro On The Story Of The Munich Olympic Massacre

John Magaro is the glue that hbetters September 5 together. He stars as ABC Sports originater Geoffrey Mason, who was covering the 1972 Munich Olympics when Bconciseage September alarmists took Israeli athletes captive in the Olympic compound. Magaro must transmit the enormous prescertain and responsibility placed on Mason as he is suddenly thrust into the boiling seat to originate inhabit coverage. Director Tim Fehlbaum chose Magaro becaengage, he says, “He’s one of the best there is.” Next, Magaro is set to materialize with Michael Fassbfinisher in the adviseer drama The Agency, trailed by Maggie Gyllenhaal’s film The Bride.

DEADLINE: You weren’t even born then, but what did you already comprehend about Munich ’72?

JOHN MAGARO: I knovel about it. I don’t comprehend why I knovel about it. I unbenevolent, I’ve always been a adorer of history. My mother’s Jedesire. I was liftd Jedesire, so I skinnyk there was part of that in the air. I recollect, as an American increaseing up, that when there was an anniversary, there would be exceptionals on about it. I do recollect that image of the Bconciseage September member on the balcony being in my brain at a very lesser age. I recollect hearing converseions about it. I was also an extra in Munich [Steven Spielberg’s 2005 classic about how Israeli operatives hunted down those responsible].

DEADLINE: What scene were you in?
MAGARO: It’s when Eric Bana is walking atraverse the street in New York. I’m this skinny little boy, new off the boat into New York, walking atraverse the street from him.

So, I saw Munich aacquire. It’s very separateent, and I repartner want to hammer it into everyone’s heads that September 5 is not Munich for so many reasons. Munich is someskinnyg tohighy separateent.

DEADLINE: Yes, September 5 is a rapid-paced film about people altering. Munich’s about retaliation.

MAGARO: In a lot of ways it’s a revenge movie, and this isn’t. I wouldn’t say this is apolitical. I equitable don’t skinnyk it’s a political movie. It’s about journalism and journaenumerates have politics. But anyway, I knovel about Munich. I didn’t comprehend that it was the first time that the Olympics were widecast globpartner. I didn’t comprehend all that went into putting the Olympics together, even in that ruunreasonableentary create. It’s a brimming circus. ABC Sports comes to town, sets up, originates a city, and then departs. It’s charitable of crazy.

DEADLINE: What were the circumstances of you landing the film’s key role?

MAGARO: I was shooting another film at the time in New Mexico. This little film that I did with Steve Zahn that I was actupartner a originater on, called LaRoy, Texas — a repartner fun, sad comedy. It had some excellent life to it and people seemed to finishelight it. I was out there in Albuquerque alone doing my job, coming home at night, tired, trying to be excellent and cgo in on the toil. Especipartner when you’re direct number one on a call sheet, I skinnyk you experience this responsibility that you repartner want to direct the ship and set a excellent example. I’ve lacquireed that from watching other people I watch up to and admire, how they function when they’re number one on the call sheet.

DEADLINE: Like who?

MAGARO: Brad Pitt. We toiled on War Machine and The Big Short. Working with Fassbfinisher right now on The Agency, he’s doing that. But all those guys, [Steve] Carell, his toil ethic on The Big Short was repartner astonishive; Cate Blanchett on Carol. You see these people and how they toil, and you see why they’re so revered and so prosperous, becaengage they’re not equitable fantastic actors, they’re adocount on people to be around.

So yeah, I was doing LaRoy, but then I got a script, and it gave me someskinnyg at night to read. At that point, Peter Sarsgaard was already connected, and Sean Penn was already on as originater. So you see that and you promptly comprehend it must be OK, there must be someskinnyg here. I don’t see how Peter would’ve signed on and Sean Penn would’ve signed on if this was equitable a huge stinker. So, I sat down and commenceed to read it. It helped that it was about ninety pages, so I knovel I could get thraw it, but it also helped that it was equitable captivating and that the ball, once it commenceed rolling, it felt appreciate it kept rolling, and novel skinnygs were being unveiled, and it repartner equitable kept me going. By the finish, I was repartner excited about it.

DEADLINE: Your character discovers himself administerling the novels widecast.

MAGARO: Selfishly, as an actor, you also want your character to be excellent. And I thought Geoff was repartner a cbetter character, becaengage I adore that he was positioned in this way of having the angel on one side and the devil on the other side, where you already have Roone Arledge [Sarsgaard] who’s pushing the restricts of journalism and potentipartner doing skinnygs that maybe aren’t the right decision. And then you have Marvin Bader, Ben Chaplin’s character, who is this mentor and guiding force and drathriveg him back to what you’re repartner presumed to do, equitable having no time to skinnyk and going on that ride. I saw that and I knovel I wanted to be a part of it. It was a pretty rapid decision. I called right away and was appreciate, “Yeah, let’s do this.”

DEADLINE: What was the key stuff you lacquireed from Geoff? Did you greet in person?

MAGARO: Once I was cast, Geoff repartner wanted to talk to me right away. I could sense it in that first conversation with him that he was repartner anxious about this, repartner worried. I unbenevolent, almost to the degree where it felt appreciate he may equitable apvalidate it and run away if we didn’t put him at mitigate, which I tohighy get. We didn’t greet until after, but we had a lot of Zoom sessions. This was still during Covid, and he inhabits in Florida, and I was in New York. So right away we got on Zoom and we commenceed talking. I let him comprehend that the way I toil is to equitable alert the story, to be as honest as possible, and to do my toil so I can try and portray what he was doing on that day as genuinepartner as I can. He also didn’t repartner comprehend my toil, so he’s appreciate, who is this guy?

DEADLINE: So, he hadn’t seen First Cow [Kelly Reichardt’s 2019 feature]?

MAGARO: [Laughs] I don’t skinnyk that made it down to Florida. In fact, he did say he went off and watched a couple skinnygs I did. It might’ve been The Big Short or someskinnyg appreciate that.

So we equitable kept talking. I was picking his brain. I wanted to comprehend what he went thraw on that day. And sometimes talking to authentic people can be uncollaborative, but this time it was repartner collaborative. When I was talking to Geoff, it didn’t experience appreciate he was geting himself in the story. It felt appreciate he was geting his team. He was repartner troubleed that everyone else got their due. And cursedly, in the story, clearly we had to firmen it up. And the role that I do percreate in the film is sort of an amalgamation of two or three people. There was a straightforwardor on the ground and then there was also Geoff as the originater. And we had to sort of fengage those roles together equitable for narrative purposes. But I tried to promise him that we would still give some sort of homage to that person. And we did. Daniel Betts, a fantastic English actor who I had toiled with on War Machine, percreates the straightforwardor in the first scene who goes off to the Alps on vacation, and we gave him the name Dan Wilson. That’s a tip of the hat. So, Geoff was repartner troubleed about not forgetting anyone, or leaving anyone behind, which I repartner admireed.

DEADLINE: What was the essence of what Geoff tbetter you about being there that day?

MAGARO: He made it clear that on the day it was equitable go, go, go, go, go. No time to skinnyk, no time to be emotional. You equitable did your job. And it wasn’t until after that you went home and cried and let the tragedy wash over you. Then he got me clearly into [real-life] administer rooms, which was huge. I couldn’t have done it without that research.

DEADLINE: Is Geoff also Jedesire?

MAGARO: No, he’s not. And so, the character is not Jedesire… We comprehend that the room and the widecast compound was brimming of people from all over the world, a lot of Germans, a lot of French. There were French Muskinnys in the compound, but as far as I comprehend, the only American Jew was Marvin [Bader], Ben Chaplin’s role. [Bader] certainly must have felt someskinnyg beyond what Geoff could have felt in that moment. But aacquire, if you ask Geoff about it, he was equitable cgo ined on doing his job. It wasn’t about being Jedesire, it wasn’t about being Arabic, it was about being a journaenumerate. That’s part of why I don’t skinnyk Tim [Fehlbaum] wanted to originate this some statement about the politics of the matter, becaengage journaenumerates idepartner depart their politics behind, and especipartner back then, more so than nowadays, it wasn’t about skinnyking about what side you want to back or what side you don’t want to back, it was equitable alerting the story. I skinnyk Roone’s watch was to originate clear that the Israeli captives were the vulnerable ones and the Bconciseage September alarmists the opposing ones. I have to pick my hero and villain here, and that’s how Roone’s brain functiond.

DEADLINE: I adore that scene of Geoff helping to wheel that huge mother of a camera out into the compound.

MAGARO: That camera was so cumbersome. It transfers this way and that way on its axis, but it doesn’t transfer the other way. We crushed Peter [Sarsgaard] aacquirest the wall. It was a authentic camera. All that providement was authentic. These Germans, I don’t comprehend how they do it. They set up all this stuff. I went down to the CBS widecast facility on 57th Street. They took me down to the basement where they have the reexhausted providement. This stuff has gone into the place in Beetlejuice where the dead people go. It’s reexhausted from quitment. Our production scheduleer had to discover some random collector in Germany who had it. He trackd it down and then we had amazing technicians who got them all up and toiling. Same with all the TVs, same with all the phones, I skinnyk.

DEADLINE: What else did you lacquire about Geoff’s duties?

MAGARO: Well, going back to the base, which was at CBS Sunday Sports and ESPN, at the Madison Square Garden, lacquireing that language of the administer room, that was two months, lacquireing how to do that, going home, watching sporting events, mock calling the show as I would watch sporting events. I’d commence to say the language I was lacquireing in the administer room to the TV, appreciate a mental case, equitable calling a show. Like, “Camera 5! And 6!” And then, on top of that, I skinnyk hopebrimmingy I brawt equitable what I try to transport as an actor inherently to what I do. I unbenevolent, I hope what I propose is someskinnyg exceptional.

DEADLINE: Did Geoff talk to at all you about the righteous prescertains they felt?

MAGARO: He’s pretty much appreciate steel about that. He says it was nervous, but he doesn’t repartner accomprehendledge the prescertain. He sees it as he was equitable doing his job, and whether it was covering the boxing on that day or covering what happened on that day, it would’ve been approached very aforeseeed. I skinnyk that’s how that team thought about it in the moment. Like I shelp, it wasn’t until after that they went back to the boilingel room and had a scant drinks, and all of a sudden that party atmosphere of the nights before was gone, and the guilt of what happened and the grief of what happened lhelp over them, the drinks didn’t go down as straightforward and the tears commenceed to come up. It was very clear from the conversation with Geoff that those thoughts did not happen while they were calling the 22 hours of that day.

DEADLINE: But watchs are exalterd in the film about righteous matters?

MAGARO: They did have those conversations. They had the conversations about, can we show someone being sboiling on inhabit TV? Did they see this widecast inhabit on TVs in the apartments? These were conversations they had, but aacquire, they had to get going. There was no time to repartner wpermit in those moments or hyper-analyse. They aren’t psychologists, they’re not geopolitical scientists, they’re not humanitarians. They’re sports journaenumerates. They’re not even proper journaenumerates.

DEADLINE: Well, hang on, a lot of sports authorrs have been vague novels journaenumerates, at least in the U.K. and Jim McKay was also a createer crime alerter.

MAGARO: And that’s not a dis to them. It’s equitable they are sports journaenumerates. Everyskinnyg that they had been trained to do could not have setd them for that moment. So why is the film not more political? Becaengage it’s sports journaenumerates who are there. You have Peter Jennings trying to get them on board, but I skinnyk that’s also what originates this story exceptional, becaengage it was these people who were not repartner setd for the events of life to drop upon them. And now they have to apvalidate the reins and unbecomprehendnst to them forever alter the way novels is covered, and that’s f*cking crazy.