Watch: Jacob Tremblay SHOCKS Fans With Grown-Up Red Carpet Throwback
Get ready for a new side of Jacob Tremblay.
The 19-year-old makes a bloodcurdling transformation into TedKaczynski—the domestic terrorist who killed three people and injured 23 more between 1978 and 1995 through mail bombings—in a first look photo for Netflix’s upcoming film Unabomber.
And for Tremblay, the role offered new insight into the lone bomber.
“I didn’t even know he went to Harvard until I read the script; I think most people don’t,” Tremblay shared with Netflix’s Tudum in an interview published July 29. “But he was a mathematical genius when he was 16. It’s quite fascinating, actually.”
According to the streaming platform, the film follows Kaczynski’s story as a 16-year-old math prodigy who enters Harvard in 1958, where he is subjected to controversial psychological experiments by Professor Henry Murray (RussellCrowe). Kaczynski ultimately moved to a remote cabin in Montana in 1971 and by 1978 had begun his nationwide mail bombing campaign against those he believed were responsible for the destruction of nature. The move earned him the FBI nickname the “Unabomber.”
Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 and sentenced to several consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He received a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2023 and died by suicide in prison that same year.
But despite the gruesome story, Tremblay wanted to make sure that his take on the murderer didn’t feel like he was playing a caricature.
Netflix
“I really wanted to make sure I went into this role playing him as a real person,” Tremblay said. “I wanted him to feel real. I drew from my own personal experiences of what it feels like to be involved in a career where I’m surrounded by a lot of people who are older than me, and that feeling of not fitting in a bit.”
The Room actor also felt like the perfect choice for director JanuzMetz, who believed Tremblay was able to convey the “sensitivity” he envisioned for the character of Kaczynski during his years at Harvard.
Netflix
“There’s a vulnerability and intelligence to Jacob’s look and performance that this story needs,” Metz told Tudum. “I was convinced that Jacob was right for the part after our first conversation, and it has been a huge pleasure to now finally be able to do the work and hone in on the character with him.”
Unabomber, which also stars Shailene Woodley, premieres on Netflix Sept. 25.
For more films hitting the big and small screens this year, keep reading.
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