Joe Mazzello says ‘Monument’ is “the exact film we need right now”

There are war movies. There are political thrillers. Then there are films like Monument — movies that walk directly into impossible moral territory and dare audiences to sit there uncomfortably.

For Joe Mazzello, that challenge was exactly the point.

The actor, still instantly recognizable to generations of audiences from Jurassic Park, The Pacific, The Social Network, and Bohemian Rhapsody, steps into deeply personal territory with Monument, a historical thriller from Bryan Singer centered on the real-life story of Israeli architect Amnon Rechter during the final years of Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon.

And according to Mazzello, the emotional weight of the project hit him immediately.

“His passion,” Mazzello said of what first drew him to Amnon. “How he went from a reluctant participant, even arguing against the monument to becoming obsessed with its completion which I attributed to his love for his dying father.”

“That’s what made it make sense to me and I tried to make sure the performance reflected that.”

The film itself sounds deceptively simple on paper. Set in 1999, Monument follows Amnon Rechter and his father Yacov Rechter, played by Jon Voight, as they travel repeatedly through southern Lebanon’s dangerous military zone to construct a memorial honoring soldiers killed during the conflict.

But the deeper the project goes, the more unstable its moral foundation becomes.

Architecture turns political. Peace becomes abstract. Empathy becomes dangerous.

And according to Mazzello, every major theme in the film ultimately connected back to one idea.

“I saw them all connected through a desire for peace,” he explained. “Amnon wants the monument dedicated to fallen soldiers on both sides of the war — peace. Amnon wants this war to end — peace.”

The actor also tied Amnon’s motivations directly to the father-son relationship driving the film emotionally.

“And Amnon wants his father to be at peace with the time he took out of his life to teach him his craft, and an overall peace within their relationship.”

That emotional thread became especially personal for Mazzello himself.

One of the film’s key scenes — a vulnerable conversation in bed between Amnon and his wife — actually includes dialogue written by the actor personally.

“Truth be told I wrote that speech,” Mazzello revealed. “It makes me think of my own father who died of cancer 8 years ago.”

“The father/son relationship was a major reason why I wanted to do the film.”

That sense of emotional realism appears central to how Mazzello approached the role overall. Unlike globally recognizable historical figures audiences already know intimately, Amnon Rechter gave him more room to build a performance around emotional truth rather than pure imitation.

“Because Amnon isn’t so well known I didn’t feel I had to do a direct impression,” Mazzello said.

“I could change some things that served the emotional core of the character which I believe in turn served the movie better.”

Still, the actor immersed himself heavily in understanding the political landscape surrounding the film.

“I knew very little about the conflict going in,” he admitted candidly.

“One of our producers, Guy, had some great videos, docs, and news reports from the time that I was able to take in to get educated.”

That research process became even more emotionally charged once current global conflicts escalated during the film’s release cycle.

“That’s the understatement of the century,” Mazzello said when asked whether the themes now feel more urgent.

“It seems as though it’s possibly made people fear getting behind the film, which I find deeply sad, because it’s really the exact film we need right now.”

For Mazzello, the film’s willingness to force audiences into uncomfortable emotional territory is precisely why it matters.

“No matter where you stand on these issues, you are forced to question your prior assumptions,” he explained.

And the actor clearly has little patience for audiences demanding politically frictionless art.

“No one should be afraid of the reaction to art when reacting passionately is the whole point of art!” he said. “That’s what we want. That’s why we make it.”

That intensity extended onto the production itself. According to Mazzello, one of the film’s most striking creative decisions involved physically constructing the monument itself throughout filming.

“Our amazing art department led by Aaron Haye had to actually build the Monument to scale,” he explained.

“So we basically went back to that location once a week and played those scenes chronologically at all stages of the building process.”

“There was a magic to it and an excitement and an urgency.”

Filming in Greece also reportedly amplified the sense of instability surrounding the story.

“The checkpoint location felt like it was on a mountain on top of a cloud on top of a volcano,” Mazzello recalled.

“It felt like you were entering another world.”

Then there’s Jon Voight.

For many actors, working opposite an Oscar winner with decades of iconic performances attached to his name could become intimidating quickly. But Mazzello describes the experience less like competition and more like mentorship.

“John is an inspiration,” he said.

“The man has nothing to prove. He could rest on his laurels and come out for a pay check if he wanted to, but the man is as dedicated as ever to his craft.”

Mazzello even recalled Voight fighting for his close-up during a critical scene.

“He fought harder to get me a close up for an important scene at the end of the film than he ever fought for anything for himself.”

The admiration clearly runs deep.

“As my career goes forward I will strive to never let myself become jaded or cynical in any way due to the example of Jon Voight.”

And speaking of career longevity, Monument arrives during an interesting period for Mazzello himself.

For a lot of audiences, he remains frozen in cultural memory as Tim Murphy from Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Others associate him with The Pacific, where he delivered one of HBO’s most emotionally devastating war performances. Younger audiences likely recognize him instantly as Queen bassist John Deacon in Bohemian Rhapsody.

But Mazzello himself seems increasingly reflective about acting, performance anxiety, and artistic pressure as he’s gotten older.

“I’m much more self aware unfortunately and much more prone to self loathing haha,” he admitted.

“After completing a scene or leaving set for the day I tend to sit and think about what I may have wanted to do differently.”

That honesty gives Monument an interesting additional layer. This is not an actor casually moving through prestige historical material. The emotional investment here sounds genuine, raw, and deeply personal.

Which may explain why the project sits so high emotionally within his body of work.

“It was an important experience in my life,” Mazzello said.

“And I hope more than anything it finds an audience.”

For audiences interested in seeing the film theatrically, Monument continues its limited U.S. run throughout 2026. Discounted tickets are also currently available through a special screening offer using code MON02.

Event tickets available here:

Special screening of Monument honoring Jon Voight

What makes Monument particularly fascinating right now is how uncomfortable the movie seems willing to become. Hollywood has spent years reducing geopolitical conflicts into simplistic good-versus-evil binaries designed for easy audience consumption. Monument appears to reject that entirely.

Instead, the film reportedly places empathy itself under pressure.

Mazzello repeatedly returned to that idea throughout the interview, especially when discussing the kinds of conversations he hopes audiences have after leaving the theater.

“I hope people stop vilifying each other so easily over these admittedly very divisive and intense issues in the middle east,” he said.

“Less inflammatory rhetoric and less questioning people’s motivations I think would serve us well. There is room for empathy on all sides.”

That perspective also seems embedded directly into the architecture of the film itself. According to the official synopsis, Amnon pushes for the monument to become “a sacred space for Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike.”

Which, in 2026, feels almost radically optimistic.

And maybe that’s ultimately why Monument feels so oddly timely despite being set in 1999. The film is not simply asking whether peace is possible between nations. It’s asking whether modern audiences are even psychologically capable of tolerating moral complexity anymore.

For Mazzello, though, the answer appears to remain hopeful.

“Like I said, it’s ultimately a movie about peace and how difficult that is to attain,” he explained.

“But let’s all keep trying.”

Monument image credits: ZIV BERKOVICH