Sam Raimi Reflects on Creative Differences with Send Help Star, Acknowledges His Misjudgment: “He Embraced the Edge”
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Dylan O’Brien takes on the role of a truly terrible boss in the horror-comedy Send Help, but director Sam Raimi might have softened his character if it were up to him.
Fortunately for O’Brien (and the audience), the Evil Dead director was not a difficult collaborator. He considered O’Brien’s suggestion to make Bradley, the golf-loving boss of Rachel McAdams’s dowdy assistant, even more despicable, though it took some convincing.
“Dylan and I had our differences about how dark his character could be in the office,” Raimi explains. “I told him, ‘Remember, we’re doing something unusual where we want the audience to stop identifying with her and start identifying with you at this point? We’re going to reveal things and have actions that will shift that perspective. But if you push it too hard, we might struggle to come back.’
“He replied, ‘But that’s what makes it worth it.’ So I said, ‘Alright, let’s go for it as hard as you’re suggesting, and we’ll see what happens.’ He was right; it was only by going that far that we could come back and find ourselves almost rooting for Dylan’s character. It was a delicate balance to play with the audience’s emotions, and Dylan was fearless in pushing those boundaries. He was all in and loved the role.”
Written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Freddy vs Jason), Send Help follows O’Brien’s Bradley as he takes over his father’s company after his sudden passing. This is great news for Bradley’s laid-back office buddy Donovan (Xavier Samuel), but not so much for McAdams’ hard-working Linda, who was promised a significant promotion by the late owner.
When Donovan lands the job, Linda is furious, forcing Bradley to bring her along on a business trip. However, when their company plane crashes in the Gulf of Thailand, the feuding duo finds themselves stranded on a remote island, and Bradley must rely on the survival-obsessed, slightly unhinged Linda.
“I love that. I love that. I don’t know if we’re ever heroes…” O’Brien chuckles when we praise the film’s ability to depict Bradley as both a hero and a villain. “But it was a fun challenge, and it felt liberating. I don’t think a flawed character has to be unlikable. I enjoy watching flawed characters, so I don’t quite get that conversation that happens behind the scenes. Sometimes people seem a bit hesitant about it. But honestly, all my favorite characters in my favorite films are flawed.”
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Send Help is currently in US theaters and will hit UK cinemas on February 5. For more, check out our guide to the upcoming horror movies on the horizon.
