Summary

At CCXP 2024, Collider’s Steve Weintraub sits down with Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy for their Apple TV+ action-adventure The Gorge.

Directed by The Black Phone’s Scott Derrickson, the duo play two skilled operatives instructed to protect two sides of a terrifying chasm, said to be the “entrance to hell.”

In this interview, Teller and Taylor-Joy reveal which was the toughest scene to film and why they signed on for the feature as well chat about future projects like Dune: Messiah, Top Gun 3, Michael, Lucky, and more.

Longtime friends Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller have celebrated soaring careers in the industry individually, and now they’re joining forces for Scott Derrickson’s genre-bending Apple TV+ film, The Gorge. While at CCXP in Brazil, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to sit down with the co-stars to talk about filming together and what it was about the project that drew them both to the material.
In the movie, the co-stars play special operatives, each assigned to opposite sides of a dangerous chasm, instructed not to contact one another. Derrickson, who’s best known for helming The Black Phone and Doctor Strange (2016), puts his wide-ranging genre knowledge to work for a script Teller says is “entirely original.” In addition to Teller and Taylor-Joy, The Gorge also stars Sigourney Weaver (Alien) and Sope Dirisu (Slow Horses).
In this interview, which you can read below, Taylor-Joy and Teller talk about their most challenging scene to film and share updates on their upcoming projects, like the status of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Messiah, why Teller will be the first to know when there’s big news on Top Gun 3, what to expect from Antoine Fuqua’s biopic Michael, Taylor-Joy’s return to television with her series Lucky, and more.
Anya Taylor-Joy Collects Rocks! And Miles Teller Collects Everything Else

“What’s a Pog?”

COLLIDER: So we’re at CCXP, and a lot of people here collect things. Is there anything that you guys collect or used to collect?
ANYA TAYLOR-JOY: I used to collect snow globes because I wanted to collect something. I felt lame because other people were collecting things, and I wanted something of my own, so I just picked snow globes. But my heart wasn’t in it, and now I collect rocks. I love rocks.
Do you take rocks from a location?
TAYLOR-JOY: Yeah, I’m really sentimental. I have always loved rocks and crystals, and so I take rocks from different locations, and I make little jars, and they’re like my mementos.
MILES TELLER: I collected baseball cards, Pogs, Hot Wheels.
What didn’t you collect?
TAYLOR-JOY: What’s a Pog?
TELLER: Oh, baby. You missed it.
TAYLOR-JOY: How do you spell it?
TELLER: P-O-G. I’ll show you after this.
TAYLOR-JOY: Okay, cool.
They’re not as collectible as baseball cards.
TAYLOR-JOY: I missed out.
Jumping into this film it blends a whole bunch of genres together for its own new thing. You guys are both, I’m sure, offered a bunch of scripts, or you read a lot of scripts. What was it about this one that said, “Yes, I need to do this?”
TAYLOR-JOY: It was a really original concept, and then Miles and I have known each other for a really long time, and I really wanted to work with him. I’m a big fan of him as a person and as an actor, and I knew I’d have fun.
TELLER: I agree with all of that. Miles echoes that sentiment. We’re always looking for something that feels original, and this was entirely original. I just thought it was so incredibly creative. I really felt for both of these characters. There’s such a longing, there’s such an isolation, and all the things that come with having to do what they do for a career. Some of my best friends are in the military, and for what they’re required to do, there needs to be an outlet. You can’t carry it inside you — we know what the ramifications are of that. So, I was just so excited to film those scenes with Anya.
The Dance Scene in ‘The Gorge’ Took an Entire Day

This duo’s toughest scene wasn’t in Dune or Top Gun: Maverick. It was duking it out with WiFi.

Image via Apple TV+

Of your career, what shot or sequence has been the most challenging to pull off and why?
TELLER: There’s a scene in this when our characters have that dance to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for the first time.
TAYLOR-JOY: [Laughs] I love that you immediately go there.
TELLER: We go on the ground, and we kind of roll up. They were doing this Dutch angled move with the camera that, I’m not kidding, took so many hours — not because the camera’s doing anything wrong. It’s because we were in a soundstage, and the camera needed WiFi to be able to do this Dutch angle movement.
TAYLOR-JOY: We shot it for a whole day.
TELLER: It was almost an entire day just for that dance sequence, just for that one shot.
TAYLOR-JOY: Just for that one move. And when we got it, it was a major.
TELLER: Yes.
At any point, was it like, “This is a big production. How do we not have WiFi?”
TELLER: We had WiFi, but you’re in the soundstage.
TAYLOR-JOY: In the soundstage in the tower.
TELLER: So, at one point, Scott, the director, just takes the camera outside and resets it, and that worked.
TAYLOR-JOY: Yeah. On and off. Just figuring it out. [Laughs]
TELLER: Problem-solving.
Making movies, you run into the most ridiculous obstacles. You can’t make it up.
TELLER: The amount of times I’ve seen an assistant camera operator just staring at clouds through this little lens finder and saying, “Okay, in 10 minutes, we’re going to have this seven-minute window.”
TAYLOR-JOY: Exactly.
TELLER: Because you’re a slave to clouds and weather.
Anya Taylor-Joy Is Saving Dates for ‘Dune: Messiah’

“I’m so anxious.”

Image via Warner Bros.

I am a huge fan of Dune. Has Denis [Villeneuve] asked you to save any dates next year for Messiah?
TAYLOR-JOY: Yeah. The film is being made, and I am so thrilled to be a part of it.
TELLER: He hasn’t asked me to save a date. I think I can say that, right? I’m not in that movie.
TAYLOR-JOY: I’m such a big fan of everybody that’s a part of that project, and I just can’t wait. I can’t wait.
I mean, he’s still writing. They’re still figuring it out, so I’m not sure how big of a role…
TAYLOR-JOY: I’m so anxious.
It could be that you are a huge part of the movie.
TELLER: Stop it. Steve. You know you’re getting nowhere here. She can’t say anything.
TAYLOR-JOY: I won’t talk!
You never know.
Is ‘Top Gun 3’ Really Happening?

“If it’s coming from Joe, then there you go.”

Image via Paramount Pictures

I never thought that Top Gun 3 would actually happen, but then I spoke to Joe [Kosinski] and people, and they’re like, “No, it’s being really worked on.” So, is it really happening?
TELLER: I mean, if it’s coming from Joe, then there you go.
TAYLOR-JOY: Nice rhyme!
TELLER: We’ll see what happens. All I know is that I’ll be one of the first to know, and [Tom Cruise] will give me enough time to get back in Top Gun shape. That’s all I asked. But there’s a lot of excitement on both ends from the fans and from the Top Gun team.
TAYLOR-JOY: I’m a fan.
Antoine Fuqua’s ‘Michael’ Is Going to be a “Rock Show”

Teller plays Michael Jackson’s lawyer, John Branca, in the film.

Image via Lionsgate

I am really looking forward to Michael because of Antoine Fuqua. I’ve spoken to him and you play a big role in that as Michael’s lawyer. What was it about that project that said, “I want to do it?” What can you tease about it?
TELLER: From the time I was a little kid, I’ve been fascinated by Michael Jackson. I learned how to do the moonwalk and was like, [imitates Michael], even when I was just a little kid. He’s the greatest performer of all time, in my opinion. He was such a complicated individual, and I think we’ll get to explore that. Michael’s nephew, Jaafar [Jackson], is playing Michael, and it’s uncanny. I’m excited.
I saw footage at CinemaCon, and was like, “Oh, shit, this is going to be good.”
TELLER: Oh, hell yeah, dude. It’s the King of Pop, baby. It’s gonna be a rock show.
So you just signed on for an Apple TV+ series called Lucky. What was it about this material?
TAYLOR-JOY: I was really excited because Hello Sunshine approached me and said, “We would really love to co-produce this with you,” and that was the first time that I had that opportunity. I just finished the first feature that I produced, and I think having the opportunity to be that involved is something that I’m really enjoying because I love this. This is my love. So, getting to be on both sides of it is really fun.
Is this a series, or is it more limited?
TAYLOR-JOY: It’s more limited, the way that I’m understanding it as of now. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
For both of you, I’m sure that you are looking at other scripts. Have you started thinking about what else you might be looking to do next year? What is it like to be in the position of having scripts sent to you for the thing you dreamed of as a kid?
TAYLOR-JOY: It never gets old. I always have that feeling when it’s just like, “Oh my goodness, I’ve wanted this my whole life.” I am working for the next year and a half, so I am next available in a year and a half’s time. So, I’ll see.

Related

Anya Taylor-Joy Fans, This Is Your ‘Lucky’ Day — The ‘Furiosa’ Star Returns to TV

It will be her first TV project since ‘The Queen’s Gambit.’

I can’t imagine what that’s like. It must be amazing but also daunting to know that you’ve got to be on for that long.
TELLER: Well, it’s hard to say no to the stuff that’s really great. If I got a great script today, I would show up tomorrow. Truly. If it doesn’t have the potential, at least for me, if I don’t feel like it has the potential to really be something, then it’s not worth the time that I spend away from my family and my friends and everything, my personal life. It’s got to be exciting.
What’s coming up for you?
TELLER: I also wrapped a film earlier this year, an A24 film called Eternity, that I’m really excited about.
I am excited for that, too. That has a very unique concept.
TELLER: Very unique concept. Then we’ll see. An Officer and a Gentleman is something that we’re filming next year.
The Gorge opens in theaters on February 14, 2025.

Your changes have been saved

The Gorge

Two highly-trained operatives become close after being sent to protect opposite sides of a mysterious gorge. When an evil emerges, they must work together to survive what lies within.

Director

Scott Derrickson

Runtime

127 Minutes

Writers

Zach Dean