Grace Caroline Currey On Playing An Extreme Thrill Seeker In Fall — Exclusive Interview
In Lionsgate's new thriller "Fall," best friends Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner) frequently push themselves to the limits by climbing to breathtaking and terrifying heights. But Becky's confidence is shaken after a terrible climbing accident. When Hunter convinces her to do another climb, they find themselves in a more dangerous situation than ever, stranded at the top of a 2,000-foot abandoned radio tower. The pair have to band together to try to survive despite the harsh elements, lack of supplies, and no contact with the outside world.
Grace Caroline Currey had to push herself both physically and emotionally while tackling her role as Becky. During an exclusive interview with The List, the "Shazam!" actress talked about how she related to her character and how she was able to play someone going through such extreme circumstances. She also discussed the difficult filming conditions and how she and co-star Gardner came together while shooting.
The physical and emotional challenges of Fall
Your character is going through a lot throughout this entire movie. What was that like for you to portray as an actress?
There's a lot of discipline because she goes through a lot. There is a range of emotions and circumstances, and so much of the movie takes place on the tower, and it's one location. So mentally, I didn't have the ability to associate the scenes with different locations and, therefore, my emotions with different locations. I only had one location, so it was a little bit of mental gymnastics to place myself in each scene and place Becky where she was emotionally, where she is energy-wise, and physically, what she's been through. I had a map writing out where I was per scene so that when we were filming out of order, I could know, okay, we're on her final days on the tower, we're on her early days on the tower, or middle days. It was a lot of mental gymnastics and very exhausting but very rewarding.
What would you say was the biggest challenge overall?
The combination of doing so much of the stunt work and the emotionally heavy scenes, oftentimes on the same day. Oftentimes, it's days of it back to back, where basically you're going to the gym and crying every day, and not just crying once, but crying for multiple takes and oftentimes crying my guts out. So the most challenging was keeping the stamina up physically as well as emotionally and being careful that Becky wasn't whining because it could have just been Grace crying up there.
Did you have to do anything specific to prep for the role? As you said, there's a lot of stunt work and things like that.
Yeah, so much of it was also the gradual progression of doing one small stunt and then the next day, the stunt being a little bigger and going, "Oh yeah, I'm game. I'll try that." So if anything, the preparation was almost on-the-job learning, a lot of it. We were in the pandemic when we were shooting, and it was peak pandemic, where everyone was in quarantine. We were one of the first shoots back. I wasn't lifting weights in quarantine. I wasn't stunt training in quarantine. When I got the job, I had a couple of weeks to jump into boot camp with a trainer. And like I said, on set, so much of it was on-set learning as we went.
Working as a unit with her co-star
So much of it is on the tower, and you're with Virginia Gardner the whole time. What was it like for you two to work just the two of you for most of the scenes?
We were a unit. We were a team, and a lot of it was us checking in with each other because we were so high up on the tower, and I had to have a stunt harness on at all times to be safe because we were not going to have actors falling, dying while shooting this thing. Because of the stunt harnesses and because of how high up we were, it took a lot of time to get us down, not to mention removing the harnesses if we needed to take a bathroom break. So there were times when maybe one of us could keep going and keep shooting, but the other needed to go to the bathroom or needed a break because we were out in the desert, in the sun for hours, with a little pulley system to get us water. It was crazy.
There were definitely times where I'd look at Ginnie, and I'm like, "We're ready. We need to come down for a break." I could tell we were going to take the break because she was so driven and hardworking, and I really love to apply myself and work hard, so we fed into each other's energy. But at times, you got to be careful you're not overdoing it, because you need to have that stamina for days of that.
How she related to her character, Becky
The main characters in this film are these big thrill seekers. Would you ever do anything like that in your real life?
So many of the stunts that we did were very thrilling, but so much of that was in a controlled, safe environment with professionals. Everyone's holding your hand through it. I don't know about [what they do]. Hunter and Becky are going out in the middle of nowhere alone and have hardly any safety. I don't know about that.
Did you feel like you had any ways that you did relate to Becky?
Yeah, in a lot of ways. When I was first sent the script, it was with the mentality of seeing which character I responded to more. I got to meet with Scott [Mann], our director, and he said, "Who do you respond to more?" I said, "I think Becky." He was like, "Yeah, I think Becky as well." I don't know what that means, but I don't think he thought I had Hunter's spunk. I relate to Becky's anxiety and how much she's in her head and overthinks things. I think she feels things very, very deeply, and it takes her over, so I relate to that.
What did you feel was the biggest message that you got from the script and in the film?
So much of it is endurance, how a human being can endure hardship, whether it be emotional trauma or physical trauma, and I really admired that. That's what I took away, message-wise. The endurance of the human soul and the will to survive and overcome against all odds was so inspiring. Sometimes things can feel hopeless, so I think it's really incredible to see a story where there is a hopeless aspect but they won't give up. They won't quit.
From the producers of "47 Meters Down," "Fall" drops only in theaters on August 12, 2022.