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It’s a love story like no other. Two elite snipers, from opposite sides of the globe, begin to fall for each other across a bottomless chasm – one that’s filled with an unknown entity which governments are working to hide from the rest of the world.
When Levi and Drasa, played by Whiplash star Miles Teller and The Queen’s Gambit and Furiosa’s Anya Taylor-Joy respectively, accept their missions to defend a gorge filled with eternal fog, they have no idea what’s in store for them. They’re guarding a chasm from a mysterious threat, and are posted in solitude in watchtowers on either side of the terrifying pit.
The Gorge, which also stars Sigourney Weaver, charts the horrors and joys that unfold as they guard the chasm, and whatever lies inside it, while forging an unlikely connection through handwritten signs from opposing sides of the abyss.
“It was an original idea. It was a pretty high concept piece, the movie felt big to me…” says Miles Teller, 37.
“Two snipers falling in love. Two snipers who are sent on missions where they’re to have no contact with anybody. They’ll be there for a year in complete isolation, but there’s someone across the way in the same situation, and they start to fall for somebody through their sniper scope.”
“There’s something about the two characters and their love story that I just thought was so believable,” adds Taylor-Joy, 28.
“I just really rooted for these two people, and I had confidence that Miles and I could pull that off.”
“It truly is a two-hander,” Teller agrees.
“We are simpatico for the entire film, and so much of the performance relies on what you’re getting from that other person. I knew that with Anya it would be a really wonderful experience.”
The Gorge blends character drama with romance, action with horror in a “genre bending” tale that’s truly “exciting”, Taylor-Joy says.
“I love that this film begins as one thing, then there’s a middle section that’s an entirely different thing, and then we finish it in an entirely different world. That felt like something exciting to me,” says the star.
As such, there’s a lot for us to sink our teeth into, from the mystery of what lies in the chasm between Levi and Drasa to the backstories that led these characters to this bleak, isolated mission that’s fraught with danger and combat.
“She is such a fascinating person for me, because it feels like she has a very strong delineation between what she does for a living and then her real life,” says Taylor-Joy of Drasa, the Lithuanian sniper who loves punk music and has an intriguing family backstory.
“I think that comes from her relationship with her father: She’s always felt like she’s had somebody that she could be completely honest with, and she’s also just incredibly comfortable in her own skin.”
To get into the character, Taylor-Joy – whose varied filmography includes Split, The Menu, Emma and The Super Mario Bros. Movie – says she imagined Drasa’s past and how she ended up in this position: “What was she like as a teenager? What punk shows did she go to? Who were her circle of friends? And at what point did she decide: ‘Yeah, I’m actually kind of OK being on my own’?”
Teller, on the other hand, leaned into his real life, in particular the military experiences of his close friends, as he delved into the hardened U.S. Marine sniper Levi.
“A lot of my close friends are in the military, or were at some point, so I’ve always had a connection to that world through friendship,” the Top Gun: Maverick star explains.
“It’s tough for these guys, and they talk about it: When they’re at war, they want to go home, and then they’re home and they feel out of place, and they feel like they need to go back to war.
“So I think just making sure the duality is existing (is important).”
Levi is also what Teller calls a “warrior poet”, who uses poetry as an outlet for the horrors he’s experienced in his military career.
“Because we know, unfortunately, so many of these guys kill themselves from PTSD. I think there’s 22 veterans a day that take their own life. So I thought it was beautiful that this film wasn’t afraid to explore somebody who can be a sniper, somebody who can be a highly decorated combat personnel, but then also feels comfortable enough with themselves to share that they enjoy poetry, that they write poetry,” he says.
On top of this dense character narrative, The Gorge is also a thrill ride with action, horror, and sci-fi elements. As such, its stars had to be ready to fight, to handle sniper rifles, to portray the physical might of their hardened characters.
“I think I was quite lucky, because I’d just come from Furiosa, so I was like, battle ready. I am currently not as battle ready right now!” laughs Taylor-Joy.
“It was such a part of the characters that it felt like a great way to get to know them as well, and we had a lot of fun with it.”
“I think Anya and I, we really leaned into the action portions of this, because (of) the nature of their characters…” adds Teller.
“It wasn’t just the action and the beats, but making sure that we maintain that storyline with the characters. A lot of the film was very practical, and we actually didn’t use a ton of green screen for this. A lot of those sets we built, and I think that always helps.”
Filmed in part at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, The Gorge made use of enormous film sets that Teller says made the stars “instantly feel like you’re in an action movie, a big action movie”.
“The practical locations – I got to go to Norway, that was stunning – it gives something really (tactile) to go off of,” he adds.
“And they were big spaces in Leavesden at the studio, you never felt confined.”
“These sets felt huge,” agrees Taylor-Joy, who even shot an “extraordinary” forest scene featuring “20 real horses running left, right and centre” on a set in the studio.
“Every single time when you walked into it, you didn’t want to leave, because it was just fun to hang out in there.”
The Gorge comes to Apple TV+ on Friday, February 14.
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