“Send Help” is an American survival horror film produced and directed by Sam Raimi and written by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon. The film stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien as an employee and her boss, respectively, who become stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash and attempt to survive while tension rises between them. It is Sam Raimi’s first conventional horror/thriller film since 2009’s “Drag Me To Hell” and has received positive reviews from critics, and grossed $28 million so far against its $40 million production budget. Raimi was kind enough to spend some time speaking with me during the Sundance Film Festival (while I was sitting on the floor of a hotel hallway trying to avoid the noise of the many people who were around me in attendance) about his work and experience making the film, which you can read or listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is now playing in theaters from 20th Century Studios. Thank you, and enjoy!
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Alright, Sam Raimi, the director of “Send Help” and all-around legend in this business. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me about your latest, sir.
Thank you for having me in your web episode or article, Matthew.
I appreciate it. I want to start by asking, were you a “Survivor” fan before the making of this movie? Because if not, I’m curious about your overall relationship with that show.
I love “Survivor.” I was certainly aware of it. I’d see every year how everyone would get more and more excited about who’s gonna survive and talk about it. But I only saw the credits of the show. You know, like Jeff doing his thing, and I’d see other little bits of it, but I never tuned in because I always thought I was going to miss the important parts of the development of this group of characters. I didn’t want to come in the middle, so to speak. So I’ve seen many clips of it, but I had never seen a full episode until the movie.
With this type of screenplay, it’s almost like “Misery” meets “Triangle of Sadness” or something along those lines. When you came across this screenplay, what themes jumped out at you that made you say, “I need to direct this. This sounds like it’ll be a great deal of fun.”
Well, I wasn’t thinking of “Triangle of Sadness.” In fact, when Shannon Swift pitched the movie to Zainab Azizi, my producer, and me, it was before “Triangle of Sadness.” So they already developed that script. So I never thought about that too much, and I never saw the whole thing, but I know it’s a great movie. “Misery,” I was aware that Stephen King’s great novel and Rob Ryan’s brilliant film had influenced the writers, probably because I remember so many similarities. But my response was, “Don’t even go near those two great classics. Go and take the most original way you can,” and sometimes actually make decisions for no other reason than to be different from those choices we’ve seen in those two classics.
I know you’ve worked with Rachel McAdams in the past, but she doesn’t work that often. She’s very selective about the roles she takes on, and I’d like to know what excited her most, aside from the chance to be drenched in blood, snot, sand, and sweat with you on an island, haha.
Well, I couldn’t say what influenced Rachel. She never actually told me. But after we worked together on “Multiverse of Madness,” I so admired her skill as a brilliant actor, as she’s able to sharpen her focus to one plane of the story. And then I saw her play a character introduced in the multiverse, then a second multiverse version of her original character, and she was so brilliantly reflective. The story beats that happened to this version of herself changed her character ever so slightly. She was more guarded about one subject, had no experience in another, and was open. It was just fascinating to see an actor perform at such a high level of knowledge of the human being, and it translated into the performing arts. So, I was just blown away by that. And then, when Marvel, I did a little rewrite for reshoots, we introduced a third, multiverse version of her, and then I saw her play that unexpectedly, never imagining that was what we were gonna do. And she played three versions of the note, like in different octaves, perfectly. It was more complex than that, but it was like that kind of harmony. And you’d think it had to be pre-planned how she developed that.
And then with Dylan O’Brien, he’s so good at playing this role. It’s so believable. I have met a lot of people in my life who are very similar to him, and I know he’s also the sweetest, nicest guy. So playing a role like this is quite a stretch for him. But I’m also curious about how a large section of the story is set with him being immobile and on his back. How did you work it out with him in terms of blocking the scenes with Rachel, and how they would go about walking through a scene together where he couldn’t move?
You must be a movie director or a writer.
I’m a lot of things, I’ll put it that way. But I’m first and foremost a journalist.
Ok. You’re right, that was a problem. And I would pace about many a night trying to figure out how to make it visually interesting, how not to be too repetitive, but still advance the story, even though the character is stuck in that sitting position for many minutes of the film. And what do I tell Dylan? You don’t move in this first scene. Now, in the second, we progress to a subtle moan, but you’re still unconscious. It’s like, I can’t…he’s not going to do anything. All we have are his facial reactions when he’s first hurt, then comes too. And he focused them brilliantly on the ugliness of the situation. The classic dynamic we had to play throughout is that the bad boss finally becomes the one in an environment where the hierarchy doesn’t empower him. Only what he does empowers him. And this is an environment where, conversely to the office situation with her, she was subjugated by that office group, stolen from, and belittled, under some false power structure here on the island; all she is is what she does. And there’s a power shift. The power dynamic shifts dramatically in the movie, and that’s a lot of fun to watch, even though it might be expected for this kind of a picture. But the picture goes on, and on, and it accepts that’s not enough for the audience. That could be the beginning of the story, but nowadays it’s no longer…It could be satisfying, even simple, but I wanted more, and the writers wanted more, and they came up with so much more that we made that the beginning of the picture.
And my final question here, as we wrap up: Who is one person that you wouldn’t mind being stuck with on a deserted island, and who is one person that you absolutely would not wanna be stuck on a deserted island with?
I wouldn’t wanna be stuck with Bradley because it’d be so hard at some weight. You really have to do everything for him. Maybe by the end, he’s starting to come around and get some work together and some work ethic, but that was under duress, of course. And who would I want on the other? Hmmm…As I said, I don’t want Bradley. But I do want a woman named Kai. She is our Survivalist who taught us everything for the script regarding the action, the props, and how to survive in that tropical environment at the water’s edge, with these creatures and this land. So she knows how to survive in the cold North woods as well as in this environment, and how to make a fire and collect water. So she knows all that, and she taught us also. Rachel studied thoroughly with her. She was a living survival guide, so she would be the one I would want.
Well, this has been an absolute thrill for me. I’ve been a huge fan of yours for many years. This is our first interview together, and I want to thank you for your time here.
Thank you so much, Matthew. I really appreciate you doing it, and I hope to see you again soon.
Yes, you too. Take care!
*Publicist chimes in* “Matthew, have a good time at Sundance!!”
Thank you.
Sam: Oh wow! Have fun!
“Send Help” is now playing in theaters from 20th Century Studios
You can follow Matt and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on X @NextBestPicture
