In preparation for his part in the upcoming action film Silent Night, Joel Kinnaman is discussing his botched effort at method acting. The For All Mankind actor told host Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on The Tonight Show on Wednesday that he chose to “go full method on this one” for the first time because he has no dialogue in the John Woo-directed picture.

Kinnaman recalled telling his fiancée Kelly Gale, “Listen, this is gonna be a tough one for our relationship. I’m not gonna talk for the whole shoot and not talk with you either. So we’re not gonna have any communication.”

Since Gale was understandably hesitant about the idea, the couple decided to consult their relationship coach to find a way to navigate it all. When Fallon asked Kinnaman if the relationship coach thought it was a good idea, the actor responded laughing, “No.”

However, he claimed that finally, his fiancée changed her mind and told him, “I’ll make this sacrifice.” You know, we’ll figure out how to accomplish this. Once the details were worked out, Kinnaman announced that once he arrived in Mexico City to begin filming, he would officially end the conversation. However, the actor didn’t stay there long before realising he “was feeling a little lonely” and making the decision to phone Gale.

He quickly realized that he wasn’t going to make it six weeks without any verbal communication and decided to give up on the method acting approach.

“I had a really, really intense silent car ride to set. The car ride was basically the whole thing, you know? So that kind of charged me up with enough silence that I needed for the rest of the shoot,” Kinnaman quipped

After his little son is killed in the crossfire between rival gangs on Christmas Eve, a devastated father who is recovering from a wound that robbed him his voice takes out his long-awaited retribution in Silent Night. On December 1, the film is scheduled to open in theatres.