Danielle Deadwyler is the outside world’s voice inCarry-On. The Jaume Collet-Serra-directed thrillerpits blossoming TSA agent Ethan Kopek(Taron Egerton) in a game of cat and mouse with a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) who is attempting to blackmail Ethan into sending a dangerous package through security. Deadwyler’s Elena Cole is an agent stationed outside the airport, bent onpiecing together this peculiar puzzle.
Deadwyler brings an added level of prestige to this project. The 42-year-old actress has impressed audiences with her performancesin critically acclaimed feature filmssuch asThe Harder They Fall,The Piano Lesson, andTill. Deadwyler’s work on the latter earned her dozens of acting accolade nominations. She walked away with wins at the Gotham Awards, National Board of Review, Satellite Awards, and several more.
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In celebration ofCarry-On’s premiere on Netflix,ScreenRantspoke with Deadwyler to discuss her work on the action-thriller, test her TSA knowledge, analyze how director Jaume Collet-Serra was able to pull off the innovative action sequences, and hype her upcoming reunion with Collet-Serraon the psychological horror filmThe Woman in the Yard.
Deadwyler Plays “Checked Bag or Carry-On”
The Actress Knows TSA’s Limitations
ScreenRant: I got a game called carry-on or checked bag. You tell me which of these holiday-specific items would make it through a carry-on, which would make it through a checked bag, starting with a glass Christmas tree ornament.
Danielle Deadwyler: A glass Christmas tree ornament… Carry-on. You do not want to put that in a checked bag. That thing is going to go through and tumble and rumble.
I think that’s fair. 4.1 ounces of eggnog?
Danielle Deadwyler: Checked bag. 3.4 ounces is the max.
One final one: an already-wrapped Christmas present?
Danielle Deadwyler: Checked. They will rip your stuff open if you want to carry that on. TSA is going to rip it up, your little rapper that you paid $50 for. Ooh. And I know you can’t fix it back yourself.
Carry-On’s Intense Scenes Took Months to Film
“We really worked rigorously with the stunt coordinating team…”
I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, and I was also fist-pumping because of how smart this movie is. The moments with the Apple Watch, switching the coffee, your poker face on a phone call that happens late in the movie. Do you, as an actress, get as fired up acting out those super smart spy-esque scenes as much as us audience members?
Danielle Deadwyler: Sure. Like those moments, they’re the intensity. It’s the little quiet nuances of stuff that has to have a certain energy to it. So yes, it’s a geek-out moment for me too. Yeah.
There’s a scene later in this movie. I don’t want to give the context, but there’s a car that you’re in and the way that this thing is shot blew me away. I want to know how it was shot. How did you guys pull that sequence off?
Danielle Deadwyler: Oh man, it’s two to three months of prep. We really worked rigorously with the stunt coordinating team. It’s a dance, it’s a ballet of sorts and so you’re just trying to verify you’re hitting the spots, and then you drop in on the car and that makes it a little bit more claustrophobic, and you get the parameters and the boundaries of what it means to have this kind of a fight, and then you marry that to the precision of the camera and the other departments. It’s so much practicality. That was happening on set too, so we really just were in the gut feeling of being in the car and having this kind of experience. You just put all those layers together to make that scene and there you go.
Deadwyler and Collet-Serra Reunite For The Woman in the Yard
The Actor-Director Pairing Are Working Together On An Upcoming Horror-Thriller
I noticed that you’ve got a movie coming out pretty soon calledThe Woman in the Yardthat you’re re-teaming with Jaume for.
Danielle Deadwyler: I had so much fun with Jaume. We had to do it again.
Did that movie come about as a result of your experience onCarry-On?
Danielle Deadwyler: I think it was probably longer. We had been in, well maybe, I don’t know, just development takes a bit of time. I’m in the slow work. Who better to take us into a kind of horror thriller, psychological horror thriller than Jaume? That’s just what he does. He does it on multiple levels, multiple kinds of multi-hybrid genre experiences that he’s done over the course of several years. He is fantastic. He’s just that guy. I think he did a fantastic job directing Carry-On, and so you just got to wait till next year to see what more peculiarities he’s got. But he’s brilliant in this. He’s brilliant in both.
-On(2024)
A young TSA agent, Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton), fights to outsmart a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) who blackmails him by threatening his girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve flight. Carry-On is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Black Adam) and is written by TJ Fixman (Ratchet & Clank).
Carry-On
Cast
Carry On is a film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, focusing on a young TSA agent who is coerced by a mysterious traveler into allowing a dangerous package onto a Christmas Eve flight. As events unfold, he must use his wits to resolve the perilous situation.
