ⓒCourtesy of Lionsgate

Q&A with Actress Annabelle Wallis

Q : Nothing better than the theatrical experience, and nothing better than having an immediate post-screening Q&A with one of the stars who brought this film to life. Make some noise everyone for Miss Annabelle Wallis.

Congratulation of this film, Jason Statham subgenre of action is a beast in and of itself, but I want to start at the beginning, the script when it first came into your hands, what stood out to you on the page that “This is a film I absolutely need to be involved in”?

Annabelle Wallis : First and foremost, it had Jason Statham attached. And  Jean-François Richet, who did an amazing trilogy called “Mesrine” in France that, yes, very good film with Vincent Cassel, and I just knew that them together would make something very exciting and different. When they came to me I said, “I don’t have to think for very long, It’s yes.”

[tf-tv]

Q : One of the things that’s new for you on this film, I feel, you’ve done so many action related projects throughout your career, but this is the most physically involved you’ve been in a film, is that fair to say?

Annabelle Wallis : I think so, yes.

Q : What was that prep like?

Annabelle Wallis : I have an amazing stuntwoman called Lucy Cork. She did “The Mummy” with me. She’s a stuntwoman for so many iconic leading ladies in Hollywood, and it’s really her that helped me get out from my trailer eating chips and running around and getting fit and just ready for anything. These films are made to tap into the audience’s adrenaline, but also that it’s our adrenaline, so you never know quite what you’re gonna come up against or, and especially in this film, we were really out on the ocean.

We filmed in Malta, and we would leave the Maltese port at 6:30 in the morning, and we’d sail for seven hours toward the coast of Africa, and we were in deep dark ocean.So, it was training on the side of the boat. We’d in those seven hours, getting ready, getting your muscles ready to be ready for anything. We had swells coming in. We had storms on some of the stunt scenes, and Lucy was there to help me and all the other stunt guys. And it was, yeah, I was just very well supported.

Q : Yeah, make some noise for the stunts. I’m glad you brought up obviously the cargo ship, because that is effectively our one location of this film. I know that it’s book-ended by a couple of other locations, but this is largely confined to one spot.We know as audience members what some of those restrictions are, but what were some unexpected restrictions you felt on this film, just being confined to one location?

Annabelle Wallis : I mean, you’re on a wobbly set because the ground is not firm. You are dealing with ocean swells, and you have a crew that is getting very seasick, while you’re trying to do a lot of the scenes. I’m sure you’ve all been in a boat or felt seasickness of some sort. It’s like, imagine being underground, right? These ships are monolithic. They’re huge, and you’re like in a building that’s underground, and you know you’re in the ocean, and it’s rocking. And you have to do a scene with a crew that’s being sick behind the camera. So, a lot of those scenes were quite challenging, and that makes, yes, the environment, the set challenging, cause you can’t control it.

ⓒCourtesy of Lionsgate 

Q : Is anyone gonna commute via the ferry tomorrow? ‘Cause y’all are in for an experience.Think of everyone who went through a Mutiny-like experience in this film.

Annabelle Wallis : Yes.

Q : Be grateful for calm waters, so to speak. On the flip side, the luxuries that come with one location, it probably brought out unique elements of a performance, I would say.

Annabelle Wallis : Yeah, because you start to incorporate the space as a character in the film. And you start to use the space, and it informs so much that you have to just be nimble and be ready to play with it. And, there was equipment falling off the boat. There were crew members falling off the boat. Stunt guys, thank god for them again. They saved makeup artists, one or two of them. And but yeah it’s a luxury ’cause you know where you’re gonna go to work every day. You get very familiar with the space. It was not luxurious. We did not have trailers or anywhere to rest. I’d often be like, “Where’s Jason?”And I’d find him in the corner on a kind of plastic sheet having a nap, it’s not often that you see a movie star doing that out at sea.

Q : Yeah. Let’s talk a little bit about Jason, shall we? Jason, before I talk with you about him as a scene partner, he’s a producer on this film. Punch Palace Productions fairly recently launched. This is the fourth film under his production company. What was he like as a producer in terms of kind of developing some of the action set pieces?

Annabelle Wallis : First and foremost, what amount of taste choosing me.Giving me a role in a great action film..No, in all seriousness, he’s everything that you think he is. He loves his job, he knows his audience, he makes films for his audience, and he’s incredibly passionate about it. The crews have worked with him for decades, and he keeps a lot of those people in their jobs, and his hair and makeup team. And so that’s a testament to him and the way that he goes to work, and I think it’s something that the audience feels through his work, right? That he’s really there for them, and he really is a man of his word, and he is honest about why he’s here. And I really just think, in an age where we’re all looking for a hero, we have one, and he’s really…he just fits the bill.

ⓒCourtesy of Lionsgate 

Q : Yeah. I love what you said about keeping his team around. Yeah. ‘Cause that’s so special. When you find your crew, especially in a world as vast as Hollywood, you wanna keep those people around that you can trust and you can lean on, the people that you have a shorthand with him as a scene partner, though, you have some very intense action scenes together when you’re on the same side. At first when you’re first getting to know each other what was he like as a scene partner?

Annabelle Wallis : Jason as you all know, he’s a very funny man. And he’s very cheeky, Jason. And you’ll be doing this intense scene and you’re in your mind, you’re getting all revved up and you’re… the crew’s all watching and you wanna do your best, and he’ll crack a joke, and he’ll do something silly or, he’ll play jokes with everyone. And he just keeps the morale very high. And I always say that, the feelings from all the film, it starts from the top. And when you’re number one on the call sheet, it’s a huge responsibility because everyone has to feed off your energy, your professionalism, and he really is a great leader that way. Yeah, he’s great. He’s very funny. He’s, it’s just very difficult not to laugh. That’s what I say when in the scene with Jason.

Q : Let’s talk about specifically some of the scenes you’re in this film. I mentioned earlier before you came out the reaction to the padlock in the cheek earlier. Oh my God, ’cause when I saw this film, I saw it alone in a press  screening months prior, and sometimes when you don’t have anyone else around you, it’s like you miss that magic of the theatrical experience, everyone reacting together. What scene were you most looking forward to hearing an audience reaction to?

Annabelle Wallis : Oh my God, there’s so many good scenes. I just… the first time I saw it I was like, “Oh, God, this is very brutal.” And then I was like, “Oh, God, I… We are heroes. Let… I hope they remember that we’re heroes- Yeah … and that we’re not also terribly naughty, killing everyone.” So I think all of… by the end of the film I find it very hard to watch my work, and I try not to.

And sometimes, you’re asked to by the director, they want to… And on this one I was able to forget I was in a movie, and I was able to root for the hero, and the heroine, and I thought that was wonderful. So I just hope that audiences, root for us and root for us trying our best and trying our best to help the people in need and do good. So yeah, I think all, all the kind of deeply vengeful ones. I like seeing a woman also unleash the wrath. She has to know what fights to do.

Q : Can we call ’em out? What’s everyone’s favorite scene? Just shout it out. The glass, knife on the cheek.

Annabelle Wallis : We fight differently. I said, “Look I cannot…These stunt guys are huge, it won’t be believable if I all of a sudden have kung fu moves and I can take them down. So I was very adamant that I had to use the practical things around me. And in that scene actually, we were running out of light. There were boats coming, so it was gonna ruin our shot. They were like, “Annabelle, we have to shoot something.” And I just grabbed this piece of sugar glass, real glass. And we just… it was an improv moment. We just said, “Okay, what are we gonna do? We have to do this now.” So that was that scene. But thank you very much. That was one for the ladies.

ⓒCourtesy of Lionsgate 

Q: I love it too. How the spoilers without context of this film are gonna go crazy. Because if you just tell people- Oh, gosh … cheek knife, glass, padlock, they don’t know anything about what that means in the context of the film. Yes. But when they know, they really know. Speaking on that note, what was your favorite scene to film?

Annabelle Wallis : Look, the whole experience was magical. You don’t get to make films like that anymore or as many films like that anymore. And to shoot on location on a boat with an amazing crew and Jason and everyone involved was… I really loved every moment. I knew that it was a very unique experience. But, just any of the powerful strong female moments. I think that I got to express myself with my physicality and be equal to my lovely leading man. Not  that I could match him in any way, shape or form physically, but, yeah I think all those scenes that show Angie, just being human and trying her best to survive in this pressure cooker environment she finds herself in. I loved all of them. So yeah, not one specific, but all.

Q : To circle back to the, the prep element at the beginning, I’m sure there’s a lot of new things you learned on this film, but was there anything that particularly just came naturally to you, maybe muscle memory from a past project?

Annabelle Wallis : Of course, I think the dominant thing that I was grateful for was that I have far more bravery than common sense. Now that’s

Q : Now that’s a tagline if I’ve ever heard one. That’s really good.

Annabelle Wallis : There was a lot of “Annabelle, do you think you can run down the bow of the ship and then jump over there, and it’s been raining, so you might slip and fall off the boat.” “Yeah, sure, let’s go.” There was a lot of that. So yeah, I don’t know if I answered your question at all.

ⓒCourtesy of Lionsgate 

Q : I think bravery is a muscle memory thing for sure.

Annabelle Wallis : Yes, bravery.

Q : You mentioned earlier your brilliant stunt double on this film. Yes. And I love asking this question because back when I was in broadcast school and I was learning the tricks and all that, when we would wrap a post-show meeting with our Citrus TV crew, that was the name of the campus TV station, I would always say, “It takes a village.” Because I was one at the anchor desk, I had the easy job. I was just reading off a teleprompter. The kids running the cameras or in the edit bay or people running socials, they were the ones who were really working and making me look good. So this is my it takes a village question. Who on this film is an unsung hero to you who maybe didn’t get as much spotlight that you wanna shout out?

Annabelle Wallis : Every single crew member. What was asked of all these people, you forget. You forget that people are leaving their families for months on end. They are working very long hours. When you get in your car at night, they continue de-rigging, and they do what they do because they love their job.And you do what you do, and you deliver at the level you think is the best you can deliver for those people and the sacrifices that they’re making. So I’d say the Maltese crew that came on board that didn’t know any of us and we’d all had a shorthand.

We’d been working in London and coming over. Our drivers, our catering crew that had to work on a ship and to provide food for all of us. Our editor. Our editor who had to piece together film that was rained on or the scenes that were just… I think he’s just done an incredible job. And yeah, it, and hair and makeup. You can’t even imagine. Just so many people that they love their jobs, and it’s just so wonderful that you can be part of something and, part of a village of people that are that passionate.

Q : Yeah. If you’re ever out on a New York City rooftop, and follow me here with this one and you see all the lights in a residency building, and you realize each light, that’s a story. That’s a home. Someone’s in there. Someone’s with their family. Someone’s alone. Someone’s burning the midnight oil on their job. It’s the same thing with film credits too. Yeah. Every single name in those credits- … has a story and has such an important job and sacrificed so much to be there. I love you getting the chance to spotlight people like that.Yeah. Everyone make some noise for Annabelle.

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