No./14
Why Taylor Kitsch had to take Painkiller
The actor and his frequent collaborator Peter Berg pop the lid off their opioid-crisis drama
Glen Kryger (Taylor Kitsch) in the grip of his addiction
Painkiller’s plot is close to home for the actor
Director/ executive producer Peter Berg with Kitsch.
SINCE 2006, PETER Berg has cast Taylor Kitsch as an all-American football player in Friday Night Lights, a recalcitrant Naval officer in Battleship and a Taliban-fighting Navy SEAL in Lone Survivor. All of those collaborations, it turns out, have been building towards something: the most personal story they’ve worked on together yet. “Taylor’s always a motivated, focused actor,” Berg tells Empire, “But every once in a while something hits just a little bit harder. We fall in love with all our projects but, like your kids, sometimes you secretly love one a little more!”