Josh Hartnett & Katee Sackoff talk to The Inside Reel about stakes, approach and humor in regards to their new action comedy: "Fight Or Flight" from Vertical Entertainment.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Someone's put a head on him.
00:17What the?
00:23Start going through the luggage, there must be something we can use as weapons.
00:30The security of millions is at stake.
00:39You have to balance the stakes, but also with the frenetic nature of whatever you're doing, whether it was trapped or another life or anything we could talk about.
01:04Could you talk about amplitude in terms of the acting, looking at how exactly I mean, you look at your director, you look at the script, but you also have your own internal clock.
01:14Could you each talk about that in terms of like this kind of kind of movie?
01:19Sure. Katie, do you want to start?
01:22Oh, my gosh.
01:23I it's it's such a vast question.
01:26I it's I think for me, the the main thing with Catherine was making sure that her intensity was was matching the intensity that was on the plane.
01:40But in a very, very different way, a more contained way and and really just staying true to to her in the sense that it was like, OK, I have the ticking time clock of this sense that once this plane lands, I need to figure out exactly how to handle this situation.
01:56And so having that energy with her the whole time whilst being a tea kettle that's almost erupting is that was the challenge.
02:09Lucas, don't hang up. I know I owe you an explanation, but right now I have a developing situation and I need your help.
02:16Come on, you know that I wouldn't call unless it was extremely urgent.
02:21Are you seriously calling me after two years to ask for my help?
02:27Two years.
02:28Yeah, either.
02:30Now, you know what? You're not worth it. I am not your friend. I am not a toy that you can pick up and put down. I am not your f***ing patsy.
02:39So you can take those enormous balls of yours and you can go and f*** yourself.
02:43Lucas, I understand. Please hear me out.
02:45F*** you and die.
02:47Please, Lucas.
02:48Shit.
02:50Well, I think the known stakes for Catherine were higher than the known stakes for Lucas.
02:55Lucas goes onto this plane thinking he's got to find this thing and maybe he gets out of this horrible situation he's been in, right?
03:02Right.
03:03He doesn't realize he's going out of the frying pan and into the fire.
03:05This is not something that he has an overview of.
03:12So I think Catherine has more to deal with, more on her plate, until Lucas ends up having more on his plate.
03:19But he's dealing with it in real time. He has no concept of what's coming.
03:23And I think that that kind of duality of purpose and of sort of knowledge helps kind of set those scenes apart and makes them good partners, you know, to cut back and forth between.
03:37Yeah.
03:44Wrong number.
03:45Don't answer that.
03:53Hello. How may I help you?
03:55Hi. May, is it?
03:57Would you pass the phone to the roguishly handsome blonde at the end of the bar, please?
04:03Hello?
04:04Are he in the...
04:05Hello?
04:06Come on, May. I know he's there.
04:09No.
04:10No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
04:13No, no, no, no, no!
04:14It's the last place I can drink in peace!
04:16But it's also the duality of, like, physicality versus emotionality.
04:20Because I know, Katie, you're used to being very physical in a lot of things that you have to be very reserved here.
04:26Whereas, Josh, you're just like, I mean, you're just going completely gonzo in this.
04:31And it's great, but it also requires a certain schizophrenic mindset, I would think, to do that, even though it's very specific in all the moves between you and the stuntman.
04:40Could you talk about that frenetic energy and sort of matching that in your head?
04:44Well, I mean, I like this character because you're meeting this guy at the very lowest point of his life, and then you're making his life worse.
04:59And the whole point of, I think, good 90s-style action movies, action comedies especially, is seeing your leads not quite be able to pull it off or have the audience think that they aren't going to be able to pull it off.
05:16And these days, we see a lot of action movies where you're sure that this guy is just going to win the day or this girl is just going to win the day.
05:22And it's nice, I think, as filmmakers, to be able to bring that back in a way to reality.
05:31So, yes, there are all the gonzo aspects of it, but all of those things are just there to serve one purpose, which is maybe this person isn't going to make it.
05:38Maybe this person is just going to get killed in this next go round.
05:42And to have that jeopardy for the audience, it increases their interest and their sort of emotional involvement with the character.
05:50Who hired you? You're not even sober.
05:58I'm getting way closer than I'd like to be.
06:00If I bring your ghost in alive, I'm free.
06:07What the hell are you doing?
06:09I was trying to help you!
06:10Are you kidding? Because it also involves humor.
06:12Sometimes very subtle, dry humor, and sometimes over the top.
06:15You know, could you guys talk about the importance of humor?
06:18Because humor has to be done in a specific way, even in these style 90s type of films, as you were saying, Josh.
06:24What do you think, Katie?
06:26You know, I think that the humor, it was so beautifully done, because I think that you're almost sitting for Catherine, sitting in the audience's perspective in moments, and just commenting on the absolute absurdity that she's witnessing, like, you know, play out in front of her.
06:44And so for me, I think it was quite easy, because I was witnessing the absurdity on that plane, per se.
06:52But I thought it was just masterfully done on the plane, with, with, with, with everyone there, so.
07:03Now these people have paid a lot of money for first class service, and I cannot have them disturbed.
07:07Stop! Please!
07:13Stop! Please!
07:17Stop!
07:25Stop!
07:28Don't, stop!