Actors David Oyelowo and Demián Bichir sat down with The Knockturnal to talk about their new upcoming film ‘The Midnight Sky’ starring and directed by George Clooney.
The post-apocalyptic story follows a lonely scientist in the Arctic as he races to stop five astronauts, played by Oyelowo and Bichir, from returning home to earth.
The film is based on the book Good Morning, Midnight by author Lily Brooks-Dalton.
Asked about the difference between the movie and book, Oyelowo said, “The thing that I’ve learned is that you have to really recognize that they are different mediums.
“I think that what George [Clooney] achieved so beautifully is to take the heart of that novel and put it into a film, but also make it its own thing.”
The cast spent months training to do stunts at zero gravity in Los Angeles before filming in London.
Bichir said, “Lucky us we have Geroge Clooney as a director, for many different reasons, but also because he has that experience with ‘Gravity’ with Alfonso Cuaron. He already knew the ins and outs of the operation. We were advised in advance that we needed to be fit.
“Specifically your abdominal muscles and your lower back – that’s where all the control is. So that alone was very intense.”
When asked if he would ever go into space like his character, Oyelowo said, “Absolutely not!”
“I would not last two minutes in the space ship on the ground let alone going up into space. That was all acting and it’s going to stay acting,” he added.
But Bichir had quite the opposite feelings.
“I would like to, yes, go into space,” Bichir said. “Yeah, why not, I’m very curious. I’m always in search to understand how everything moves. I must’ve driven my parents crazy when I was younger!
“Once it’s safe to go up there and come back in one piece, yes, count on me,” Bichir added.
The Midnight Sky hits Netflix on December 23.