AllKevin Williamsonmovies are appointment viewing for thisScreamdiehard, and he doesn’t disappoint with his latest,Sick.
Written by Williamson andKatelyn Crabband directed byJohn Hyams,SickstarsGideon AdlonandBethlehem Millionas Parker and Miri, two college students who opt to quarantine at Parker’s family’s remote country estate during the earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there, they’re attacked by a masked intruder and a chase ensues, and that chase doesn’t let up for a second throughout the movie.
In celebration ofSick’s world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, Williamson, Hyams, Adlon, and Million all visited the Collider Supper Suite and Media Studio at Marbl to discuss their experience bringing this wild and vicious ride to screen.
But before discussing the action, Williamson spoke a bit about their approach to making a movie about the pandemic. With more and more films popping up addressing COVID-19, common questions tend to be, is it too soon? Or perhaps the opposite, will this movie feel dated too quickly? Here’s what Williamson had to say about those potential pitfalls:
“We actually thought about that when we were writing it. We’re like, ‘Well, is this gonna be too soon?’ And then as we were filming it, we had the same conversation; it’s gonna be dated. And I think it’s just, you decide. I really think it depends on where your mindset is. I think the movie transcends the pandemic because it is just such a thrill ride and it is at its core just a fun slasher film, so I think it goes beyond that. So, we’ll see. We’ll let the audience tell us.”
Personally, I agree with Williamson’s assessment of how the thrills influence the overall feel of the film. Yes, this movie does address a very specific point in time — the COVID-19 lockdown — butSickdoes boast a somewhat timeless feel courtesy of those non-stop tense and very well-crafted chase set pieces. Here’s what Hyams had to say about pinpointing the most effective style and tone for that material:
“I think what we tried to do is take a genre that is generally presented, oftentimes, in a heightened sensibility and we were saying, let’s kind of bring this almost down to an unsettling degree of naturalism where the killers are very much human and the struggles between killers and victims can be very ugly and messy and almost drawn out fights at times.”
Adlon continued by highlighting how relatable that naturalism makes the film feel:
“I love that John wanted to keep it very real and natural. There was a whole talk about shoes, for example. Like, why would she put shoes on if there’s a killer in the house? You run around barefoot all night. But I connected to this film specifically because I think one of my worst fears actually during the pandemic being in a house with my family, all women, I would think about someone breaking in. Everybody’s in their houses, they’re going crazy, you know?”
Not did the team strive to make the film itself feel grounded and real, but Million also explained how filming it wound up being an opportunity to sort through her own very real struggles with the uncertainty sparked by the pandemic:
“My senior year was cut short from NYU because of the pandemic, and to be able to put all of those feelings of uncertainty that I hadn’t really worked through, none of us had really worked through it, but working through it on camera was something that, firstly, brings you so much closer to yourself, everybody else on set and also the grander community of everybody else who’s going through this, but at the same time, it’s just badass. I’m like, it’s about time you find two 5’5" and under … I hope one of y’all try me! Y’all saw what I did!”
What Million and Adlon’s characters go through in this movie is really something else. Hyam’s natural approach to the attack scenes contributes to making them especially disturbing and vicious. But, another quality of those set pieces that make them feel quite real and powerful is that the filmmakers avoid one particular slasher movie trope — as Williamson put it, Parker and Miri “don’t make one dumb move in the movie.” He continued:
“That was very important to Katelyn Crabb who was the co-writer of this script. She was like, ‘We have to go through this and make sure that every decision made is the very next smartest decision in the moment. It can be impulsive, it can be erratic, but it has to be the smartest decision in the moment.’ And we pretty much hold true to that. They go here and then they go here and then they go to C to D to E, and it’s one long extended chase scene, but there’s no wrong moves made. you’re able to support and argue every move and decision they make in the movie.”
Adlon’s had a good deal of experience in the horror genre at this point, butSickmarks her very first slasher movie. And for Million,Sickmarks her very first feature film credit period. Talk about just jumping into the deep end!
Given the fact that there were two first-timers and a slasher iconic sitting in our studio, I opted to ask the group for the advice they’d give to another actor out there about to jump into their very first slasher movie. Hyams was the first to offer up a very important tip; “Stretch, probably.” Williamson also added, “Just commit. They are so committed to what they’re going through in this film. It’s just so real and authentic.” Hyams continued by emphasizing how Million and Adlon did just that:
“That’s why we cast these people is because, for something like this, the fear that the audience is going to feel is directly related to what [Bethlehem and Gideon] are presenting and they have to do it take after take after take and sell the peril of this. And they’re not playing superheroes, they’re playing real people, so they have to play this in a very vulnerable way and they have to be sometimes just breaking down and crying because you’re so afraid, and then mustering the strength and all of that, and they never shied away from just going 100% every time and that’s what you need to sell this.”
Million also emphasized the importance of tackling the material with maximum tenacity, but without ever forgetting the importance of self-care when the camera stops rolling:
“I feel like matching the energy of your other cast members and the circumstances that you’re given is really important in terms of going there. And also, I feel like we were also very lucky in the sense that there are very real circumstances that we were quite literally just coming out of and so there was a lot of unpacking that we had to do just in general with the movie that we were able to do, again, on screen. So I would say for any actor, take care of yourself when you’re not there. Really let yourself go and relax, but when you’re there, that is where your heart and focus should be and, honestly, just have fun.”
Eager to hear more from the team on the making ofSick? you may catch our full chat with Williamson, Hyams, Adlon, and Million in the video at the top of this article!
Special thanks to our TIFF 2022 partners A-list Communications, Belvedere Vodka, Marbl Toronto, COVERGIRL Canada, Tres Amici Wines, Toronto Star, and Blue Moon Belgian White beer.
