[Editor's note: This interview was recorded prior to the SAG strike.]
The Big Picture
- The Last Voyage of the Demeter stars Liam Cunningham and David Dastmalchian discuss going to sailing boot camp to prepare for the film.
- The pair also recalls the horror of seeing creature actor Javier Botet on set for the very first time as Dracula.
- Cunningham shares his thoughts on why David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are the perfect pair to helm Netflix's 3 Body Problem series.
Director André Øvredal and the team behind The Last Voyage of the Demeter prioritized capturing as much in camera as possible, a creative choice that made all the difference in a number of respects, but especially when it comes to heavily amplifying the sheer terror of their Dracula.
The movie is an adaptation of a single chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film fleshes out the "The Captain's Log,” which chronicles what happens after a merchant ship called The Demeter sets sail for England and ultimately arrives nearly destroyed with its crew nowhere to be found. The film’s Demeter is led by Liam Cunningham’s Captain Eliot and his first mate, Wojchek played by David Dastmalchian. While the two attempt to do what they can to forge forward after strange events start to occur, the moment things turn violent and deadly, it’s clear they’re no match for the evil on board.
With The Last Voyage of the Demeter now playing in theaters nationwide, I got the chance to chat with Cunningham and Dastmalchian about their experience getting into character and working on a set that placed high value on in-camera effects. Watch the video at the top of this article to hear about their time at sailing boot camp and to get a sense of the sheer terror creature actor Javier Botet was able to spark on set. You can also read the conversation in transcript form below.
PERRI NEMIROFF: I know you did a sailing boot camp for this movie, and David, I know you had a little experience so you had an advantage in that department, but for both of you, of all the skills you learned during that boot camp, what came most naturally to you? But then I also want the opposite. What part of that boot camp was the most challenging for you to pick up on?
DAVID DASTMALCHIAN: For me, because I did have experience, I was a professional fisherman when I was in my early 20s in Alaska, the thing that came easily to me, which surprises me because I'm from the farm country of Kansas, was that my sea legs came on quickly. I was able to always keep my balance pretty well on a ship no matter how it was pitching, and that's really useful, especially when you're trying to work under rugged circumstances, and you’re trying to go.
The thing that was always the most challenging for me, and it has been since I was a little boy from scouts all the way to today, I can barely tie my shoes let alone tie a good knot. And I was watching the rest of my cast as we were doing sailing training just throwing these knots together. Liam, you were good at it, Chris [Walley] was good at it, Corey [Hawkins] was good at it, and there I was. I don't know, there's something I just don't get.
LIAM CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, it's a funny one. We were in Rostock on this gorgeous boat with all the ropes and sails and all that sort of thing. I think David's been too kind to me. I had a bit of trouble with that little yellow rope we were trying to do these knots with. But I was asked by the instructors, “Do you want to go up and start pulling the sails up?” And that sounded a bit too much like work to me and I went, “Nah, he wouldn’t do it. He’s the captain. He doesn't pull ropes,” and they had no argument against that. So I sat back with a small glass of white wine and watched my fellow cast members getting blisters on their hands while they were throwing themselves into doing this. I'm no fool.
DASTMALCHIAN: Liam, you're the smartest actor I've ever worked with. [Laughs]
Hey, it serves your character well! I say go for it.
I know you both have worked on pretty substantial sets before, but is there anything that you did on the Demeter that wowed you in terms of what they were capturing in camera versus things you would expect them to be accomplishing in post via VFX?
DASTMALCHIAN: Yes!
CUNNINGHAM: Yes, wonderfully! For instance, our wonderful performer, our wonderful Dracula, Javier. A lot of times in a lot of movies now because of the advancements of computers and AI and all that sort of stuff, you can have a guy dressed like a mime with little dots all over him, and you're to imagine this horrific beast. We had this incredible performer arrive on set, everybody expecting him because he was going to be arriving for suit tests and lighting tests, fully done up. And when I eventually got to see him I was actually scared when I saw him. I went, “That is absolutely horrific.” Some of the other cast members, including some of the crew, were saying, “I can't even look at him!” When you've got that attention to detail, and when you've got a production design like we have with those dark muted colors, all that Gothic stuff, it's a painting, a horror film of this thing is a painting. Everything has to come together. And when we have this beautiful music on top of it, you really do feel part of a movie, of cinema, not just getting your character right and pleasing the director and all that sort of stuff. You felt part of the large, and that's incredibly satisfying as an actor.
DASTMALCHIAN: There's a moment when we're making the film, we were in Malta, which is where we did the exterior boat shots, and there's this fantastic Norwegian actor, Martin Furulund who plays Larsen, who's supposed to be manning the ship at night watch, and he's supposed to be at the wheel, and we hit at this crazy storm in the script, and it's a massive storm. Torrential rain, lightning flashing and crashing, and waves crashing over the side of the boat, and Larsen is nowhere to be seen. Of course, poor Larsen has been one of the first people to meet our dear Dracula, but the rest of us come running up to the deck of the ship in the midst of this storm, and there they were with rain machines and water cannons blasting us, and lighting effects to create the lightning. It was so cool to feel what the magic of movies can accomplish. And yes, we know it's all make-believe and we're sitting there and you see the machinery and the amazing crew and the riggers and the people running the crazy fans, but you get lost in it. You feel like a kid. There’s no limits to your imagination when you're given that kind of a support system.
I'll always take an opportunity to shout out Javier Botet because he is a legend, and everybody in this business should know his name.
One silly question for you. Let's say you, as in real you, suspect that Dracula is hunting you; who is someone in your real life that you go and tell that will actually believe you and help you fight Dracula?
CUNNINGHAM: Oh, I’d set my wife on him immediately. She's fearsome. She'd probably take him out, or she'd give him a really hard time. A lot of respect for that lady. Anybody else? Nah, she's top of the list.
I feel like that’s the right answer.
DASTMALCHIAN: My wife would say, “Good luck.” I've got a six-year-old daughter named Penelope, but we call her Penny, and she is a force of nature who I feel would absolutely go, and she would hunt Dracula down with me. And then my son Arlo, he's got the mind for helping me come up with a strategy for how we would trap and kill him. But they would believe me. Everybody else would say, “Oh, David's finally cracked,” or they’d say, “Maybe he's cracked yet again,” but whatever.
Liam, I have 3 Body Problem on the brain because they just released the trailer for that. Having worked with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss on Game of Thrones, what do you think made the two of them particularly well suited to also lead that adaptation of a very popular book series?
CUNNINGHAM: Oh, listen, it's always the quality of the writing, and these guys, it’s some of the best writing I've ever come across in my life. And this is also saying I spent a year and a half with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I've done Shakespeare on stage. These boys are absolutely extraordinary, the words they put in an actor's mouth. And then to go with this – and David's an enormous fan of the books. I haven't even read the books. I didn't read the Game of Thrones books either. He knows a lot more about it than I do, and I mean it.
DASTMALCHIAN: That’s a raw deal! I got screwed, Liam. What the heck, man? No one called me to be in 3 Body Problem. Come on!
CUNNINGHAM: [Laughs] It’s true! Life's not fair, David. Life ain't fair! To tell you the truth, I haven't told anybody else, I was in serious talks for another project and obviously the boys found out about it, and I got a phone call from David and Dan, they just said, “You’re not doing that. You’re coming with us.” I didn't even know what the project was, and I just said, “Yeah, okay. I'll tell the other crowd no.” It could have been a day's work on the other thing, but when those two call, you run to the clarion call.
Looking for more on The Last Voyage of the Demeter? Check out my interview with director André Øvredal below:
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