'Presence' stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Julia Fox, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday and West Mulholland stop by The Hollywood Reporter's studio in Park City during the Sundance film festival and talk being sworn to secrecy for this film project. Plus, Liang shares her real-life encounter with a ghost during filming and Fox shares her dreams of going to outer space.
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00:00 Does anyone have like a really good goal for 2024 or something they're like dying to accomplish or do this year?
00:05 Eat well
00:07 Eat well
00:09 Go to outer space
00:11 For a lot of us we didn't know this movie was happening until like three weeks ago
00:18 Which is very exciting. But what did what was that like for you guys? Were you sitting on this like big fat?
00:24 secret for a long time
00:26 Yeah. Yeah, I mean we were all
00:29 sworn to secrecy threatened with violence I
00:32 Think I was able to say like we shot it in New Jersey
00:35 And I was about it cuz everybody's like, where are you? Why aren't you at school?
00:38 I'm like, well, I'm in New Jersey and you know be there soon guys. Okay, I didn't say anything
00:43 I just thought it'd be safer to not mention it then I think once you
00:47 Give somebody that responsibility it's theirs and it's too much. So I think it's better to just keep it to yourself
00:53 Did anybody tell anyone? Yeah
00:58 Lapped you have my dependents. Yeah, my friends are they're really thorough really writer guys, so
01:04 There's a bolt. That's actually a really good way to root out like the true the true people as if oh
01:11 I have like three friends left. So they've all been weeded out. Yeah
01:16 Was anyone
01:20 Actually spooked during any part of the filming of this movie
01:24 Well, I was a little bit spooked because there was actually a ghost in my hotel room while we were filming this movie
01:31 Incredible cuz my next question was has anyone seen a ghost Wow. Okay, very on-brand
01:36 There's yeah an entity there. Why what hotel was it?
01:42 It was the Holwood suites and Cranford the home with sweets by Hilton by the Garden State, Iowa
01:48 This is independent filmmaking
01:52 Yeah, no judgment that was like right next to it all people so I was so I think there was just a lot of spirits
01:58 And yeah, I experienced some supernatural things
02:02 I hear all the time of people who are on these kinds of like horror thriller sets that then start having these paranormal
02:08 activities and it's almost like you conjure them up because you're
02:11 thinking about it and then and then you proceed as planned it and then you manifest it and then suddenly or
02:17 You've opened that door to the unknown
02:20 She she had toilets flushing. She had knocking our wives
02:23 Alarms going off. Were you guys playing pranking you said well after the first
02:31 Ghost happening with Kalina. We decided it would be funny because our rooms are next to each other
02:36 So she heard the scratching and she like texted me
02:39 She's like are you in your hotel room? And I was like no and I wasn't so that was an actual ghost the next night
02:45 Me and Wes decided to like knock and scratch on the wall so that she could have a second
02:50 They cut holes in their bed sheets
02:58 We have to pay for that this independent movie. That's a lot of the budget going into you know fines from the
03:04 Homewood suites what's like one?
03:07 Top of mind thing from this experience that felt different
03:11 Steven has a had a very specific vision and David Koepp who wrote this script. It was very
03:16 concentrated very tight and compact and
03:20 and so therefore, you know, we had to be very prepared to just
03:26 Be in this situation where they were gonna he was gonna shoot and go because Steven does that anyway?
03:31 she's very quickly and people know him for that, but
03:33 I think you know
03:36 Understanding that it was just it was it really kind of brought us together even faster and even though it was a 13-day shoot
03:43 That was condensed to 11 days
03:45 We really just connected really well together
03:48 When people become more successful, what's a splurge that you treat yourself to or like something? That's videos
03:57 That's a really good one
04:03 Still to this day what you say Legos we actually
04:06 We just did a Lord of the Rings watch party
04:14 All 14 hours and we built a like Lego Rivendell together. It's like a dorm floor
04:18 It was like one of the greatest experiences. That's my idea of fun right there
04:21 Love Legos. Does anyone have like a luxury that you cannot live without?
04:27 Me sleep. Yeah, I don't have it
04:31 That luxury, but I'd like to get that to have it
04:34 I would purchase in if I came through but there's just no way to get where I was in the day
04:40 Does anyone have like a really good goal for 2024 or something? They're like dying to accomplish or do this year?
04:46 Eat well
04:48 You won't
04:49 Go to outer space
04:51 phrase
04:55 I'm a zombie cutting it out in the universe. I'd like to go to put it out. Who knows?
05:00 Someone could watch it Jeff Bezos
05:03 He were Branson or Bezos, so do you not care?
05:07 Billionaire doesn't matter whoever has room on the space. No submarines, though
05:14 - Wow.
05:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]