Alexander Ludwig Interview: National Champions

National Champions stars Stephan James and Alexander Ludwig as football players fighting to make sure student-athletes are fairly compensated. To do so, they stage a strike three days before the college football national championship game. The cast of the film also includes J. K. Simmons, Lil Rel Howery, Tim Blake Nelson, Russell Wilson, Andrew Bachelor, Jeffrey Donovan, David Koechner, Kristin Chenoweth, Timothy Olyphant, and Uzo Aduba.

Alexander Ludwig spoke to Screen Rant about what drew him to National Champions, the important conversations around the film, his music career, and more.

Screen Rant: So much has changed since we last spoke so it’s gonna be half catch-up, half interview. You got married. You dropped an EP. Do you have any more surprises coming up?

Alexander Ludwig: Well, I’m doing a film in January, but we’re not allowed to talk about it because it hasn’t been publicly announced yet. But those are the main ones, obviously. 

I moved to Georgia, so I live there now and it’s just been a whirlwind. I feel like COVID opened up a lot of people’s eyes to what’s really important and where you want to end up and who you want to be with and I took those cues. So yeah, it’s been awesome.

Your most immediate thing coming out is National Champions. What did you know about this movie in advance? Because it is a sports movie but then do you sign up for it and be like, “Oh, man, I gotta get ripped. I got to get ready to play.” And then they’re like, “No, you don’t have to play?”

 Alexander Ludwig: No, I Skyped with Ric [Roman Waugh] when I was in Atlanta, and we went through the story. I’d already read the script and already loved the project and wanted to be involved in it. It always reminded me of Margin Call or The Big Short in terms of just the way it’s shot. 

There’s not a lot of football. It’s what happens behind the scenes and yet you’re on the edge of your seat the whole time because these characters are so well fleshed out and it’s such a topical and important story. But obviously, I had to get to a certain level of physicality because I wanted him to look like a football player. Fortunately, I just finished Heels. But I felt like for Emmett, we had to go a little bit even further, so we did.

But yeah, that’s kind of how it worked. And then it was perfect. We shot in New Orleans for a month and a half. And it was such an incredible experience with an incredible cast. It was just one of those things where it just worked out.

What was it about what the movie added to the conversation that stuck out to you? 

Alexander Ludwig: What I liked about it was that I felt that – and I’m speaking [as] somebody who’s not experiencing this firsthand, you know, as an actor is telling a story, not to mention the background from Canada, but it’s definitely this story in specific, it really shows every single opinion from every single side. And that’s what I loved. I’ve had these conversations with people, “Okay, what do you think about this?” I know athletes who have made it to the big time and who haven’t. And one thing that I think was universal [with] the people I’d spoken to is that regardless of what happens, anybody who puts their health or their body on the line, for the profit of others deserves to be taken care of.

So for me, getting to hear from the NCAA in the movie and getting to hear from the players was really, really exciting. And I left with no questions other than, why haven’t we been talking about this more? For me, that’s how I will judge the success of this film. It will be: does this spark some sort of conversation on a bigger level? Because you can mask behind some of the things that they say that they’re going to do, but to me, at the end of the day, it’s not enough.

Great cast in this movie too. Just curious do you get to live my dream of being screamed at by J.K. Simmons?

Alexander Ludwig: I wish. Just behind the camera. No, he’s actually just the greatest dude and I wish we had more time to spend together but because his story is happening at the same time. Stephan and mine – we were in different locations at the same time, and then our paths would kind of cross in the elevator. But he’s an awesome guy and what a tremendous actor, so getting to work with him is great.

Were you just at a Comic Con?

Alexander Ludwig: I was, in Germany.

I’m so jealous. I have to live vicariously through you. What was it like being there?

Alexander Ludwig: It was amazing. And it seems like there’s a lot of fans that were coming back. And it’s great because I’m going to promote different shows like Heels, for example, as well. Which we got a second season for so I’m beyond excited about that.

So it’s nice. It’s nice to get to reconnect when we can. And it was a lot busier than I thought it would be, especially right now. So that was great. I mean, I think everybody’s itching for some form of normalcy right now. So something like that is really special to be reminded of why we do all this.

Since we last spoke, you said farewell to Vikings, farewell to Bjorn. What has that been like? 

Alexander Ludwig: It’s amazing. To me, in terms of just picking projects, it’s always been about, “Is this something I want to see? Is this something that I love?” That’s what I did with Vikings and three seasons in, nobody knew about it. And then suddenly, it just exploded. 

And I feel like, with Heels, we came out of the gates in an amazing way and it was so well received. But of course, these things take time to build audiences. 

And I’m excited to see, with a film like National Champions, where this goes, especially in January when it hits with other things. It’s a theatrical release, and you know how it is with COVID and everything. So it’s just a very interesting time. But to know that your shows, even Vikings was a few years ago now, that they’re still so appreciated on such a huge level is amazing.

We’ve talked about a lot of things you’ve done. The country music superstar was a pleasant surprise. I had no idea. Where did that come from?

Alexander Ludwig: Yeah, it was very scary. I grew up in Canada, but there’s a massive country music scene there and I’ve always written and I’ve always played, it’s just that my career has been – I’m very grateful that it’s just kind of just been a nonstop thing for me. So I really haven’t had time at all. 

When I got off Vikings, I realized that was my one window where I had a chance to start going to Nashville, and really dig my heels in the ground there. It was like a year into me being there and I was on a plane going back and I met Jason Aldean’s band, who were fans of my work. And I luckily already recorded a demo. And we ended up working together, I started writing with some of the writers, some of the great writers that are there.

We wrote “Let Me Be Your Whiskey” and put that out, and DVR found out about it. And next thing, you know, this side secret skeleton in my closet that I’ve always had is now something that we’re really doing. And it’s amazing because it gives me so much joy. And I just love it so much.

And again, I think that at the end of the day, we’re storytellers in everything we do. And to me, country music is one of the greatest forms of storytelling there is. Next year we’re dropping the album. So it’ll be exciting. And we’re going to really get to start which will be nice.

I normally say don’t read the comments, but for your videos, I would read the comments. They’re so good.

Alexander Ludwig: Thank you. I love to interact with fans but I’ll delete Instagram every once in a while because I think it’s very easy to get lost in that. If I can’t validate myself, then it’s gonna be an issue. And that’s the issue I think with actors in general, it’s hard. You’re never going to make everyone happy. All you can do is to be the best version of yourself you can be.

We’re talking about what comes next. You said you’re filming something in January you can’t talk about yet. But also, Heels had a huge positive response and was renewed for season two. What’s the status?

Alexander Ludwig: It’s amazing. We don’t know the exact date we’re starting to film yet, but I would imagine that it’ll be early next year. 

And I mean, we got 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is wild. That’s what I wanted when I read the script. You know, for me, I was just like, “This is an amazing story and it’s an amazing cast and the characters are so exciting.” So we’re going to go back for season two and then hopefully, I don’t really know what summer looks like yet, there are a few things that are up in the air.

I know Bad Boys is talking about trying to come back at one point so that would be nice. There are a few things that are starting here. But I think also with the release of the album, I’m gonna have to be doing a radio tour and stuff like that. So that’ll be exciting as well.

Have there been serious talks about Bad Boys?

Alexander Ludwig: From my understanding, they’re pretty determined to keep it going. So we just got to see where we end up.

And for Heels, have you read anything for season 2 yet?

Alexander Ludwig: Not yet. I’ve had meetings with the writers and stuff in the writers’ room and talking about how I see Ace and where I see him going. But we started small, which I love. So there’s a lot of room to build this out. So it’s early days, but I would imagine we’re gonna get a call pretty soon like, “Hey, you need to start training now.”

What are your hopes for Heels season 2? What’s something you’d really like to happen?

Alexander Ludwig: You know, one thing I love about Ace is that he’s so unpredictable. He’s just such a roller coaster of emotions. And I want to see how somebody like that would handle that in success. So I want to see him really start pursuing this on a bigger level and see how he handles all of that. 

The exciting thing about the show is watching what Stephen [Amell’s] character is doing on a macro scale and what my character is doing, being the front-runner wrestler. I want to really explore the toll it takes on you emotionally and physically. I know so many of these wrestlers, and it’s insane. And funny enough, I find such a correlation between that and National Champions because those guys also use and abuse their bodies and have no help at all. It’s a wild world.

About The Author

Ash Crossan
(214 Articles Published)

Ash Crossan is a Lead Content Producer & Host for Screen Rant. With nearly a decade of experience under her belt, Ash joined Screen Rant in 2021 as a lead interviewer. Based in Los Angeles, Ash is a fan of all things Star Wars, Marvel, DC, 90s Nickelodeon and rom-coms. Follow Ash on Twitter: @AshCrossan.

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