Dominic Monaghan is plotting his escape from America
“Lord of the Rings” star Dominic Monaghan is no fan of President Donald Trump, and he tells CBS News that he’s been ramping up plans to ditch the U.S. if conditions become too untenable.
Monaghan’s latest project, “Atomica” -- in theaters now and available on VOD and Digital HD Tuesday -- takes place in a bleak near-future on a climate change-ravaged earth. And as Monaghan tells it, there’s plenty in the film to be worried about today.
The film begins with a prologue explaining that in 2018, everything went wrong. Do you think audiences might approach this type of science-fiction film differently given the shifting political climate?
I would hope they would be worried about the future at any given point in our history, but I think it’s a good thing at the moment that there’s a tonic to having a president who clearly doesn’t believe in climate change because he is in bed with the oil and gas companies. I think if you were to actually sit him down and show him the evidence, he would have to agree that something’s happening, but it doesn’t pay his wages so he’s not that interested. It’s important in these times that we have educated, smart people whose job it is to understand our environment, but I don’t think anyone listens to this current president of the United States for any level of intelligence. He’s a buffoon. He’s a powerful buffoon, but he’s still a buffoon.
Does this administration make you more concerned specifically about environmental issues?
Yeah, I’m more concerned about the environment, certainly, because it seems that every single person that has been employed into Trump’s administration is the last person you would want to be in that particular office. It’s a s**ty administration, but I’m also not fully invested in this country being the center of the world. There’s other places where I could move to that seem to be a little more switched on in terms of how to live more in balance with the world. If it continues to go down this track, I can leave.
Would New Zealand be a possible destination for you?
Yeah, I’ve been looking for property in New Zealand for about six years now casually, and as I’ve realized that the Trump thing wasn’t just a nightmare and was actually going to turn into reality, I’ve been more and more interested in getting to New Zealand, certainly having a presence in New Zealand so that I have a place to escape to. It’s a beautiful part of the world, New Zealand. They have their own problems as well, like other countries do, but if stuff started getting really chaotic here, that would be one of the places I would go.
How do you approach a project like this where it’s mostly just you and one other actor (Sarah Habel)?
It isn’t different. You might get the opportunity to spend a little bit more time with your cast-mate ahead of time, but I’m not big on overly rehearsing. I like to keep it as fresh as possible so that you can find things in the scene. Some actors like to rehearse a lot, and if that was the case with a two-hander you’d probably get through most of the scenes and know what your were doing before you got on set. But I spoke to Sarah and just said, “I kind of like to see where it’s going in the scene,” and she was the same. So there was no real difference in preparation in that regard.
How was your chemistry together once you got on set?
It was great. Sarah’s great. I’ve known her for a while -- we live in the same area. We’d been friends before the movie and I always thought that she was very talented. When this came up, I suggested her for the role because I thought that she would be really good in it. And that turned out to be true.