00:00Hi, my name is Mai. I'm the director of In Waves.
00:03My name is Will. I play AJ in In Waves.
00:07And you're watching The Hollywood Reporter.
00:09And you're watching The Hollywood Reporter.
00:11Perfect.
00:23We landed at 5.20.
00:25Did you come from London?
00:26And then we were on, yeah, runway for like an hour and a half.
00:28No.
00:29Then an hour through customs.
00:31And then my bag was missing.
00:32I was so zen at the beginning.
00:34Like, this is fine. We're adults.
00:36We can do this. Whatever.
00:37And then like going through the line, it was getting a bit hot and stressful.
00:41And then by the time my bag was gone, I was like, fuck this.
00:44Hi, I'm Saia Rankin.
00:46And I am with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:47And I'm here with In Waves.
00:49Hi, guys. Thanks for joining.
00:51I guess it's been a few months since Cannes,
00:52but you had like a pretty phenomenal Cannes experience
00:55that kind of kicked off this movie.
00:56But what has that been like so far for you guys?
01:00I think the best part of it was doing, you know, like,
01:03like showing the film with the presence of AJ, AJ Dongo,
01:08the author of the book that we adapted.
01:10We are very good friends, you know, among the work relationship.
01:17It was like a big moment of emotions when we were showing it
01:21the first time in Cannes and also in ANSI Festival in France.
01:27Yeah.
01:28I agree.
01:29I was very moved by the experience of sitting next to AJ during the screening in Cannes.
01:38Because it was in the film.
01:40The character of AJ says to Kristen about how he promises to keep her story alive.
01:46And then, you know, the real AJ wrote his graphic novel and then now a film has been made of
01:51it.
01:51And then here we are all still talking about Kristen and their story because of it.
01:56And I feel like, yeah, that's been this sort of, that's what's made it special in a way.
02:03Yeah. Do you want to tell us a little bit for folks watching kind of what AJ and Kristen's story
02:07is?
02:07AJ and Kristen met when they were in high school in California.
02:13And he's like a skater and she's like more a surfer because he was afraid of water.
02:19She kind of, you know, like try to, you know, like pass him to the passion of surfing and, you
02:25know,
02:25try to convince him to get into surfing.
02:27So she eventually does illness in the story.
02:31And so we, it's like the story is about, you know, like how their relationship evolves,
02:38you know, like around years with, you know, this illness, you know, in their relationship.
02:47But it's still very joyful also.
02:51And it's like a very something about the youth, you know, like how they were like this group of friends
02:58and being very, like strong together and how to, you know, like try to surf together, skate together and enjoy
03:09life actually.
03:10Yeah.
03:10Is this your first time portraying a real person who you were able to actually meet?
03:16Yes, I think so. Yeah.
03:18Not your first time portraying a real person, but.
03:21Yes, correct. I played Isaac Newton once on stage ages ago.
03:27Didn't get to meet him.
03:28Yeah.
03:28Didn't get to meet Sir Isaac.
03:30Yeah, that's fair.
03:30Do you surf or skateboard or anything of the sort?
03:35I know this is a very like Los Angeles based film and you're.
03:38Yeah.
03:38Grew up in London, right?
03:39I have surfed and I really like it, but I'm not that good at it yet.
03:45But I'd like to do it more.
03:46And then, but I do think it's the kind of, I definitely, when I was doing it, I found that,
03:51but I found myself thinking about how it was a good metaphor for like the creative process
03:55or for writing where you have to be patient and you're sort of at the mercy of like greater elements
04:01than you.
04:02But you also have to get everything technically right.
04:05And when it's good, it's really exhilarating.
04:08And then the other sort of 90% of the time, it's just being, you're just being beaten up by
04:13the ocean.
04:14And, but I also felt in this movie, how is the way it's used as a, you know, a metaphor
04:20for, for the experience of moving through grief.
04:24Very powerful.
04:25Yeah.
04:26Do you skateboard at all?
04:27Have you ever tried?
04:27Uh, I have tried.
04:29I do not skateboard.
04:32Decidedly so.
04:33Yeah.
04:35And the, um, you know, you do a, I guess it would be like a Southern California accent as well.
04:40Um, did you, did you give him a test before you had him do the voice or you felt, you
04:46knew he could?
04:46Uh, no, I just asked him if he could do this.
04:50And he said, yeah, I can, maybe.
04:53Yeah.
04:54Yeah.
04:54I mean, I, I, yes.
04:56Uh, I think actually mostly what we talked about was trying to differentiate between the ages of the characters.
05:02Uh, and sort of trying to capture that innocence and nerviness of being, you know, a teenager sort of falling
05:08in love for the first time.
05:10And the kind of awkwardness of that versus the slightly heavier, older version of AJ.
05:16That was mostly what we talked about at the front end of it, I think.
05:19Mm-hmm.
05:20Are either of you still in touch with your high school sweethearts?
05:25Nah.
05:25No.
05:28I'm saying.
05:30Sometimes people have really good stories about like still being friends.
05:34Yeah.
05:34Um, not here.
05:35Um, okay.
05:37I didn't mean me, I meant you guys.
05:39I am curious though, this, this movie, you know, it's a, it's a bit of a tearjerker and talking about
05:45grief.
05:45I'm, I'm curious what are the movies or I guess maybe TV shows or books, like what makes you guys
05:50cry?
05:51Where do you go when you need like a good cathartic cry?
05:53Hmm.
05:54I feel like I'm quite a sucker for somebody who is kind of a bit grumpy or misunderstood or like
06:03the outcast of a group or somebody who ostracizes themselves through like having like their defenses are too high.
06:10Mm-hmm.
06:11And then they get a redemptive moment, uh, towards the end of the movie or the show.
06:16That often seems to get me like, um, like for some reason my template is Sarah, the Triceratops from The
06:22Land Before Time.
06:24Uh, like she's so grumpy, like all the way through, like, and everyone's like, why are you so grumpy man?
06:30And then she has like a redeeming moment where she saves her friends.
06:33Or like, um, Boo Radley is it?
06:36In To Kill a Mock.
06:37That's a book.
06:38But in To Kill a Mock.
06:39Anything like that I think I'm a bit of a sucker for.
06:41Oh, I see.
06:42That's, that's funny to me because to me what's sad about The Land Before Time is all the dinosaurs.
06:47Yeah, that's sad, but I created that as well, but just if we're trying to establish a pattern.
06:53Yeah, that's, that is your particular, that's your pattern.
06:57The beginning is so sad.
06:59Like when he's losing.
07:00Yeah, all right guys.
07:01Yeah, I found that sad as well.
07:03It's funny because, uh, uh, like, uh, like two of my favorite, uh, animation movie is The Land Before Time
07:10and Bambi.
07:11Oh.
07:11And the same, it's all, you know, it's like the films that are dealing also with, you know, like losing
07:16someone and also, uh, yeah, I don't know.
07:21It's like, it was like two of my favorite films when I was a child and I was like watching
07:26it all the time.
07:27I think also like when people are trying to hold it together, like the, the sequences in, in waves that
07:33really got me in the, in animation and where I felt like we were trying to calibrate really carefully.
07:38Like what is too much versus what is too little and trying to bring out the sort of feeling of
07:43the scene.
07:44It's always like when they're sort of trying to be strong.
07:47Uh, and I feel like there's something about that, you know, of course it can be quite powerful when somebody
07:52completely just cathartically lets go.
07:54But there's something about people holding emotion in that I also find quite affecting.
07:59Do you have this, I'm going to attempt to get an answer out of you about Prodigies.
08:03Do you have a character like that in Prodigies?
08:07The Triceratops.
08:08Yeah.
08:09Yeah.
08:09Do you have any dinosaurs in a, uh, uh, yeah, yeah, actually there is, there is, there is one.
08:14See if you can spot who it is.
08:16Okay.
08:17Yeah.
08:18Well, I think there's one.
08:19I want to ask you about, you probably had, cause you did a research trip for this movie, right?
08:24Where you kind of went up and down the Pacific.
08:26Was there anywhere on that trip that stuck out to you the most?
08:29Well, actually we went surfing with AJ, uh, and, uh, I kind of, uh, uh, I am very bad at
08:37surfing, uh, too.
08:38And I, I, you know, like, it was like kind of, uh, my first lesson.
08:42And he was, uh, you know, like trying to teach me how to surf.
08:46And so I got, uh, I think I got very inspired, you know, by, you know, like, because, uh, in
08:51the film, uh, his character is afraid of the water.
08:54And, uh, and, you know, like I, I kind of tried to capture, you know, that moment that I really
08:59live in the real life and to transfer that into the movie.
09:04But, uh, another thing is, uh, I was very moved because I went to Kristen's house and, uh, Kristen's brother
09:11took me, uh, you know, to visit, uh, her room for, you know, like it was, uh, kind of, uh,
09:18um, strange, you know, for me, like as a stranger from the family to enter.
09:23Uh, that close, you know, into their, their home and, you know, entering her, her room and see all the
09:29pictures and all, all her stuff still there.
09:32Yeah. It was kind of, uh, yeah, hard moment, but also, um, yeah, I, I don't know. I, I, I
09:41got really moved when, when I was there.
09:44Yeah.
09:45Well, thank you guys for chatting.
09:47I appreciate it.
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