BREATHE: Director Stefon Bristol Talks Turning Jennifer Hudson Into A Sci-fi Hero

Cinema Scholars interviews Breathe director Stefon Bristol. The sci-fi thriller stars Jennifer Hudson, Quvenzhané Wallis, Common, Milla Jovovich, and Sam Worthington. Capstone Global and Warner Brothers will release Breathe in Theaters and On Digital this Friday, April 26.

Introduction

Why is it so strangely satisfying when an actor plays against type? Like when a comedian goes darkly dramatic. Or America’s sweetheart gets naughty. Nothing hits quite like a surprising portrayal from a favorite performer. Seeing them branch out from their comfort zone and kill it in a new and exciting format only confirms that virtuosic talent. In Stefon Bristol’s new dystopian thriller, Breathe, Oscar-winning actress and R&B sensation Jennifer Hudson transforms into a bonafide sci-fi hero.

The year is 2039. The once-bustling borough of Brooklyn, NY has been reduced to a crumbling wasteland after the earth’s oxygen levels began plummeting three years earlier, leaving the air unbreathable without an oxygen mask. Engineer and survivalist Darius (Common) and his botanist wife, Maya (Hudson) shelter in their sustainable home with their daughter Zora (Quvenzhané Wallis). When Darius ventures out never to return, Zora begins to search for answers. Soon, visitors from another settlement force the mother and daughter into a fight for both their principles and their lives.

Discussion

Breathe is an exceptional entry into the dystopian sci-fi universe. The simple, high-concept story, from the screenplay by Doug Simon, features a compelling story of family survival in the context of a fascinating futuristic dilemma. As Maya and Zora face life-changing event after event, they lean on their intelligence and problem-solving to survive. When push comes to shove, however, both women show that they also have some literal fight in them.

Despite the bleak picture Bristol paints, complete with epic depictions of decimated NYC landmarks, cool science, and tech elements fill the film with plenty of nerdy dazzle. While the story is a fairly straightforward post-apocalyptic drama, themes of trust and/or the lack thereof permeate the film in unexpected ways.  Maya’s natural distrust and instinct to preserve her brood plays out, while Zora’s inherent and sometimes naive trust provides a metaphor for hope for humanity at large.

Performances

In the role of Zora, Quvenzhane Wallis is the epitome of the plucky teenage know-it-all, despite the oxygen-less hellscape around her. As she sciences her way out of each predicament, Wallis’ keen handle on her character’s (sometimes naive) wit sells the mother/daughter dynamic central to the story.

As the unexpected visitors, Milla Jovovich and Sam Worthington keep their intentions confusing with compelling performances. Jovovich’s “good cop” feels dangerously duplicitous, while Worthington’s tough-guy take is menacing even at his baseline.

But the true scene-stealer is Hudson as the no-nonsense mom with a gun. From the get, Hudson affixes a badass veneer that barely cracks, even in her darkest moments. She imbues her character with the hardass love and tenacity of a desperate mother who trusts only herself. But when their situation gets real, Hudson embodies the badass matriarch with the unexpected aplomb of an action hero.

Takeaways

With a captivating concept, terrific performances, and A+ visuals, Breathe is a fascinating addition to the dystopian sci-fi thriller catalog. Plus, it’s a ton of fun watching Jennifer Hudson embrace her inner Ripley.

Cinema Scholars’ Rebecca Elliott recently caught up with director Stefon Bristol to chat about Breathe. They discuss the appeal of genre films, working with such incredible talent, and the challenges of filming with actors in full-face oxygen masks.

Interview

Rebecca Elliott:

Hi, Stefon. Thank you so much for joining me today to talk about Breathe. Which is your second feature in the genre world, particularly sci-fi. Sci-fi that leans more into the science aspect. Tell me, what is it about genre or sci-fi that compels you to tell these types of stories?

Stefon Bristol:

I just grew up in the genre, so I connected more to it. There’s no reasoning to it. I love sci-fi more than I love regular genre or comedy films. Something about creating your own world. The creativity of it all is just really amazing. Some of the films I grew up on, like Jurassic Park and Back to the Future, are the films I’m going to make in my life.

Rebecca Elliott:

Totally. I’m a huge genre film fan myself, so now I have to go see your first feature, See You Yesterday. I also love a good time travel narrative. Hurts my brain in a good way! In Breathe there is a lot of fun tech stuff in the film, and even though it mostly takes place in a dusty dystopia. Can you tell me about working with your production designer, Jeremy Reed?

Stefon Bristol:

Yeah, Jeremy, that guy is meticulous. I mean meticulous! He’s very fun, very open. He brings a lot of ideas that I would have not imagined as well. And he worked very well with my cinematographer, Felipe Vara de Ray, and our ideas. He saw things that I couldn’t see, and he just really elevated everything.

And he fought really hard to get us everything that we needed to make sure that the world is believable, the world that is strong and unique, different. Jeremy, he’s experienced, but he had nothing but passion for this. He was able to take a street in a small city like Chester, PA. And turn that street into a post-apocalyptic Brooklyn. It was great to work with him.

Award-worthy Talent

Rebecca Elliott:

Amazing. And I just love the prop design and all of the techy stuff. It was just really cool and checked a lot of nerdy boxes for me. Now, of course, you’re working with amazing talent in front of the camera on this film as well. You have Jennifer Hudson, an Academy Award winner. Then you have Quvenzhané Wallis, who is an Oscar nominee. Common is also an Oscar winner [for Best Original Song]. Tell me about working with such talent, and then also turning Jennifer Hudson into a badass sci-fi hero.

Stefon Bristol:

When one of my producers was saying, “Hey, how do you feel about Jennifer Hudson for the role?” I was like, huh? And then I just started imagining Jennifer Hudson with a shotgun. I was like, okay, we got to do this movie. We got to put her in. All of it is a dream come true. To work with Jennifer, to work with Milla [Jovovich], working with Sam [Worthington]. The whole cast was a dream come true.

I grew up with all of their work, so it was like working with my heroes in a way. You know, Jennifer since American Idol, obviously. And Milla since Fifth Element. So I’m like, yo, what the hell?! And with Quvenzhané, I was in NYU graduate film school when Beasts of the Southern Wild came out. When I saw her, I was like, I want to work with her one day. I need to work with that young woman one day. And it happened! I made it happen.

Technical Difficulties

Rebecca Elliott:

You sure did. She brings so much to that “typical” teenage role, but also a real sense of pathos. I wish I got a little more of Common, but of course, no spoilers here! Speaking of performances, throughout much of the film the actors wear oxygen masks. I love to ask nuts and bolts questions, so how was that working with your costume designer, Alisha Silverstein? How did you guys manage to make the form functional as well?

Stefon Bristol:

Those masks were breaking every time you looked! That’s the damn thing. Every actor hated those things. I hated it. Production hated it. It kept failing. I can’t remember how many times we broke that mask. We were really taping it shut. That’s how bad it was. We were like, keep going. Nobody liked the masks because we didn’t have enough prep time to really get the masks in order.

But it worked because it felt like the DIY thing that’s going on. So it really worked for the movie. But it was like, 90 degrees, and you had that mask on. None of the actors can hear each other during the take. Nobody can hear me. Everybody had to shout in it, especially in the intense scene. And it was like, “What did he say?” It was so funny.

The Show Must Go On

Rebecca Elliott:

I figured there was a story behind those. They’re so cool-looking. But I bet that was a total pain in the ass to deal with all of that.

Stefon Bristol:

No, the actors couldn’t hear each other.

Rebecca Elliott:

Oh, my gosh. That’s crazy.

Stefon Bristol:

Yeah, they had to do a whole scene. Like a whole seven, eight-minute scene, because I like to block shoot. And they couldn’t hear each other. They had to guess their lines.

Rebecca Elliott:

Right. Like lip reading!

Stefon Bristol:

Yeah. Luckily, we had a really good sound mixer and a good sound designer. So surprisingly, we didn’t have to do that much of ADR. We thought we were going to have to ADR the entire film. But no, we didn’t. We had a good sound team.

New York, New York

Rebecca Elliott:

Well, that’s good. I only have time for one more, but I have to ask, both of your features have been set in Brooklyn. And in this one, of course, you get to show a devastated Brooklyn and NYC, and a little Philly, too. Can you talk about just how specific you were as far as what you were going to show? And also, the significance of it being New York and Brooklyn?

Stefon Bristol:

I’m from New York. I love New York. New York is me, New York is my life, New York is my love. Actually, I wanted to show Barclays Center, but we didn’t even know if we were able to do that. We couldn’t find the right angle to put in Barclays Center. I’m very exclusive. I know Brooklyn, but not the whole world does.

Everybody knows more about New York, so we had to choose more of Manhattan. Downtown Manhattan, and whatnot. I wanted to show Prospect Park. And I wanted to show Barclays Center. But luckily, I had it set in deep Brooklyn, like my Flatbush area. It’s a culture that I know and love, and I just want to express that in the film.

Rebecca Elliott:

Yeah, it comes across. But then I guess it’s weird and fun to imagine it destroyed in a way.

A Reverse Love Letter

Stefon Bristol:

I think it’s like, I survived so much shit in New York just since 2011. Hurricane Sandy, which was really… That’s my hometown, Coney Island. I saw my childhood friend’s homes completely destroyed. That, to me, was apocalyptic there. And then, of course, the pandemic. Which was another peak in our history of going through things as a New Yorker.

Seeing nobody on the street. The first couple of months, that was very scary. Every time you go outside, you are afraid to get killed by a virus that you know nothing about. So it made sense to see a devastated New York.

Rebecca Elliott:

It’s like a reverse love letter, I guess, to your home.

Stefon Bristol:

Yeah, that’s it!

Rebecca Elliott:

All right. Well, I need to wrap it up. But thank you so much for chatting with me today about the film. And good luck with everything.

Stefon Bristol:

You too. Bye.

Capstone Global and Warner Brothers will release Breathe in Theaters and On Digital this Friday, April 26.

Read more Cinema Scholars interviews!

THE OCTOPUS MURDERS: An Interview With Director Zachary Treitz

MILLER’S GIRL: An Interview With Writer/Director Jade Halley Bartlett

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