Writer/Director Adam Stern and Actors Cara Gee & Peter Mooney talk to The Inside Reel about perspective, understanding and intention in regards to their new science fiction film: "Levels" from RJLE.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00It's time for a reboot.
00:18Is this real?
00:22Well, it all goes back to, and I'll jump over to Adam, thank you, Kara, is the,
00:26when we were going back to existential being, problems in ethics. That's what we're in
00:32in society right now, and this is what this addresses, albeit on a higher, extended,
00:37heightened level, but it talks about these problems and the problems we have with AI.
00:43But putting it into an entertainment setting, it's sort of interesting because you have to
00:46balance both the pace and also the story you want to tell. Can you talk about that,
00:51having written it as well? Sure, yeah. I mean, I think you've
00:55hit the nail on the head with that too, because, and also what Kara said, is that at its root,
01:00this is a love story. And I think one of the things that I sort of wanted to try to really
01:06push for is the humanism of all of this. The, in spite of everything we all have to deal with at
01:12an existential level, what is important to us? And as trite as it may sound, love and kindness
01:18and empathy are those things in my mind, and they help us move through these larger existential
01:25questions. And especially now, as we're dealing with the onslaught of AI and this time in the
01:32world. And to be honest, I was just talking to Peter about this. So much of this that has
01:37happened, happened well after I wrote the script. And what I was really focused on back at that time
01:44was really struggling with how we were treating each other in 2019, 2020, really struggling with
01:56you know, there was this constant phrase of maybe we're living in the worst timeline. And that really
02:00sparked with me. It's like, well, what if we are? And what if there's a reason for that? And those
02:04existential questions? So yeah, I mean, I, you know, every day, I think we're all, especially in
02:11this industry, thinking about AI, not especially, but certainly in this industry. And I think that
02:16that's an ongoing existential crisis. And I don't see how that's going to get solved yet. But I hope
02:21this film speaks to that to a degree within the context of it being a love story and a bit of
02:26adventure and, and the science fiction that it is. I want you to know something. About? You, about you.
02:51I love you, Joe.
03:13Well, what it does, and I'll go over to back down to Peter and Carlos about this is the aspect about,
03:25you know, acting brings out humanity, it's only at those moments in between the lines,
03:30you know, however good the lines are that you find that an AI can't do that. It's about finding
03:36sort of that empathy. Can you talk about because and deconstructing humanity, if you want to get
03:41really down into it, you know, you have to show that and its connection that keeps it all together,
03:47the connection between ash between her and Joe, could you guys talk about finding that humanity,
03:54finding it in between the lines and not just in the you know, the moments it's like when you guys
03:59are just sitting together, it's conveying time conveying love. Could you talk about the importance
04:04of that in the performance for both of you? Yes, absolutely. In so in the world of the
04:10performance in you know, we're shooting it in a studio in a little beautifully designed mid
04:15century apartment with just a wall of green out the windows. And we'll imagine what animal put
04:19in there later. Yeah, here and I are sitting across from each other. So we're able to have that
04:24interaction together. But the fun thing about this was the story we were telling
04:28is to people who fundamentally aren't really sitting across from each other or or really,
04:35you know that that she has scaled down or found, you know, that she is in this thing with him. So
04:43the empathy is actually extending across what I think we think of as currently an impenetrable
04:51barrier. You know, that that this is the four of us here in this conversation,
04:58something we're capable of experiencing, but the boxes we're talking to each other through are not
05:05but this is exploring like, well, if this box becomes sufficiently complex and intelligent,
05:13then is it and if this box has a bookstore and is seemingly well read and a sort of
05:22quirky, dead sense of humor, like, what does that look like then? So that's what we're doing is
05:27exploring this empathy between two humans, you know, sitting on a couch together. But through
05:35this sort of imaginative exercise of how that's achieved when they're actually in two different
05:42universes. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Yes. Yes. You surprised me. That's all. I need to tell you
05:55something. Anything. I'm not from here. I know you're from Bridgewater. No, I mean, I'm not from
06:04here. No. Do you two know each other? Don't.
06:27Kara, can you talk about that? Yeah, because it's it. We're getting in some heady stuff.
06:34You know, but the great thing is, is that we can extrapolate it from this film, you know,
06:40in all of its levels, per se, you know, pun intended. But how could you sort of talk about
06:45that and go on off of what Peter was talking about, sort of that connection, the deconstruction,
06:50but also the empathy? And then I'll let you guys go.
06:54Well, I mean, Ash has just completely bought in, right? She has completely bought into this
07:00digital universe as equally real and valid. So she sees Joe as real, right? I mean, that's her
07:16leaping off point, right? She's not. She doesn't see him as a digital creation. And I think that
07:25that's how she is able to love him as fully and as truly as she does. And.
07:37I think that that's that I mean, that is the essential jumping off point for
07:41any of the twists and turns. We can't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet,
07:45but for those to work for all of that to to be considered is that I mean,
07:50the central question is what happens when you fall in love with a digital person?
07:58This is as real as anything I know. We're risking exposure.
08:03You can flick a switch and you are gone like you never existed.