John Krasinski interview: 13 Hours- The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

13 Hours:The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is an intense and moving film that truthfully tells the story of the terrorist attack on an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya in 2012, and the members of a security team who were tasked with defending the compound and those inside.

The film is directed by Michael Bay and packs an emotional punch we have never seen from the director.  Although it is a departure for Bay (Transformers) he manages to stick to his roots by peppering in some impressive explosions.

The movie features an impressive cast and stars John Krasinski in his first leading action role. In what is the biggest departure yet from the affable cube dweller he portrayed on the long-running NBC series The Office, the 36-year-old actor plays a former Navy SEAL who stormed the compound along with five other security workers.

Krasinski never really had to work out hard for a role before, so preparing to play this tough former Navy Seal was a challenge. Having played Jim on The Office he was actually encouraged not to be in superb shape.  For this, he put in an enormous amount of hours to get in shape and was really excited to do it. Being in an action movie is something he's always wanted to do and  the actor says he'd  love to do more of.

As for the actual training regimen, all of the actors went through rigorous gun training with Navy SEALS. They learned how to fire a whole variety of different weapons and learned how to maneuver through rooms with lights, without lights. They learned how to maneuver through buildings on fire.  Physically, it was an extremely intense workout. The men did two-a-day workouts with their trainer, Jason Walsh, who trained Bradley Cooper for American Sniper.

The film also stars James Badge Dale, Max Martini, Toby Stephens, Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, Dominic Fumusa, Demetrius Grosse and Freddie Stroma and was shot on location in Malta and Morocco.

I spoke with John Krasinski in Miami, Florida about what it meant to be a part of this important story, working with Michael Bay and the demanding transformation he went through to play the part.