VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Michael Lombardi On Relating To His ‘The Retaliators’ Character

The Retaliators follows a small-town pastor as he uncovers a dark world trying to find answers after his daughter is brutally murdered.

Co-director Michael Lombardi, who plays the Bishop, recently sat down for an exclusive with uInterview founder Erik Meers to discuss how he understands his character.

“The interesting thing about relating to this character is I can understand their religious background,” Lombardi shared. “I was an altar boy when I was young. I get the religious aspect very much. I layered this guy, too, like was he a guy who maybe didn’t come from the best place, but then looked to God and found some answers so he’s choosing to be passive in situations, but he has something underlying like we all do as human beings? At the end of the day, you find out who he is as a human being, and I think we can all relate to other human beings if we take the time to understand their situations, their background and their stories.”

The actor also shared about the research he did to prepare for the role.

“What’s really interesting is doing research if you have a child or a niece or nephew and you think of anything ever happening to them,” he said. “If someone hurt my family, what would you do to them? We can all relate to that feeling, that primal instinct. You might want that and desire it and you’ll certainly feel that way. You want them to hurt back because they hurt you, but could you really do it when face-to-face? Could you really hurt a human being? I think that’s really interesting to think about.”

The Retaliators is out in theaters on Wednesday.