Megan Fox stars as Alice, a lifelike artificially intelligent android, who has the ability to take care of any family and home. Looking for help with the housework, a struggling father (Michele Morrone) purchases Alice after his wife (Madeline Zima) becomes sick. Alice suddenly becomes self-aware and wants everything her new family has to offer, starting with the affection of her owner — and she’ll kill to get it.
Subservience is hitting various VOD platforms to rent or buy on September 27, and leading up to the release, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the film’s director, S.K. Dale about working with Megan Fox again, bringing humanity to AI, and his personal iconic movie experiences.
Nick: You’ve worked with Megan Fox on your previous film, Til Death. At what point during the process of creating this film did you know that Megan would make the perfect Alice?
S.K. Dale: It was pretty late into the prep because we were already overseas, building sets, and moving forward with things. I think I was slightly hesitant, just because I had already done a movie with her once before, and I was like, “will I become the “Megan Fox” guy?”
But the moment I really started to think about it, I thought about the strength that she could bring to this role. This reminded me a lot of Jennifer’s Body, and the way the character goes down into a darker territory.
And ultimately, because of the intimate scenes, I figured we had built this trust from one film, surely, we can take that and go into this one with that trust there. I think it helped create a much safer space that we could explore it.
I think she was also excited to be the one doing the violence in this one rather than having the blood all over her! I think this was a much more fun experience for her!
Nick: What were the conversations like with Megan in creating the nuances of Alice? How did you bring this humanity to her AI character, but then bring robotic aspects to the human actor?
S.K. Dale: It was kind of a make it or break it element for me. Because if she goes too robotic, if she goes too emotionless, when we get to those intimate scenes, it will crumble. It will feel weird and odd. But at the same time, you kind of want to push the envelope and test the water along the way.
I remember us having a discussion about that early on and having her physicality wanting to be like a ballerina. She wanted to keep her posture, you know, upright. Everything was kind of smooth and very precise with the motion.
And I think that just influenced everything. The way she was speaking and the way she would do any sort of movement. So, taking that element was kind of setting the bar there now for every other SIM, and they had to have some kind of degree of that in the performances.
As we were getting to the intimate scenes, I wanted to just add a little bit of emotion here and there. One of the particular moments for me was the Casablanca scene, and kind of planting a seed that was going to unravel from that point on.
Nick: I loved the Casablanca scene. And I loved the quote, “a movie is something you have to experience to feel it”. Is there a movie or scene that stands out to you as a formative moment where you experienced the power of a film?
S.K. Dale: I mean, there’s the classics like Terminator 2 or Jurassic Park that are so influential when you’re a child. Then there’s also the horror elements of Saving Private Ryan, when you’re just experiencing that opening scene. It’s so visceral, so violent. I would have been around 9 when it come out, so I probably saw it on DVD, and I just remember the sound design and everything pulling you in and really hitting home.
There’s so many films along the way. I mean, even watching Gravity, which I thought was going to just have a simple plot, but I watched it in IMAX, and it just brought you in in a way that I hadn’t felt before.
You know, it’s those moments where you feel like you get lost in a movie. As you become surrounded by films, whether it’s in the film industry or just loving movies, I think it’s harder to find films that really grab you by the throat in that way. So, when it does happen, you get so excited.
Nick: I’d love to breakdown your visual choices as a director, because this is a futuristic, dystopian-style story, but you’ve set it in a more present-day setting. I’m curious know what that process was like in deciding and creating that aesthetic?
S.K. Dale: Yeah, sitting down with out production designer, Alexei Karaghiaur, we had discussion about everything. And as soon as you start thinking about the sci-fi genre, you start to go wild with your imagination.
But I really wanted it to feel grounded, and as a result—we are going through this transition of AI right now, so I wanted this to feel like it was happening now. In the same way that smartphones came along, and it wasn’t like every other technology boosted, it was just like all of a sudden, everyone had smartphones. I thought about that for the SIMs.
A big inspiration actually was Inception, in the way that it’s a sci-fi film, but it feels like it’s set in present time. It feels like it could be right around the corner. That vibe is what I really wanted to go for. And I think keeping it grounded created much more higher stakes, and helped with the intimate lens on the family, making it feel more real, and emotional, and raw.
Nick: One of the first things I noticed about the film was Jed Palmer’s incredible score, and how impactful it felt. What was the collaboration like with Jed in ultimately making the score like a character itself in the film?
S.K. Dale: Yeah, definitely. It was such an amazing experience working with Jed, first of all. In fact, I remember when we had our first meeting, the day before we had our first meeting, my Spotify top five came in, and he was in my top five. I was listening to his scores prepping for the movie! So I told him it only seems fair to have you be a part of the project.
We got him fairly early on, and when we were discussing things, and bringing him in to see rough cuts in the editing room to give him an idea and to play with different elements, we just spoke about all these different sounds.
I think his score is really what elevates us into that sci-fi world. Everything else is grounded, but that’s the one element that I kind of embraces the sci-fi style of it all. And it’s interesting you say the score feels like a character, because we really did approach it in that way. And even more so, each character would have their own sound or motif.
Nick: I’ve got to ask a geeky question – but how did you pull of the flashlight in Megan’s mouth effect?
S.K. Dale: Oh, yeah! This was something that like straight away the producers said, “we can do this with visual effects?” And I was like, “No, we’ve gotta figure out a way to do this practically, to some degree!”
I gave it to my props master, and he had this LED with a battery pack and I think she had to have this gel up on the roof of her mouth to actually hold it up there, because we couldn’t just glue it or stick it on the teeth because it would be seen.
So, it was kind of this LED light strip that he made, and when we first saw it in there, I got so excited! And it was one of those things that Megan got excited about with those little sci-fi elements. But I don’t think the gel tasted too good, so I did feel sorry for her.
Thank you so much to S.K. Dale for his time, and to Rialto Distribution and NedCo PR for organising the interview. You can watch an extended version of the interview on YouTube here. Subservience is available to rent or buy of various VOD platforms from September 27.
