What would it take to achieve immortality of the body and mind? A new experimental feature by innovative filmmaker Eddie Alcazar explores this idea to thrilling and mind-bending effect. Divinity features a stellar cast, including veteran actor Stephen Dorff (Blade, World Trade Center), who plays the mad scientist and inventor of the titular serum that is plaguing a dystopian society seemingly obsessed with the notion of staying young and living forever. Long live independent cinema.

We recently caught up with Dorff to learn more about his career and unique approach to playing the lead character in Divinity, which was co-produced by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh.

A ‘Different Kind of Movie Experience’

Writer-director Alcazar made waves at Cannes several years back with his short film The Vandal, which incorporates an innovative technique he calls “meta-scope.” Dorff opened up to us about how that project helped pave the way to his involvement in Divinity. “It’s definitely an out-there movie,” he said about Divinity. “I saw his short, and I was kind of impressed with the film aspect, the effects, and the puppetry, and kind of what he was doing. I was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s pretty interesting.'”

“And the more we talked, he kind of told me he was going to make a movie that Soderbergh was going to back and fund,” continued Dorff. “And basically, I said, ‘What’s the movie?’ And he didn’t really know at that point. He kind of started sending me documents and things on science and eternal life and chemicals and human growth hormone and weird videos of very eclectic scientists, and those kinds of interview channels that go on and on forever. I don’t really remember all the names of some of these people I watched… But he wanted me to be very different. And he mentioned Elon Musk, different people that are just somewhat off.”

Related: Divinity Review: Soderbergh Presents a Monochrome Mindmelt

In playing the role of a famed scientist who is taken hostage and force-fed his own innovative product, Dorff shot most of his scenes somewhat isolated from the rest of the cast, an unnerving experience that he shared more about. “There were a lot of different surprises,” he said. “I didn’t know Bella Thorne and all these people were in the movie because I never shot with them.” He elaborated:

Every movie is different. And every kind of captain I go to work with is different. So as an actor, you believe in the guy, and then you go on the journey, and [Alcazar’s] journey was just a little different. But I’m sure that’s why the film is very unique and different. I don’t think it’s a film where people have seen anything like it for a while.

A Frustrating Part for Stephen Dorff
Utopia

As you’ll see in Divinity, Dorff’s Jaxxon persona is often tied up or going through a terrifying character transformation caused by the “Divinity” serum entering his body at lethal rates. Dorff detailed past classic films that come to mind, which perhaps served as inspiration for Divinity, and the challenges of playing such a physically and mentally distressed character:

“It was kind of like A Clockwork Orange meets Elephant Man. And for me, in the performance, I just felt like, ‘Okay, this is a torture movie, really.’ I mean, it’s a movie where two brothers come down from space, and they don’t like why they’ve been sent here, karmically, to save the planet. And I’ve taken over this f*cking world, basically, with this chemical. And I’ve kind of gone into a much darker place than my dad [played by Scott Bakula] would have envisioned.”

“And I think all that Scott Bakula stuff and all the backstory and the kids playing me, and that whole end sequence where you really see and hear me speak as normal Jaxxon again, on videotape, that was all added after,” explained Dorff. “And so I think it was Eddie figuring out what he needed to a make a full-length feature, and also what were the holes. So he kind of abstractly just put it all kind of together.”

“And I come from much more of a different place, but I actually feel very free to go into those kinds of arenas if I’m asked to,” continued Dorff, adding:

But you know, it was a frustrating part, I wasn’t ever going to be in a good mood. I think playing this character, I basically don’t have my body. I have movement, and I have my head, and I’m trying to give a performance that can hit all the notes that it needs to. But he’s trapped through the whole movie, whether he’s in a box or he’s in the Japanese sex rope.

“It’s an uncomfortable part to play,” said Dorff. “So, whereas everybody else can go outside and have a cigarette or go to the bathroom, it’s a 30-minute delay for me to have to do that every time.”

Sofia Coppola and Somewhere
Focus Features

As Jaxxon transforms into a hulking mass over the course of Divinity, Dorff’s character is ultimately portrayed by a body double in heavy prosthetics. As Dorff explained to MovieWeb, this required him to provide the voice track to accompany the physical performance for certain scenes.

Related: Somewhere: A Sofia Coppola Masterpiece That Takes Her Out of Her Comfort Zone

Seeing his character become a makeup-heavy mass on screen, one can’t help but think back to a previous film of his: Somewhere (2010), which also stars Elle Fanning. There’s a memorable scene in Sofia Coppola’s acclaimed film where Dorff (playing a fictitious actor) sits in a makeup room while covered in plaster, as the folks around him try to transform him into an older version of himself. Dorff dished on that memorable experience and the many perks of working with the Oscar-winning Coppola:

“My thought about that film was how bold Sofia’s choices were, as far as letting a camera just sit. And the idea of that movie was kind of the isolation and the loneliness of an actor who has everything, and realizes he has this incredible daughter. He’s kind of missing a lot of nice moments in her life. And I think it’s such a beautiful movie, such an intimate filmmaking experience. And, you know, Harris Savides, he’s no longer with us, but man, what a DP he was, just beautiful to work with on that.”

“You couldn’t have picked two very different experiences,” continued Dorff about Divinity and Somewhere. “But that’s what I love about my job. I think as long as it can be interesting, and it can reach people, then it’s exciting. I definitely don’t see myself being on a TV show for eight years doing the same thing every day, because I’d f*cking hang myself. But that’s what’s great about True Detective, you go in once and you bang it out, and you’re out.”

And speaking of Coppola, her latest A24 film, Priscilla, is making waves amid this awards season, as it tells the story of Elvis Presley’s wife. “I can’t wait to see the new one,” said Dorff. “I hear Cailee Spaeny, who plays Priscilla, is pretty great and I want to see that, and I’m excited for Sofia. It looks really good.”

Stephen Dorff and Shirley MacLaine
HBO

Looking ahead, Dorff detailed some of his upcoming projects and expressed how he remains ever busy in Hollywood despite the ongoing actors’ strike. “I did a big comedy action movie with Rebel Wilson, which was a lot of fun,” he said, describing Bride Hard. “She’s awesome. I had a great time with her, and Simon West directed that. It’s kind of like Die Hard meets Bridesmaids. I think it’ll be pretty cool. She’s basically kind of like Bruce Willis, and I’m Hans Gruber. So it should be pretty cool.”

During our interview, it was hard to miss the big mop of hair Dorff has these days. As you could probably guess, it’s for the sake of yet another film he’s set to star in. “I’m growing my hair because I’m set to do this movie for a while, with Brad Furman directing, that I’m going to do with the great Shirley MacLaine, which I’ve been really excited about,” he said. He explained the film:

“It’s a two-hander. I play a homeless guy and have to create this interesting relationship with this woman who Shirley plays in Atlantic City, and it’s just a beautiful script that Brad’s mother wrote. And I’ve been wanting to make it for a couple of years now. So I’m hoping we’re gonna do that in the next few months. I think it looks like January they’re talking about, and then I can cut my hair, because it’s getting really out of control.”

In the meantime, from Utopia, Divinity is now in theaters.