Aaron Moten on Suiting Up for Fallout

We recently chatted with actor Aaron Moten about playing the role of Maximus on the Amazon Prime series Fallout.  While the series was based on a widely popular video game franchise, Moten remained true to the “method” form of preparation in order to organically find his character, though he did watch a few Twitch streamers play the game.  This brought Aaron a great sense of “the world” of Fallout, and offered some subtle details and theories from dedicated fans that he was able to infuse into his performance. Director Jonathan Nolan was also invested in preserving the spontaneity and immediacy of the actors, and as Aaron remembered, would not allow actors on set whose characters would not have discovered that particular landscape yet.

Moten was influenced by film and theater classics alike in studying for the role, comparing the grandiosity of Fallout to Cool Hand Luke, and Maximus and Lucy’s relationship to Romeo and Juliet: Juliet has a lot of imagery in her language, where Romeo is more simplistic.  Though both characters are sheltered in their own ways, Aaron found that Lucy (played by Ellie Purnell) manages to pull Maximus out of his shell by opening up about her own story. Speaking of shell, Moten often delivered his performance under the weight of his character’s enormous “Power Armor,” for which he partnered closely with stunt performer Adam Shippey, who played a myriad of roles under the suit. Aaron’s challenge was then to recreate the scene work they planned together in the close-up shots where his helmet is off, often “in a dark studio” and sometimes “months later.”

Watch the full conversation below.

In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.