plays a soldier gone fugitive with Tom Cruises lone-wolf hero.
Here are her tips for playing a badass.
(Hint: Learn to take a punch.)
Credit: David James
Turner wears a Ranger pin, indicating that she completed the famously tough Army Ranger school.
Smulders talked to real-life soldiers and read Phil Klays Army anthologyRedeploymentfor inspiration.
That Ranger pin is so tiny, she jokes.
If I freaking graduated Ranger school, you better believe I would have a shoulder pad.
But nobody wants to be so braggadocios.
Improv is everything
By her own estimate, Smulders fires a gun exactly once in the movie.
Were not spies, she says.
We dont have this high-tech technology.
These are people on the run, and its very improvised fighting.
Lacking heavy artillery, Turner has to think on her feet.
We have one of our stunt guys, this beautiful German man, 6 6 and weighs 220 pounds.
In the real world, that is gonna be a significant challenge for me.
Everything is at her disposal.
Hitting is easy, getting hit is hard
Smulders has played terse S.H.I.E.L.D.
Ive been in Avengers films, but I dont do a lot of the action parts, she says.
There are superheroes in the movie!
People would much rather see them fight each other!
By comparison, training forNever Go Backtook six weeks and led the performer to an intriguing epiphany.
The hardest thing is getting fake hit.
You really have to sell it.
Somebody comes at you and stops a couple inches from your face.
You have to react like its painful.
Youre moving your body in a way thats not natural.
Friendly competition brings out the best in everyone
Turner and Reacher are well matched as partners.
That meant she had to keep up with Cruise literally.
Hes such a master of this genre of film, she says of her costar.
And Tom is ridiculously fit.
Smulders had broken her leg not long before filming started.
I got off crutches and started shooting this movie three weeks later, she explains.
I was in the weakest physical shape of my life.
Luckily for me, Im competitive.
And he is so fast.
Let the adrenaline kick in
Jack Reacher: Never Go Backopens in theaters Friday.
