LOS ANGELES: Netflix’s new thriller “Stowaway” sees a two-year mission to Mars disrupted when the crew discovers a technician who was trapped aboard the ship during launch.
Drama unfolds as the ship has traveled too far to return to Earth, but only contains enough provisions to keep three of the now four crew members alive.
The cast, including fan-favorite Anna Kendrick, spoke to Arab News about the themes explored in the film, why its essaying of isolation hit home for so many during the pandemic and the fear they had to tap into as actors.
“A simple thing for Michael is he just wanted to go home,” actor Shamier Anderson said of his character, the unfortunate technician. “Yes the situation was definitely a daunting horrific experience of being, waking up on a ship that’s on a two-year mission to Mars. I don’t think it’s up to you to comprehend even as an actor, but the universal feeling that you could tap into is fear.”
While the film takes place in space, it avoids bombastic sci-fi, instead focusing on intense discussions and intimate sadness as the scientists deal with the hard choices of who to save and who to sacrifice.
“To kind of watch the story unfold to just be a human drama, it was really refreshing, and frankly this movie did not need to be set in space because you could’ve created this kind of a situation you know on our planet,” fellow actor Daniel Dae Kim said. “Plays have been written about similar things, and so it was nice with the setting with space, but it wasn’t a sci-fi story.”
Anna Kendrick stars in ‘Stowaway.’ (Supplied)
The image of being trapped in close quarters and avoiding an inhospitable world outside harkens to the plight many have faced during the past year, causing the drama to hit close to home for some viewers. But star Anna Kendrick echoes her character in the film as a voice of optimism in the face of adversity.
“You just feel like ‘I lost a year of my life. I didn’t accomplish anything,’” she said. “At the same time, you have to remember that not doing anything exciting or, you know, maybe not being with your family, depending on your situation, did accomplish something. It may have saved many lives for you to do that, and that has been incredibly meaningful.”