That’s the feel-good aspect of this end-of-the-world story?I hope that speaks to the audience in the same way. It's about what we will remember in th
That’s the feel-good aspect of this end-of-the-world story?
I hope that speaks to the audience in the same way. It’s about what we will remember in the last days of our lives. Those are the moments that will flash across our mind. I have a hunch—obviously. I’m still here, so I don’t know—but I have a hunch those moments are not necessarily the large moments. They’re the compact moments. And the compact moments themselves are not compact.
What was your introduction to this story? The book, the script …?
I responded immediately to Mike Flanagan’s screenplay, and then I obviously went back to the story in Stephen King’s collection, If It Bleeds.I found it so ingenious, playing with time and playing with perspective.
One of the things we know going into this film is that at some point, Chuck has an epic dance sequence. Tell me about constructing that and the choreography by Mandy Moore (who’s best known for So You Think You Can Dance, 2016’s La La Land, and the dance numbers in Taylor Swift’s Eras tour.)
As described by Stephen King, it’s the most free and fluid and elegant and precise that he has ever moved. He just dances with freedom and precision, and it crystallizes in a perfect moment of form and expression. And I thought: no pressure. [Laughs.]
How long did you have to rehearse?
I had to learn in six weeks the full regimen of any dance training. We did jazz, swing, salsa, cha-cha, the Charleston, bossa nova, polka, quickstep, samba. I can’t think of all of them … There were so many routines.
Fun or painful?
I loved it. I love dancing anyway. I’ve never danced at this level before. Working with Mandy and her assistant choreographer, Stephanie Powell [best known for Wicked], in London, and Taylor Gordon, the drummer, and Annalise Basso, who plays Janice, who I was dancing with … It was just so fun to put this together.
Taylor plays a busker in this scene, a woman who is just playing her drum kit for cash on a street corner when her rhythms catch Chuck’s ear. And Annalise is a stranger who joins him in the spur of the moment. How do you keep it looking like it’s impromptu, but still precisely planned?
We didn’t have a lot of time, and we just were thrown in at the deep end. Mandy worked with Annalise for a couple of weeks in Los Angeles. I worked with Stephanie for a couple of weeks in London. Then they flew to London for a week, and we put it all together. I’ve never learned anything with such intensity, I think.
Why do you think this scene hits the people who’ve seen it so difficult?
The gray man in the gray suit and the gray tie puts his gray suitcase down and starts moving his hips to the beat of those drums. He’s on his way to a meeting, and now he’s probably going to be tardy for the meeting. He just thinks this is a jam, and “I’m into it.” And he starts to move. It had to have that total freedom and joy and vitality and life inside it.
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