Actors Tye Sheridan and Kali Reis as well as Director Jean-Stephane Sauvaire talk to The Inside Reel about approach, thematics, physicality, instinct and hyper-reality in regards to their new film: “Asphalt City” from Vertical Entertainment.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:15 I told him it was a mistake.
00:17 Get away from me.
00:19 Seriously, man, be careful.
00:21 We all work in the darkness.
00:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:30 You don't gotta let it inside you.
00:34 You ain't got what it takes for this life, yo.
00:37 The aspect of tone and finding the vision of what this film is,
00:43 because it's through his eyes.
00:46 So it's through Ty's eyes.
00:48 Where do you have to find the balance?
00:49 And then bringing in all these characters,
00:51 including characters like Nia, and making sure
00:54 that they fit within the feeling of what the film needs to be.
00:59 Yeah, I think I always kind of work the same.
01:01 You know, with my previous movie and stuff,
01:03 I love to be really immersive.
01:05 I like to be from one character point of view,
01:07 and this one is Ty Sheridan, you know,
01:09 Klaus, and then mix the reality, the kind
01:13 of non-professional actors, professional actors,
01:15 and all this kind of world to be as authentic as we can,
01:20 as realistic as we can, and trying
01:22 to find the tone of the movie, not being kind of a movie
01:27 about paramedics as we've seen before,
01:29 but more trying to be a realistic movie
01:32 about this job and this reality of New York City.
01:35 So I always have--
01:36 I love when I can match the reality
01:39 and the documentary kind of part of the life,
01:42 and dealing with real people, and then also being in a movie,
01:45 kind of matching all this world together,
01:48 trying to do something more immersive, more realistic
01:52 for the audience to participate in this kind of journey
01:55 of Ty Sheridan and Klaus in this movie.
02:00 You believe in heaven?
02:03 I don't know if I believe in heaven, but I believe in hell.
02:07 [SCREAMING]
02:11 One, two, three.
02:15 How long you been on the job?
02:17 A few weeks.
02:17 This guy from Colorado, I'm putting him in with Russ.
02:22 I usually get here 10 minutes early,
02:23 and I like to ride with the partners who do, too.
02:26 Yes, sir.
02:26 It sounds like you put yourself through the ringer on this one.
02:30 But who else--
02:31 We all did.
02:32 Yeah, who else did you do it better with than Penn?
02:35 Because he probably upped your game, and you upped his game.
02:37 Can you talk about that?
02:38 Because finding all these notes of trauma, sort of rage,
02:42 empathy, can be hard.
02:44 And sometimes it becomes instinct,
02:46 I would think, and reaction.
02:47 Could you talk about that and that approach for you?
02:50 Yeah.
02:51 Yeah, I mean, no, it was great working with Sean on this.
02:54 He's a very intense guy in the best way.
02:59 He really cares a lot about first responders in general,
03:02 but I think he really cared a lot
03:04 about conveying the authenticity of this community
03:08 and trying to capture that.
03:09 So both of us were doing a lot of ride-alongs leading up
03:12 to shooting.
03:14 And we were in New York two months
03:16 before we started shooting, doing ride-alongs
03:18 every Friday, Saturday night.
03:20 And then going through training in a classroom environment
03:25 together, learning how to do CPR, learning how to intubate,
03:28 learning how to give people IVs.
03:30 And we were doing all this together.
03:32 So it was very collaborative in that way.
03:34 We really leaned on each other through the process of that.
03:37 And he's playing a 25-year veteran medic,
03:40 so he really wanted to get it right.
03:42 And with Jean-Stephane's films, the way he shoots,
03:45 it's so hyper real.
03:47 The camera sees everything.
03:48 So we knew that we had to make it look real.
03:53 So yeah, it was a lot of fun.
03:56 It was very intense, I think, for everybody involved.
04:00 But yeah, I was really happy to have Sean as a partner on that.
04:06 Callie, can you talk about-- because we
04:07 talk about physicality and forming emotionality.
04:10 And with her, it's very specific in that.
04:13 Could you talk about that?
04:14 Because that's almost a different muscle
04:16 than you've been showing in the past two projects
04:19 we've talked on.
04:20 Could you talk about that and getting into that?
04:22 Because it's such a primal thing.
04:26 Yeah, I mean, nobody really knows
04:29 Nia's backstory or anybody's backstory
04:31 in any of these calls.
04:32 So with Nia, I just kind of build my own.
04:35 And especially being in that state, that type of trauma,
04:38 her physicality was really important to tell her story.
04:40 And you can kind of pick up on what's
04:42 going on with her physical appearance
04:45 and how she's acting in the situation that she's in.
04:48 So it was really important for me in that short period
04:50 of time, because like the paramedics,
04:52 you only have like 10 seconds to assess everything.
04:55 And as an audience member, it was really important for me
04:58 to the audience to kind of get that
04:59 while everything was going on.
05:01 And just being a very physical person anyway
05:04 and kind of using that as my tool and to my advantage,
05:07 it was really important for me to convey that for her.
05:09 So it's a very traumatic thing that they walk into with Nia.
05:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:17 [INAUDIBLE]
05:18 They'll die if you don't toot me.
05:19 Go, go, go.
05:21 You think these people like you?
05:23 [DOG BARKING]
05:24 [INAUDIBLE]
05:24 We're trying to treat the dog.
05:26 [INAUDIBLE]
05:26 [DOG BARKING]
05:28 You think you're saving people?
05:31 I give you about two weeks.
05:33 [BEEPING]
05:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:35 [CRYING]
05:36 What's going on?
05:37 30-year-old female.
05:38 She just gave birth.
05:39 Took some heroin for the pain.
05:40 [CRYING]
05:41 How's the baby?
05:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:45 I mean, you know, just the character itself, you know,
05:48 his psyche, the ambition of him, but also the idea of what--
05:53 I mean, when you're with Michael Pitt as LaFontaine,
05:58 you know, there's an aspect of, you know,
06:00 what is the greater good?
06:02 There's that interesting sort of good and evil gray area
06:05 that is so inherent.
06:07 And you see it when you're interacting with Catherine.
06:10 All these different things.
06:11 Can you talk about the internalization
06:13 versus the externalization of the rage of this man at times
06:17 and how you found balance, maybe?
06:19 Or did you find balance with it?
06:22 Yeah, well, I mean, the film is about medics, right?
06:25 And they are really, really important people
06:28 in our society in a way.
06:30 You know, they're our guardian angels.
06:32 And the film actually kind of symbolically
06:38 calls to the archangel Michael, who my character has up
06:41 on his wall in his bedroom.
06:43 And Michael really symbolizes guidance of souls,
06:52 but really is also known as a fierce warrior.
06:55 And that's what these medics do on a day-to-day basis.
06:58 They're kind of at war, not only with life and death,
07:03 but also their own moral dilemma and who to save
07:07 and who's worth saving.
07:08 So I think Michael's character, LaFontaine,
07:12 really does a great job of kind of conveying those themes.
07:17 And it's kind of explored throughout the film
07:20 in some of the characters' actions.
07:21 I don't want to spoil too much.
07:22 But yeah, it's definitely a fascinating thing
07:28 to think about.
07:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:32 I know what you're thinking.
07:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:35 [BEEPING]
07:38 Is it worth it?
07:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:42 It's the job.
07:44 I did what I thought was right.
07:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:49 You start doing this because you want to help people.
07:51 I don't want to go to the hospital.
07:53 [INAUDIBLE]
07:55 Sean, could you talk about-- because the actors, I mean,
07:57 especially with Sean and Ty, you know,
08:00 it's about being instinctive and reactive.
08:02 And acting sometimes is about reaction.
08:05 Could you talk about that and sort of finding
08:08 the energy in the scene?
08:09 I'll go back to Callie on this as well.
08:10 But could you talk about that and finding--
08:12 because it has to have that sort of high energy.
08:15 But you also have to see the morality that's
08:17 moving through it.
08:18 Because there's immorality, immorality.
08:20 You cannot judge these characters
08:22 based on what happens.
08:23 Yeah, it's always different.
08:25 You know, I did like two years, you know,
08:26 ride along in the back of the ambulance
08:28 trying to understand how it is, you know, the energy,
08:30 the people, the location, and stuff.
08:32 And I wanted to get this sense of emergency.
08:35 So we shot, you know, mostly like one shot, long shot,
08:38 you know, every scene.
08:40 For example, the Kelly scene, you know,
08:42 they get into the building and they see Kelly.
08:44 And then they go down with Kelly, you know,
08:46 at the end of the scene.
08:47 It was one shot.
08:48 So it was a 10-minute kind of shot.
08:50 Like this, it's almost realistic.
08:53 The actor, they are into the scene, you know.
08:55 There is no comfort zone, you know.
08:57 They are with the camera and stuff.
08:59 We try to keep this kind of energy
09:01 of the intensity of the scene.
09:02 So it's difficult for the actors.
09:05 But they have to be more focused.
09:06 And suddenly, they are into the scene.
09:08 I remember for Kelly, you know, it was difficult
09:10 because it's a tough scene, you know,
09:12 physically and stuff or whatever.
09:13 And we had to do it again and again from the beginning.
09:15 It's not like there is no, you can't, you know,
09:18 yeah, fake anything, you know.
09:20 You have to do it, you know.
09:21 And you have to give everything, every take and stuff.
09:24 So, and that's, I think, how you can catch this kind of,
09:28 kind of acting between the patient
09:30 and between the paramedics and all this kind of stuff.
09:33 Because, and the patient, you know,
09:35 most of them are non-professional actors.
09:37 So they wanted to tell their own story also to their body,
09:40 as well as physicality.
09:42 And you have to understand their own story, you know,
09:44 really quickly in a movie,
09:45 because you don't have that much time.
09:47 You see the body and you have to understand
09:49 who's this person, what's the background,
09:50 what's the problem and stuff.
09:52 And we try to have this kind of energy together,
09:55 you know, to be as realistic as we could,
09:58 you know, on every call and in every situation.
10:01 - I like, because Michael the Archangel,
10:02 just as a figure in mythology, religion,
10:05 however you want to talk about it,
10:06 is the idea of sacrifice.
10:08 He sacrifices himself,
10:11 but also through him you understand
10:14 why everybody does what he does,
10:15 why devils and angels are part of it.
10:19 Can you sort of talk about,
10:20 'cause you can't play metaphor, you can't play theme,
10:22 you have to play the reality.
10:24 And this is hyper real.
10:26 So how do you try to find sort of the ideas
10:29 of why he does what he does,
10:32 beyond just being, you know, I want to save people.
10:36 - Yeah, well, the movie kind of ebbs and flows
10:39 between something that is hyper real
10:41 and something that is surreal.
10:42 You know, I think that was partly what was,
10:44 what is fascinating about the film
10:47 is that, you know, you're simply,
10:51 it's about saving people,
10:53 but there are all these complex layers
10:56 that come along with that.
10:57 One, your own relationship to life and death,
10:59 your own relationship to the way,
11:02 the burden that you're carrying
11:03 and how it affects you.
11:04 One, in your professional life,
11:06 but two, your mental state and your personal relationships.
11:10 And three, how that causes you to act,
11:13 you know, in what the things you might wrestle with morally
11:19 in terms of, you know, performing in that role.
11:24 (upbeat music)
11:26 - Sometimes you just end up doing the complete opposite.
11:31 (upbeat music)
11:35 ♪ Do it ♪
11:36 - Tell the truth.
11:37 ♪ Do it ♪
11:38 - Did paramedic Rukovsky
11:39 intentionally withhold treatment?
11:43 - What am I doing?
11:45 - Helping people get better.
11:47 (dramatic music)
11:50 - I'm worried about you.
11:51 You need help.
11:54 - Kelly, could you talk about
11:56 acting as instinct versus technique?
11:58 'Cause I do remember like, obviously,
12:00 in "Night Country," when you came in,
12:01 you started beating up those people
12:03 when everything overwhelms you.
12:06 And you can sort of see almost the reverse internally
12:09 with this character as she's trying just not to be,
12:13 she's trying to be emotional,
12:14 but she's so emotional that she can't see the logic,
12:16 the basis between logic and emotion in these situations.
12:20 Can you talk about instinct in those moments
12:23 of reaction versus action?
12:26 - I think something like that,
12:27 it's one of those things where you're so overwhelmed
12:28 where it's not an outburst, it does turn internal
12:30 because you know, you can have a reaction to an outburst
12:33 and everything will be here.
12:34 But I think once you get past that threshold,
12:36 it really, it's almost like a shock.
12:37 You have everything just is kind of internal.
12:39 So it clouds your brain as a person going through that.
12:42 And then you mix other things
12:44 and what she was trying to, you know,
12:46 kind of subside things of going on.
12:48 She tried to, and then waking up to the reality,
12:51 trying to go back to non-reality.
12:53 It's just one of those things that I know for a fact
12:55 that she was in my own imagination to,
12:58 she just had to be internal because the outburst was there.
13:01 She solved that problem and that was all internal.
13:03 So to try to make something that internal read on camera
13:08 or read for the character, it was a lot, it was a dance.
13:10 It was a balance.
13:11 And it was just like, you know,
13:12 what is she actually feeling right now?
13:14 This is so overwhelming that it comes back to her
13:16 and it's a still chaos is the best way I could describe it.
13:19 And it was interesting to explore that.
13:23 There's so many factors in that very, you know,
13:25 that 30 seconds that is going on with this character
13:28 between being the thing happened, she did the thing,
13:31 and then she got woken up to do another thing.
13:34 You know what I mean?
13:35 There's so much that happened.
13:35 So it was, it's a internal like calm chaos
13:40 that you have to see with her.
13:41 (screaming)
13:44 (dramatic music)
13:47 (dramatic music)
13:50 (gunshots)
13:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]