IR Interview: The Cast Of “Breakwater” [Vertical]
Actors Alyssa Goss, Darren Mann & Dermot Mulroney talk to The Inside Reel about texture, location, physicality and masks in regards to their new thriller: “Breakwater” from Vertical Entertainment.
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Needed a little nudge.
00:16 [LAUGHS]
00:19 Your buddy is coming to kill me.
00:21 [SCREAMS]
00:24 He took her!
00:26 You could have just played your part.
00:28 [SCREAMS]
00:31 It's your turn to wake up afraid.
00:37 With something like "Breakaway," it's
00:42 like old school, almost Southern noir.
00:44 You know, that old Cape Fear, little bit of "Kill
00:48 a Mockingbird," you know, certain elements of that.
00:51 Can you guys talk about-- because you have to sort of
00:53 exist, like in any movie, in a heightened reality.
00:55 But you have to know the truth of where the characters lie.
00:59 At least, not so much the plot, but in what they believe.
01:04 Could you talk about finding sort of that emotional core
01:06 in each of these?
01:08 Dermot, if you want to start, then Alyssa, then Derek.
01:10 Yeah, well, your description is right what we were aiming for,
01:14 a Southern thriller with this dark overtones and plot
01:19 twist, with revenge threads and who actually is being true.
01:26 And you were right about the feel of it.
01:28 We shot it at Cape Fear.
01:29 Those back-- those intercoastal waterways,
01:33 what do you call it, the savanna,
01:35 the hanging moss on the trees.
01:38 That's exactly what James Rowe wanted this movie to feel
01:42 and be like.
01:43 A really, maybe a throwback.
01:45 But hey, the way I look at it, let's throw forward
01:48 and have more movies like this and redo gnarly movies
01:53 from the--
01:54 that we made this movie from the heart.
01:56 So that is my favorite kind of film.
01:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:00 [INAUDIBLE]
02:01 [INAUDIBLE]
02:02 [INAUDIBLE]
02:03 [INAUDIBLE]
02:03 [INAUDIBLE]
02:04 [INAUDIBLE]
02:05 [INAUDIBLE]
02:06 [INAUDIBLE]
02:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:09 I have a daughter.
02:22 That's her.
02:24 See if you can find her for me, will you?
02:25 You sure?
02:26 Let me know she's happy.
02:27 I think I've earned that much from you.
02:30 If I was on the outside, I'd be down there tonight.
02:34 How do you know Ray?
02:36 I have to be an ex-con.
02:38 Man has no friends left in the real world.
02:40 The search for the escaped prisoner is still underway.
02:44 Ray, he has a vendetta.
02:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:50 I built a home here.
02:52 Mommy!
02:53 Come on, we gotta go.
02:54 Mommy, where are we going?
02:55 On an adventure.
02:57 For you guys, for Alyssa and Darren,
02:59 can you talk because, you know, these characters
03:01 are very specific.
03:02 But you have to play them with a certain earnestness at times,
03:04 but also a certain knowledge at times,
03:07 let's just put it that way.
03:09 Could you guys talk about sort of embodying each of them
03:12 and what it took for you to sort of understand who they were?
03:15 Alyssa, if you want to start.
03:16 From the beginning, James is really involved.
03:19 And we sat down and talked about where--
03:23 who my character was, where she was going.
03:27 And when I first read it, I was like, wow, she's so badass.
03:33 She's awesome.
03:34 She's, you know-- and then I realized after watching it,
03:39 it wasn't until I watched it that, oh, maybe she's not so--
03:42 so it was interesting for me because I think that I really
03:46 approached it from like, she's in the right all the way.
03:51 So it was just really sticking to the fact
03:53 that Eve was running from something from her past.
04:03 And how do I bring a strong character like that to the
04:07 screen?
04:09 And luckily, I had Dermot and Darren to work off of.
04:13 And they were absolutely so amazing
04:16 and so giving as partners where it made
04:18 it easy to play the character.
04:21 They made it easier for me.
04:24 I have a daughter.
04:25 I know.
04:26 I said I never met the right person.
04:30 I had a family, but I did.
04:33 I've got a daughter.
04:35 Haven't spoken in seven years.
04:36 As far as she knows, I might be dead.
04:39 I didn't know whether she was still in Virginia
04:43 or even the country.
04:44 Then the damnedest thing--
04:46 now, you know I'm not a religious man, but that--
04:49 well, about a month ago, this rose up out
04:53 of the sea after a storm.
04:55 It's the mast of an old shipwreck off the Outer Banks.
04:58 Oh, cool.
04:59 Yeah, but that's not--
05:00 that's her.
05:05 That's Marina.
05:07 Hell, block.
05:08 I'm a frolic.
05:09 Are you sure?
05:12 Yeah, if I was on the outside, I'd be down there tonight.
05:16 Go to Currituck for me, will you?
05:18 See if you can find her.
05:20 Hey, Dovey, I got a bus idling on taxpayer gas.
05:23 Let's go.
05:25 Darren, for you, because every character
05:27 thinks they're right no matter what.
05:29 But you have to be sort of the heart of the story
05:32 from that point of view, Darren, if you could talk about that.
05:35 Yeah, you know, I just really enjoyed playing Dovey.
05:38 He was such a fun, optimistic, really altruistic guy
05:43 to be inside of.
05:44 So every day on set was really enjoyable for me.
05:47 Some characters, it's tough to be inside of them
05:50 and to live in their head each day.
05:51 But I really found Dovey is always
05:54 really wholeheartedly trying to do the right thing.
05:57 He's a real true friend.
05:59 And I think it's kind of sad by the end
06:01 that he has to create this bit of a thick skin for himself
06:05 and start seeing the world a little differently.
06:07 Because I love the way he just took everybody face value.
06:13 He's very honest, has a little bit of that Peter Pan syndrome.
06:16 And it's kind of a beautiful way to live.
06:18 [PHONE RINGING]
06:21 Hello?
06:29 Three piece chicken dinner, pinot beans and gravy.
06:32 When I'm gone.
06:33 Yeah, but I had to pick the last meal.
06:35 Tie a bag of sand to my phone.
06:38 That'd be the one.
06:38 Ray, what-- where the hell are you?
06:40 What, you didn't hear the news?
06:42 What news?
06:43 Oh, man, I had Luis really stick me about a half a dozen times.
06:47 Felt like I stepped in a yellowjack
06:49 and that's looked like a horse.
06:50 By the time I'm in the ambulance,
06:53 I just rise up like Night of the Living [BLEEP] Dead.
06:56 Yeah, I did have to put one in Justin.
06:58 But that's just so those [BLEEP] didn't stand there
07:00 and flag somebody down pretty slick, huh?
07:02 Jesus, Ray, are you saying you're out?
07:07 Buddy, telling you I flew.
07:10 I'm almost at the state line.
07:11 Well, I mean, it's also the thing
07:12 is the environment changes you.
07:14 It's interesting seeing the energy in different swings
07:16 between each of you at different points.
07:19 It's all about what masks we're wearing
07:21 and how we sort of play that.
07:23 Could you sort of talk about that?
07:24 Because that's a physical thing that sort of reflects.
07:26 The way you carry yourself in certain scenes
07:30 shifts from one moment to the next.
07:31 Same thing with you, Dermot.
07:33 Dare, you're the only one that sort of stays
07:35 fairly consistent all the way through,
07:37 but it's meant to be almost as a misdirect.
07:39 Could you talk about physicality
07:41 and forming the emotions of these characters?
07:43 And because they have to ping pong back and forth.
07:46 Whoever would like to talk about it,
07:48 what's the time we have left?
07:51 Feel free, you guys.
07:53 Well, yeah, creating Dubby's physicality to me
07:57 was really important because it really helped me
07:58 embody him as the character.
08:01 Just, you know, and going through the prison scenes,
08:04 moving into, you know, the Outer Banks stuff,
08:07 his vibe really does change from when he's inside the walls
08:10 to outside the walls or how things are going,
08:13 whether he feels like things are on the up,
08:15 he's a little looser.
08:17 And then sometimes he feels like he's being duped again
08:20 and he's closing back off to the world
08:22 and that shows in his body as well.
08:25 Yeah, it was fun playing with that with him for sure.
08:27 ♪ I'll always be right here by your side ♪
08:31 Dubby, now don't tell me you told her I sent you
08:34 'cause God damn it, that's the one thing I--
08:36 No, no, man, of course not.
08:37 No, but you might've said what you're up to.
08:39 I'm part of this now.
08:41 Well, I told you I'd give anything to see her again.
08:43 That's what I'm gonna do, but you--
08:46 You don't have to be involved in anything
08:47 you didn't know about.
08:48 The cops don't know that.
08:49 Well, as long as you're home, they ain't got nothing on you.
08:52 You are back home.
08:54 Yeah, I mean, yeah.
08:57 I gotta check in with my PO tomorrow.
08:59 It's pretty narrow, yeah.
09:02 Yeah, that's it.
09:04 Good, because it's a long way down on each side.
09:06 Remember that.
09:08 Of course, with Ray Childress, especially in prison
09:14 before you guys, make sure you see "Breakwater."
09:17 It's got an awesome prison break, for real,
09:20 but you get that he's even playing his own physicality.
09:24 So I love your question, Tim, because this does play
09:27 in each of the characters, where maybe Eva, as I know her,
09:30 Marina is a little soft, but at other times,
09:32 tough, single mom, but then has a leaning toward a romance,
09:37 and all of that's combined in these characters.
09:40 But Ray is just, without giving too much away,
09:44 he leaves the one that is even deliberately playing
09:48 that kind of physicality, and then there's kind of
09:51 even written into the storyline, brilliantly scheduled
09:55 by the producers, there is a physical transformation
09:59 mid-film, as you see him emerge
10:04 as the true conniver that he is.
10:08 It culminates in an incredible underwater, you know, clash,
10:13 let's call it that, between two people
10:17 who were once best friends, or appeared to be best friends.
10:21 But that's when I really relied on Darren's physicality
10:26 to at some point literally get me back to the surface
10:31 before himself.
10:34 So Darren, I look at you on Zoom, thank you for those,
10:37 those shooting days, incredible, I'll never forget it.
10:49 - Marina?
10:50 - How do you know Ray?
11:02 - Same brides.
11:04 - Had to be an ex-con.
11:08 Man has no friends left in the real world.
11:10 I think you know this (beep) liar.
11:14 - Marina!
11:15 Marina!
11:18 Marina!
11:18 - Say that name one more (beep) time
11:20 and I call the sheriff.
11:21 Any outstanding warrants or parole violations
11:24 you'd like to know about?
11:25 The photo, he saw the (beep) newspaper.
11:31 - Yes.
11:33 - What does he want?
11:34 - To know you're happy.
11:35 Look, Ray told me he was your father.
11:40 After this morning, I don't know what to think.
11:43 Oh, but Eve, he escaped somehow.
11:45 He's out and driving this way.
11:47 (dramatic music)
11:50 - You're a fool.
11:52 - They actually, Dermot and Darren impressed me so much
11:57 with just what they brought to a lot of the scenes
12:00 as far as like the fight scenes.
12:02 There was a moment where, you know,
12:06 something is revealed by Dovey to my character.
12:10 And I remember in that scene, we spent,
12:13 as we were getting ready to shoot it,
12:17 Darren was almost, we were,
12:20 do you remember running around the bookstore?
12:22 We were like kind of, almost like you were chasing me.
12:25 And so right as we went out the door and shot the scene,
12:29 it already had that energy of,
12:31 so there were, and also just the fact
12:34 that they made everything so real, you know?
12:36 It was a real bookstore.
12:37 It was a real ship.
12:38 It was, it made all of those moments
12:41 which they just talked about.
12:42 - Yeah, that was really awesome.
12:44 Shooting on location and in great locations was amazing.
12:47 North Carolina was unreal.
12:49 I'd go back there and shoot in a second.
12:52 - How do you convince you to do this?
12:53 - I was helping out a guy who helped me.
12:55 - You showed the devil right to Mike Beaver's step.
12:58 - What debt is he coming to collect from you?
13:02 - You said I brought the devil.
13:06 Well, the devil doesn't come for the innocent.
13:08 (dramatic music)
13:11 (gunshots)
13:14 (dramatic music)
13:17 (gunshots)
13:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]