Cinema Scholars chats with Never Let Go director Alexandre Aja following the film’s premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024. Leading actress/producer Halle Berry was also on hand for the event. Lionsgate is releasing Never Let Go in theaters nationwide on September 27.
Introduction
Some filmmakers are known for their great dramas, romances, and comedies. And then there are those directors who gravitate toward the horror/thriller category. The cool thing about genre film is that it can encompass all of the former within the context of the latter. Genre filmmakers get to have their cake and eat it too. Some of the best horror films incorporate elements of drama, love stories, and even laughs to balance the terror.
Director Alexandre Aja is no stranger to cringe-inducing entertainment with a roster of films including High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, and Piranha 3D. But the director has also honed his skills with more subtle, nail-biting dread. In his latest endeavor, Never Let Go, Aja takes another turn with a slow-burn creeper.
Synopsis
In Never Let Go, a mother and her twin sons live in the safety of a remote forest in the aftermath of a terrible worldwide event. According to the story she has regaled her sons with their entire lives, and an evil force took over humanity, causing people to violently kill one another. As a result, the matriarch keeps a tight hold on her boys, literally and figuratively.
To leave their home to hunt and forage, they must stay tethered to their dilapidated home by a rope tied around their waist, only going as far as the length will allow. If they stray any farther, the mysterious evil force will overtake them and force them to kill one another.
As time goes by and food becomes scarce, one of the brothers begins to question their mother’s account of the “before times.” Soon, this curiosity takes a violent turn as the boys fight for survival from the elements as well as the evil their desperate mother fights to protect them from.
Academy Award winner Halle Berry (who also produces) stars as the tortured head of her brood. As always, the celebrated performer wows with a performance that is as loving as it is unhinged. While she beautifully conveys the protective nature of a defiant momma bear, she also creates a sense of unease that carries the tension throughout.
Her sons, Anthony B Jenkins and Percy Daggs IV inject heartbreaking innocence into the story. Their unconditional love for their mother makes their search for answers to their quandary even more poignant and dreadful.
Cinema Scholars’ Rebecca Elliott sat down with director Alexandre Aja following the premiere of Never Let Go Fantastic Fest 2024. The pair discuss working with Berry both in front of and behind the camera, his approach with kids in horror, and his draw-to-genre work.
Interview
Rebecca Elliott:
It’s such a pleasure to meet you. What a great screening last night.
Alexandre Aja:
Which one was it? It was amazing. In which one were you?
Rebecca Elliott:
I was in the one with you guys. So I was right front and center for the Q and A. It was such a great screening. So, of course, my first question is about working with Academy Award winner, Halle Berry. Who not only acted in this but produced it as well. Can you tell me what it’s like collaborating with her in front of and behind the camera?
Alexandre Aja:
I mean, usually always when you promote the movie with the press, “Oh, it was so great to work with someone.” But I have to say that this one was very unique because it was a fragile movie. It was a movie that could have been taken in different directions. And from the moment we met the first time, she asked me to be sure that we were not going to compromise on the character. We were going to push even further. And we were going to explore the darkness of Momma. And also we were going to explore the duality between the loving mother and the jailer mother.
I knew that I was on the right track. But without her by my side during the whole filmmaking process, I don’t think I would have been able to deliver this movie that you watched last night. I feel that it was part of her common vision that we really fought to keep and maintain up to the end. When you see the audience reacting and being so into it, it’s really nice.
Star and Producer
Rebecca Elliott:
It adds another level of integrity as if you needed another level of integrity with her. But, she’s so invested.
Alexandre Aja:
But to answer your question, I feel that as a producer, it was quite amazing to have her. To give you an example, during the casting process, she was really with us all the time. When we were almost ready to settle with a really talented young actor, but not the obvious choice, she asked us to keep looking. And this is where we actually discovered a person who’s been unknown. So I feel that that was really important as well to have her behind the camera.
Rebecca Elliott:
Yeah. It sounds like she really pushed for that and put her foot down. Speaking of your two young leads, who are incredible, btw. But what is it like working with kids in horror? Do you use kid gloves or do you not? Tell me about working with the kiddos.
Working With Children
Alexandre Aja:
It’s a very weird thing because every kid is very different. Every actor is different. But when you come with kids and when you do something that’s sometimes very scary, you have to keep in mind, we are in a real house in the real forest, far away from everything, tied to a rope. Everything is pretty real. So sometimes it gets really intense. Sometimes you walk with kids.
Anthony is a lover of horror movies. He loves being scared. So for him, it was very easy. Percy is someone who actually really puts himself in the character, and sometimes it gets too intense. And you feel that “Oh, okay, Let’s stop for a minute. Let’s relax.” Let’s crack jokes and be in a good mood because it’s getting much too real.
Rebecca Elliott:
Right. And at the same time, you’re like, “No, but keep going!” But at the end of the day- you don’t want to traumatize a child.
Alexandre Aja:
I won’t do that. Because I think they’re talented enough anyway to get me what I need. I don’t need to put him in a really traumatizing situation to get there.
Rebecca Elliott:
You mentioned the location out in the middle of the woods. At least it seemed like it was actually remote in the middle of nowhere. But it’s a single-location film. Can you talk about some of the challenges or maybe some of the benefits of working in a single location and how you take advantage of everything in that one spot?
Single Location
Alexandre Aja:
The world is gone. The evil made everyone kill each other. And now we have this family living far away in the forest in that house. As long as they stay in the house, they’re safe. As long as they stay connected to the house with that group, they’re safe. But that only gives them 100 or 200 yards around. So their world is not just the house. It’s like 200 yards around. It’s a very contained small universe. And for me, as a filmmaker, it’s the most exciting part because I can really control and create a world. A world of fairytales, a world of dark fairytales, classical fairytales. I love that. I love this opportunity.
When I look back at my previous movies, Crawl, The Hills of Eyes, or High Tension, they are always very limited in space, and sometimes in time. But also the space is always very contained because this is how you can build a world. This is how you can really build something that will have its own atmosphere and style. It’s the time to develop, to see all the details of the production designer, all the texture that we put everywhere. It was very exciting.
Rebecca Elliott:
So it’s not a limitation for you. It helps your process.
Alexandre Aja:
It’s what I like the most. I realized without looking for it, that I always respond to those stories more.
Influence Of Previous Work
Rebecca Elliott:
And speaking of your previous work… it’s like you’re perfectly leading into all of my questions. I’m a huge fan of your earlier work, High Tension, of course. And I was at the Fantastic Fest screening of Horns back in the day. What pros and cons from all of your previous work did you bring to Never Let Go? Or do you? Or is it fresh every time?
Alexandre Aja:
I feel that it was fresh. When I read the script, I thought it was, “Oh, this is something I’ve never done before, and I’m going to explore a new way of telling the story.” And then as I was doing it, I realized that there’s a bit of Hills of Eyes or others. And then I realized that no matter how I’m trying to cut the rope and step away from everything I’ve done before, it always comes back to me. So there are elements for sure.
Rebecca Elliott:
Yeah. I’m sure it would be impossible not to take lessons from all of your previous work and then apply them to whatever you’re doing now.
Alexandre Aja:
There are definitely things that you learn and that you unlearn. I try to not really watch my previous work because it’s very frustrating to watch them when they are finished. I’m still working on it in my mind. Doing Never Let Go, I was really going to push the psychological approach to it. We’re not going to be very graphic and violent like I’ve done other things. We’re going to do something that’s going to be a little bit more growing under your skin. The dark fairytale was really the target.
Love Of Genre Film
Rebecca Elliott:
It’s fun to leave a little up to the imagination. The audience is thinking of all these horrible things on their own. Okay, I probably have time for one more question. You are firmly planted in genre work, it seems. Do you think this is where you’re going to stay? Or are you itching to do comedy or romance?
Alexandre Aja:
Even when I try to do comedy, it’s a genre. Piranha 3D, I think is really a comedy. And Horns has really funny parts. But it’s still in the…I feel that no matter where I go, I still gravitate to the genre. It’s very hard. I did this movie a few years ago. And this movie was much more a drama, but it still had a monster. And no matter what, I don’t know. There is something that’s just coming back to that type of cinema that I feel is very immersive, that I really enjoy as a viewer before being a storyteller.
Rebecca Elliott:
Totally. That’s me, too. I don’t really gravitate to romantic comedy. But once I see them, I’m like, “Oh, it was so adorable. It was amazing.” But yeah, that genre is usually my wheelhouse.
Alexandre Aja:
I’m not at all. I watch every type of movie. There are movies that I watch, and I’m like, “Oh, this is spectacular, but I will never do that because this is not me.” But who knows?
Rebecca Elliott:
Well, I think I just hit the 10-minute mark on the dot. So, I’d better wrap this up. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me about Never Let Go. Have a great day and good luck with the rest of your interviews at the festival.
Alexandre Aja:
Thank you.
Lionsgate is releasing Never Let Go in theaters nationwide on September 27.
