TORONTO - D鈥橮haraoh Woon-A-Tai says he鈥檚 drawn to stories that challenge what people think they know. In the new A24 drama 鈥淲arfare,鈥 that meant showing the harsh reality of who actually fights wars.
鈥淕rowing up, I watched a lot of war films. And not to throw any war films under the bus, but a lot of the time these men are depicted to be a lot older than people on the front lines truly are,鈥 says the 23-year-old Toronto actor.
鈥淚t鈥檚 often The Rock-type actors on the screen, and you don鈥檛 really realize that it鈥檚 very young people who are on the front lines. I didn鈥檛 realize that until doing this film, to be honest鈥 We鈥檙e sending children to wars.鈥
鈥淲arfare,鈥 co-written and directed by Alex Garland and former U.S. Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza, is a harrowing recreation of a chaotic 2006 Iraq War mission, drawn from Mendoza鈥檚 own experience on the ground in Ramadi. He says the average age of his unit was 20.
Woon-A-Tai portrays the character that's based on Mendoza, joining an ensemble of Hollywood 鈥渋t鈥 boys 鈥 including Kit Connor, Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter and Michael Gandolfini 鈥 as American soldiers.
In Toronto this week to promote the film, out Friday, Woon-A-Tai, Garland and Mendoza emphasized that 鈥淲arfare鈥 is not a typical war drama 鈥 it鈥檚 a cinematic gut punch, meant to dismantle myths and glorified images of combat.
Woon-A-Tai broke out with his Emmy-nominated turn as Bear Smallhill in FX dramedy 鈥淩eservation Dogs,鈥 which follows four Indigenous teens in Oklahoma trying to outrun grief and poverty. He sees similarities in the way that show and 鈥淲arfare鈥 humanize groups Hollywood often oversimplifies.
鈥溾楻eservation Dogs鈥 represented my community, Native Americans, and we broke down stereotypes within that show,鈥 says Woon-A-Tai, who is of Oji-Cree, Anishinaabe and Guyanese descent.
鈥淭here's a lot of stereotypes in war films about soldiers and this is a film that breaks those down."
After leaving active duty, Mendoza forged a second career in film as a military consultant, advising on scenes such as the climactic White House battle in Garland鈥檚 2024 film 鈥淐ivil War.鈥
He says he鈥檚 read countless scripts where veterans are depicted as addicts who 鈥渁t any moment, we can just snap.鈥 Portrayals of combat equally frustrate him.
鈥淎 lot of times, there's a score going over these glorious moments of this guy doing these heroic things. That's just not how it feels,鈥 Mendoza says.
鈥淓specially when you鈥檙e running out to save your best friend.鈥
鈥淲arfare鈥 is dedicated to Elliott Miller, one of the SEALs severely injured in the Ramadi mission. As Miller has no memory of that day, Mendoza wanted to reconstruct it for him in precise, forensic detail. The film has no score, using only the raw sounds of battle 鈥 gunfire, explosions and soldiers鈥 screams 鈥 to create tension.
Garland believes audiences generally know most war films are sensationalized and they're 鈥渃omplicit鈥 in the fantasy.
鈥淚t is very typical of our world (that) we would know, watching a war movie, that it is misrepresenting war, but not really care鈥 because it鈥檚 entertaining,鈥 says the English director and author.
He wanted to make a film where veterans 鈥渄idn鈥檛 have to tense up watching it, thinking how inaccurately they were being represented.鈥
Before shooting began, the cast underwent a gruelling three-week boot camp modelled on special forces training. Mendoza says Woon-A-Tai seemed a good fit to play him because of his 鈥渨illingness鈥 to embrace the film鈥檚 physical demands.
Woon-A-Tai says the camp 鈥 which included ritualistic head-shaving 鈥 broke the actors down but brought them closer together.
鈥淲e learned to rely on each other,鈥 he says.
鈥淎 lot of the egos that some people in my industry may have went right out the door as soon as we shaved each other's hair.鈥
The immersive preparation was meant to bring visceral realism to the screen. It's something Garland hopes will leave viewers feeling the full weight of war.
鈥淐ivilians don't go to war, the military go to war. But civilians make the decisions to go to war. They make the policies and they also elect the politicians that make the policy. War is about as serious as things get on this planet and so it's incumbent on civilians to understand what those wars are,鈥 he says.
鈥淚f we're going to traumatize, kill and maim young people from one country and the citizens of another country, we ought to know what we're doing when we do that.鈥
This report by 好色tvwas first published April 11, 2025.
