In September of 2010, straight from the Toronto International Film Festival, I got to do something very cool: I went to Moscow and visited the set of Summit Entertainmentâs alien invasion movie, The Darkest Hour. Normally when I say I got to visit the set, it involves going to a huge soundstage and sitting around conducting interviews. However, The Darkest Hour was a bit different: the production was filming in 3D on the streets of the city and in and around some of the most famous landmarks on the planet.  It was a set visit unlike any Iâve ever been on and it should make for some awesome visuals in the finished film. While I already posted the group interview I did with producers Timur Bekmambetov & Tom Jacobson, Emile Hirsch, Joel Kinnaman, and director Chris Gorak, it's time for the final on set interview and it's with Max Minghella and Olivia Thirlby.During the interview they talked about filming in Moscow, the 3D, who they play, working in the sci-fi genre, the weapons, whether or not they watch playback, and so much more. Hit the jump to check it out.Before going any further, if you haven't seen the latest trailer, you should watch that first. The Darkest Hour gets released Christmas Day.And here's a few things to know from the interview:
- The main characters meet in a club scene towards the beginning of the film.
- Minghellaâs character becomes the de facto leader of the group after things start to get hairy.
- Minghellaâs character and Emile Hirschâs character have known each other since they were young and are both from Seattle.
- The Moscow setting adds a sense of desperation for the characters wanting and needing to know if things are alright back home in the United States.
- The filmâs stereographer told them that in 3D, actors are under a microscope. A little goes a long way, because everything is more detectible in 3D since the contrast is so much greater.
- The 3D was a integral part of the way they were thinking about making the film.
- One of the things they had to focus on in every shot was keeping the energy level high. In each scene, they had to keep the energy level and alertness high so that things donât fall flat in the middle of the movie, given the dire circumstances the characters find themselves in.
- Thirlby was the first person cast on the project.
- The film takes an optimistic approach to humanity, in that the character donât necessarily turn on each other when stress gets high. Regardless of nationality they all work together.
Question: 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 weâre back on nights for pretty much the rest of the deal, right?
Max Minghella: Yeah.
Iâm curious, how is that? To adjust to the [time change]?
Minghella: Itâs just like jetlag.
Thirlby: Yeah, itâs like jetlag. And then once you adjust, then itâs like youâre on a different time schedule. At least itâs regular, but itâs very difficult when itâs inconsistent between nights and days, because then itâs like being constantly jetlagged.
Can you talk about your characters?
Minghella: Yeah. Olivia, would you like to start?
[Olivia laughs]
Minghella: We should describe each otherâs characters. Olivia plays like a beautiful action heroine. And we donât know too much about our characters before we get them, and weâve obviously probably all invented our own versions of our various backstories. But you know, the film gets into the action fairly quickly. We all meet in this club scene, and thatâs where the majority of the character development happens. Weâre also stranded in Moscow for various different reasons, and Oliviaâs character has come with Rachaelâ¦[to Olivia] Iâm speaking for you. Iâll let you carry on.
Thirlby: Yeah, Iâll speak for you now. (laughs) 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, Iâd say my character quite has the hots for him, and says many times that she thinks heâs cute, cuter than his friend.
Minghella: Itâs a mutual feeling, even though I donât [say] it vocally, Iâm thinking it.
Thirlby: And yeah, do you wanna talk about some of your made-up character back-story?
Minghella: 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 itâs with Emileâs character Sean, in Oliviaâs case itâs with Rachaelâs 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, weâre both â Emile and I â both from Seattle, and weâve both known each other probably since we were four or five years old. So a lot of the work weâve been doing is just trying to sort of make sure that thatâs believable, and truthful, and that you feel that thereâs some sense of history there.
Thirlby: Yeah, itâs umâ¦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 sheâs sort of a very proper girl, traditional values. These are all things you donât really find out in the movie, but theyâre things that I like to think about as Iâm 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?
Thirlby: Weâre in a bubble, thatâs for sure.
Minghella: I always prefer shooting on locations, because when Iâm at home itâs harder to sort of get lost in the world of whatever youâre making. It does, it does force this bond and community amongst a group.
Thirlby: If we were shooting in L.A., Max and I definitely wouldnât be friends.
Minghella: We would neverâ¦yeah. But here weâre sortaâ¦[Laughs] But definitely, I think it forces concentration, yeah, and itâs much more like, feels more like summer camp.
Thirlby: And Moscowâs likeâ¦
Minghella: Itâs an extraordinary place to be.
Thirlby: Yeah, and you definitely get the sense that youâre 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 theyâre 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.
Minghella: And in terms of the film itself, I think itâs gonna become such a big part of this movie, the location of it. Itâs a character unto itself. But yeah, itâs an extraordinary-looking place, as youâve probably seen.
People keep saying itâs a character unto itself. What kind of character does Moscow play? A hero, a villain?
Minghella: I donât think itâs a villain or a hero. I think itâs just a place with incredible history, an incredibly dramatic history, and that resonates in the environment and the way it looks. Itâs so unusual â
Thirlby: And it really doesnât 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 itâs possible they were scouting some other European cities. And it was difficult, because even places that are relatively nearby didnât look anything like Moscow. And itâs really true, thereâs just no place quite like it.
Do either of you believe in aliens?
Minghella: I certainly do. I mean, I think itâd be pretty unrealistic to think weâre the only planet in the world with thinking beings. Itâs kind of a strange conceit. Especially given how many universes there must be. Yeah, I definitely do.
Thirlby: Yeah, I would say that I donât, I donât knowâ¦I havenât put too much time into thinking about it, but Iâve definitely heard way crazier ideas than aliens existing. There are other really crazy ideas that people regularly believe in, soâ¦sure. Itâs 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 youâve been doing differently?
Thirlby: Well, our 3D tech guy⦠What exactly is his job title?
Publicist: Stereographer.
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 itâs true, the contrast is a lot greater. Like darks look darker, and light things look lighter, and itâs been kind of a challenge to keep that in mind, especially when youâre playing with emotions that are as pure as fear, which is the predominant emotion that weâre playing, it can be challenging and fun also to keep in mind that just a little bit goes a long way. Itâs 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?
Thirlby: [to Max] Do you watch playback? I only watch playback on the wide shots. [Laughs]
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 Iâve 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 what weâve been shooting, and actually physically shooting these scenes, is that I think 3D willâbecause itâs such an integral part of the way weâre thinking about making this film-I think it will have a depth to it that wouldnât have been possible without that technology. I think a sense of place, and a sense of experience that is really linked to that technology. So thatâs an exciting thing to be a part of, and a very recent thing to be a part of.
I understand thereâs a lot of master [cameras] going on, and I know [on most movies] actors [on certain takes] are like âok, Iâm in position, but who cares?â But you have to be on in the first take. There can be no take where youâre not 100% there, right?
Minghella: Right.
Thirlby: One of the things that we are constantly trying to focus and re-focus ourselves on is the energy that we bring to the picture. And you know, the stakes are really high for our characters. And even if weâre shooting a scene like we were yesterday, where weâre just moving along a street, itâs very important that even from a wide shot, that the energy registers. That we donât look like weâre just kind of moseying along because then it falls flat, the whole movie just wouldnât be believable. So we spend a lot of time thinking about ways to convey a sense of alertness and high energy even on the wide shots.
Minghella: Absolutely. Iâve certainly never been that calculating on anything when Iâm working. I mean, you always try and give 100% on every take.
Thirlby: Yeah.
Minghella: Yeah, itâs self-preservation.
Howâd you get on the project?
Thirlby: Iâ¦got cast.
Minghella: Olivia was the first person castâ¦
Thirlby: I was.
Minghella: I remember hearing about that, that was the talk of the town, everyone was like, âOlivia Thirlbyâs doing that alien movie.â
Thirlby: [Laughs] I met with Chris Gorak and Tom and Monnie, the producers, and that meeting was followed by a read, an audition, and then uhâ¦good news. And thatâs pretty much how it always goes. Thatâs the process.
Do you get to handle any artillery or firearms?
Thirlby: I donât. Iâm a girl, so I never get to play with [those things].
Minghella: Itâs definitely fun for a boy, yeah. I think when youâre like five years old, and youâre runningâ¦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 and diving under stuff. Itâs an amazing feeling to get to do it on the scale of so many people taking it seriously. Itâs basically the exact same thing, except everyone is taking it really seriously and working really hard to help you. Itâs such a blessing, and such a crazy thing to be able to do.
Thirlby: Totally.
Minghella: Itâs like a total boyâs 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?
Thirlby: Umâ¦itâs 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 some fiction, and maybe like Mystery Science Theater. But thatâs not really sci-fi. But I suddenly feel like itâs taken this really big place in my life.
Minghella: Oliviaâs about to do Judge Dredd after this.
Thirlby: Yeah. After this Iâm gonna go do another 3D action/sci-fi movie, which Iâm unbelievably excited about. So Iâve kind of gone from never thinking about it too much to it suddenly seems to be my entire world. And I like it.
Have you been watching classic sci-fi to brush up?
Thirlby: Um, I havenât started yet, butâ¦do you have any suggestions? [Laughs]
[someone recommends a Twilight Zone episode]
Thirlby: Do you know what itâs called?
Itâs called âThe Monsters Are Due on Maple Streetâ.
Minghella: Thatâs a good title.
That episodeâs mostly about how people react under the threat, they donât know whatâs going on, but they just immediately turn on each other. And itâs a pretty harsh commentary on our society. Is there any of that in this film?
Minghella: I was thinking about this exact thing today. I think the film is actually optimistic about humanity. And I was thinking about how in the scene that weâre shooting today when we first meet the Russian soldiers, that thereâs such immediate camaraderie, and itâs a very sort of positive outlook on how people would survive. And Iâm very proud of that and happy about that. I mean thereâs certainlyâ¦thereâs a sequence where we go and hide in this bunker right after the attack, and I think that thatâs probably a more complicated emotional time which weâre only privy to moments of. But I imagine that if that was the entire film youâd probably see some uglier parts of these characters. But fortunately the film chooses to focus on more empowering parts of humanity.
How much do your characters know about whatâs happening in the rest of the world given that the power has gone out?
Thirlby: Um, we get sort of very small pieces of information that weâre 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.