On paper, the new sci-fi movie “65” sounds amazing. A pilot (Adam Driver) transporting a group of strangers in cryosleep encounters an unexpected asteroid storm, which forces him to make an emergency landing on an alien planet… which turns out to be the Earth in the time of the dinosaurs. This is a combination of “Jurassic Park” and “Land of the Lost”, interspersed with Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and any other great science fiction that you can think of. But while watching “65,” I started thinking, “Dude, how long will I last in this particular situation?” So I asked the Driver the same thing.
Adam Driver is no stranger to grueling physical conditions. The man actually served in the armed forces, and then took a special place in the Star Wars universe. He knows a lot about science fiction. But when, during a recent press conference, he was asked how long he personally would last in the conditions presented in the 65th year, the main character honestly stated:
I would have stayed on the ship. (laughs) Of course, it’s a big ship. Pretzels had to be hidden somewhere. Couldn’t he have made some kind of makeshift shuttle to launch her into outer space? I have to be protected from head to toe with all available lasers to want to leave this ship.
Amen, Adam Driver. There is a huge difference between watching an action movie or even participating in an action movie and actually DOING what people do in an action movie. I love Bruce Willis and I think Die Hard is one of the greatest action movies ever made. But you won’t see me wrapping a fire hose around my waist and jumping off the roof of the Fox Plaza building in Los Angeles pretending to be John McClain from this scene.
To be fair, the more Adam Driver explained it, the more it sounded like 65 co-directors Scott Beck and Brian Woods were doing something on set to heighten the horror. As the Driver recalled:
They had guys in life-size dinosaur costumes. And they put them far away, and far away – in the wild – I was surprised how… I mean, it’s obvious when you think about it. But when you’re actually in the woods in the middle of New Orleans and in this swamp, you look around and see a very realistic dinosaur doing something arbitrary, like eating a bush? It’s fucking scary.
And it works better on the screen than you expect. In fact, there are two ways to do 65. You can take on the role of Ryan Reynolds and maybe get closer to the “Adam Project”. Or you can play Adam Driver and get something more intense, more exciting and again with dinosaurs. Listen to our ReelBlend conversation with 65 filmmakers Beck and Woods, which we released earlier this week. And watch “65” when it hits theaters on March 10.
