Summary

“DarkGame” explores the dark web through a thrilling horror lens, showcasing a deadly reality game for captives.
Ed Westwick’s character in “DarkGame” delves into the dark web, detached from the gruesome scenes.
Westwick finds inspiration for his role in “DarkGame” from eerie real-life surroundings, enhancing his portrayal.

In this digital age, the “dark web” has become a phenomenon that has become so abuzz that feature films are now further exploring this vast network of encrypted online content. If you’re trying to brainstorm a horror movie idea centered around this, DarkGame has perhaps already beat you to it. It’s a new psychological thriller starring Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) as a Portland detective investigating a uniquely terrifying case, where a handful of people are being held captive and forced to play a deadly reality game on the dark web to entertain those who browse the network.

We recently caught up with Westwick for a wide-ranging interview to learn more about his “dark” new thriller, if he stays in touch with any fellow castmates from the beloved Gossip Girl series, and his past work with Paul Giamatti amid this highly competitive award season.

The DarkGame: ‘How Would You React?’
DarkGame Release Date February 20, 2024 Director Howard J. Ford Cast Ed Westwick , Andrew P Stephen , Natalya Tsvetkova , Lola Wayne , Rory Alexander Runtime 90 Minutes

Fans of the Saw franchise will probably take a liking to the gritty, sometimes hard-to-watch nature of DarkGame. With Westwick recently getting engaged, we had to ask if tackling a role like this may have taken a toll on his personal well-being. “They don’t really hold back with the killings, and they show a lot of stuff. It’s nuts,” he told MovieWeb. He continued:

“But here’s the thing: My character is quite separated from it the whole movie because he’s trying to get to it. So I wasn’t there when they were shooting a lot of the dark stuff that was on different days. And a lot of my scenes are me imagining it because I’m looking at the dark web. And of course, on the screen is nothing. There’s nothing there. So myself and the other actors, we are talking about what we’re watching, the directors coaching us through what we’re watching. And we’re all trying to kind of coordinate this reaction and invent this reaction — basically ‘acting.’ But usually you’ve got something to go off, so in this situation, it was like, ‘Use your imagination. How would you react with some of this?’ And of course, I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Gravitas Ventures

Interestingly, during the production of DarkGame, Westwick was able to draw on his real-life surroundings to help get into the headspace of his character. “We actually shot the movie in the UK, and I was going back to the hotel at night, and it wasn’t the most glamorous of hotels and kind of had its own kind of darkness to it, to be honest,” he said. “So I was definitely kind of in that kind of mindset.”

DarkGame also marks a pivotal moment in Westwick’s acting career. “I’d never played a cop, I’d never played a detective,” he told us. “These are guys and girls who see the worst of the worst of what it is to be a person, the worst of society. And so there’s a fascination there for sure. I’m a big fan of true crime. I know it’s really, really popular these days. I will watch these true-crime documentaries and get freaked out, and then feel really good that we’re kind of safe and nothing’s happened.”

Related The 20 Best Episodes of Gossip Girl, Ranked Out of more than 100 enthralling episodes, these are the 20 best that Gossip Girl has to offer.

Gossip Girl Reunion and Paul Giamatti
The CW

Another landmark role in Westwick’s career was, of course, Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl. “Obviously, it’s been such a big amount of time now, and everyone’s kind of getting on with their lives,” said Westwick. “But I’m gonna see [co-star] Chase Crawford in March at a fan convention, where we get to go and do these Q&A’s and do panels and talk about the show, and talk about other work and take pictures, sign autographs, all that fun stuff. He’s going to be one of the guests along with me, so I’m looking forward to seeing him.”

In addition to DarkGame, Westwick remains excited about another project that’s been abuzz in the festival circuit:

“I did this really cool movie called
Tonic
, which was set in the back streets of Dallas, which was like a kind of dark comedy/crime thing, that went to a bunch of film festivals and is supposed to be getting a distribution deal done soon. So that should be coming out. I’ve got a small role, but it’s a really kind of impactful one. I completely transform into this 50-year-old mess of a drug dealer, which is hilarious.”

Related 15 New Drama Series to Watch if You Miss Gossip Girl From Euphoria to Elite, here are new TV dramas that can ignite that Gossip Girl vibe.

With this year’s BAFTA Awards — which Westwick attended — now in the books, and the Oscars coming up, we were curious if Westwick has been rooting for any film in particular. “I’ve still got to see a bunch of the movies. I really enjoyed Killers of the Flower Moon, and then The Holdovers was great,” he said. “Giamatti, I actually worked with him when we did Romeo and Juliet, must have been 10 years ago now, had an incredible cast. And unfortunately, I don’t know what happened, not a lot of people saw the movie, but it was a pretty cool version of Romeo and Juliet. So I worked with him already, which was amazing.”

From Gravitas Ventures, DarkGame will be released on February 20.