ComingSoon spoke with Not Without Hope stars Zachary Levi, Quentin Plair, Terrence Terrell, and Marshall Cook about the survival movie. The foursome discussed the movie’s remarkable true story, filming in water, and more. Directed by Joe Carnahan, the film is out in theaters on December 12. “Best friends Nick Schuyler (Zachary Levi) and Will Bleakley […] The post Zachary Levi & Not Without Hope Stars Talk Movie’s Remarkable True Story | Interview appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
ComingSoon spoke with Not Without Hope stars Zachary Levi, Quentin Plair, Terrence Terrell, and Marshall Cook about the survival movie. The foursome discussed the movie’s remarkable true story, filming in water, and more. Directed by Joe Carnahan, the film is out in theaters on December 12.
“Best friends Nick Schuyler (Zachary Levi) and Will Bleakley (Marshall Cook), and NFL players Marquis Cooper (Quentin Plair) and Corey Smith (Terrence Terrell), depart Clearwater, Florida, for a fishing trip 70 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. While attempting to free a trapped anchor before a fierce storm hits, their boat capsizes, throwing the four friends violently into the freezing water. US Coast Guard Captain Timothy Close (Josh Duhamel) and his crew, beaten back in their air rescue efforts, summon their largest ship to cut through the raging ocean as the group battles massive waves, dehydration, severe hypothermia, and even sharks, in their epic struggle to survive and return home to their distraught loved ones,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Zachary, I wanted to ask you about shooting in the water this much. Was this the most physically demanding role you’ve ever done?
Zachary Levi: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I’ve done some physically demanding things, getting in, you know, certain shape for certain roles like Shazam and, you know, things like that, which are physically demanding on some level.
But that’s a completely different thing. That’s more prep work than it is in the midst of the performance. And this was also partly why I did the movie, and I think the other gentleman might can speak to this as well, but you know, you want to have unique experiences. You wanna be able to challenge yourself as an actor, as a man. You want to be able to say, “Oh, I did this thing. I accomplished this thing.”
So, I knew we were stepping into something demanding. I didn’t realize it was going to be as demanding as it was. And in fact it wasn’t, or even originally going to be as demanding. Originally, we were gonna be shooting in a water tank in Louisiana, which would’ve been significantly warmer. I can guarantee you [laughs]. But we were in Malta, and we were in a water tank that was filled with ocean water that was very cold, and we were shooting almost exclusively at night, most of that time in the water tank. And we had wind machines and rain machines and wave machines and water cannons and cables that are jostling the boat on top of it, already being jostled around the hole of that vote. No grip whatsoever. We were constantly slipping and falling.
But again, all of these things you channel into the performance because this is at least a sliver of what the actual men in this experience were experiencing. And so as an actor, you can lean into that, and you can say, “Okay, thank you. I will take that, I will use that.” I mean, I think I probably busted my shins, I don’t know, half a dozen times, just slipping and nailing my feet and my shins on the hull of the boat.
That actually might’ve been the most, other than also probably taking in a little too much water in some of the choppy water scenes that we were doing. But yes, it was a grueling experience. Also, there was never a moment when I felt like we weren’t entirely covered and safe by all of our safety divers and our medics. So it was a controlled chaos, but chaos.
Marshall Cook: I think we had chaos. We had a couple of moments. We had a couple of moments [laughs].
Zachary Levi: Did we? What were those moments?
Marshall Cook: Just like… Courtney and I could maybe speak to that, like coming up from the water with the boat coming at us, or getting thrown off, and I don’t know, there are a couple of times. Yeah.
Quentin, I’d love to hear your approach to playing a real-life figure in Mark Cooper because you’re really honoring his legacy and helping him live on. So, how was it trying to put yourself into his shoes? Did you watch a lot of interviews or footage for him, or what was your approach?
Quentin Plair: I did a lot of research online what I could find of Marquis. I was able to find some things. A group of his high school teammates made a video for him. Some people from all around the school, just congratulating him on going to University of Washington and being able to play there, and other things of him in the NFL and such, and obviously, the source material, the book.
But I think the most important thing, I just wanted to leave myself open for if there was something a little bit “woo woo” spiritually that he might wanna say through me. I just wanted that to be kind of an open vessel. And the thing that was most important to me in making this was that I didn’t want it to be any worse on the people left behind, if you wanna call it that.
His father, wife, the daughter, the people that were connected to him that knew him, that already went through this traumatic event of losing someone close to them. I didn’t want to make that any worse. And you know, a lot of that you can’t… It’s outta your control, and you can’t control how someone reacts to something.
But I at least wanted to do my best and honor his life, the life that he lived, not just the moments that were his last. Truly, the life that he lived. I have a very close connection to the sport of football. You know, I played it collegiately. I know a lot of people who went to the NFL, a lot of people who struggled in different training camps, trying to make teams and stuff like that.
So I know what that looks like, and I wanted to bring a very realistic portrayal of what it takes and the mentality and the mindset that it takes to be one of these people, just physically putting your body on the line with no real certainty, no guarantees. Like, if you’re one of these people in and out of training camp every year, like you’re not guaranteed to make that 52, you know? So, it’s a real hunger that you have to have day in and day out.
I wanted to honor that. I wanted to honor the man that I believe he was, and heard he was from the research that I did. I just really wanted to do my best not to make anything any worse on people who knew him.
Terrence, I thought you really did a great job of showing the bond and brotherhood that all of these men had during this fight for survival. How is it building camaraderie with your castmates here? Because you guys are all stuffed onto this little boat. There’s not a huge set for you guys, so it seems like that would’ve helped you guys really get to know each other quickly.
Terrence Terrell: Yeah. Well, you couldn’t help because, between takes, we literally were freezing, and we had to wait, so we had to sometimes hold each other. But then, I said this a couple of times, like Marshall was a Care Bear. He always came to your room and knocked on your door, even though you didn’t want to see him. “Hey, let’s go out to lunch. Hey, let’s go to the gym.” Even though he wasn’t doing as much weight as I was doing.
But yeah, it was very easy to become [close] because I say with anybody, your first date should like, push ’em in the water just to see what they really are like. So, when you’re in the water, it was ugly. We saw each other in a real element that we couldn’t fake. So I think the camaraderie just came along with it. Then by the time we got on land that last week, we were so happy to be warm. It was just like a great party. So it was a really cool experience.
Marshall, you and Zachary have this really powerful conversation about religion and God in the film. That was one of my favorite scenes. How was it just shooting that back and forth? Because it’s a rare moment where we kinda have people just sitting there and they can kind of theorize rather than fight for their lives, like they’ve been doing the whole rest of the movie.
Marshall Cook: That particular scene was interesting because I think the rest of ’em, with me and Zach, I really felt like we were working together. That one was tough because there’s rain pouring down on us, and just between the wind and the rain and the elements, we actually couldn’t hear each other very well.
We didn’t want to have these big performances, you know, we wanted to be grounded and real. And so I think that, and I maybe you feel the same way, Zach, like, we were kind of like, “did he say his line? Okay. I think, I think now I’m gonna say my line and then [laughs].
It was definitely hard to play off of each other. Because we’re also back-to-back. We can’t see each other. So it’s very isolating, and we’re just kind of trusting. “I think we’re on the same page,” you know? But yeah, that was an odd one.
I think you guys built that camaraderie where even if you couldn’t hear each other, you guys kind of knew what performance you were giving, so it really turned out.
Marshall Cook: I mean, especially yeah, the other ones, I mean, they’re just some really, really great scenes. They’re just very special to me, and that’s trusting your partner, and yeah. I’m speaking for Zach, too. He feels the same way.
Zach, this film is harrowing. It’s heroic, it’s this remarkable true story. What do you hope people really take away from Not Without Hope?
Zachary Levi: Well, the most practical application of it is cut that anchor. Whether that’s a literal, actual anchor on a boat where you’re out fishing, or it’s something philosophical in your life, like something that is weighing you down, that is taking you out of being here.
I think that we all can learn a little bit of that lesson. There was just something so silly in hindsight about Marquis not wanting to lose that last anchor. I mean, he is about to literally pick up and move his whole family across the country. Maybe even sell that boat. Who knows? But it’s like that, that sometimes we’re tripping over dollars, picking up pennies.
I think that’s certainly something I think that people are looking for a movie that’s gonna keep them on edge. This is that movie. Definitely, as you said, it’s harrowing. And I think knowing that it really happened makes it all the more harrowing.
Last but certainly not least, I hope that they come away with hope. I hope that they recognize that even in the midst of what is nothing but despair, watching your own friends pass before your eyes and feeling entirely alone against all odds that if you hold on and you can hold on a little bit longer and a little bit longer and a little bit longer and a little bit longer beyond that, that there is something on that other side.
That’s what it was for Nick, and I know that he’s grateful that he did. He held onto that last ounce of hope, and that his family did, and that Paula did. So, that’s what I hope people take from it — hope.
Thanks to Zachary Levi, Marshall Cook, Quentin Plair, and Terrence Terrell for taking the time to talk about Not Without Hope.
The post Zachary Levi & Not Without Hope Stars Talk Movie’s Remarkable True Story | Interview appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
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