Kevin Dillon Talks Complex Role in New Action-Packed Crime Thriller ‘A Day to Die’ (Exclusive)

Kevin Dillon stars in the brand new action-packed movie A Day to Die, alongside Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo, and the actor recently sat down with PopCulture.com to discuss the crime thriller. In the film, Dillon plays Connor Connolly, an ex-military ops officer and current parole officer, who winds up on the bad side of a local crime boss (played by Leon). Conner needs help and fast, so he reaches out to his former special ops team, who turn up guns blazing.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that not everything — or everyone — is as it seems. Connor is forced to face some hard truths, and some tough shootouts, all in pursuit of saving the thing he loves most in the world. Dillon admits it was that layered complexity that drew him to the role. “I dig action, man. I love action. And just shooting them up, and a guy who’s so desperate,” he told PopCulture. “My character is so desperate to save his wife and this whole thing of getting the team back together, getting the boys back, and getting the job done just sounded really cool to me.”

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In addition to Dillon, Willis and Grillo, A Day to Die also stars Leon, Gianni Capaldi, Brooke Butler, Johnny Messner, and former NFL star Vernon Davis. On-screen, some of the cast run in the same crew and some are more villainous. Off-screen, however, Dillon says they were all great friends. “The three of us, Frank is from the Bronx, I’m from lower Westchester, and Leon is from lower Westchester. So, we’re all from the same area,” he said. “We felt like we could really bounce off each other a bit, had a similar vibe, and it was cool.”

Dillon continued, “Wes [Miller, director] was really cool about if we wanted to improve, add, change something in the script. He was open to that. And you know what? It was fun. It was fun just shooting guns and all that.” Dillon also shared that he’d recently watched the film recently, and offered his thoughts as a viewer. “I thought it was good. I really enjoyed it,” he said, “I think Wes did a great job directing. It had kind of a stylized vibe about it. The action was good. I thought the acting was good. We had some really good actors in there.” A Day to Die is currently available to rent or buy from online streaming services such as Amazon and Apple.