Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
I dont have my birth control.
Is that how that works?
replies an astonished Jack.
Are we … saved?
The film leaves that question unanswered.
Where did the kernel for the idea come from?Alex Huston Fischer:Eleanor had the kernel.
It was just a funny premise.
And when I mentioned it to Alex, you latched onto the metaphor of it all.
AHF:Yeah, that this couple in Brooklyn is blissfully unaware of the world ending around them.
It sounded like an appropriate setup that we could make a lot of jokes out of.
How much of this was drawn from your own experience?
Yeah, its very much us as well.
Not even a city like that.
We wanted it to feel truly like Brooklyn.
So Im glad you felt that.
AHF:Does your boyfriend use Bitcoin?
EW:And there are things drawn directly from our real life for the movie.
Like, Alex has night terrors.
AHF:I have night terrors.
One time when I was in the shower, Eleanor was singing that song about the soap.
EW:Thats an original song by me.
AHF:I was like, Whats going on here?
I thought it was so funny.
EW:He did close my tabs once.
And that was infuriating.
AHF:I didnt actually end the tabs.
EW:You destroyed them.
AHF:I just didnt restore them.
I didnt restore all tabs when I opened her computer.
That was a longer fight in real life than it was in the movie.
In the movie, its economical, its cute.
In real life, it was sad.
I want to do that!
He works in sustainable architecture.
Hes an incredible person and we love talking to him.
Youre a little inspired and youre like, I guess I gotta do something, right?
Im just at a computer all day, doing nothing.
EW:And thats the genesis for [Su and Jack].
You nail the tone so specifically.
Because I watched it and I didnt feel like, They think all Brooklynite millennials are bad.
It was more of a roast.AHF:Yes, thank you!
It was a roast.
EW:It was a roast of ourselves.
AHF:And of our friends.
And people we love.
EW:This isnt a mean-spirited look at these people.
We dont think theyre dumb hipster millennials.
We truly love them and we wanted to double-check it remained a bit sincere.
But we thought it would be funnier to make them a little more real.
Just a couple things.
Thats where it started to get good, and less solipsistic.
Even though her character is named Su.
EW:We wanted to have the script good before we shared it with her.
It had been for a few drafts before we asked Sunita if she wanted to be in the movie.
Why did you write it for her specifically?
What was it about her?AHF:I met Sunita freshman year of college.
We were in speech class together, and she was in comedy troupes in college.
And I was a fan.
Sunita has an incredible natural presence.
She just looks incredible in a closeup; shes so captivating.
And shes one of the funniest people Ive ever met.
It was exciting for us to be able to show the world what she can do.
Shes so charming and so natural.
It was a no-brainer; we never thought of anyone else for it.
AHF:It was a script reason: What is a piece of furniture that Raf would have?
EW:That was the first idea and it just stuck.
And it snowballed from there.
And pouffe is a funny word.
AHF:We liked that the movie had kind of a classic feel.
We deliberately didnt want that in the movie.
The whole point for us was doing a movie where you never find out whats going on.
We wanted it to feel very grounded and like what might happen if this actually happened to us.
AHF:Especially Jack and Su.
In this timeline, other people might know some things about the pouffes, but they dont.
EW:But we, Alex and Eleanor, have a lot of fun backstory about the pouffes.
Especially the cabin pouffe.
The woods pouffe is ruthless.
AHF:A ruthless killer pouffe.
EW:The gist is that the pouffes were a mistake sent by another alien species accidentally.
AHF:I dont know how much we actually want to divulge.
But the point is, theres a deep mythology.
EW:Its just not in this movie.
Did you always have that exact ending in mind for the characters?
Did it evolve at all?AHF:We always wanted it to end the way it did.
The only thing that changed was getting them into the pod, into that situation.
It always felt like what they deserved, what was coming to them, from the beginning.
They dont know where theyre doing or what to do; theyre lost in oblivion.
So we rounded it out.
What have we done?
So it was just about figuring out how to get them there.
And I was like, Oh my god, thats genius.
EW:And theyve gotten into this attitude of, Our wants and needs dont matter anymore.
AHF:We need to think about the greater good.
And theyre inspecting this pod like, We need to learn about this.
And as their phone comes back on, it comes around them and they get sucked into the bubble.
It felt so correct.
Its like, Oh god, they blew it.
They were so close.
EW:Or maybe theyre fine!
But you wrote it with a dark ending in mind for them?
They get captured and are going to die?EW:I dont know aboutdie.
Maybe its an alien-zoo throw in situation.
AHF:A zoo in the way that Facebook is a human zoo.
You know what I mean?
Theyre being watched and studied and sold.
AHF:I do go back and forth.
We gave some clues.
Its kind of the best option theyve got.
EW:So some of the human race has been saved.
But perhaps saved for a zoo.AHF:Yeah.
But that optimism is what keeps them hopeful: Are we saved?
Its that optimism that comes from living a first-world life and having everything be kind of fine.
Why did you decide to insert the baby in there?EW:I dont remember how it started.
Its this journey of Jack and Su growing up.
AHF:We have to keep this thing alive?
That was the idea.
How did you cast that baby?
Its a perfect baby.EW:I know, theyre so cute.
Its three babies, actually.
AHF:you could follow them on Instagram.
EW:@tripping_over_triplets.
AHF:Theyre unbelievable.
They totally stole the show.
They each have definitive characteristics.
One is a smiler.
And one is a frowner.
EW:There was more on-the-nose dialogue in that scene that we cut.
But that, for us, was precisely how we feel now.
We wrote the movie three years ago, and things have changed, obviously, a lot.
In particular in the last six months.
AHF:People care more about stuff than they did.
EW:It does seem like people are more aware and active.
Obviously you couldnt have anticipated our current situation.
But this reality theyre in almost seems preferable.
An alien invasion versus whats happening right now.
]AHF:Its faster and more straightforward.
You know what youre dealing with and you dont have to worry about, like, spin.
