Action-packed sci-fi movie Monsters: Dark Continent is out now in Cineworld.
In the not-too-distant future, Earth has been overrun by extraterrestrial creatures. The story focuses on a group of soldiers on a rescue mission in the Middle East, who are forced to do battle with the aliens.
In the first part of an exclusive interview, we speak to the film's director Tom Green about his approach to the storyline and what it was like working with a dynamic cast of young, up-and-coming actors.
So Tom, your film picks up after the events of Gareth Edwards' 2010 film Monsters. Just fill us in on where the storyline goes from here.
Well, I think the first thing to say is it’s not a continuing narrative. However, like the first movie, it’s about exploring what sort of movie you can make with a limited budget. When the producers contacted me and asked me if I wanted to do something similar to Monsters, the decision was made that we would create a standalone film that picked up from Gareth’s, yet at the same time one that wouldn't continue with the same characters.
I didn’t approach this from a science fiction point of view. The idea is an exploration of the human condition and also war. I instead came at it from a visceral approach closer to reportage or documentary. The entire movie was shot on one handheld camera. The whole experience had a real rawness to it. We wanted to place the audience right alongside this group of soldiers.
You’re working with an exciting young cast including Joe Dempsie from Game of Thrones. What did they bring to the production?
I was really privileged with my cast. I went to Detroit, New York, L.A. and I attended casting sessions in London with my casting director, Julie Harkin, with whom I’d worked on Misfits. Johnny Harris, who recently appeared in the TV series Fortitude, is, I think, one of the UK's finest actors and this film marked his first leading role. You mentioned Joe there, he’s a rising star, and Sam Keeley, who I’d cast in an episode of Misfits and subsequently kept my eye on, is an incredibly talented young performer. He’s got this raw depth of emotion.
We also cast two American actors, Kyle Soller and Parker Sawyer, who are really exciting actors as well. I also put a young man from Detroit in there who I’d met and who had in fact done two tours in Iraq. That was a touchstone in terms of the authenticity of the casting of the characters.
Sometimes in science fiction, you’re disconnected from the world that’s being portrayed because it’s filmed in a studio in a green screen environment. Here, we were filming in Jordan, 25 miles from the Iraqi border, with Humvees and Black Hawk helicopters. We tried to create this environment that was immersive for the cast. At the same time, you’ve also got to have actors willing to give something back, and they certainly did that. I think we’ll see great things from them in the future.
Given that the characters are soldiers, did you put the actors through boot camp?
Yes, I brought them out to Jordan a week before we started filming and we worked with these incredible former US Marines. We actually rehearsed the scenes on location to ensure authenticity in everything from medical procedures to weapons reloading. The actors had a really intense boot camp experience but they told me it was an invaluable experience.
During the writing process I was meeting with an undercover British officer, who was in-between tours of Afghanistan, to help add further authenticity to the script. In fact, all of the scenes outside the creature sequences are derived from first hand accounts of soldiers and Marines I spoke with.
Check back with us next week for part two where Tom describes the challenges of creating incredible special effects on a miniscule budget, and also the monster movie he'd take to a desert island...
Click here to book your tickets for Monsters: Dark Continent. Take a look at the trailer.
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