STACK #224 June 2023

MOVIE FEATURE

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A REAL MAN OF

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001 - and a failed attempt to enter the prestigious Juilliard School of Drama - Adam Driver enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served for two years, until being medically discharged after fracturing his sternum. His service had him assigned to Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines and as an 81mm mortar man, and he was ranked Lance Corporal when he completed his service. Driver has since founded the non-profit organisation Arts in the Armed Forces, which brings arts programming to soldiers on active duty.

See Adam Driver vs dinosaurs in an epic fight for survival in 65 , the epic directorial debut from the writers of A Quiet Place . Words Gill Pringle

A fter a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, Adam Driver’s spaceship pilot Mills quickly learns he is actually stranded on Earth… 65 million years ago. You know what else lived on Earth 65 million years ago? Dinosaurs. Lots of them. Like, even more dinosaur varieties than in Jurassic Park (1993). Filmmakers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck have been dreaming of making a dinosaur movie since they first met at elementary school, and became enchanted by Jurassic Park . Their first produced script - John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place - certainly demonstrated their gift for telling an action packed survival story, where our heroes are hunted down by deadly predators. When A Quiet Place - starring Krasinksi and real-life wife Emily Blunt - became an instant box office hit in 2018, Woods and Beck suddenly became a hot Hollywood commodity. And after writing and directing their own low budget horror thrillers Nightlight (2015) and Haunt (2019), these two University of Iowa graduates were suddenly playing in the big league.

action are coming across even if you're watching this film on mute,” he continues. “I think with Adam’s inherent nature of being a parent, and Ariana being a kid, there was

that Venn diagram; it kind of smashed together, in a really beautiful way, for them to have a relationship

that develops throughout the course of the movie between Mills and Koa. A kind of father-daughter

• 65 is out on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K on Jun 14

surrogate,” he says. Of course Driver himself is father to a six-year-old son, but it also didn’t hurt that the actor - having earlier served two years in the US Marines - was able to bring his own weapons expertise to the role. “As far as we're concerned, he might as well be the next Tom Cruise-like action star, because he's so skilful with the physical part of his performance, when he has to run through a forest and run from a dinosaur,” adds Woods. “And it’s not just about running; it's about what's changing in his character, and how he fine-tuned his performance to hit these beats. It was so wonderful working with [him],” he says. Made on a budget of around US$45 million, the filmmakers relied on Driver’s skills to carry the film, happy that the A-list star was game. “This movie seemed like a unique, big swing,” Driver reveals. “And because it was dinosaurs, the scale was big but it had room for thoughtful characters and big overall themes, while being extremely entertaining.”

There’s not a lot of dialogue to express what his character is thinking or feeling. He has to really emote in order to play this stoic role.” Casting Ariana Greenblatt to play fellow survivor, Koa - a girl who only speaks in an ancient form of the Hawaiian language - the filmmakers relied on the two actors’ instincts to portray the growing connection between two people who cannot verbally communicate. “With Ariana and Adam, both on and off screen, there was a sense of this unspoken nature to communicate, finding ways to convey their emotions, no matter the

Landing Adam Driver in the lead role of their first big budget film

seems like a huge get - but it was actually easier than one might imagine. “I think Adam is a secret lover of dinosaurs, no question,” says Woods. “But I think he was also really attracted to a part that’s very internal and physical.

circumstances,” explains Beck. “This film doesn't have much dialogue,” he adds (though that’s something of an understatement coming from the creators of A Quiet Place ). “So we kept talking about it as a form of pure cinema, and that hopefully the emotions in the

65 is produced by Sam Raimi, the director of the Evil Dead trilogy, the Spider-Man trilogy, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness . DYK?

18 JUNE 2023

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