Flamethrower-wielding, arse-kicking assassin Eve Maccaro is Ana De Armas' coolest movie character yet. Alongside director Len Wiseman, the 'Ballerina' star reveals some secrets from the set and tells NME about her all-time fave albums.
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00:00Needing to know is what got us banished from the Garden of Eden.
00:07Are you prepared to be cast out again, Eve?
00:13Yes.
00:14Hi, I'm Alex Mename, and today I'm joined by the all-action cinematic duo
00:18of ballerina director Len Wiseman and star of the show, Anna Dramas.
00:22How are we doing?
00:23Hey, thank you.
00:24My first question then, Anna.
00:26There are some absolutely insane stunts to have to do in this film.
00:29But what was harder, learning to do on point in ballet or wield a flamethrower?
00:35I'm going to go with the flamethrower just because, you know,
00:39when I was a little girl I really wanted to be a ballerina
00:42and I took some ballet classes just for fun.
00:45It really does put a lot of pain and everything on your feet, on your toes.
00:50It looks so painful in that sequence with all the blood and stuff.
00:54Meanwhile, when I was using the flamethrower, that was really intense
00:58and another, you know, it's just something I never thought I was going to have to use
01:03and just like carry with me, hitting people with it and just the kick that the flame has
01:10is like very powerful, you know, and the fire and the heat.
01:13It was just...
01:14Oh, so you've got to imagine like the difference of, you know, like shooting a flamethrower.
01:17But when you're lighting somebody on fire, it feels like horrifying.
01:22It is.
01:23Because they're screaming and they're on fire and it's just, it's all really happening.
01:28I read that to protect them, they coated them in grease.
01:31How does that help? In my head that's flammable.
01:34Yeah, no, it's a protective gel.
01:35It is an isolating temperature gel, something going on there that they do.
01:40This is the best of the best people, you know, working with fire and it is impressive what they do.
01:46It's really like, wow.
01:47Anna, tell me what was the longest take you had to do?
01:50Because there are lots of one take shots in this.
01:53And did you have any moments that were like, ah, because someone messed up a take right at the end?
01:57Oh, yeah, I mean...
01:59I did quite a few of them. I have my theory on...
02:02What do you think was the longest take? I think it was the grenade? No.
02:05No, I think it was the kitchen.
02:06No, it was the kitchen with the knife.
02:08Yeah, yeah.
02:09Because the kitchen goes all the way from downstairs, upstairs, to the whole fight.
02:14That leads all the way into the plate fight.
02:16Yes.
02:17You think that though, it's like when she goes up to the second floor and finds this woman and they start, yeah.
02:22How many times did you have to do that?
02:24Quite a few.
02:25And then like...
02:27We're usually on a...
02:28My...
02:29Len kept saying, just another one.
02:30Yeah.
02:31Just another one.
02:32Remember?
02:33Yeah.
02:34But it was like, but here's what's great.
02:35It's like, I am, you know, I...
02:36Yes, I will keep, you know, you keep refining, but there's...
02:41You practice out all of these moments and everything has a cue.
02:45And it will get to like, we got to a language where we'd be watching the monitor on like a really long take.
02:51Everything's working. Everything's working. Everything's...
02:53And there's just one thing that could be better. And I'm like, I get to the point where I'm about to point to the screen and Ana's going like, I got it. I'm on it.
02:59And like...
03:00Yeah.
03:01It was...
03:02Yeah.
03:03But that one, I think, we kind of got to about eight, probably eight takes or so.
03:09Yeah.
03:10Eight is a big number when you're fighting and doing all these things.
03:14Yes.
03:15I asked because I read this interview about the TV show Adolescence, which I'm sure you've heard of.
03:20Yeah.
03:21Because each episode is one take.
03:22Wonderful show, by the way.
03:23Yeah.
03:24Incredible.
03:25Great, yeah.
03:26But Ashley Waters, who is in episode two, I think, was talking about how they did the whole take of the whole episode.
03:31And it ends with him chasing this kid down the street.
03:34Mm-hmm.
03:35And he accidentally yelled the actor's name rather than the character's name at the end of this, like, 35.
03:39I saw that.
03:40So they had to go out back and do the whole thing again.
03:41I saw that, yeah.
03:42Yeah.
03:43Oh, my God.
03:44I would...
03:45If that was me, I would die.
03:46Yeah.
03:47Even, I mean, I feel bad every time I screw up, you know, a take.
03:52Yeah.
03:53It's a...
03:54Because there's so much work, you know, put into this and everyone is really trying to do their best and it's so challenging for every department.
04:01Everybody.
04:02And when it's...
04:03I know.
04:04And the thing that I do is...
04:05And then the focus guy goes, oh, it's out of focus.
04:08Soft.
04:09It's a sick kind of pressure.
04:10Does that really happen with the focus?
04:11But there's an energy behind it and I think there's a different relationship with the audience when I'm watching.
04:18That if it's a longer take, the more tension you build, especially when it's actually Anna going through,
04:25then I think the audience, rather than going, oh, that's cool, like watching something that's cut, you actually go, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.
04:31And you get more tense to when it's done, there's a release that really, like, it grabs the energy in a way that...
04:38Absolutely.
04:39Well, the energy is real.
04:40You really have to do it.
04:41You really have to be so, you know, sharp in everything that's going on.
04:46Especially because we're dealing with guns and even though the safety on set is, like, really well, you know, organized and everything, but still, it's like, you know, it's really happening.
04:58So you do feel the tension and the energy that everyone is putting into this shot.
05:03That door will lock sooner than you think.
05:07You can still leave.
05:09You still have a choice.
05:12And it means a music magazine, if you didn't know, and so we always ask at the end of every interview, what is an album that you always go back to?
05:31It's the cure.
05:32Oh, I was going to say the cure.
05:34Were you?
05:35Yes.
05:36Really?
05:37Yeah.
05:38The cure.
05:39Oh, no.
05:40Oh, no.
05:41Just because this morning I...
05:42Anyways, yes.
05:44Nice to meet you.
05:45Nice to meet you.
05:46Yeah.
05:47I think we're going to get along.
05:48Yeah.
05:49What is it about the cure that you both love?
05:50I don't know.
05:51One, it's a kind of feeling that, you know, part of my past, but it's also, it has a mood
05:59to it, but also a bit of, it kind of picks your spirits up a little bit.
06:03What about you, Anna?
06:04Is it the cure?
06:05Or I read that you also like Childish Gambino.
06:07You know, it depends.
06:09I also love Leon Bridges, any album from, I mean, especially the, what's it called,
06:16Antti from Rihanna.
06:17Yeah.
06:18I love that album.
06:19Do you get to go to many gigs sort of when you're not working?
06:22Not recently, no.
06:23I haven't.
06:24The last one I went to was The Cure.
06:25Really?
06:26That's cool.
06:27Yeah, at the Hollywood Bowl.
06:29See, that's the problem since I haven't been in LA in so long.
06:32Yeah.
06:33I'm missing out on all those.
06:34What did I go to?
06:35No, the last gig I went to was my...
06:36I went to Lauryn Hill, actually.
06:38Oh, really?
06:39Where was that?
06:40In LA.
06:41Oh, amazing.
06:42Yeah.
06:43I've got a wrap there, but thanks so much for chatting to you guys.
06:45And what may I ask is your name?
06:49When you think of me, you should think of fire.