Like wine, shoes and vodka, Shireen loves a good thriller, but in “The Watchers,” Dakota Fanning gets stuck in the forest. Good thing she and Lynn are safe in the studio. Deco’s Alex Miranda … we’re not so sure.
Normally, I don’t mind being watched, although under no circumstance should you ever watch me attempt to parallel park, because that is too personal. But for Dakota Fanning, it’s monsters watching her in the woods, which is creepy at best.
If you like the kind of movies where, you know, spooky things happen in a forest…
Dakota Fanning (as Mina): “Don’t you want to know what they are?”
Alistair Brammell (as John): “It’s impossible.”
[John suddenly gets dragged into a hole in the ground.]
In other words, some thriller that, I don’t know, M. Night Shyamalan would probably direct…
Dakota Fanning (as Mina): “What is that? What are they doing here?”
Olwen Fouéré:(as Madeline): “Applause, for you, Mina.”
Then look out for “The Watchers,” based on the novel by the same name.
Dakota Fanning (as Mina): “What is this place? What are you?”
Olwen Fouéré:(as Madeline): “We’re just like you … lost.”
And by the way, M. Night does produce this one.
M. Night Shyamalan: “It has a rare balance of characters that we can relate to, but it’s touching a kind of fantasy world.”
But the director is … his daughter, Ishana Shyamalan.
Ishana Shyamalan: “My dad and I have now worked together for a couple of years. We’ve mastered that balance. It’s a difficult thing and a beautiful thing, because we’re both artists, and we care about each other very deeply, so there’s kind of an intensity to the process that I think not many directors and producers have.”
Dakota Fanning plays Mina, a 28-year-old artist who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in Western Ireland.
Dakota Fanning: “I love Dublin so much, and all the different forests that we filmed in, even just a forest right down the road had a completely different look and vibe.”
But, finding shelter, Mina unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers.
Olwen Fouéré: “The casting is really brilliant — I mean, myself aside — but the casting of the other three is really, really fascinating.”
Including Olwen Fouéré’s Madeline.
Olwen Fouéré: “She knows that the humans that she’s taking care of here in the ‘Coop’ have to be taken care of by her in a particular way, so she’s both authoritarian, but also, she’s trying to learn.”
Hmm, OK … but Daniel, played by Oliver Finnegan, is also stuck in that “Coop.”
Oliver Finnegan: “I think what was appealing in terms of story is the idea that these monsters are not instinctively threatening but are actually really curious with these characters.”
Not much relief there — especially since they’re being stalked by those mysterious creatures every night.
Georgina Campbell: “This film feels like it’s in lots of genres — it’s kind of like thriller, it’s kind of folklore, it’s kind of horror — so I think it’s doing lots of things that are exciting.”
Hope things turn out well for you, too, Georgina Campbell, although it’s not looking so great.
Dakota Fanning: “Maybe one of the more unusual sets I’ve ever filmed on.”
“The Watchers” appears in theaters next Thursday, June 6.
