Like Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella and Olivia Thrilby play American travelers (Ben and Natalie) stranded in Moscow during an alien invasion. We sat with the actors for a dual interview, in which they discussed their respective roles, their favorite sci-fi films and the 3D filming process.
Is this your first
night shoot?
Olivia Thirlby: No, we did them all last week. So just as we finally got on the night schedule,
then yesterday they gave us one regular day, just to completely screw
everything up. And now we're back on nights for pretty much the rest of the
deal, right?
Max Minghella: Yeah.
I'm curious, how is
that? To adjust to the [time change]?
Max Minghella: It's
just like jetlag.
Olivia Thirlby: Yeah,
it's like jetlag. And then once you adjust, then it's like you're on a
different time schedule. At least it's regular, but it's very difficult when
it's inconsistent between nights and days, because then it's like being
constantly jetlagged.
Can you talk about
your characters?
Max Minghella: Olivia
plays like a beautiful action heroine. And we don't know too much about our
characters before we get them, and we've obviously probably all invented our
own versions of our various backstories. But you know, the film gets into the
action very quickly. We all meet in this club scene, and that's where the
majority of the character development happens. We're also stranded in Moscow for very different
reasons, and Olivia's character has come with Rachael... [to Olivia] I'm speaking
for you. I'll let you carry on.
Olivia Thirlby: Yeah,
I'll speak for you now. Max plays a handsome action hero, who becomes sort of
the de facto leader of the group after things start to get a little scary and
dangerous and crazy. And actually, sort of towards the beginning of the film
when our characters first meet, I'd say my character quite has the hots for
him, and says many times that she thinks he's cute, cuter than his friend.
Max Minghella: It's
a mutual feeling, even though I don't [say] it vocally, I'm thinking it.
Olivia Thirlby: And
yeah, do you want to talk about some of your made-up character back-story?
Max Minghella: Some
of my made-up character back-story... Well I mean, I think in both cases with both
our characters, we have very long-standing friendships with our co-stars. So in
my case it's with Emile's character Sean, in Olivia's case it's with Rachael's
character Ann. And I think a lot of it is about how these friendships sort of
shift and change in this incredibly dramatic circumstance, and how the dynamics
of the group survive. In terms of back-story, we're both—Emile and I—both from
Seattle, and
we've both known each other probably since we were four or five years old. So a
lot of the work we've been doing is just trying to sort of make sure that
that's believable, and truthful, and that you feel that there's some sense of
history there.
Olivia Thirlby: Yeah,
it's um... Rachel plays an Australian character, so our characters met the very
beginning of college, and have been best friends since basically, love at first
sight. And I decided that my girl Natalie is from a sort of affluent suburb outside
of Washington, D.C. and raised by a single parent, and
she's sort of a very proper girl, traditional values. These are all things you
don't really find out in the movie, but they're things that I like to think
about as I'm running in fear. [Laughs]
As opposed to
shooting in your native city and being able to go home every night, does it
help to be in this environment with everyone else, and how is that friendship
been developing as actors?
Olivia Thirlby: We're
in a bubble, that's for sure.
Max Minghella: I
always prefer shooting in locations, because when I'm at home it's harder to
sort of get lost in the world of whatever you're making. It does, it does force
this bond and community amongst a group.
Olivia Thirlby: If
we were shooting in L.A., Max and I definitely wouldn't be friends.
Max Minghella: We
would never... yeah. But here we're sorta... [Laughs] But definitely, I think it
forces concentration, yeah, and it's much more like, feels more like summer
camp.
Olivia Thirlby: And
Moscow's like...
Max Minghella: It's
an extraordinary place to be.
Olivia Thirlby: Yeah,
and you definitely get the sense that you're very far from home. And that has a
lot to do with what the characters go through, is feeling like not only are
they dealing with this kind of crazy, life-changing event, really
world-changing, history-changing event, but they're also so far from home that
it adds a desperation of wanting and needing to know what things may be like
back at home, and adds the impetus to move.
Max Minghella: And
in terms of the film itself, I think it's gonna become such a big part of this
movie, the location of it. It's a character unto itself. But yeah, it's an
extraordinary-looking place, as you've probably seen.
People keep saying
it's a character unto itself. What kind of character does Moscow play? A hero, a villain?
Max Minghella: I
don't think it's a villain or a hero. I think it's just a place with incredible
history, an incredibly dramatic history, and that resonates in the environment
and the way it looks. It's so unusual -
Olivia Thirlby: And
it really doesn't look like anywhere else on Earth. There was, for a brief
time, a question of whether we would be able to proceed filming here because
there was a bit of a natural disaster that happened in the middle of our shoot,
and I think it's possible they were scouting some other European cities. And it
was difficult, because even places that are relatively nearby didn't look
anything like Moscow.
And it's really true, there's just no place quite like it.
Do either of you believe in aliens?
Max Minghella: I certainly do. I
mean, I think it's sort of, I think it'd be pretty unrealistic to think we're
the only planet in the world with thinking beings. It's kind of a strange
conceit. Especially given how many universes there must be. Yeah, I definitely
do.
Olivia Thirlby: Yeah,
I would say that I don't, I don't know... I haven't put too much time into
thinking about it, but I've definitely heard way crazier ideas than aliens
existing. There are other really crazy ideas that people regularly believe in,
so... sure. It's definitely possible.
Can you talk about
working in the 3D environment, and how it is as an actor with longer takes, and
more master shots, and how you prepare differently, and what you've been doing
differently?
Max Minghella: Go
ahead.
Olivia Thirlby: Well,
our 3D tech guy... What does [unintelligible] do? What exactly is his job title?
Publicist: Stereographer.
Olivia Thirlby: Stereographer,
yes. Our stereographer said something really interesting the other day, which
actually brought on like a slight panic attack but then I got over it. He said
that the difference between film and theater is that in film, an actor is sort
of under a magnifying glass and everything that they do, just the smallest
movement, is very detectible. And he said with 3D, an actor is under a
microscope. And it's true, the contrast is a lot greater. Like darks look
darker, and light things look lighter, and it's been kind of a challenge to
keep that in mind, of, you know... especially when you're playing with emotions
that are kind of pure as fear, which is the predominant emotion that we're
playing, it can be challenging and fun also to keep in mind that just a little
bit goes a long way. It's all in the eyes, you know?
Does it make you more
self-conscious as a performer when you watch playback, and you see every nook
and cranny?
Olivia Thirlby: [to
Max] Do you watch playback? I only watch playback on the wide shots. [Laughs]
Max Minghella: What
I will say about the 3D on this film is that I think 3D can be an incredible
thing on a movie and a terrible thing for a movie, depending on what kind of
movie it is. And I've seen movies where I thought the 3D really enhanced the
experience, and sometimes where I thought it just detracted from it. And one
thing I will say from looking at the shooting, and actually physically shooting
these scenes, is that I think 3D will... because it's such an integral part of the
way we're thinking about making this film, I think it will have a depth to it
that wouldn't have been possible without that technology. I think a sense of
place, and a sense of [unintelligible] that is really linked to that
technology. So um... that's an exciting thing to be a part of, and a very recent
thing to be a part of.
Do you get to handle
any artillery or firearms?
Olivia Thirlby: I
don't. I'm a girl, so I never get to play with [those things].
Max Minghella: It's
definitely fun for a boy, yeah. I think when you're like five years old, and
you're running... You know, I think about my really early childhood a lot making
this film. Because I certainly spent a vast majority of my infancy running
around a room, pretending to run away from something, diving under stuff. It's
an amazing feeling to get to do it on the scale of so many people taking it
seriously. You know? It's basically the exact same thing, except everyone is
taking it really seriously and working really hard to help you. It's such a
blessing, and such a crazy thing to be able to do.
Olivia Thirlby: Totally.
Max Minghella: It's
like a total boy's dream.
How interested are
you in sci-fi, and is that something that was part of your life growing up.
Were you always watching sci-fi films?
Olivia Thirlby: It's
an interesting question for me to address right now, because truthfully sci-fi
has not been a big part of my life, aside from, you know, the occasional Star Trek, and you know, some fiction,
and maybe like Mystery Science Theater.
But that's not really sci-fi. But I suddenly feel like it's taken this really
big place in my life.
Max Minghella: Olivia's
about to do Judge Dredd after this.
Olivia Thirlby: Yeah.
After this I'm gonna go do another 3D action/sci-fi movie, which I'm
unbelievably excited about. So I've kind of gone from never thinking about it
too much to it suddenly seems to be my entire world. And I like it.
How much do your
characters know about what's happening in the rest of the world given that the
power has gone out?
Olivia Thirlby: Um,
we get sort of very small pieces of information that we're able to puzzle
together during the course of our journey through the city, and by the end of
the movie, without giving too much away, we have a pretty good idea of what the
global situation is.
