‘Patriots Day’ Actor Themo Melikidze Goes ‘100 Percent’ In Portraying Boston Marathon Bomber

Less than four years after the Boston Marathon bombing, “Patriots Day” tells the story of the event on April 15, 2013, as well as the subsequent manhunt for the men responsible. Themo Melikidze, a 24-year-old from the country of Georgia, plays the role of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the two men that committed the act of terrorism.

Tamerlan was shot and killed four days after the bombing, while his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was taken into police custody. Portraying a terrorist that killed three people and injured at least 264 others was not easy for the young actor, but he wanted to make sure it was done as accurately as possible.

“I would never commit to a part 99 percent. I will commit 100 percent,” Melikidze told International Business Times. “It doesn’t matter what part it is, what kind of character because I want this to be done right. I want this to be done correctly and to be told as it was that day. And especially this project, it’s so important that we tell the story right and we tell the story how it happened.”

Melikidze, who will also appear in the upcoming season of “24: Legacy” in early 2017, did everything he could to accurately portray Tamerlan. In addition to reading about him, Melikidze watched some of the same videos that inspired Tamerlan’s act of terror, giving the actor what he described as “sleepless nights.” Melikidze also studied the only available video of Tamerlan, which showed him preparing for one of his fights.

Tamerlan was an aspiring boxer when he came to the United States from Russia, winning two titles as the Golden Gloves heavyweight champion of New England. Melikidze met extensively with John Allen, who trained Tamerlan.

“We sat down and talked about his personal life: his wife, his kids, his brother, how he used to behave, his personality, basically,” Melikidze said. “Then I told him, ‘tomorrow when I come back into the gym, the moment I step into the door, I want you to treat me like I am him. I want you to do the same exact training, the same exact routine, the same exact everything.’ So the next day I came in, we started working out, I got used to it, we did different things. How he used to box, how he used to feel about certain positions, everything. Really a lot of detailed information.”

Melikidze made sure he was completely committed to the character, which was recognized by the rest of the cast. Before filming the bombing scene that featured the likes of Mark Wahlberg and more than 800 extras, Melikidze says the set went quiet when he walked out of his trailer. He was even approached by a cop who was at the 2013 bombing and also happened to be on the set of the movie.

“I saw this cop looking at me, and every two minutes he comes closer...suddenly, he comes up to me, and he looks at me and he says, ‘look man, every time I look into your eyes, I want to squash your head in.’”

Melikidze used that same hate the cop felt to fuel his performance.

“The main thing that really drove me during the project was the hate that I had for this character. The absolute hate that I had for this person,” Melikidze told IBT. “That was really my gasoline. That was really the energy that I needed to drive me through the project. Every day on the set I came in and every time I had to do these horrible scenes towards my wife, towards my brother. I just had that hate for this character, and that hate I used in the scenes. That really guided me through the project. It helped a lot.”

“Patriots Day” is set for limited release Wednesday and opens nationwide on Jan. 13, 2017.