Filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods blend futuristic science fiction with prehistoric dinosaurs in 65. Their premise has a pilot from an advanced civilization crashing on Pangean Earth. Mills (Adam Driver) initially believes he's the only survivor. The discovery of a girl, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), changes his calculus. He must rescue her, defend against vicious predators in a hostile environment, and find a way to get them off the planet.
Beck and Woods, co-writers of A Quiet Place, were enthralled by Jurassic Park as children in Iowa. But why did Steven Spielberg have "a monopoly" on dinosaur films? They wanted a "terrifying" survival situation where two strangers face savage creatures in a primeval world. Their characters are trapped in a version of Alien, where everything they experience is unfamiliar and threatening.
65 has very little dialogue. Driver and Greenblatt convey the storyline through raw emotions and intense physical performances. Beck and Woods were "huge fans" of Driver's work. They did a global search to find a young actress capable of starring opposite such an impressive talent. Beck and Woods extol Driver's virtues as a great collaborator who was funny and committed to the arduous shoot. 65 was filmed quickly over 40 days in difficult settings. From the swamps of New Orleans to cliffs in Oregon, they shot in remote locations and were never on the same set twice.
An Ancient Tale of Survival
MW: Where did this idea come from?
Scott Beck: It started almost 30 years ago, Bryan and I, growing up in Iowa, seeing Jurassic Park on June 11, 1993 (laughs). We had zero expectations, but it blew our minds seeing dinosaurs on the big screen. Cut to 10 or 15 years later, we started thinking, why aren't there more dinosaur movies? There was a monopoly that Steven Spielberg had. We adore those movies but felt there was a void. It led us to dinosaurs not existing with humans in modern day, but let's place it when dinosaurs were the only things alive on Earth 65 million years ago. Someone from an ancient civilization crash lands and is now confronted with a survival tale. They'd consider them aliens.
MW: You're ready for the Jurassic Park comparisons. There are always sticklers who want everything to be accurate. Are the dinosaurs we see from that period?
Bryan Woods: We approached the movie experientially from the point of view of Mills and Koa. They're not in Jurassic Park. They're in Ridley Scott's Alien [laughs]. We made a conscious effort to bring on paleontologists and scientists to give us the research, show us new fossil data. We wanted a realistic, modern view of a dinosaur. Then we Venn diagramed another circle for nightmare fuel. What's scary? What feels otherworldly?
Scott Beck: We have the staples of the late Cretaceous like the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Oviraptor. Fossil excavation is fairly new in human history. Bryan and I would constantly email and text each other about new fossils found. Every single dive in the Marianas Trench, there's new species found. We wanted to make sure we had correct [information on] what certain dinosaurs would be, but also the x-factor — what feels scientifically tangible but also cinematic? At the end of the day, we're trying to make a terrifying movie.
MW: 65 is a primal survival story with father and daughter themes. Talk about casting young Ariana Greenblatt with Adam Driver?
Bryan Woods: We wanted to be on this large canvas. It's a high concept B-movie dinosaur premise, but tell it [with] intimate, hardly any dialogue, stoic performances. For our money, Adam Driver is one of the great actors of our time. We've been huge fans from afar for years. His ability to convey emotion and story without a single line of dialogue is the most important ingredient we have in the film. To find a partner for him was really tricky. We did a worldwide search for the role of Koa. Ariana could not only go toe-to-toe with Adam Driver, she had a remarkable physicality. There's a lot of stunt work. Our characters are in harsh conditions. There's not a single set in the movie we're on twice. We're always in a new environment as they traverse across Pangean Earth. It was tricky to find actors who could tell the story, brave the elements, and dig deep.
A Fantastic Collaborator in Adam Driver
MW: Adam Driver is a mysterious actor. He's not out there in the public sphere. What's he like to work with? Describe his personality.
Scott Beck: Adam is a fantastic collaborator. He loves doing his homework. That strikes a chord with us as writers and directors trying to find a similar vision. When going through the script in pre-production, he's incredibly open. He comes to the table with five different concepts. It feels like when Bryan and I were kids in Iowa gestating different ideas. There's a kinship. On set, he does bring intensity when there needs to be. It's not method, but he wants to stay focused, in the zone, to do his best work. We greatly appreciated that.
Bryan Woods: He's also got a really good sense of humor. He's very funny. He made us laugh constantly. There was a day on set where Adam's stand-in was in frame. We were pulling out hair out trying to get the shot. It looks like a cheap student film. Adam always comes to set early. He's not the guy that sits in his trailer. Adam gets in the frame. Shoos the stand-in away. We were like, whoa, perfect. He has that magic quality.
MW: Let's discuss the technical processes of 65. You shot in Louisiana, dealing with Covid protocols, how do you separate duties and keep a collective vision?
Bryan Woods: Our directing process is very similar to our writing process. It's a series of questions. We always challenge each other. We storyboard every single frame of the movie in order to provoke that conversation and get on the same page. What does a scene mean? What blocking is best? It's almost a friendly, competitive experience. We always want each other's best work. When you share work with someone else, it removes the preciousness from it. We really enjoy the team aspect of filmmaking. And we had every Covid problem ([aughs].
Scott Beck: Yes, we lost the first assistant director. Then they had to quarantine for 10 days. It adds more obstacles to what was already a tumultuous shoot. It was a quick 40 days, when typically you would have 80 days for a movie of this scale...
Bryan Woods: You'd normally have 100 days for a dinosaur movie. It was a fast shoot. Everyone was fine. We didn't lose anyone to serious Covid illness. If someone tests positive, even if they don't have symptoms, that crew member and whole department around them goes dark for 10 days. It was challenging, but that's the world we live in. It's better to be safe.
65 as a Team Effort
MW: What's the best and worst day on the set of 65?
Scott Beck: The best day — the moment where Mills crash lands his ship in a swamp, which we filmed in New Orleans. We had construction teams go into the swamp and build this spaceship facade. We started lighting fires for the fuel that had leaked. Cranes were up, 300 crew members, just walking out on the bridge of the ship, and appreciating all the different crew members' artistry. It's one thing to put it on the page, but there's no way we can build that alone. It felt like the embodiment of team effort.
Bryan Woods: The worst day... it was a tough shoot...
Scott Beck: We challenged ourselves. We chose to shoot in practical locations for 95% of the film. We shot in remote areas of Louisiana, Ireland, and Oregon. In Oregon, we scouted this crazy cliff beside a waterfall that required a several mile hike. You could only manually carry camera equipment. Everybody pitched in. It was brilliant. But lugging a 40-pound piece of equipment up a cliff... that might have ranked as one of the worst days — at least physically.
65 will have a March 10 theatrical release from Sony Pictures.