SEATTLE — Fans of dystopian thrillers with a sense of humor won’t want to miss “Spiderhead” on Netflix.
The film is set at a state-of-the-art prison and research facility where inmates are afforded a fairly comfortable life in exchange for their agreement to undergo mind-altering drug tests.
Chris Hemsworth stars as Steve Abnesti, the head researcher. Inmates are played by Miles Teller (Jeff, a Seattle Mariners fan) and Jurnee Smollett (Lizzie, who’s harboring a secret.) As they grow close and their tests become increasingly disturbing, escape becomes their only option.
Entertainment reporter Kim Holcomb talked to the actors about making the movie.
SMOLLETT: "It's not the obvious thing but when I read the script, I was like, 'This is about unconditional love!' It's layered underneath these wacky, heightened, entertaining, and really thought-provoking, genre-bending narratives. But deep down, they're like these two star-crossed lovers who will not achieve freedom unless they achieve forgiveness."
HOLCOMB: "Chris, I have to ask you about the line, ‘Beautiful people get away with too much and I say that having benefitted myself from time to time.’ Is that the most truth you've ever spoken on screen?”
HEMSWORTH: (laughing) “How do I answer that without looking like an idiot?”
HOLCOMB: "When Steve starts dancing to 'Slave to Love,' was the song actually playing, or were you miming it?”
HEMSWORTH: “The song was playing, yep yep yep. The song was my choice and the dance I don't believe was in the script. It was another opportunity to make a fool of myself."
HOLCOMB: "Over the years, actors have told me they need to love the characters they’re playing. How do you feel about Steve?”
HEMSWORTH: "Do I love him? At times — I loved playing him. I loved the sort of unpredictable nature to him, I loved how there weren't any rules to how or what he should or shouldn't say. There's a real charisma to him, very powerful. But a real lack of social etiquette and misunderstanding of social cues. There's no filter to him."
HOLCOMB: “I know it is not even remotely the point of this film but I'm in Seattle, we have to talk about Jeff. What is his backstory? Is he supposed to be from here? He also wears an Edison baseball shirt, and there's an Edison, Washington.”
TELLER: “Yeah, that's definitely where the character is from. He just felt like someone to me from the Pacific Northwest. Worked on boats, worked on cars, I gave him a mullet. I don't know, that might be a Florida thing?”
HOLCOMB: “Miles Teller, what are you saying of us Pacific Northwesterners?”
TELLER: (laughter) “I’m a baseball fan so I knew he had to love the Mariners.”
HOLCOMB: “Jeff is given drugs that make him lose his inhibitions. How do you lose your inhibitions to play someone who’s lost their inhibitions?”
TELLER: "Some of the scenes in this were pretty tough. I think you just have to commit, that's what it comes down to. You can't 50% it, you really just have to feel free of looking silly and just do it."
HOLCOMB: “How many times should people watch this movie to catch everything?”
TELLER: "It's sci-fi and it's George Saunders so there are definitely some Easter eggs in there."
"Spiderhead" streams on Netflix starting June 17.
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