if you have seen Kraven the hunter or you’ve just been online, you probably know of a strange moment that happens halfway through the movie. After being informed that his thugs died trying and failing to kidnap the titular hunter, Alessandro Nivola’s Aleksei Systevich lets out a scream that sounds like a dying machine of some kind. You’d think it was meant to set up his transformation into Rhino later in the movie, or even get some kind of reaction from his main bully. But none of that happens, so it simply exists as an odd moment in a movie that could be more interesting overall.
What happened here? According to Nivola in a recent interview with the hollywood reporterHe had initially done a silent scream during filming basically because he decided to do it at that moment. It seemed worth it, as he made the crew laugh, and director JC Chandor later told him that shot would be kept in the final cut of the film. But at some point during post-production, things changed and that weird sound it makes was something that was done in post-production. He thinks it’s not as effective as the silent scream, and he might have been right, given how memetic he’s become over the last month.
In that same interview, Nivola reflected on why Kraven was critically criticized over the coals. According to him, being on set was a “really joyful experience” and he enjoyed “going crazy” with Chandor and his co-star Christopher Abbott. (The three previously teamed up on Chandor’s 2014 film. A more violent year.) He said there didn’t seem to be any production problems from his perspective, noting that some of the film’s problems “will probably start to show up in the editing. In these kinds of movies, you hear about all the disputes in the studio and maybe there were too many chefs.”
Although Kraven’s negative reception, Nivola has been taking things slow. He’s grateful for the reviews praising his performance, but otherwise, he’s doing fine avoiding the “black hole” that criticism and fan responses can be. It probably helps that it’s not the only movie he’s appeared in lately: you can also see him in The brutalist and The next room, Both are in theaters now or will be later in January.
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