‘Stalker’ Star Stuart Brennan On The Claustrophobic New Thriller
Mary Beth McAndrews
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If you liked Fall, chances are you’ll love the new cramped horror film Stalker (not, not Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 sci-fi masterpiece). Taking place almost entirely within the confines of a broken-down elevator, a young actor (Sophie Skelton) and a cameraman (Stuart Brennan) play a twisted game of cat-and-mouse that turns stereotypical gender roles on their proverbial heads.
Dread Central spoke with Stalker star Stuart Brennan about getting into character, how it leaked into his personal life, building an elevator, and more.
Dread Central: How did you get involved in the project?
Stuart Brennan: So, COVID had just happened and the world was shutting down. We had just optioned our first screenplay as a production company from Chris Watts, and that was about a reclusive musician, a kind of uplifting drama. Then he said he had this horror script, would anyone like to read it? And of course, we all have plenty of time. So I said, yeah, I’d love to. So I read it and was blown away. I mean, he’s such a wonderful writer. His dialogue is really sharp and witty and interesting. He’s got lots of touchbacks to different things as you go through the script. I read Stalker and I thought it was really interesting. So I called him up and I said, “Look, the challenge I think here is to condense this even further.”
So [initially] Stalker was in a few different locations, with a few different characters as well. And I said, “Let’s really challenge ourselves. Let’s make it basically two characters and one location. Let’s see if we can do that, because the writing’s almost there.” We needed to build in a few more scares. So we used the Blumhouse technique of every seven pages, we put in a scare of some sort or a moment of extreme tension. We really worked on the screenplay, put it through a sort of development process, and got it to a place where we were all very excited about it.
DC: So you’ve been involved in this project from the ground up. Were you always set to star in the film?
SB: Not necessarily. I think with Stronghold [Productions], whenever a project is with us, I always look at it first and foremost as an actor. Then I look at it as a producer, so if I’m excited about it as an actor, I’m on board.
If it’s not gonna roll for me, but I really care about the themes or care about the people involved or the quality of the writing, then on very rare occasions, we’ll get involved. But first and foremost, acting is kind of my passion and that’s what drives me.
DC: So at what point did you say, “OK, I want this part”?
SB: <laugh> I laugh because he is such a horrible person, <laugh>. And when did I want to be this hard? Well, the challenge of two people, one location was ultimately an acting challenge as well as a producing challenge because to keep it gripping, to keep the audience on the edge of their seat, to have the energy and the power dynamic moving back and forth, that starts with the writing and then producing it. You’ve got to achieve that with the camera, and sound, design, color, everything.
As an actor, it’s actually a really difficult part because it all lives and dies in those two performances. So the more we developed it, the more interested I got in trying to figure out how you could make this character interesting for 90 minutes. Because at the end of the day, the film’s called Stalker. He’s the male character. He wears a military kind of coat, he’s the bad guy. That’s how I think most people sit down and start watching the film.
How can you make the audience like him or be interested enough in him that you want to keep watching? That was the challenge. And I think the longer we went on in the development process, the more interested I got in what drives this character, and what sympathies are there that we can all relate to with him. What’s his journey and where does he come from? I think that’s when it really started hitting me that I’m really excited to try and, and do this character.
DC: That’s amazing. Well, you said he is a bad guy, but what was it like getting into his head space then?
SB: So it was a gradual process. The first thing that unlocked for me was asking myself a question, which I think everyone with social media has come across an image that out of intrigue, they have zoomed in on. Now, when we put an image up on social media, we’re not putting it up as a cropped version. We’re putting it up as the version that we want to display. So when people zoom in instantly you are taking something people have put up on the internet and gone further than they were anticipating. That’s a universal kind of truth, essentially. That made me go, “OK, well that’s really where Daniel starts, he’s being inquisitive, being curious.” It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It comes from a very normal place that we can all relate to.
That’s then the big question that’s looming. So before you get there, you’ve gotta work out the steps. Daniel is a character whose mother is unwell. He is somebody who is trying to do his dream job while managing his mother’s sickness and being essentially a full-time carer. That’s really difficult. That will isolate you from the people around you. If you’re isolated from people around you, you focus on the thing in front of you
So we start moving down that corridor and that’s when I started understanding where this character’s come from, where he is going, and in a way that I could empathize with and engage with because it’s too easy to just dismiss somebody who’s doing something bad. That was the beginning of that process for me.
DC: So I’m always so curious about people who play the villain. How does that affect you? Did it ever feel like it was affecting you when the cameras weren’t rolling? Or were you able to kind of turn it on and off a little bit easier?
SB: So it definitely affected my immediate circle. I didn’t enjoy being that character. Certainly, I approach my performances in a very methodical kind of approach where I let it bleed into my world a bit, and certainly into my psyche. So your mind starts to wander in spheres that aren’t fun and aren’t ones I’m as a person comfortable exploring. You kind of have to let it so that when you are in that moment and the cameras are rolling, it feels real.
It’s not nice to think about the sort of things that he’s thinking about and where his mind goes. It’s hard to step away from that. That said, I came up with quite a nice way of jumping into him, which was through his voice. He speaks very differently from how I normally talk, and I came up with a keyword. It was quite amusing for the camera team because the word was roll.
At the beginning of the day, they’d be setting up the camera and I would just have a moment to myself where I’d just start repeating this word until his voice comes in. So you sort of start off going, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll. There it is. Daniel’s voice. And Daniel suddenly is there and he’s just a little bit more introverted and excited maybe than Stuart. That gave me the mannerisms. It centers everything and focused all that energy. I hate doing it <laugh> I never do the voice anymore.
DC: You also work with Sophie Skelton. She is incredible in Stalker, especially at the end. Since it was just the two of you working off of each other, what was that experience like working with her as a partner?
SB: Working with Sophie, I think was one of the best acting experiences of my life. She and I immediately clicked when we first met. We met just a few days before filming and the first moment that we sat down to each other having a coffee, I explained I like to rehearse a lot as an actor. I really enjoy that process. I love to try things that maybe won’t work that could be a little out there. And then you bring it back and you find that the rhythm for the character. And she was like, “Oh, I love to do that too. That’s amazing.” She said so many actors don’t like to rehearse. And I was like, “Yeah, I know.”
So instantly we started rehearsing together and during filming, we made a point of rehearsing in the mornings. I’m an early riser when shooting a movie, so I get up at like five. And I said to her, “I’ll be up at like five. I’ll be running my lines and getting everything sorted for the day. You’re welcome to join me.” And she was like, “Yeah, I will.” And I thought, oh yeah, I’ve heard that before.
But at five o’clock she came down and there we got a good three, four hours in before we started for the day. When we wrapped, we generally had about an hour just to go and get some food, and sort ourselves out. Then we’d rehearse until 12, one o’clock. It gave us just such a wonderful bond. I compared it to being in a sport where it’s the two of you and you’re in the World Cup finals. It meant when we were on set, we could just run 10-minute takes with no problem. And Steve loves to run long, long takes.
DC: Oh cool.
SB: Almost every angle was a long 10-minute take. And that intensity was able to be kept up because we were loving the enjoyment of hitting those marks every single time, hitting the emotional beats, keeping it fresh and alive, and ultimately giving the editor a lot to play with. So I don’t think I could have done this film really with anyone else. I needed a partner in crime as an actor. She certainly was that.
DC: It feels like a play because again it’s one location and a lot of dialogue. I really like how the dialogue never gets tedious, especially with the chemistry between the two of you. It’s so compelling and fascinating.
SB: Thank you. I think a big part of it was our executive producer, Gareth Wiley. He would sit in on a lot of the rehearsals with us and ask really incisive, interesting questions that would really cut into the heart of the scene or the character. It always kept us on course with telling the story and making sure that the power dynamic was in the right place for each scene. So that was really thrilling. He’s worked with Scarlet Johansson and Hugh Jackman and Colin Farrell, you name it. So having someone of that caliber in the room with us just meant that we were constantly striving to really nail everything. So yeah, that’s probably the secret to the magic.
DC: Where were you shooting? Was it a set in a studio? Was it an actual elevator?
SB: So we were in the middle of covid and loads of lockdowns and things happening. We found this incredible estate called Dunskey Estate in Scotland, which is an absolutely beautiful old manor house. They let us build our set in one of their halls.
So Stronghold as a company, we have Stronghold Digital, which does VFX editing, sound, and music. Then we have Stronghold Workshop which does all props, weapons, armor, SFX, and Set Building. So we created the set and then we shipped it all up to Scotland and reassembled it there. We were able to shoot the whole sequence in that set almost.
DC: Wait, the idea of dissembling it and reassembling it is crazy to me <laugh> It’s a very detailed set.
SB: We put a load of research and thought into every element. So everything’s handmade in that set. And if you think about it, it’s basically a confession booth and that’s its style. It’s got that dark crimson and reds, very Catholic vibes,
DC: That is so cool.
SB: Thank you. Yeah, there are lots of little details. Even the numbers that light up and things on the panels, they’re all being controlled. Every single number that you see in the film is generally a reference to another horror film. So for any huge horror fans out there, you can watch it and look for numbers.
DC: You wear a lot of hats. You’re an actor, a producer, a writer, a director. What is that like for you kind of personally wearing all those hats and going into all these different roles in films?
SB: Yeah, it’s a great question. Ultimately every job comes with responsibility. The more work you put into preparing for the day, the easier all of those jobs become. So I’m huge on preparation. I love development, I love pre-production. I love working with designers and ultimately executing [a film] is all about the crew. So having a really strong crew and a team of people who is as passionate as you are about the project, means that you can start to relax. For example, our director of photography on Stalker was Simon Stolland, who is phenomenal. So you know it’s going to look great. Steve, he’s, a wonderful director who’s done a number of films, so you know we’re gonna have good coverage. And Mark Wake, who’s editing it and grading it and overseeing the post-production, he’s very experienced and wonderful at his job.
So it’s all going to come together well. And [Mark] was on set as well. So actually if we were missing anything, he’d come in and say, “Hey, we need a few more shots of this.” But having all these great people around and Gareth of course helps me relax and I can then sort of switch off. So I didn’t need to worry about the direction of it, the producing of it. I could then just focus on the acting. I have really good people around me to help calm me <laugh> and let me focus on the task at hand.
DC: That’s awesome. So it sounds like you’re a big horror fan yourself?
SB: Yes and no. It takes me a while to watch horror films because I’m easily scared. I’m really easily scared and my imagination runs wild. So whenever you’re in a theater and somebody’s kind of jumping in their seat, that’s me. I take my time to watch a film. But yeah, I do love horror films. I think some of the most iconic movies of all time are horror films. The cinematography of so many of them conjures iconic images. The Exorcist or The Shining, instantly you’re thinking of what they look like.
Even the modern-day stuff, like what Blumhouse is doing and M. Night Shyamalan’s movies, they’re just gripping. You can’t look away. It’s one of those genres that I understand and appreciate why it’s got such a big fan base. I would definitely count myself as one of those fans.
DC: Do you remember the first horror movie you ever saw?
SB: Yes. So my parents said to not watch so many horror films. They were like, “It’ll give you nightmares. If you watch Jaws, you’re never gonna go in the sea again”. Well, I was scared of going into the sea because of this film called Jaws I’d never seen it because it’s so scary. Then I watched Jaws when I was like 30 and thought, “This is amazing! Why was I told not to watch this?” So I actually avoided kind of all the classics until Candyman.
I was the original when I was about 13 or 14. I stayed at a friend’s house and he’d stolen it from his older brother or something, <laugh>. We watched that and wow. That left its mark. It’s such a great performance. Just everything about it,
DC: It’s so beautiful. The score is incredible. It’s just such a compelling story. And I still will never say Candyman in the mirror. I don’t care how old I am.
SB: I wouldn’t say it. No way.
DC: So what’s next for you? What projects are you working on?
SB: I can indeed. So coming out this Fall, we have a movie called War Chief, which is an orc thriller. It’s a group of human messengers who get waylaid by a group of orcs. We’ve worked with some of the best in the business at creating these orcs. They are big and green and very, very scary. This movie comes out through Lionsgate in the fall.
DC: Are you directing, producing? What roles do you have on this one?
SB: So I wrote, directed, produced, acted, and also oversaw things like the SFX.
DC: Oh, wow.
SB: Yeah, it was really fun. It’s a wild film and we’re actually shooting the spinoff in a few weeks’ time, which is called Assassin’s Guild. So yeah, it’s gonna be a busy few years. I’m interested in getting into this dark fantasy world.
Stalker is out now in theaters and on VOD.
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