Wheeling past the directors’ chairs huddled around video village, with her gold bob topping a trim flight attendant’s uniform and nearly out of breath from the action scene she just survived—barely—Australian actress Nicky Whelan has an announcement.
“I really hope I didn’t flash anyone!” she says, a strand of cheeky Aussie humor wrapped around plenty of pixie sincerity.
That accent though.
Inside Films In Motion’s Indie Stages near the airport, I’m getting my apocalypse on, because YOLO—literally.
Through the door, a cabin and cockpit of a commercial airliner sit in the middle of the darkened soundstage rigged like a theme park ride to shake and rumble the plane and its occupants.
Whelan took an unscripted tumble just now—cue the apologetics—but she’s all right.
In fact, she nailed the scene with co-star Chad Michael Murray, who is left frantic, taking photos of the piles of clothes that remain where several of his fellow passengers once sat.
Whelan, standing more than a foot shorter than I am, gets a thrill out of going back to back for a photo before snacking with Murray.
It turns out Whelan has, on occasion, a very real fear of flying. “Terrified,” the Victoria native says. “I’ve been scared in so many ways in different roles, but this is the first time I’m playing something that actually gives me a real fright.”
Hollywood’s version of the end of days typically calls for a lot action and special effects, so how does the director of photography ensure all this chaos is captured in the best possible way on camera?
“It’s really about getting the shot, catching the action, first and foremost,” says Director of Photography Jack Green. “Making it look pretty is secondary, but we do that too. This will be a great looking picture.”
Audiences may recognize this Left Behind as a remake of sorts, a larger-budgeted action epic designed to supplant the films that starred Kirk Cameron about a decade ago. Just as the popular book series leads from one perilous scenario to the next, fans can expect a big cliffhanger, too.
An entire series of films that follow the arc of the novels is definitely the plan, says producer and writer Paul Lalonde, who first shepherded Left Behind from page to screen.
“It’s exciting to be part of a franchise,” Whelan says. “My role gets bigger as it goes along. I get to fall in love in the next one. It’s with the devil, but still!”
Release date: Fall 2014
Status: Wrapped shooting.
Director: Vic Armstrong
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Chad Michael Murray, Lea Thompson and Nicky Whelan.
What we know: Based on the best-selling Christian-lit series, Nicolas Cage stars as a pilot and one of a band of survivors of the Rapture who must navigate the chaos that ensues and confront a powerful new world leader who just might be the Antichrist.
Release date: May 15, 2015
Status: Shooting May and June, 2014 at various locations in Baton Rouge.
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson.
What we know: A sequel to the surprise 2012 hit film (also shot in Baton Rouge)—and music video, Kendrick’s “Cups”—the follow-up centers on the further adventures of Beca, Chloe and their singing group The Bellas in a raucous collegiate comedy.
Release date: June 19, 2015
Status: Shooting now through June, 2014 at Celtic Media Centre.
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Cast: Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell and Miles Teller
What we know: Marvel Comic’s first family is set to come to life on screen eight years after Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, in a reboot that features a fresh cast and a renewed focus on the heroes as Stan Lee first envisioned them in the 1960s.
