Have you ever been to an actual escape room? I'll tell you having done the film
Escape Room I thought uh I thought I'd do quite well and came in pretty confident but
um that wasn't the case we could not get out in time, we were pretty terrible.
Did you see or know anything about the first Escape Room film before you joined the cast for
Escape Room 2? I did, I actually auditioned for the first one and I think was was was close well
hopefully it was close back in the day I got to meet the director and was a big fan of it and um
was really glad that a sequel came along and I was able to jump on board.
The first one was a really, really fun ride and uh something I was a big fan
of and I was I was quite excited to have the opportunity to join the sequel. That's awesome,
I actually read uh correct me if I'm wrong that you're not super great at watching scary movies.
Yeah, I'm a big scaredy cat. I am but uh but I love a thriller and this is a
psychological thriller so I was uh uh I was really excited to be a part of this one.
Yeah, that's cool I am a self-confessed terrible horror movie person as well so
I totally get where you're coming from. So your character Nathan in the film is a priest which
I found really interesting. Did Nathan's faith make him more interesting to play?
Yeah absolutely. I think um his character alone is is interesting before even throwing him into
an escape room but he is a he's a priest and he's you know working through survivor's guilt
having um survived his own escape room um uh and you know maybe a bit of a drinker
too and all these things already created someone quite interesting before even throwing him into
um the game with five other people. Yeah, there's so much tension in the film you
know how did you kind of mentally prepare to go into that place where there's so
much adrenaline and you're really fighting for your life? uh I had done a horror uh
three years ago but this uh and the scale of this film meant that you really it it took a
long time to shoot and with the special effects and everything was actually most of it was was
practical effects not not too much CGI so um those things make for quite a slow shoot and having to
stay at a at uh at a point of high tension for so long was uh was the job and the challenge and
the real joy um but certainly a different experience for me and something I really
enjoyed doing. I had a wonderful time with the the cast I mean uh the uh the six of us got quite
close we we shot the film in South Africa and I think any time that you you know you work
towards a common goal with common obstacles um of and and and you we shot six day weeks and we're
in a point of high tension, a lot of screaming a lot of yelling, um that all meant that we uh
we released a lot of ourselves and got to got to be quite close with each other by the end of it.
Obviously there's so much talent in the movie, what was it like working alongside people like
Taylor Russell and Logan Miller that are you know really coming to their careers as well?
Yeah it's uh...
that's the real joy of this this job and when you when you land a a a role like
this. I was so excited to just be a part of this film of course but actually to work with
such such talented young and up and coming actors it really keeps you on your toes and and forces
you to do your best work but um you know sometimes you can be in character on set doing your thing
and you see uh you see peers of yours or idols of yours in in their element and uh and you kind of
you kind of slip out of character you're like wow is this is this really happening um... it's uh
it's a real blessing and I had a lot of fun doing it. Everyone's really, really good uh in the film
and I'm wondering what about Adam Robitel, how was it working with him as a director?
He's fantastic. He's um he's a very visual director and I think that's why the film looks
uh so good. Him and uh and our DOP Mark Spicer who's actually another Australian um uh they uh
they they work so hard to make this as I guess sexy as it is: the colours and the the the special
effects all really gel together for it to be a very fluid experience, and very immersive
um you know. Even being a part of the film, I got to see the film two weeks ago and I kind of forgot
I was a part of it, I was so enthralled and and um locked into the the story and experience that um
I uh yeah I forgot I was even in it. That would have been a really cool experience seeing the film
back and you know watching everyone's hard work pay off. But I'd love to talk a bit more about you
know, you personally your acting career. When did you realise acting was what you wanted to pursue?
I was, I was really young. I started making movies when I was 10 or 11 on the family video camera.
I've got three beautiful young sisters who are all actors too and I think uh I think they're
all actors because I started making movies as a kid and they were always my lead actors. And uh
that was always kind of a hobby and the thing that that kept us uh kept us so close as a family,
and then I went on to do drama at school and and uh went on to drama school and um and I've been
working in the states for the last eight or so years, so um that's that's that's been my ride.
Wow that's really interesting to hear that your siblings are also actors. How do you guys kind
of go about working together and you know sharing what kind of projects you're all working on? Is it
kind of nice to have your siblings in the business too? It makes it so much so much more fun.
Every win for each other is a is a win for the team um we're all super supportive of each other
um and it's um it means we all understand the the ups and downs of the business, you know it
can be quite quite difficult at times uh and to be able to share it you know with your three siblings
uh means that we're we're kind of a team and we're there for each other and we we know
we know how how tough it can be to to to have some downs but how wonderful it is when you when you do
land something or you know something something works out.
It must be really nice to have that support system, I can definitely imagine.
I'm wondering, you know, you kind of lent on it there a little bit
but what would you say the biggest challenge is that you've faced in your career so far?
The biggest challenge is you know, I think the business is
the business, I think it just runs on uh on a certain fuel sometimes and it and it can um uh
it can it can get to you in terms of what what you think is important. I've been really lucky
to keep, I have a wonderful family that that's uh kept me grounded and I've kept
them grounded too but um you know we we do try to keep level head and not be too um
too affected by by it um you know there's that great line in uh Kipling's poem:
"To meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same." You know, whatever
happens it's uh it's okay and life is uh life is so much more than uh than this and it's just
about enjoying the process instead of um being affected by the lows or too stoked with the highs.
That's really lovely, and there's so many aspiring actors you know from Australia like yourself. What
advice would you give to young Aussie actors that want to give it a crack and enter the industry?
Settle into uh why you want to do it, I think that's kind of the same thing. I think you
can easily get lost into um you know wanting uh wanting the wrong things um and it's it's process
over prize um you know. Someone explained that movie-making or you know acting in in TV or film
is is like a roller coaster and uh and it could be up and down and difficult and whatever, and at
the end of the day there's just that snapshot at the end of the roller coaster. And if you're only
working for that that photo at the end of the roller coaster then you miss the whole ride, so
enjoy the whole ride and don't don't worry about about the picture and the final picture. Yeah,
that's really good advice. I think um it actually makes me think even of you know like social media
and the way that we kind of go about our lives now and people looking at that final product.
That's exactly it yeah uh there's a lot of social pressures. I think the world is changing and um
uh there's a lot of opinions out there and you can be quite affected by
what people think and what they think is right and wrong and um it's uh it's a difficult time I think
certainly to to come into any industry because everything is changing so, so rapidly but
I think staying true to yourself as they say and and being being quite
clear about what you want and that that being um a level-headed thing uh is only gonna help you.
So, I'm excited to know:
can you give me any insight into any upcoming projects you're working on?
Oh yeah, I actually just wrapped uh last week um a new HBO show, Julian fellas his new new
show called the gilded age Julian Fellowes who made Downtown Abbey um and that's uh that's been
a really exciting project to work on. We've been shooting since last September through the pandemic
somehow but the show is set in New York at the um end of the 19th century in the 1880s um and
set in New York during that industrial revolution where America's really becoming the America that
we know. It's uh it's been a really special project to work on, I can't wait for people
to see it. So my final question is a big one but have you ever been to an actual escape room?
I uh the turnaround between getting escape room and actually going to film it was too
too quick to actually go and do a real one but as soon as I finished it and got back to
Australia end of 2019, I had some friends take me out to do one and um I tell you having done
the film escape room I thought uh I thought I'd do quite well and came in pretty confident but
um that wasn't the case, we could not get out in time. It was pretty terrible, they're tough.
That's very funny, I haven't done one myself but I can imagine I would be pretty bad at it,
so if you're if you're not an expert at it by now who can be?