‘Underwater’ cast members Kristen Stewart, Jessica Henwick, and Mamoudou Athie discuss the “gruesome” circumstances that came with filming the horror movie, Kristen Stewart explains why she’d never do a movie like this again, and shares the “dope” reason she shaved her head in this interview with CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb.
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00:00Or are you holding your breath underwater?
00:02How do you prep for that kind of thing?
00:04I'm just in the shower, just like,
00:05letting it hit me in the face.
00:06Yeah, me too.
00:07I'm serious.
00:09Listen carefully.
00:11You are now 5,000 miles from land,
00:14and you're descending seven miles
00:15to the bottom of the ocean.
00:22Film's great.
00:23I'm sick.
00:24I'm still catching my breath.
00:26It's a lot.
00:27My colleagues were drawing comparisons
00:29between Nora and Ripley from Alien.
00:32I was wondering how you feel about that,
00:34and if there's any other badasses that inspired
00:36your performance in particular.
00:38Yeah.
00:39Oh, man, it's the worst comparison,
00:41because she's, like, the best, because she is the best.
00:44I think there are certain inspirations
00:46that are pretty striking.
00:47We obviously are fans of Alien, Sigourney Weaver,
00:52even just, like, The Abyss.
00:54Like, certain sort of really claustrophobic sort
00:56of underwater movies were definitely
00:58heavily influenced in the movie.
01:01So yeah, I mean, that's rad.
01:02I think it's kind of rare to have, like, a female character
01:05be the one that, like, steps up in the end
01:06and kind of, like, shoulders the weight of whatever,
01:10the sort of, like, she's, like, whatever.
01:14She's a weird, bald-headed, strange,
01:17anti-social little, like, you know, anti-hero.
01:20So I get the comparison.
01:21But at the same time, bow down to the inspiration.
01:24You are no stranger to action in film,
01:28but this is a super unique concept.
01:30It's super action-packed.
01:31What was it about the action and physicality in this film
01:34that's different from your past experiences?
01:36See, the funny thing is, when I signed up to the film,
01:37I didn't think of it as an action film,
01:39and I didn't even contemplate the physical aspect of it.
01:42And then I was, I'm sorry, I just burped.
01:45It's okay, we all do it.
01:46Then I was blown away by how dumb I was.
01:51Why?
01:52Because, it's like Vincent said.
01:54Oh, yeah, did you read the script?
01:55Did you read the script?
01:55It says right there.
01:57It's like, yeah, go wet underwater.
01:58Yeah, that we would have to face
02:00all of these difficult aspects to the film.
02:03Yeah, Will says one day we're all moaning about the suits,
02:05and he's like, come on, come on.
02:07Did you read the script?
02:09It was cold underwater?
02:11Did you sink?
02:12It really made me laugh.
02:13I know, it was kind of embarrassing, actually.
02:15So you were caught off guard
02:16by how physically taxing it was, then?
02:18Yeah. Yeah.
02:19Yeah, because it's not like we're doing, like,
02:20it's not like we're doing chase scenes or anything.
02:22It's just that those suits were so cumbersome, and...
02:27And oddly fitting.
02:29They, don't get me, don't get this wrong.
02:31Like, the people that made them did an amazing job.
02:34They did it in, like, a blink of an eye.
02:36It looked so cool.
02:37And they looked, like, amazing, and as an anime fan,
02:39I was like, oh, I'm in a mech suit, this is awesome.
02:42But then the reality of it just, like, crushing you.
02:44It's like, oh, okay.
02:46It hurts.
02:46That's cool.
02:47Your character was an anime fan, too.
02:49That's funny.
02:51So, did the...
02:53Ha!
02:54You forgot?
02:54Did, I just watched it this morning.
02:56Were you holding your breath underwater?
02:58How do you prep for that kind of thing?
03:00I'm just in the shower,
03:01just, like, letting it hit me in the face.
03:03I wondered, I wonder, I'm serious.
03:06There was really, like, no amount of, like,
03:09water torture that I could have, like,
03:10tried to subject myself to to get ready for this.
03:14It was, like, awful.
03:17It really hurt and was, like, super claustrophobic.
03:21And, like, excruciating.
03:22And luckily, I was with a really, kind of,
03:24rad group of people doing it.
03:26But I would say, like, you talk to anyone
03:27who got through this experience, like,
03:29no one would do it again.
03:31And I think that actually says a lot about the movie.
03:33It's good.
03:34Like, for that, it is good.
03:36Like, you're usually, like, kind of encouraged
03:38to highlight the good aspects of an experience.
03:41This was gruesome.
03:43But it's a horror movie, so it works.
03:45Did your experience in this help prepare you
03:48for any big upcoming action flicks?
03:51Maybe Matrix or something like that?
03:54Did I...
03:55She doesn't know what you're talking about.
03:56Is this, did this help prepare you for any...
04:00She doesn't, she has no idea.
04:01I'm her publicity spider.
04:02Oh, is that right?
04:03Oh, yeah, I'm Moonlighter's publicity.
04:04She has no idea.
04:05I think that this film prepared me for life.
04:06Yeah, yeah.
04:07You know?
04:08Because eventually,
04:11water is gonna cover the Earth's surface.
04:13Is that right?
04:14And then I will be ready.
04:17God.
04:18Are you gonna be ready to be flying around
04:19on wires anytime soon?
04:20Or are you just dodging this?
04:23Dodging what?
04:24Don't know what you're talking about.
04:26She doesn't know.
04:27She doesn't know.
04:27God, it's painful.
04:28That's fair, I had to try.
04:30I had to try.
04:32So...
04:33I respected it.
04:33The particular look of the character,
04:37is that something that inspired your performance
04:40that helped that process?
04:42It was a nice excuse to shave my head, to be honest.
04:46Additionally,
04:47she is...
04:49She's working on an underwater oil rig
04:52as a mechanical engineer.
04:53She's not like a fussy, you know?
04:56She's a practical girl.
04:57She's fairly spartan.
04:58In the beginning of the movie,
04:59she's like putting on a suit
05:01that takes 15 minutes to get in and out of.
05:05She is a mysterious character initially.
05:08The movie starts off with a huge explosion.
05:10Like the trauma starts in the first five minutes
05:13of the movie, essentially.
05:15The whole time you're wondering about this person.
05:20I think having a shaved head
05:21and being so base in terms of how she takes care of herself
05:25and how she presents herself is like,
05:26who is this girl?
05:27What's wrong?
05:29The whole time I was reading the first 20 pages
05:31of the script,
05:32I was just going,
05:33what's wrong, Nora?
05:35There's something underlying.
05:37You know what I mean?
05:38So I think the shaved head was A,
05:40just a dope excuse to do it as a person,
05:44and then B,
05:44that it did actually really help her as a character.
05:48How important was it in this intimate environment
05:50to be working with such baller talent?
05:54That's why I wanted to do it, to be honest.
05:58Yeah.
05:58I just thought it was a cool character piece.
05:59Cool character piece,
06:00but also like, you know,
06:01the actors that we'd be working with.
06:02I was like, oh, this is like a dynamite cast.
06:05Yeah.
06:07Including you two.
06:08That's absolutely bonkers.
06:10Override it.
06:11As long as it opens, we'll be fine.
06:14Where'd he go?
06:15Guys, what's going on?
06:17Keep the door closed.
06:18Keep that door closed!