UNTIL DAWN Interview: Ella Rubin & Michael Cimino Talk Horror, Time Loops, and Game Adaptation

(L-R) Michael Cimino and Ella Rubin star in UNTIL DAWN | Photo Courtesy of Kerry Brown

By Shannon McGrew

In UNTIL DAWN, based on the PlayStation Studios video game, one year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one…only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening.

Trapped in the valley, they’re forced to relive the night again and again - only each time the killer threat is different, each more terrifying than the last. Hope dwindling, the group soon realizes they have a limited number of deaths left, and the only way to escape is to survive until dawn.

For the release of UNTIL DAWN, Creepy Kingdom’s Shannon McGrew spoke with actors Ella Rubin (“Clover”) and Michael Cimino (“Max”). During their chat, they discussed everything from what fans of the game can expect to how they handled the physical and emotional demands of horror on repeat.

Thank you both so much for taking the time to speak with me. Since I’m new to the world of UNTIL DAWN, can you tell us a little bit about your characters?

Michael Cimino: Max is trying to navigate his way through losing someone in his life who was very important to him as far as a relationship. He was super in love with Clover, and they broke up; now, he’s trying to reconnect with her differently and be friends. However, he also lost her in another way, as she had become somewhat lost herself. Throughout the film, he begins to focus on himself and learn how to become his own person.

Ella Rubin: I play Clover and she recently lost her mom and even more recently lost her sister and so she’s in a real state of grief and has sort of become understandably frozen by her grief and is having a tough time rediscovering herself and who she is without these people that she loves so much. She truly loves her friends and is extremely loyal to them, but at the same time, she doesn’t quite know how to maintain these friendships as her new self, someone she’s not yet entirely familiar with. So I think that a lot of Clover’s arc is about being an amorphous person and not quite knowing who she is. Throughout the film, she is able to ground herself, regain her strength, and fortify her friendships.

Ella Rubin stars in UNTIL DAWN | Image courtesy of Kerry Brown

This film employs a time loop structure, and with each loop, a noticeable transformation occurs. Can you talk about how you prepared for these shifts in your performances?

Michael Cimino: A lot of it was getting into the makeup and putting on the different clothes. There is an aspect of it that’s challenging because we’re trying to maintain continuity throughout, as we’re not shooting things in order and might do two different nights on the same day. Maintaining continuity was really hard, but it was a welcome challenge. But I think putting on the makeup and getting into the mindset helped me personally.

Ella Rubin: Clover’s emotional transformation and her physical descent are opposing one another because she is getting stronger emotionally as the film progresses and becoming weaker physically. It was a lot of planning and organization on my end, knowing exactly who she is emotionally and precisely what she looks like physically at all moments, because you’re constantly changing. You’re not shooting to keep it consistent. I had to ensure that the journey of the film was incredibly clear, because, again, Clover is becoming fortified, but she’s also being physically drained of life. Balancing those two things was big for me. I felt like a mathematician making charts for myself [Laughs]. The makeup, like Michael said, was huge for me. My makeup artist, Athina Sapanidis, was integral in my knowing where I was in the world at that moment, based on how dead I looked [Laughs].

What are you most excited for horror fans to experience with UNTIL DAWN, especially those who are unfamiliar with the game?

Ella Rubin: I think it’s such a thrill ride, kind of rollercoaster, that should be seen in a theater. [Director] David has said it’s an ode to horror films. I’m most excited for people to have a communal experience in a theater watching this. It’s meant to be shared, and I think there’s sort of a catharsis that comes with horror films, and I hope that people feel it. I’m excited for people to be hopefully screaming, laughing, and maybe crying in the theater.

Michael Cimino: I’m excited for people to see how many different genres of horror we incorporated into this one film. It doesn’t feel like someone’s done that before. We have such camaraderie as a cast, and I hope people bring their friends to the theater so they can scream and laugh, like with the Rocky Horror Picture Show. That type of vibe lends itself to this film perfectly.

UNTIL DAWN arrives exclusively in movie theaters April 25, 2025.