Reminiscence is hitting theatres and HBO Max at the end of the month, and it’s set to be Westworld creator Lisa Joy‘s directorial feature debut. The sci-fi thriller stars Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton, Cliff Curtis, and Daniel Wu. The upcoming movie has some neat underwater scenes, which really put Jackman through the wringer. Not only does the X-Men alum have to fight underwater in the movie, but he also nearly gets drowned in a giant fish tank. Recently, ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with Jackman, Joy, and Wu and they all talked about the water scenes.
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“I have to say Lisa that there’s some really nice, long shots she liked to do. Sort of Old Boy-style, long shots of action down the corridor,” Jackman shared. “That’s hard. That took a lot of choreography and a lot of work. And then all the underwater stuff, the stuff I had never done before. I didn’t think, I can’t think of ever doing it before. But we were, we spent a week on the water doing long takes of being in pianos and chandeliers. It was a very sort of surreal thing. And I really learned a lot from that.”
“It was incredible to do,” Joy said of the underwater fight. “And I knew from the very beginning that I needed it to be practical because I couldn’t rely on the suspension of disbelief on this because it endeavors to be a realistic and grounded film, even though it does contain speculation.” She added, “So I had to work with my crew to figure out how to do it safely. Now I cannot sing the praises of my stunt coordinator, Brian Machleit, enough. He is so wonderful. I had storyboarded and sketched out from the very beginning exactly how I wanted the fight to look, and he helped train and prepare the actors. It was really the actors doing this. It wasn’t just stunt doubles to do these takes safely. And it looked exactly like the storyboards. Brian is a God. He’s just terrific.”
“It was kind of intimidating coming into this project being the antihero to Hugh,” Wu shared. “But he was such a freaking nice guy. It’s crazy. You’re almost jealous because he’s so perfect. Right? He can sing, dance, and act, and then he’s so nice, and so down to earth, and so real. You’re just like, ‘Who is this guy? Where’d he come from?’ Right. Then even on set, he’s just happy to be there. With that fight scene in the end with his head in the fish tank, his head was in that thing for half the day most of the time. Even when we’re fighting in the foreground, he’s in the background. He was doing it. Then things like he’s sopping wet, and the costumes like, ‘Do you want to change into something dry?’ He’s like, ‘No, I’m going to be wet all day anyway, so forget it. Don’t worry about it.’ He just stayed wet all day long. Things like that just make him really cool and real, and just not… You know, you expect some kind of diva-ish personality, but none of that is there at all.”
You can watch our full interview with Wu at the top of the page.
Reminiscence is scheduled to be released in theatres and on HBO Max on August 20th.