Jacob Tremblay Explains How He Approached His UNABOMBER Role

Jacob Tremblay plays the young Ted Kaczynski in Netflix’s new film UNABOMBER. In an interview published by Netflix, the actor explained that he did not want to play the student as a simple villain from the first scene. The film arrives on September 25 and moves between Kaczynski’s time at Harvard and the later FBI hunt for the man behind a deadly bombing campaign.

Tremblay said he learned parts of Kaczynski’s early life only after reading the script. He knew the public story, but not how young Kaczynski was when he entered Harvard. The role asked him to play a teenage student before the crimes that would make Kaczynski notorious. That distinction matters to the performance, though it does not excuse what happened later.

“I really wanted to make sure I went into this role playing him as a real person.”

The line comes from Tremblay’s Netflix interview. He also said he drew on his own experience of being young and working around older people to understand what feeling out of place might look like. That is an acting choice, not a claim that his life matches Kaczynski’s.

Who else is in the movie?

Russell Crowe plays Harvard psychology professor Henry Murray. Shailene Woodley plays FBI agent Joanne Miller, while Annabelle Wallis plays Christiana Morgan, who works with Murray. Janus Metz directed the film from a script by Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves. Netflix describes it as a drama inspired by true events, which means its conversations and scenes should not be treated as a documentary record.

Director Metz told Netflix that he was drawn to the Harvard period because it was a part of the story he had not known well. The film uses that earlier material alongside the investigation years later. Netflix’s cast photos show Tremblay in period clothes and Woodley in the FBI setting, making the two parts of the story easy to distinguish.

Tremblay’s comments are about how he chose to act in the film. They are not evidence that the movie’s account of Harvard or the investigation is exact. Netflix’s own description calls the film a drama inspired by real events. Viewers looking for a factual record should keep that difference in mind.

The real bombing campaign killed three people and injured 23. That is the important context for any story about this role. UNABOMBER is a film about both the person and the harm he caused, not a reason to admire him. It premieres on Netflix on September 25. Our UNABOMBER movie page has the cast, release details and more official stills.