VOD Spotlight: Behind the Scenes of The Signal

The Signal director William Eubank discusses casting his film:

“I prefer finding actors who are their characters to begin with. That is important to me. Brenton Thwaites was in Australia working on something, and I was in New Mexico — half an hour late to our Skype meeting. But he was such a nice guy, and I saw a genuine quality that I wanted [the character of] Nic to have … and, if Brenton wasn’t happy about me being half an hour late, then he was doing a damn good job of convincing me that it was no big deal. I thought, ‘Win-win!’ [Laughs] Brenton turned out to be hardworking, putting exactly what I wanted to convey with this character onscreen.”

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According to Eubank, the benefit to finding actors who embody their characters from the start is “because then any time you hit a wall creatively you can think about the actual person being in this situation; “What would Brenton do?” That helps the directing process because you’re diving into somebody they already are, although sometimes it’s hard to convince an actor that they’re basically going to be themselves. But I feel it brings more authenticity.”

Eubank has high praise for his cast of relatively unknown actors, saying “I’ve been on film sets where actors are tough to work with and shut down the process before you can get to what is needed. What I loved about Brenton, Olivia [Cooke] and Beau Knapp is that they always felt they could do better, and I always feel the same way — wishing I had more time.”

Aside from the younger members of his cast, Eubank also had veteran star Laurence Fishburne on the roster of his film. “The first time we met, he asked me if he had to wear his character’s [protective] costuming the whole time. I said yes. He said, ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘OK, I’m onboard; I just wanted to make sure.’ He explained to me that his concern was how sometimes you can lose the nuances of a performance. I told him I agreed but that the way I’d be filming, I’d be getting up real close to him — probably too much of the time! I told him I’d make sure his nuances were getting onscreen, and he trusted me. Then, on the set, there’d be moments where he could hardly see because I had the camera right in his face … But this was Laurence Fishburne, so I wanted to get right into it. That was an artistic choice and also a necessary one; combine those, and we’re getting at his character.”

The Signal is available Sept. 23 on Video On Demand. Check your cable system for availability.

© 2014 Focus Features

Credit: Ursula Coyote