Flight Plan meets Non-Stop in director Alex Tavakolis’ airborne sci-fi action-thriller that sees some of today’s hottest young stars battling more in the air than just turbulence!
Five plane passengers are unable to land after a mysterious disaster happens on the ground, but they may be in worse danger than they thought when a stowaway is discovered on board carrying a dangerous secret.
Scarlett Byrne (the Harry Potter series), Gavin Stenhouse (Black Mirror) and Morten Suurballe (The Killing) co-star alongside Rick Cosnett (The Flash) in Skybound, repped by High Octane Pictures, out now. We spoke with executive producer Alex Oliver about the film.
TMS: First off, can you provide us with a little bit of background information. Did you always want to be involved in filmmaking? How did you start producing films?
AO: Before I started Visionz International I developed fiction for Pro 7 for some years, that’s the German equivalent to The CW. I love combining cinematic creativity with the pragmatism of producing. In that sense, Ridley Scott continues to be an inspiration to me.
TMS: What’s up with Skybound? Where can people see it? And what do you want them to know about the movie?
AO: If North Korea or some other country suddenly attacked the US and you were on a plane while it happened, that’s pretty much how Skybound feels. The movie resonates today’s general feeling of uncertainty and turns it into an action-packed thriller with lots of mysteries to be solved. Skybound is available on demand since November 7th.
TMS: Where did the idea for the film come about? (What type of genre would you categorize it?)
AO: I had the idea during a 12-hour flight to Tokyo: When I looked outside the window, the sea underneath us appeared extremely dark. Of course, it was just a visual phenomenon, but I thought “What if ashes or some nuclear fallout had turned the sea black?“ After all, we live in a world where a major disaster or terror attack could happen any day. So what would we do during this flight if something like that happened? How would we even find out what occurred? And once we knew, where would we fly to with our remaining fuel? Skybound was born.
TMS: There is some popular young talent in the film, how were they selected?
AO: It wasn’t easy. For example, getting Rick Cosnett was quite a task. But I fought very hard untli he finally said ”Yes“. The others were cast by the brilliant Carol Dudley, a veteran casting agent from London. Her experience and expertise were crucial to the project.
TMS: How was the shoot? It looked like it would have been intense, with some serious action and VFX sequences.
AO: Yeah, it was quite intense, especially when Rick Cosnett’s character walks out onto the wing of the plane. Germany’s leading stunt company Action Concept provided the stunts. They also did Ron Howard’s Rush and many other big movies. When the vfx were finally added, it all blended perfectly into each other. I remember it actually took my breath away when I saw it for the first time. There hasn’t been a scene like this in a movie, before.
TMS: Can you tell us about any other projects you're developing? Anything you want to promote?
AO: We’re currently developing a political superhero show (or: mini-series), basically X-Men meets House of Cards. The Western countries are in a state of turmoil. Society is divided, that goes for Europe as much as it goes for the US. So on the one hand there’s an appetite to understand what’s going on in the world of politics, and on the other hand audiences want to be entertained on a visually elaborated level with lots of action and drama. I’m very excited about the project.