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Kelsey Asbille & Finn Wittrock Talk High-Stakes Terror and Twists in DON'T MOVE


A woman sits inside a pick up truck with blood on her face
Kelsey Asbille in DON'T MOVE | Image courtesy of Netflix

By Shannon McGrew


In DON'T MOVE by directors Adam Schindler & Brian Netto, a grieving woman (Kelsey Asbille) hoping to find solace deep in an isolated forest encounters a stranger (Finn Wittrock) who injects her with a paralytic agent. As the agent gradually takes over her body, she must run, hide, and fight for her life before her entire nervous system shuts down.


For the release of DON'T MOVE, Creepy Kingdom's Shannon McGrew spoke with actors Kelsey Asbille ("Iris") and Finn Wittrock ("Richard"). During their chat, they discussed everything from the challenges of portraying paralysis to their characters' psychological layers.


Thank you both so much for speaking with me today. When you first got this script, was there a particular scene or moment that really stood out?


Finn Wittrock: I remember reading the script and getting to the part where Richard's wife and daughter call him, and I was like, okay, now I really have to play this part. Your idea of the character totally opens up and changes, and I was like, this is a fascinating creature. I thought [the script] was a fascinating read, and if the experience of watching this movie is like the experience I had reading it, this could be a really, really cool film.


Kelsey Asbille: The funny part was that when we shot that originally, it was one of the directors being [Richard's] sweet daughter [on the phone]. [Laughs].


What we ultimately witness between these two characters is a predator stalking its prey. How did you both work together to build that relationship and tension on screen?


Finn Wittrock: They find a strange connection, and they have a deep understanding of each other. It's not that they like each other, but it's not happy. There's a mirror effect of seeing what the other is going through.


Kelsey Asbille: We had rehearsals a bit, which helped, especially in that first scene when [Richard] is very charming. Honestly, the physicality really helps the trust. We had so many physical sequences that we had to do together.


A man is seen walking around in the woods
Finn Wittrock in DON'T MOVE | Image courtesy of Netflix

Kelsey, what was it like to play a character slowly becoming paralyzed?


Kelsey Asbille: I was really excited about the challenge, but you wonder if this will work. Will it translate? Adam and Brian, the directors, are wonderful, and we had a great cinematographer, Zach Kuperstein, so I think it works through the magic of editing. [Laughs]


Finn, can you talk about the duality of playing Richard, who has two vastly different sides, and having to navigate that?


Finn Wittrock: I thought of Richard as a very good actor, like a better actor than me. He can be as much of a chameleon as I could be in every new situation. In that first scene, he believes what he's saying; he's completely invested in it. He's in that moment, and then the next moment happens, and he puts his other mask on his other self. Then, with every new person, he puts a new mask on and transforms. It was the challenge of trying to honestly do that in a way that was really in the moment and as real as I could find it to be. Then there is one point, I think, in the car with Iris, where he is naked and raw and rips the mask off as much as possible.


What are you most excited for horror fans to experience with this film?


Finn Wittrock: It keeps subverting your expectations of what you think it will be. You may start the movie thinking, oh, I've seen this before, and then hopefully, the rug is pulled out from under you, and you're like, I didn't see that coming!


Kelsey Asbille: It also avoids some of the horror cliches. Plus, Sam Raimi [is a producer]! He came to Bulgaria [where we shot the film] and was a wonderful support and a great presence on set.


DON'T MOVE drops on Netflix on October 25, 2024.





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