ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim recently interviewed director Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, The Black Phone, Sinister) about his new Apple TV+ movie The Gorge. They discussed directing Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy in this sci-fi action film, what fans can expect from his sequel to The Black Phone, and whether he’d work with Marvel again.
“Two highly-trained operatives (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy) are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within,” reads the official synopsis. “They bond from a distance while trying to stay vigilant in defending against an unseen enemy. When the cataclysmic threat to humanity is revealed to them, they must work together in a test of both their physical and mental strength to keep the secret in the gorge before it’s too late.”
The Gorge arrives on Apple TV+ on February 14.
Jonathan Sim: Was there anything, whether in the real world or in other sci-fi media, that influenced your creative approach to making the gorge?
Scott Derrickson: You know, I was very hesitant to make it because I had never seen anything like it. And I was concerned about the structure working for an audience, but it’s also what I liked about it. It’s so unique. And then I realized that there’s one movie that’s similar and that’s Titanic. You know, where you take so much time to build a relationship before all hell breaks loose, and then you’re invested in this relationship. So it wasn’t so much that it was an influence on how I made the movie, but it was certainly an influence on making me believe that the movie would work.
I can see that now that you said that because I think one of the more interesting creative choices you did was spending so much time with these two characters at the beginning. I think that’s what makes that final hour so much more investing.
Absolutely.
What was it like to direct Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy? When directing actors, do you often find that you’re needing to adjust to their style, or do they more often adjust to yours?
Well, I can’t speak for other directors. For me, it’s my job to adjust to the actors. Every actor is different. Every actor is a big emotional engine, and every one of them sort of responds to the power of their own emotions differently. So a director’s job in a lot of ways is like a psychologist. You have to figure out how to talk to different actors and give them what they need. A lot of actors just need you to stay outta their way, you know? And in the case of Miles and Anya, they were both very approachable, easy to talk to, but for the most part, to be honest, they didn’t need a lot of direction. They’re both creative actors. I cast them well in the roles. I think. And, you know, most of my directing for them was things like, okay, “do it faster, you know, do it slower. Say that louder.” But they were always surprising me with their creative choices as performers. And that’s what you hire them for.
And I really did buy into their chemistry as well. I follow you on BlueSky, and I wanna say congratulations on wrapping The Black Phone 2.
Hey, thank you. Thank you so much.
I’m wondering how you are hoping audiences respond to the sequel and what you can tell us to get us even more excited to see this new movie?
Well, I didn’t feel obligated to make a sequel. But I decided that if I made a big movie first after The Black Phone, which was The Gorge, by the time I finished that, those kids would be in high school. And what was interesting to me was to make a high school coming-of-age movie in the same way that the first movie was a middle school coming-of-age movie. And that’s what we shot.
Interesting. Are you hoping that it can resonate with a little bit of an older audience, perhaps with people who watched it then?
Oh, for sure. The fan base for The Black Phone is insane. They’re the most loyal, excited fans in the world. And they’ve grown up with these kids too. So most of that fan base is now in high school or even in college. So I made a movie that’s maturing and in some ways more intense and serious than even the first one.
I want to say I was a huge fan of your work with Marvel on the original Doctor Strange. And assuming that you work with Marvel again in the future, are there any comic book characters that you’re particularly interested in directing a film around?
You know, somebody else asked me this question earlier today, and I’m gonna do the same thing. I’m gonna pass on that question for one reason. If I answer it, that’s the only press that this whole junket will get. I’ve just learned that I can’t say things like that without that being the headline that goes out everywhere. So I’m very careful about what I say regarding Marvel. All I can say is that I’m very grateful for my time there. I still love those guys, and who knows, maybe I’ll work there again someday.
Now you make an excellent point there. I’m gonna ask you about another Stephen King novella that you were attached to adapting. It was called The Breathing Method.
Yeah, I can’t talk about it. Legal reasons. Yeah, sorry.
Thank you to director Scott Derrickson for speaking with ComingSoon about The Gorge.
