EXCLUSIVE: J.K. Simmons & Betty Gilpin Discuss Family, War, & Stunts In The Tomorrow War
With The Tomorrow War set to drop in a few short days on Amazon Prime Video, we had the opportunity to hear from J.K. Simmons and Betty Gilpin about their roles in the upcoming sci-fi flick. For those who don’t know, Gilpin plays the role of Chris Pratt’s devoted wife, Emmy Forester, while Simmons plays Pratt’s off the grid father, James Forester.
Simmons on the stunts he performed in the film: “I worked in the frozen water which was a different exhilaration, and fun, and challenge, and coldness. It was great. I’m still a little miffed that McKay let them drag my traumatic slide down the glacier, but that will be in the sequel, I guess.”
Gilpin on the most action she did on set: “I play the frowning therapist wife. I mostly sob in a cardigan, which is action emotionally. There was a day where I had a bagel and I thought, ‘I want a second bagel.’ They announced there are almost no more bagels and my adrenaline was sky high. We were rolling and luckily I ran outside, got a second bagel and came back just in time for action.”
Simmons on the family dynamic in the film: When I read the script, what it really does, we do see the micro and the macro. There’s beautiful family stuff with Chris’ character at home with Betty and their daughter. When my sort of estranged dad kind of non-relationship, when we first get a glimpse of that, I was claiming that there was going to be some kind of a worthwhile journey there. There is, no spoilers. It was great to be able to incorporate, again, really that small picture with the gigantic picture of, ‘Are we going to save the world or not?'”
Gilpin on the idea that the war is being fought by the older generations: “I think it’s a very beautiful thing that we’re meeting Dan [Chris Pratt] in a very handsome middle age, but farther away from 19. That he’s at a point in his life where I think it’s very relatable, especially with this last year where suddenly there’s these pencils down, who are you moment, a freeze on looking at who you are and you aren’t the person that you thought you would be. It’s this strange thing that this burst of soldiers from the future announcing that humanity is going to be wiped out if we don’t try to save the world, is the outlet that Dan was looking for, and the very outlet to funnel that sense of purpose into. I think that as big and action-y of a concept that is, that’s a very familiar thing, especially with what’s going on in the world now.
Simmons on developing the contrast between James and Dan: “It’s all there on the page, and then the beauty of working in this scenario and with a guy like Chris is that we can take the page, we can incorporate all that. Then we also have the freedom to kind of, whether it’s goofing around, being funny, or finding other angles into the drama and the conflict and the emotion of it. We felt free to make it our own too, so you end up doing six or seven takes of a given scene and really then the director has six or seven significantly different versions of the emotion, and the passion, and the drama, and the comedy to choose from.”
Make sure to check the site tomorrow, July 1, for more interviews from the cast and for our review of the movie. The Tomorrow War will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on July 2.
Photo credit: Amazon Studios