Lionsgate's Turbulence is a crazy film, one that takes place almost entirely on a hot air balloon ride gone wrong as its four passengers deal with an unexpected situation. The movie stars Jeremy Irvine (Zach), Hera Hilmar (Emmy), Olga Kurylenko (Julia), and Kelsey Grammer (Harry). Given that most of the film's shots feature VFX backgrounds, one might think that production would opt to use The Volume LED stages, made famous by The Mandalorian. However, the movie used blue screen, which made the experience and final product much better.
The Direct spoke with Hilmar and Irvine in an interview where they discussed the making of their latest movie and why The Volume was not something they wanted. Hilmar stated how they made the film "old school with blue screens," adding that "it would have been actually way worse if [they] The Volume." She explained that with The Volume, they would have "had to adapt to the screen all the time," and with blue screens, "they were able to adapt more to what we were doing."
Irvine admitted that, in his experience, "working in a Volume stage is a fucking nightmare" and that "everyone ends up so travel sick" due to the screen moving with the cameras, rather than the actors on stage. The actor admitted that he thinks he "would have walked off" if production had used The Volume.
More of the interview with Hera Hilmar and Jeremy Irvine can be read below. Turbulence is playing in select theaters and is available on digital platforms.
Why The Volume Would Have Made Turbulence Worse
"I Think a Volume Stage Would Be the Final Straw for Me..."
- The Direct: "Just watching this movie, it felt like such a unique filming experience, because not only is it like mostly one location, but that must have been what equates to like a small box on a sound stage. So I want to start there. What was that like? What was that filming experience like?"
Jeremy Irvine: It's also, it happens basically in real time from sort of 20 minutes in, then it's just, it's basically one scene from there till the end of the movie. So it's basically like doing a theater show. And I, yeah, I took the job because I wanted to just do basically, what was the theater show with three other actors I really admired, and basically a blue screen...
... And most of the time we're suspended about 15 feet in the air in this basket, which also means you can't just, like, nip out and go to your trailer in between takes. So we all got to know each other incredibly well.
And you know, for me, to get to work with Hera, and then, you know, Olga [Kurylenko], who was like, I don't know what age I was when she was the Bond girl, but that was amazing for me. I thought, 'This is so cool.' And then obviously Kelsey [Grammer], who I used to watch Kelsey every morning before going to school in 'Frasier.' Yeah, it was awesome, man. He even sang the theme tune one day to us. So I'm a happy boy. That's all I needed out of that.
Hera Hilmar: Yeah, it was worth doing the film just for that really... It was a really nice thing to make, you know, really fun, good people, creatively fun. And the challenge in many ways... to take something that is in a little basket in the studio and make it into this big kind of scope, and make it interesting enough, and make people believe that we actually have a clue what's going on.
Irvine: When we're filming, there are only the actors. There is no scenery. It's only the actors. And that's a lovely challenge to do, especially when you work with talented people. And mostly we were just very lucky with our director, Claudio [Fäh], who is so aware of how all the other stuff post-filming was going to work, with all the visual effects and all the rest of it.
And then he just let us, the four of us, just play... I mean, we've just played around so much with what was on the page, and just sort of messed around and that's just, I don't know, it's just really exciting as an actor, that's what you love doing. It's basically just playing,
- The Direct: "I assume that, based on what you guys are saying, you definitely did not have the luxury of like, The Volume LED screens around you?"
Hilmar: No, this was old school with blue screens... It would have been actually way worse if we had The Volume because then we would have, in terms of continuity, we would have had to always, like, you know, basically, the screen would have been our number one, and we would have had to adapt to the screen all the time. So instead, they were able to adapt more to what we were doing.
Irvine: But working in a Volume stage is a fucking nightmare, like everyone ends up so travel sick because it's only—it doesn't move with you. It moves with the camera. When the camera moves, the background moves, but you're standing still and it's so hot as well from all the lights. You're just hot, feeling sick. Every shot takes two hours to set up. I hate it...
Hilmar: It's even worse because we were always in a moving basket, so we already were using natural things to help with [motion sickness].
Irvine: We were already close to vomiting. And I think a Volume stage would be the final straw for me. I think I would have walked off.
Recounting Funny Stories From the Set of Turbulence
"I Was Like, I Can't Take This Seriously Anymore."
- The Direct: "Given how this project was filmed, I can imagine there are a ton of fun stories. What's the first thing that comes to your mind when I say that?"
Jeremy Irvine: So, there's an eagle, okay? And I had already said that—the eagle was meant to attack us at one point. And I think I'd said to the director, that's too far. And he was like, okay, but we can still get up the eagle to swoosh in. I was like, okay, cool.
And then it got to the day of filming it, and we meant to be quite scared by it. And what it was was they got this lovely runner, this lovely young girl, to basically put a pair of wings on her arms. And run at us, making bird noises. I was like, I can't take this seriously anymore.
Hera Hilmar: Also the eagle is so not what I thought it would be. Like, I'm always just like, man, I would have done that reaction a little bit differently if I realized that, like, we're changing what it was really, you know?
Hera Hilmar on Giving Depth to Emmy in Turbulence
"How on Earth Is She With This Guy?"
- The Direct: "Emmy spends a good chunk of this film in the dark, thrown into this terrible situation. Can you talk about how you approached her, and also making sure that she wasn't just a passive reactor throughout the story, and she remained just as engaging and interesting as everyone else there?"
Hera Hilmar: I had to go, like, why? I mean, to make that element of her an actual character element, rather than just being like what she is in the story. So she's a really good listener, she's super interested in what everyone else is doing.
And I think by taking those elements of her character, in many ways, came like, you know, she likes taking care of kids. She likes listening people's stories. She likes like activities. So that's something that I worked with.
And then I was also like, how on Earth is she with this guy? What's that? That's an interesting element like that you wouldn't necessarily see in her like and fight those elements. And then, she turned out to be this amazing action hero that can climb... She has that in her... But I think the curiosity is really the drive, and that can drive her also when she's not saying anything or doing anything...
Jeremy Irvine Explains How He Approached His Character
"He's Selfish and Self-Centered..."
- The Direct: "Zach is an interesting character to say the least. He starts off this movie doing something awful, but narratively speaking, and just kind of from the audience's perspective, most of the movie, as it plays out from there, we're shown and told that, wait, he's supposed to be this good guy, and maybe he just made a mistake. So, how did you approach bringing this character to life, knowing all that and who this character was, and how audiences were supposed to see him at any given point in this film?"
Jeremy Irvine: He's selfish and self-centered, so he will do anything he can to portray the image where he's the victim. I don't know, I feel like, yeah, God, you've only got to watch some of the reality TV dating shows... My wife loves those shows. I get to watch a lot of them...
I remember we were watching, I can't remember what it was, but there was a guy who was so good at gaslighting, me and my wife would be like giving a slow clap every time you watched him, just manipulate this poor girl. And, yeah, perfect Zach ingredients and stuff like that, acting the victim all the time, you know. But really, you're just manipulating someone.
