Actor Wyatt Russell on genre-bending film

William T. Sherman once said “War is Hell.” However, things could somehow be worse. Sherman probably never considered the factor of Nazi-manufactured zombies into the equation of war. That’s the premise of the new horror action film from maverick Hollywood producer, J.J. Abrams, titled “Overlord” – a film that reenvisions the hours leading up to the D-Day invasion about a troop of five American soldiers trapped behind enemy lines fending off a wave of Nazi’s and their ungodly re-animated creations.

Or as the film’s star, Wyatt Russell put it to The DePaulia “It’s history twisted in a million other ways.”

In the film, Russell plays rogue paratrooper and top-tier explosive expert, Cpl. Ford. Ford is positioned as the gruff and tough leader of the quintet of stranded soldiers after their plane is shot down over a small Nazi-occupied french town. “Overlord” is like if John Carpenter directed  “Re-Animator” and “Saving Private Ryan” into a blender of dark humor, excessive gore, and big thrills.

“It’s B-quality that’s fun but executed at an A-level,” Russell said. “You feel that there is a palpable sense of reality.”

Russell, the son of Hollywood legends Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, says he mostly decided to come on board the project due to the involvement of J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot Productions.

“When you see the name J.J. Abrams above a movie, you think about the future,” Russell said. [J.J.] is so prolific with stuff like ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’ that when you come aboard a movie of his, you’re playing on another level. Knowing that you are being guided by the hand of someone like J.J. Abrams is a confidence booster.”

While the film takes place over the course of just six hours, the actual production took around three months to complete. While some movie sets can be rough, Russell has mostly fond memories from his work with the cast and crew of “Overlord” (besides an unfortunate case of Mono during production).

“We went through a four to five day boot camp about the mental element of war and knowing each other in the situation. We grew closer and it mostly just made [the production] a lot of fun,” Russell said. “What makes movies fun is working with good directors and good actors.”

Russell’s biggest wish for this film is simply that people go out and just simply enjoy themselves with the bombastic genre mishmash that is “Overlord.”

“I just hope that they enjoy going to the movie,” Russell said. “So that they can experience it in a movie theater with friends and say ‘Wow, I’m glad I saw that!’”

“Overlord” is in theaters now.