Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 4 minutes ago
Amandla Stenberg, Lee Pace, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, Myha'la Herrold and Chase Sui Wonders talk A24’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies.” They discuss the film’s smart dialogue, uniquely “psycho” characters, it’s jaw-dropping ending (spoiler-free) and more.
Transcript
00:00Hopeful throughout the story that the ending would culminate in something like that.
00:05And then really deeply gratified because I think that the ending
00:10so encompasses the satirical nature of the whole story.
00:14I'm smart! I'm strong! I'm ready for what comes along!
00:19I've got good friends! We'll sing together!
00:23Who wants to play Bodies, Bodies, Bodies?
00:30Oh my god!
00:31Are party movies and specifically nighttime movies just exhausting to film?
00:35Yes, definitely.
00:39I wouldn't say the party element was the thing that was exhausting.
00:42That was kind of a break for us.
00:43But definitely hurricane films.
00:47So that means that you're soaking wet all the time.
00:51Covered in mud and blood all the time.
00:53And yeah, most of our shoots were night shoots.
00:56So we became like strange little feral creatures that only, yeah, only were awake at night.
01:02You know what?
01:04It's, you get into a rhythm where you like come alive at night.
01:09I think we did a lot of overnights.
01:11And then all of a sudden it sort of becomes like the movie is the world.
01:16Because you sleep in the day and you're staying in a weird little hotel in this small town.
01:22So it's, I think it almost like switches and then it kind of fuels you.
01:26And doing the party scenes and the scenes in the rain, it's sort of like electrifying where it's like it
01:32takes so much energy that you create more energy.
01:36Gotcha.
01:37That makes sense.
01:37A quick follow-up.
01:38What is Alice's podcast about?
01:40It's about hanging out with your smartest and funniest friend, which is apparently me.
01:45And I can imagine her just like talking to different people and not really having, she doesn't really have an
01:54arc.
01:55She's working on that and she's figuring it out.
01:57But right now it's just her personality shining through.
02:01I can imagine her having no guests at all.
02:03Just her.
02:04Just her.
02:0560 minutes.
02:0760 minutes.
02:08Sometimes 90 minutes.
02:09Hey guys.
02:12So, starting my stomach was feeling a little weird.
02:15Let me delve into that.
02:17First of all, a podcast takes a lot of work.
02:20Okay?
02:21You have to organize the guests.
02:23You have to do a Google Calendar.
02:25And you build a following.
02:27It takes a long time.
02:29And I've been working on it for a while.
02:30Myala, because of that, were there any bits of direction that you received to almost behave in a certain way
02:36to throw the audience off of the mysteries trail?
02:39No.
02:40Actually, I was never advised to make myself seem more suspicious.
02:46I just am.
02:50Our friend is dead.
02:52So if you could just like not escalate the situation.
02:54I'm not escalating.
02:55You're holding the knife and you're moving your hands while you talk.
02:57No, I think, you know, all of the twists and turns, the audience, like, it could be this person, it
03:02could be that person, all just has to do with, like, each character's, like, deep need to get what they
03:07want.
03:08And the perception from everyone else is what makes it twisted, like their drug-fueled lack of sleep paranoia is
03:17the lens through which we see everyone's need to survive or save the person they, you know what I mean?
03:22So, no, I just look like that, I guess.
03:27Lee, I'm curious if there were any bits of direction that you received throughout the course of the film to
03:31behave specific ways to maybe throw the audience off of the main mysteries trail.
03:37Oh, well, Helena is, what I love so much about working with her is her specificity that she brought to
03:46all of the characters.
03:47And I would watch her give notes to everyone that very much focused all the characters to be very different
03:52from one another.
03:54Because it's all a diversion of, you know, because that's kind of what the movie is about, is the chaos
04:00of this kind of group of psychos.
04:05So, absolutely, I think Greg is, you know, he's not an unserious person, but he's not being serious at this
04:12party, which is what he thinks it is.
04:15You know, he's having a good time with a bunch of kids.
04:17Yeah.
04:17And he doesn't really see danger is around.
04:22You know, I don't think he thinks that there is danger, but he does kind of think at times, this
04:28is not necessarily fun for me.
04:30Right.
04:30I love that he thinks he's in a game throughout elements of it as well, too.
04:34That's Emma.
04:35That's Jordan.
04:37And.
04:38What's up?
04:39I'm Greg.
04:40What's up, player?
04:41I'm Sophie.
04:42Oh, whoa.
04:45You're Sophie.
04:47Maria, one of the things I love so much about the dialogue is that it's very, very modern without being
04:53over the top, almost like a spoof.
04:55You're always gaslighting me.
04:57You can trigger me.
04:58You are so toxic.
04:59Relax.
04:59Relax.
05:00You're silencing me.
05:01The reliance on social media and technology.
05:04And I'm just wondering if that was something that appealed to you in the script of how it presented these
05:08characters and how they speak to each other.
05:10Absolutely.
05:11Yeah.
05:11Absolutely.
05:13That had appealed to me.
05:14I have to say that my character is not one of the most outpoken people in this world that they
05:20live in, but she's out there to see and witness everything that's happening.
05:23And me as myself, I speak way too much more like all the other characters instead of B.
05:31But I see, but I see, and I pretty much, we've been talking about that recently, today, for a long
05:37time, that we are a little bit underrated as Gen Zs and the meaning that we put behind our words.
05:45And I think the film actually shows that there is a little bit more than actually people will see and
05:51talk about.
05:51Um, so, I think the dialogue is incredible.
05:56It's written very well.
05:57And I think everybody will deliver it in a very great way as well.
06:04So, yeah.
06:16And then Chase, um, without giving any specifics away, I just need to know your reaction when you read the
06:22end of the script, because a murder mystery like this hangs on sticking the land.
06:27Yeah, I think it's so, it was so unexpected upon reading it.
06:31I think like throughout, it's so interactive throughout the whole, like you, you swear that you know who it is
06:38and, and that it's going to go one direction.
06:39And I think that's like the most fun, fun part of a horror movie.
06:42And usually you're able to predict the end, but I haven't, I've yet to hear like anyone who has seen
06:48it or been a part of it who's been like, yep, knew that from the start.
06:51So I think it's so cool how it was like very clear upon reading the ending, like this bends genres.
06:57It's not in, you can't typify like one box for this movie.
07:02Uh, completely shocked.
07:05Also hopeful throughout the story that the ending would culminate in something like that.
07:12And then really deeply gratified because I think that the ending so encompasses the satirical nature of the whole story.
07:20Oh my God, it sticks the landing so well.
07:22Congratulations, ladies.
07:23I appreciate it.
07:24Have a good day.
07:25Thank you so much.
07:27Is that the lights?
07:29David!
07:35Our friend is dead.
Comments

Recommended