Set Visit: Talking 'Into the Storm' with Richard Armitage

Jun.30.14 – by Fernando Esquivel

In the span of a single day, the town of Silverton is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornados. The entire town is at the mercy of the erratic and deadly cyclones. Most people seek shelter, while others run towards the vortex, testing how far a storm chaser will go for that once in a lifetime shot.

Latino-Review.com was flown to Pontiac Detroit for the set of "Into the Storm" where it's downtown has been turned into an abandoned strip of shops while storm chasers are dealing with the largest tornado to ever hit. With wind blowers, fake rain and debris being blown at the cast we sit and watch as Gary Morris (Richard Armitage) struggles with the forces of nature while trying to save his son. Once his scene is wrapped up, we gathering in the Freemason lodge where production has set up camp and talked with him about his role, working with green screen, and The Hobbit.

Who do you play and how does he fit into the story line?

Richard Armitage: My character is called Gary. He is the vice-principal of Silverton High School, he’s got two boys, Trey and Donny. He’s asked them to create a video diary of the graduation ceremony so they are going to make a time capsule video diary of their town. And then this storm comes and the two boys become separated and he loses Donny. Through the story, Gary’s mission is to find out where his other son has gone, because he’s lost contact with him so he’s trying to juggle two things; he’s trying to protect the older son and go in search of the younger son.

What kind of person is he?

Richard Armitage: He is an English teacher. I kind of decided as we were shooting that he’s a football coach because I needed the kind of level of fitness that required the ability to run and kind of shout quite loudly. (Laughs) And the dialect coach came up to me and said: “You know what you do sound like you coach the football team.” I’m like, okay, that will go in the biography as well!

SInce this is a film about tornados did you research weather patterns in your preparation for the role?

Richard Armitage: I began to look at the science behind tornadoes and I decided I would like to be caught out unaware by it rather than knowing too much about them. I wanted him to get caught up in the shock factor of what the tornado was rather than understand it like the meteorologists do. I looked mainly at the idea of a guy who is an everyman who is forced into a situation where he has to become heroic for a day to save his sons. He has to do that thing which we all hope that’s in us, and that’s to run into a burning building and save a child or to dive into water and save a child. None of us really know if we have the potential to do it until you’re faced with that situation and before you realize you’re becoming a hero, it’s already happening. And this is in a space of a day.

Since this is a found footage film, how are the scenes you’re in captured?

Richard Armitage: Well, this is one of the reasons why Trey comes with me is because he’s a camera holder. (Laughs) But that’s the game of the film. You have to acknowledge it but then ignore it. Each camera becomes a character. So there are times when my son isn’t in the scene but his camera is and I have to talk to him as if he’s there, but it’s a camera operator. Some of them are surveillance cameras, so you have to know very specifically that you don’t start talking to a surveillance camera like it’s a person!

Are you familiar with this shooting style?

Richard Arimtage: It’s very unique; I’ve never filmed like this before. There are no formal set ups. The lighting is to look like it’s not lit. There is no such thing as a close up unless Trey or Donny is on handheld doing a punch zoom but I don’t know what size the shots are. I always know on film sets what lens we’re on whether it’s mid or a tight shot, but on this I am never asked that question and I actually don’t want to know in this instance because it’s found footage. I want to be captured and found rather than having any control of how the performance is. This is a very different kind of work. You do build your relationship with your camera operator so that you can create the illusion that they’re just finding a moment.

How challenging is it for you as an actor to have dialogue with a camera and not an actual person?

Richard Armitage: I’ve spent most of my career working on exactly the opposite of that. Working for camera, and how to let the camera in and how to let the camera be a part of the scene and effectively with this you have to ignore them. At times I have to ask Trey to put the camera down, and I have to push the camera out of the way so it’s an avoidance of the camera.

What scene stands out for you?

Richard Armitage: The most interesting scene is in the kitchen before the storm kicks in. I’m sitting with my two sons at the breakfast table and we realize by the end of the rehearsal that there is only ever going to be one take on one camera, because it is in his home and there are no other cameras apart from the video camera that is shooting him. So it’s one take with no cutaways and no editing. It felt a bit like reality TV!

How much does your character interact with the others because your character has an emotional arc?

Richard Armitage: Who told you that! (Laughs) It’s interesting because he gets thrown into a situation where he meets Allison who is the professor of the weather team, and they are forced into a situation which is what we’re shooting today…. He sees a girl in the street get caught in the storm and he grabs a hold of her and instantly saves her life. So he’s thrust into this relationship with each other which you can’t predict or explain but it’s that life long bond after two people have been in a life threatening situation. It’s a bit like a patient’s relationship where their life is saved by their doctor. Allison assists in finding his son and they are both single parents. That relationship is the strongest relationship. It’s like a non-conscious relationship. A life or death situation which has brought these two characters’ together over a period of an eight hour day.

So this takes place all in one day?

Richard Armitage: Over four to six hours which means just one costume!

Talking of costumes is it refreshing not to have the dwarf armor and beard from The Hobbit?

Richard Armitage: (Laughs) Yes, its ten minutes in the make-up chair is just great. Although I do like the whole transformation of The Hobbit because it belongs to somebody else. My face was never my own but when you start using your face again, you actually realize your face needs a bit of work! I don’t miss the latex head which was so hot and heavy. Then of course you’re faced with a whole other set of discomfort being constantly wet and effectively standing in front of a jet engine from a Boeing 747 for two weeks. It was like out of the frying pan and into the fire. There have been a couple of shoot days where we were running across the parking lot of the garage and the wind machines were so strong that I was literally running on the spot and not actually going anyway. I was like: “Can you please turn the fan down a tiny bit or I’ll never get to the other side of the lot?”

Is there any wire work involved?

Richard Armitage: Yes, but we haven’t reached that point yet in the schedule. That’s when Allison gets sucked into the tornado. I’ve got a bit of tank work to do. It’s always water with me. It wasn’t in the script when I agreed to it and then it changed… “He dives into a tank of water to saves his son.” That’s my worst nightmare. And this is the thing I’m really conscious of is that I didn’t want him to suddenly turn into an action hero. I wanted him to be struggling with it. I wanted him to run in a school teacher kind of way. So in his loafers, he runs like a Maths teacher. There’s a fine line as I didn’t want people to think he was a rubbish runner.

Are they using tennis balls to indicate the location of the tornado?

Richard Armitage: Well, I haven’t seen any tennis balls. I’ve just come off The Hobbit where there is just green everywhere and there’s a Licorice Allsort hanging from a piece of string and someone is saying it’s the biggest most ferocious dragon you’ve ever seen… and “ACTION!” So I don’t have a problem imagining anything! In fact, I probably imagine the tornado to be too big! In a way the tornado is the monster of this movie. It’s unpredictable, it moves around, it gets bigger and smaller and it can swallow you up.

Lastly, are the rumors true and that you would all break out in song while waiting for camera set ups on The Hobbit?

Richard Armitage: Not in set ups, well I didn’t see any sing-along then but we did pickups on a Sunday and Pete did Zombie Sunday. So the crew had to wear zombie make up and he played Thriller at lunchtime. And when we got wrapped, they put loads of zombie make up on us and we kind of danced around to Thriller.