Chris Miller
Over the course of his career, actor Shawn Ashmore has built a body of work defined by versatility and a clear willingness to take creative risks. From headlining major studio franchises like X-Men to anchoring network television series such as The Following and The Rookie, Ashmore has consistently moved between large-scale productions and more intimate storytelling. Alongside those high-profile projects, he has maintained a strong presence in independent cinema, drawn to films that allow for deeper character exploration and bolder tonal choices. His latest film, the psychological thriller The Huntsman being distributed by Epic Pictures, fits squarely within that approach. “There is a right and wrong in the film, but the path you take to get there is pretty muddy, and that’s really interesting to me. Especially as an actor, playing someone like Max, whose morality is… blurry. You’re not totally sure where he stands for a lot of the movie” he says. Ashmore talks more about this and many other subjects in the below interview.
The Huntsman, based on Judith Sanders’ award-winning novel, was directed by Kyle Kauwika Harris from a script co-written with Steven Jon Whritner and executive produced by Frank J. Malinoski. The film stars Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), Jessy Schram (Mad Men), Garret Dillahunt (Fear the Walking Dead) alongside Ashmore. The Huntsman is out now, learn where you can watch here.
Film Obsessive: How did you first become involved with The Huntsman?
Shawn Ashmore: The Huntsman came to me the way a lot of projects do. I got an offer through my agents. Garrett Dillahunt was already attached, which really got my attention because I’m a huge fan of his work. I read the script, then got on the phone with Kyle, our director, and Steven, one of the writers, and I really liked what they had to say.
Max, the character they were offering me, felt like a really fascinating, challenging part that I hadn’t played before. That challenge alone was appealing. I also watched one of Kyle’s earlier films, and seeing that, I got a good sense of his eye as a director and his sensibility. I could tell he was going to bring something interesting to The Huntsman.
So it kind of all came together: Garrett being involved, Kyle’s vision, and this character Max. Those elements really hooked me, and I just went, “Yeah, let’s go make this movie.”
The Huntsman operates in a morally gray space rather than clear hero–villain territory. What first drew you to the character of Max and the world of the film?
Honestly, it was exactly that—the moral gray area. I loved that sense of ambiguity and the mystery around who’s actually the hero and who’s the villain in this story. Even by the end, I don’t think it’s completely clear-cut.
There is a right and wrong in the film, but the path you take to get there is pretty muddy, and that’s really interesting to me. Especially as an actor, playing someone like Max, whose morality is… blurry. You’re not totally sure where he stands for a lot of the movie.
Until that final scene—and I don’t want to spoil anything—you’re constantly asking, “Who’s good? Who’s bad? What would I do in this kind of extreme situation?” That was the hook for me: the challenge of bringing this guy to life inside this very dark story, where you’re constantly questioning everyone’s choices.
What was your collaboration with Kyle like, particularly in shaping tone and restraint within your performance?
Working with Kyle was great. I loved collaborating with him, and I’m actually trying to find another project to do with him. He’s one of those multi-talented people—writer, director, producer—and, most importantly, he has a real point of view. As an actor, that’s what you’re looking for. You want a director who knows what they want, or at least knows the territory they want to explore with you.
The big challenge with Max is that he’s essentially a silent character. His motives are ambiguous and questionable, and for the story to work, you can’t fully understand what he’s trying to do or why, at least not right away. A lot of our work together was Kyle walking me through how much to reveal and when to hold back.
He told me early on, “For Max, a lot of this movie is going to be about looks, about moments, about lingering, about watching.” There’s very little dialogue. It’s more about observation—him reading the room, reading the people, reading the danger.
That’s risky from a storytelling perspective. One of your main characters is quiet and just taking things in—how do you make that engaging on screen? Kyle found really creative ways to keep that interesting, visually and emotionally, and he guided me through that process. He really helped me find Max and make that internal world feel alive without saying very much.
You’ve worked across studio projects, television, and independent films. What does a project like The Huntsman allow you to explore that larger productions sometimes don’t?
With independent films, there’s a kind of freedom that lets you take bigger risks. You’re not tied to the project for years. The Huntsman was a six-week shoot, and I think I found out about it three weeks before we started. These films often come together fast, so there’s this “jump in the deep end” energy that I really enjoy.
It’s like, “Okay, we’re going to Oklahoma”—a place I’d never been—“for six weeks of intense creative work with people I’ve mostly never met.” I love that. I love the excitement and the risk of it. You don’t know: is it going to turn out great? Is it going to fall apart? Are these people going to become family, or is it going to be a really tough experience?
In this case, it was amazing. I’d go back to Oklahoma and work with that crew and that cast again in a heartbeat. There is always some risk baked into that kind of job, but it’s manageable because you think, “It’s six weeks of my life, let’s just dive in with these characters and these creatives and see what happens.”
On a TV series, if you’re lucky, you might be there for years. I’ve been on The Rookie for eight years now, and I love that cast and crew. It’s been incredible. But there’s always that possibility of getting locked into a long-running show that’s successful, yet you don’t love the day-to-day of it. That’s a different kind of risk.
With indie films, you can also take risks with the characters themselves. I wouldn’t want to play someone like Max for eight years straight. He’s a very dark, intense character. It’s fun to inhabit that kind of role in a concentrated burst, but I don’t think it’d be healthy or enjoyable to live there for that long.
So that’s what I love about independent film: you can try things, push yourself, explore characters that might be too heavy or too dark to sustain over years, and then you have this finished film at the end of it. That’s exciting to me. I just love making movies.
Was there a scene in The Huntsman that challenged you in an unexpected way, either emotionally or technically?
Yeah, the final—or one of the final—scenes between Max and Jolene. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s kind of the emotional peak of the film. And I honestly wasn’t totally sure how I was going to play it. I didn’t know how emotional it should be, how much I should hold back. I really didn’t know, which is both exciting and pretty terrifying.
At a certain point, you have to prepare, you have to come in with a plan, but you also can’t force it. Sometimes what you’ve worked out in your head just doesn’t feel quite right when you get close to shooting it. So you end up thinking, “Alright, on the day, with everyone there and the camera rolling and they call action, maybe I’m just going to have to find it in the moment.” And that’s scary, because then you’re relying on your experience and your instincts to carry you through. It’s not always the ideal way to approach a scene.
But for that scene, that’s kind of where I landed. We did a bit of rewriting—Elizabeth and I worked on it together—and she’s such an incredible actor. She brought so much to it that as soon as we started rehearsing and I saw what she was doing, it completely shaped what I needed to do. It just clicked. I thought, “Okay, this is what the scene is about.” That’s the magic of it. You can’t really plan for that.
You never fully know what the other person is going to bring, so getting to just respond to her performance and her choices sort of laid the whole scene out for me. I genuinely didn’t know what it was going to be until we were in it. So it ended up being a really challenging scene, but one I’m very happy with now. Leading up to it, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Even that morning on set I was thinking, “Man, how am I going to make this work?” And then you’re reminded what it means to have a great actor opposite you. She’s so creative.
She’s incredibly tuned in to what’s happening between actors in a scene and so generous with what she gives. She poured so much into every moment. So even though it was emotionally tough and definitely challenging, it was honestly a pleasure to shoot. By the end of the day, it was like, “Yeah, that was a fun one to do.”
Where does The Huntsman fit into your career so far? Does it feel like a continuation of the themes you’re usually drawn to, or more of a shift?
A little bit of both, I think. I tend to really like darker material, more dramatic stuff. And right now my day job is a network television show, The Rookie, which I love. The stakes can be high on that show, but there’s also a lot of humor.
So when I’m on hiatus, I try to find a project that’s completely different from what I’m doing the other eight months of the year. In a lot of ways, I’m definitely drawn to darker, more dramatic material. At the same time, my goal as an actor is to always be doing different things.
I do feel like I’ve done a lot of dark work—genre films, horror films, straight dramas. But then I’m also on a network TV show where my character is heroic and fun and charming, and all the things that Max is not. I’m always trying to balance that. If I’ve been playing one type of role for a while, I really like to switch gears and try something different. It keeps me interested, keeps me challenged, so I don’t fall into those patterns and habits of playing a character the same way or thinking about things the same way.
And that’s really the joy of making a film: your collaborators are pushing you and inspiring you in different directions, getting you to look at a character or a story from a different angle. That’s so fun for me.
You’re well known for your role in the X-Men franchise. What was your favorite moment from your time on those films?
There are so many. I was lucky enough to play Iceman, Bobby Drake, four times across four films, so I ended up with a lot of great memories. Picking just one is tough. But finally getting to go full Iceman and use the ice slide in Days of Future Past was pretty special—it took four movies to get there. That’s such a big part of who Bobby Drake is in the comics, so it was really satisfying to finally bring that to life.
When I was a kid, I read the X-Men comics and watched the cartoon after school, so actually getting to live out that moment was incredibly exciting for me, even if it did take a while.
When you look at your body of work as a whole, what threads do you see emerging that maybe weren’t obvious at the beginning?
Honestly, I don’t totally know. Like I said earlier, I’ve always tried to mix it up. I started on a Nickelodeon show, then moved to a Disney Channel series, then X-Men, then I did some indie films, and even played a wizard in a sci-fi miniseries. I’ve done movies based on books, like The Ruins and The Huntsman. I worked on an FBI serial killer show with Kevin Bacon, and now I’m playing a lawyer on The Rookie.
If there’s a common thread, it’s probably that I like trying everything and keeping it interesting.
Over time I realized I can’t really control the overall shape of my career. My dream as a kid was just to make a living as an actor. It wasn’t about being recognized; I just loved acting and wanted to be able to do it as my job. Even on the rough days, I remind myself I’m doing what I hoped I’d be doing when I was 16.
These days my approach is pretty simple: say yes to the best opportunity that’s actually in front of me, and don’t overthink every next step. If something about a project grabs me—whether it’s the character, another actor involved, or the filmmaker—I go for it, sometimes just because it’s something I haven’t tried before. It’s really about enjoying the ride and being willing to take some risks. That’s what’s given me a pretty varied, fulfilling career, which is exactly what I was hoping for.
