Joel Kinnaman: 'High Value Target' Shows 'Wars of Choice' Must End

Joel Kinnaman has a warning for viewers after the finale of TNT's 'High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam': the United States must move away from 'wars of choice.'

Speaking with Collider, the actor who plays real-life interrogator John Nixon in the eight-episode series said the project deepened his understanding of how the U.S. entered the Iraq War and what keeps similar conflicts going.

'We need to get away from these terrible wars of choice that are ruining our economy, killing a lot of people unnecessarily, and causing havoc and instability around the world,' Kinnaman said. 'It's completely avoidable.'

The series concludes with Nixon briefing President George W. Bush (played by Paul Ryan) in Washington after Saddam Hussein's 2006 execution. Back in Iraq, Hussein (Waleed Zuaiter) faces his death. Throughout the season, Nixon interrogates the deposed dictator, probing for information about weapons of mass destruction that never materialized.

The perspective behind the monster

Kinnaman said the show forced him to see Hussein as more than a villain, even as he acknowledged the dictator's atrocities. 'Saddam was such a fascinating historical figure, and he's done horrible things. He gassed the Kurdish people in Halabja, he's murdered, and his sons are just sadistic murderers,' he said. 'It's not a stretch to call him a monster at all.'

But the series also explores Hussein's own logic. In the interrogation scenes, Hussein tells Nixon he feared showing weakness would invite an Iranian invasion. 'Actually, his perspective makes a lot of sense, and you can see why he acted the way that he did,' Kinnaman said. 'America has been cooperating with at least equal monsters in many other ways.'

The actor cited Hussein's reaction to 9/11 as one example. The Iraqi leader believed the attacks would bring the U.S. and Iraq together against a common enemy. Instead, the Bush administration accused him of supporting the hijackers. 'That couldn't be more false,' Kinnaman said.

Filming in Egypt and the real John Nixon

Kinnaman described the shoot in Cairo as one of his most challenging. 'Egypt is a tough place to shoot,' he said. 'You would lose a couple of hours because the generators didn't come today.'

He prepared by spending time with the real John Nixon. What stuck with him was Nixon's relationship with his wife. 'For me, that told me who he is. That said a lot about his essence,' Kinnaman said.

The actor also praised Zuaiter's performance as Hussein. 'Sometimes when it was backlit and at certain angles, I was like, 'That's Saddam,' ' Kinnaman said. 'I totally felt like I was stepping into history.'

What to take away

Kinnaman said the final episode, in which a dismissive Bush barely listens to Nixon's nuanced briefing, mirrors a real problem. 'These are some of the mechanisms that we still have in government,' he said. 'Special interests, interest from other governments, the military-industrial complex pushing narratives and politicians into thinking this is a justifiable way to use American power.'

• High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam
• Iraq War
• Joel Kinnaman
• John Nixon
• Saddam Hussein
• TNT