Director Claudio Fah & Actress Sophie McIntosh talks to The Inside Reel about reaction, instinct, tone and strategy in regards to their new horror/thriller from RJLE Films: "No Way Up".
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:15 -Here's the hatch.
00:18 -Look, they've come to save us.
00:19 -Turn around!
00:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:38 -Now, going from there, Sophie, if you could talk about--
00:41 and I think we touch on this in a different way
00:43 in "Brave New World," but the physicality informing
00:46 the emotionality of the character.
00:48 But in this instance, it's also about reaction, about instinct.
00:52 You said you're comfortable in the water.
00:54 But anybody being inside that small space
00:56 with everything around, you're going
00:58 to react the way your body would react in a certain way.
01:03 Can you sort of talk about that and talk
01:04 about reaction and instinct versus actually thinking
01:08 out certain things that you were doing in the acting?
01:11 -Yeah.
01:12 Yeah, I think it was quite a unique experience in that,
01:15 in many ways, we couldn't rehearse
01:18 a huge amount of the physicality before we arrived on set,
01:23 so to speak.
01:24 So you could do as much prep as you wanted emotionally.
01:27 But then it got to a certain point
01:30 where you were underwater and you couldn't breathe.
01:32 And you were having to kind of-- you were really in it.
01:35 So I think that was quite a really kind of a gift,
01:38 I think, as an actor in many ways,
01:40 because there wasn't a huge amount of acting happening
01:43 when you're underwater.
01:44 And that kind of those physical sequences.
01:47 So yeah, I think it was really exciting to get
01:50 to kind of live it in many ways.
01:54 -This trip is going to be a blast.
01:57 -Who says Czechs don't know how to travel light?
01:59 -Brandon?
02:00 -Spoke too soon.
02:02 -We're going to a resort in Kabul.
02:03 -What does he think you need a bike up for?
02:05 -Every situation has the potential for violence.
02:09 Here, it's virtually zero.
02:12 -Hey, love.
02:13 Where are you going?
02:13 -He said I could sit at the back.
02:15 It's not a busy flight.
02:16 -Wow.
02:17 Babysitter.
02:18 It's finally land you grow up.
02:19 -Primly, mother.
02:21 -Well, I mean, yeah, because you have to do things
02:23 as much practically.
02:24 Because people-- it's funny that a lot of viewers
02:26 now are more like-- they're more aware of this.
02:30 But it's interesting, because you can tell
02:33 when it's underwater.
02:35 And that's great practically.
02:37 I mean, was that important?
02:39 Was this something you talked to-- sorry,
02:42 to Claudia about, Sophia, in terms of what the balance would
02:46 be?
02:46 Because obviously, you have to feel comfortable
02:48 doing these kinds of stunts.
02:49 You probably had a stunt woman there as well, I would think.
02:53 -Yeah.
02:54 Yeah, I think I-- I mean, we had an incredible, incredible team.
02:58 The Marine Department, who were on hand-- I mean,
03:01 even prior to shooting, we were in training.
03:03 And I met with them numerous times
03:05 before we even got to set or anything else.
03:07 So I always felt very, very safe.
03:10 And so we had an underwater team and a stunt team.
03:14 So there was a huge number of people
03:15 around who were incredibly knowledgeable
03:18 and did everything they could to make us feel incredibly safe.
03:23 And I never felt like anything was just haphazard or anything.
03:27 It was all very talk-through.
03:29 And everyone had a plan.
03:30 We knew exactly what we were doing.
03:32 So yeah, I felt like we made the most of what we could do
03:36 and everything we could do in the water
03:38 we did do in the water, which I think--
03:39 you did everything in the water.
03:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:44 -Don't worry.
03:54 We're going to be just--
03:55 [SCREAMING]
03:58 [SCREAMING]
04:02 [SCREAMING]
04:05 [SCREAMING]
04:08 [SCREAMING]
04:10 -You want to see the reaction on her face.
04:12 And it's also the one thing I have to say.
04:15 There's a-- at times, which I love that this had this tone,
04:19 you have the dramatic.
04:21 You have the traumatic.
04:22 But then you also have-- besides what we were talking about,
04:25 the friend who does that--
04:27 there's almost a gallows humor, a sort of like a realistic
04:30 humor that flows through, even to the end.
04:34 And I don't want to give so much away.
04:36 But can you talk about the tone of that,
04:39 playing that back and forth?
04:41 Because you don't want it to go into melodrama,
04:44 but you don't want it to go into satire.
04:46 So it's that interesting balance to make
04:48 it feel real enough for the audience
04:50 and still be entertaining, which of course it is.
04:55 -I think that's the trickiest thing, actually,
04:57 in this particular genre.
04:58 Because it seems it's like such a-- it's
05:00 almost like a minefield.
05:01 Because everything has been done.
05:03 The whole spectrum has been covered by being completely--
05:06 I mean, "Jaws" being one of my absolute top favorite movies.
05:12 But it's so serious.
05:13 It's so real.
05:14 Would that be not funny?
05:15 But it's like an unachievable sort of master of this.
05:20 And then you go to the other direction,
05:22 and you end up in Sharknado territory.
05:24 And you want to be-- you want to place yourself somewhere
05:26 where it does make sense.
05:28 And I think it's an individual thing.
05:30 For some people, the tone is perfect.
05:32 And then for others, they go like, no, I don't believe it.
05:34 So it's-- can't please all, but you just have to kind of try
05:37 to do your best.
05:37 -What did you want?
05:38 Before I ask Sofia the last question, what kind of tone
05:41 were you sort of aiming for that you wanted?
05:43 I mean, because it is-- there is a horror aspect to it.
05:46 You do show blood.
05:47 You do show these things.
05:48 And that's important.
05:49 But could you talk about that?
05:51 Then I'll ask Sofia the last question.
05:53 -Yes.
05:53 So I don't want to be--
05:55 I don't want to put off the audience.
05:58 Or I don't want to be completely gross where
06:02 you can't watch it anymore.
06:03 But I want to, of course, take people on a ride.
06:08 I think I acknowledge that this is a popcorn movie.
06:11 It is bonkers, the whole thing.
06:13 So that has to be acknowledged.
06:14 It can't be completely serious, not shindless list.
06:16 And it shouldn't try to be shindless list.
06:18 It's not.
06:19 So it's absolutely paramount to be aware of that.
06:22 My-- so "Jurassic Park," first "Jurassic Park,"
06:25 you have this fantastic T-Rex coming into the screen.
06:29 And it's fantastic.
06:30 It's wonderful.
06:30 But it ends with a joke where the guy sits--
06:32 the lawyer sits on the toilet and is being eaten.
06:34 And the whole audience erupts in laughter.
06:37 And you still have the thrills.
06:39 I think that's a perfect example of what the tone of a movie
06:42 like this wants to be.
06:44 [GASPING]
06:47 Granny?
06:57 Wake up, Nana.
06:58 [GRUNTING]
07:02 We have to get out of here.
07:03 We're in an airlock.
07:05 We're safe for now.
07:07 But we will need oxygen.
07:09 There was a man who had an oxygen tank.
07:12 Where are you going?
07:14 To get that tank.
07:15 And my last question, I'll-- to Sophia.
07:23 Because, yeah, that's-- it's about playing it just--
07:26 just right.
07:27 You know, obviously, you think about survival.
07:29 You think about Ripley.
07:30 You think about how she dealt with things.
07:32 But it's also, you know, that character, like Ava,
07:36 is very vulnerable.
07:37 She's very strong and very vulnerable at the same time.
07:40 Could you talk about finding sort of that heroine
07:42 within those two sort of realms?
07:45 Because it's-- you know, you do it physically, mentally,
07:49 you know, emotionally, and intellectually.
07:51 You can see she's thinking a lot of this out.
07:53 Like, how do we get out?
07:54 What do we do?
07:55 What would he do?
07:56 What would she do?
07:58 Yeah.
07:58 Yeah, and I think what was fun was trying to find
08:03 the kind of the progression.
08:04 Because I think, you know, right at the beginning, as we said,
08:06 she-- she really wasn't the person who was going to stand
08:09 up and say, I have a plan, and I'm
08:10 going to get us out of here.
08:11 But it was just finding the moments
08:14 where things start to change.
08:15 And I think-- you know, I think there
08:17 was a particular moment where kind of suddenly we were like,
08:20 like, we have no plan.
08:21 You know, what are we going to do?
08:22 We actually have to leave.
08:23 We can't just sit here anymore.
08:25 And for the first time, kind of Ava's like, well, OK, you know,
08:29 we're going to do this.
08:30 And it was really kind of fun to find those turning points.
08:33 And, you know, slowly she becomes more and more
08:38 kind of willing to lead, I guess.
08:40 And I think also a lot of that comes from being with Phyllis
08:44 and with Grace and those characters--
08:46 the female characters.
08:47 And kind of she suddenly--
08:48 she feels this responsibility towards the young child.
08:51 And so that kind of is one of the things that really drives
08:53 her kind of-- her change, I think.
08:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:58 [SCREAMING]
09:01 What's a shark doing on a plane?
09:05 Ava!
09:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:08 I'm sorry, kid.
09:09 You're going to have to do this one on your own.
09:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:14 [SCREAMING]
09:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:24 [HORN HONKING]
09:29 [SCREAMING]
09:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:35 [SCREAMING]
09:38 (gunshot)
09:41 [BLANK_AUDIO]