On the sidelines of The 5th Wave, Nick Robinson and Maika Monroe pretty much steal the show from the film’s leads. The majority of The 5th Wave follows Chloë Grace Moretz as she attempts to locate her lost brother in the midst of an alien invasion, but the B-plot tracks Nick Robinson and Maika Monroe as they’re drafted into a rebel force against the invaders. The military, on the brink of collapse, has turned to children and young-adults to pick up the slack as a militia. Yes – this is very Ender’s Game but there’s still a subversive edge in seeing the government train six-year olds into murderous agents.
Nick Robinson co-stars as Ben Parish – before the invasion he was a high school jock but after the invasion, after watching his parents and his sister die – he’s a shell of a person, humorously referred to as ‘Zombie’. Robinson gives a surprisingly nuanced performance, balancing the blankness of post-traumatic stress with flourishes of intense rage. Robinson’s matched by Maika Monroe as ‘Ringer’ – the no-nonsense, tougher-than-the-boys ace shot, destined to be pretty much every young girl’s favorite character. The two make a good-team and have an easy-going rapport amidst all the explosions and CGI shenanigans.
In the following interview with the actors, they discuss their favorite young adult novels, working opposite green screens and how their characters compare to the book counterparts.
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Nick Robinson & Maika Monroe:
- What was the quintessential young adult novel you read growing up?
- How does your character in The 5th Wave compare to the book counterpart?
- Given the book series is still going on, do you know your characters’ fates in the final installment?
- What was the most memorable moment from shooting?
- How does the finished green screen compare to what you imagined when you were shooting?
