Ryan Phillippe Talks Guns, Stunts and ‘Shooter’

Ryan Phillippe was so committed to his new show, “Shooter,” that he was willing to take a flying leap — off a fourth-floor balcony. The actor performed his own stunts in this conspiracy thriller, including a terrifying plunge, in the premiere, from an apartment down onto a car.

“It wasn’t a macho, self-serving thing,” Mr. Phillippe said. “Television has gotten so good, and audiences savvier, and they’re looking for that switch shot where it’s clearly not you. I thought if we’ve got this guy where it’s him against the world, I wanted them to see me get a little beat up.”

In “Shooter,” starting Tuesday night on the USA Network, Mr. Phillippe takes his knocks as Bob Lee Swagger, an ex-Marine sniper lured back into action when his former commanding officer (Omar Epps) brings him into a clandestine operation, only to frame him for murder. Adapted from the 2007 Mark Wahlberg movie, as well as “Point of Impact,” the Stephen Hunter novel, the series was scheduled to debut in July, before its premiere was postponed twice after mass shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La.

In an interview at The New York Times, Mr. Phillippe — a father of three, proud Delawarean and ambassador for Hidden Heroes, a support network for military caregivers — talked about the art of the long shot and guns in American society. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

“Shooter” is finally arriving after a four-month postponement. How did you feel about the delay?

We have a really good show that should stand apart from current events. But I applaud the network’s sensitivity. We talked about changing the title after the show was postponed, but it has somewhat of a built-in audience because of the movie. So this postponement allowed us to refocus the marketing and make it clear that Bob Lee was set up for an assassination that he was not a part of, and is in pursuit of the actual shooter. It also gave us time to let people know that a touchstone of our show is to treat veterans with respect, to treat weapons with respect. Our techniques are sound. There’s no flippancy with regards to the gunplay. Within the first five minutes, you know that this is not a show that’s glorifying gun violence.

What about the role won you over?

The first thing Mark Wahlberg [an executive producer] said to me was, “I love this character, and you’re my first choice.” And I found that so flattering. And from there his attitude was one of “make it your own.” Then I got really into the idea of the action of it. I’m 42, and I can’t do hard-core action much longer. And I got to help choreograph the fights and come up with really sick, twisted ways for myself to get injured.

So what’s it like to jump from the fourth floor?

There’s a tiny plastic hook on my vest and one cable on my back. That cable is connected to a truck, and a man on a hydraulic system, with essentially a spool and a handle, that determines whether you live or die. The craziest thing about it, and I don’t know how morbid it sounds, but your brain thinks you’re committing suicide. So when I finally took that first step off, my brain was saying, “Don’t don’t don.”

Is shooting a sniper rifle just like any other?

There’s something Zen and meditative about the head space a sniper needs to get into in order to hit a shot a distance of a half mile or more. The breathing is absolutely essential. You have to gently pull the trigger at the very bottom of your exhale because even your heartbeat can throw off the accuracy of the shot at that distance.

How did you train?

I went to [the United States Marine Corps’] Camp Pendleton, and they took me to the range with three bona fide Marine special-ops snipers. On my second shot, on a 12-inch target, at almost 900 yards, I hit it. And they were dumbfounded. This story can be verified.

What’s your take on gun control?

Common-sense gun laws. Background checks, yes. Get rid of automatic weapons being so easily accessible, yes. Here’s the thing about the gun debate that always stands out to me: In the big cities like New York and Los Angeles, it makes sense for us to say, “Yeah, not everyone should have guns.” But there are a lot of people in rural communities that might be 20 minutes away from a police station or an ambulance. So how are you going to tell somebody like that that they can’t? I think oftentimes the problem in this country, and it’s sort of what we see in these election results, is that there are many different realities and you can’t apply your worldview to all of them. It’s just not fair.

After filming the season, you recuperated at the beach in Delaware with your family. Are you a hometown boy made good?

I definitely am. Delaware is a state [of less than a million people], and outside of Joe Biden, I may be the most famous. [Laughs.] Suffice it to say that everyone in Delaware knows my name.