By Shannon McGrew
In GET AWAY, the Smith family takes a much-needed vacation to the remote Swedish island of Svalta which takes a dark turn when they arrive during preparations for a mysterious local festival that celebrates a dark history.
Unsettled by the unfriendly locals and strange rituals, they try to make the best of their trip, stubbornly enjoying the island's isolation and natural beauty. However, as the festival looms closer, the family realizes something far more sinister is unfolding - especially when they discover that a serial killer is on the loose.
For the release of GET AWAY, Creepy Kingdom's Shannon McGrew spoke with director Steffen Haars and actors Sebastian Croft ("Sam") and Maisie Ayres ("Jessie"), who play sister and brother. During their chat, they discussed everything from the film's unsettling folk horror roots and eerie mask designs to building their sibling dynamic and the universal fear of not feeling welcome.
Thank you all for speaking with me today! Steffen, I know you've worked with Nick [Frost] in the past. What attracted you to this project?
Steffen Haars: I have worked with Nick before, but it all started with GET AWAY. I was introduced to Nick by the script, and this sounded like the perfect world to me. It's like, oh, this is Nick Frost. I loved Nick Frost from the start with everything he's making, and he wrote this script, [where] he's playing the lead, and he wants to chat [with me].
When I read the script, I was surprised and blown away by every turn in the story and how I felt reading it. I thought, wow, that's how it has to be on the screen. So, yeah, I had to do this one, and then it got pushed. Then I [had] my script for [Krazy House] and asked him to do that one. We ended up shooting these two [films] back to back, which was insane.
For Sebastian and Maisie, what attracted you to the script?
Maisie Ayres: I am a big fan of [Nick Frost's] work. I have always watched all his films and loved the style of comedy, that very dry, dark humor. So, when I saw the script, I was like, oh my God! Firstly, it's hilarious. I love the nuances of how it's written, but also the fact that it had this real undercurrent of horror and suspense in the world he creates of the island, and it was all just so clear. When you read a script and feel excited about it, you can see clearly that it's a good script. As soon as I read it, I was like, I hope I get this job because this is everything I like in a film.
Sebastian Croft: Well, I, as well as being a big fan of Nick's, have worked with him a couple of times before, and so I just knew how amazing he was. I was a fan of his because I grew up watching Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. When I worked with him, it was like, not only is what he makes amazing, but his process is amazing as well, and the way he is on set and his kind of flexibility, looseness, and playfulness are amazing.
When he said he was writing this, and he sent it to me, and then I read it, and it was so good, and I couldn't put it down. It felt really special, and honestly, not many things feel like they tread that line. I think Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, World's End, Paul, like all of those films he's done with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, they feel like such a specific genre and tone, and they're some of my favorite films. When I read the script, it feels like it's kind of in that world because it's come from his mind, and it's a dream to play dress up in a film like this.
One would say the family has a unique dynamic. How was the brother/sister relationship between Sam and Jessie built?
Maisie Ayres: It was definitely a lot of fun. Firstly, building the character Jessie is very different to me. I think getting to step into someone's shoes who is very opinionated, regardless of what those opinions might do, and also doesn't really care how she's seen, like marches to the beat of her own drum, someone who lives in that way and is quite reckless with that, I found really fun to play with because there's a lot of things that you can do.
She's also quite an observer. She'll watch and consider and think she's smarter than a lot of people around her. Playing that was really fun, and seeing how that person relates to the different people in the family, where they kind of gel, and where they clash was also really fun. Especially when you've got such great actors to work with, you feel like there's no limit to how you can bounce off each other and try things. It was great doing all the scenes of us together and then also getting to do scenes [one-on-one with the different actors].
Sebastian Croft: There are two parts to it. There's the understanding of the characters, where they've come from, what they're doing, and all of that stuff, which is so rich because you see such a journey they will go on in the film. So, looking at the last third of the film and then going, okay, we're backtracking. How do we build to that?
Then, there's also the kind of real human connection you can't really count on until you're there. I think, for whatever reason, whether it's the script, the fact that we were all in Finland together, or that Steffen threw us in a car for 12 hours on the first day of filming, we bonded so quickly. Outside of work, [we] had dinner, breakfast, barbecues on the weekend, and all the stuff that means you get to know and trust each other. It was not a conscious thing, but it was just a very easy relationship to play, really.
Maisie Ayres: They acted like parents, didn't they?
Sebastian Croft: Oh, yeah.
Maisie Ayres: Aisling bought meal preps and bought me shopping for dinner. I was like, you're my mom now, I suppose.
Sebastian Croft: I think we started calling Nick and Aisling like mummy and daddy. I commented on one of Nick's Instagram posts saying, " Daddy " or something. [Laughs]
I'm a huge fan of folk horror films and the symbolism that many of those films incorporate. One of the things I love so much about GET AWAY is the masks that a lot of the characters wear. Can you talk a little bit about their creation?
Steffen Haars: There's some history of cannibalism on this island, and they do this creepy play every 10 years, but [it's been done] for a very long time because of that thing that happens in the film. These masks needed to be old. I wanted to use lots of natural materials, such as trees and stuff like that, creepily. They only use the stuff they get from the island because they're a secluded group. That's how it started.
We started designing, talking about it, and trying stuff out. There are so many of these masks that we had to pick out the best ones and put those in front of the camera. One was called Big Head in the script, and that's the big skull. [For that,] I got my inspiration from the painting, 'The Scream,' so it's a skull version of that. So, that was just the feeling [we were going for.]
Sebastian Croft: I think we scared locals because we were a super small crew, and often, when we were filming, people were kind of tucked away. I love the idea that someone was out for a dog walk, and they see the forest, this smoke, this huge mask, and all these weird people doing this stuff, and they're like, "What the h*** are they doing?"
Maisie Ayres: They just keep walking.
Sebastian Croft: They're like, I have no idea what I saw on my walk.
Maisie Ayres: Look the other way.
GET AWAY is such a film, but if you pull back the first layer, there are deeper conversations to be had. Is there anything you hope people will take away from the film when they see it?
Steffen Haars: Ultimately, it's a film about not feeling welcome. The feeling that everyone has or has had in something small or something big, in this situation, everyone can relate in a way. This is, in a way, like a revenge film or sort of a big f*** you to the people who make you not feel welcome somewhere. This should be it if there is a lesson to be learned.
Sebastian Croft: I think that's a nice theme, and I guess, more personally to our characters, I found a fun overlap between being a teenager and not like so many teenagers; when I was a teenager, you feel out of place and this sense of maybe not knowing who you are and also not able to communicate who you are.
I just loved that the characters were written as moody teenagers, and then you watch it slowly descend those feelings into the horror genre and how that's reflected. In the least unhinged way, I felt some relief playing this character. There was definitely a sense of redemption, and for some weird, probably quite f***ed-up reason.
Maisie Ayres: Without trying to give too much away, it's that thing of all your fears about the worst possible thing that could happen when you come somewhere new, brought to life tenfold. It's how you respond to that, how it's pushed away, and it's very interesting how the twist comments on that, which I thought, once you see it, there will be much more to say about it.
GET AWAY is now in theaters.
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