WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Blood Red Sky, which is now available on Netflix.
Nadja will do anything to protect her son. So, when the plane taking her to a life-saving cure in America is hijacked by a group of terrorists, she unleashes the terrifying monster within herself in order to save him. Blood Red Sky tells the story of Nadja's unraveling as she allows her vampiric urges take over, in an all-or-nothing bid that will end her life as she knows it.
Speaking to CBR, Blood Red Sky stars Peri Baumeister (Nadja) and Dominic Purcell (Berg) broke down their opposing roles in the vampire film. They offered some insight into their characters' motivations and backgrounds, including the unscripted backstory Purcell gave Berg. They discussed how the practicality of the stunts helped enhance their performances and the way they approached Berg's gnarly death scene. They also reflected on what Blood Red Sky brings to the vampire genre, what they hope viewers take away and more.
CBR: How did you get involved in Blood Red Sky? What drew you to this project?
Peri Baumeister: For me, it was the normal procedure of getting invited to the casting process. Yeah, I went there. It was very physical. I like that about it, because normally the casting procedures are more about the text and the scene, and it was already there finding the physical body. This was the beginning! And then I read it again and again, and I really fell in love with this deep and complex female character in an action movie that follows her own decision, that fights for her son to the end, and this is what I liked about it.
Dominic Purcell: I had seen Peter [Thorwarth]'s short film of the film and I was intrigued. I was intrigued by his talent, first of all, and then once I read the script, I wanted to be a part of it. One, because of Peter. Two, I thought it was superbly written. And three, we had a vampire. That gave us a real different take on the hostage situation. [laughs]
Introduce me to your characters. How would you describe them in your own words?
Baumeister: She has a huge, huge, huge inner conflict, that she is -- on the one side -- loving and caring and a supporting mother. On the other side there's this big, dark secret that she is trying to suppress, because she doesn't want to be a vampire. She doesn't want to be bad. She doesn't want to be evil, but blood first and all these things you imagine when you hear the word vampire. I think this creates such an inner fight, and I think this is the most important thing to say about her, that she has to deal with that.
Purcell: My character was part of SEAL Team 9 that took down Osama bin Laden. At some point, he suffered PTSD and became a rogue agent for hire. That's who he is. Not in the script; it's the history that I gave him in order to give him that kind of buy within the film.
Many of the effects looked practical. How did that impact your approach to your role?
Purcell: You know, the effects were practical, because the situation was practical. The situation -- the set itself -- was very, very real. It was modeled to scale. So we actually had a huge plane in the studio and, with that, comes the reality of the set. So as actors, we didn't have to perform and pretend we were in the confines of this or that; it was just a given. The space was provided for us, and all we had to do was play.
Baumeister: What I really thought now, because Dominic was giving such a good answer about the prehistory and I thought there was a part of her that we never saw that she was very isolated and alone [as a] single mother before and this isolation, especially in a pandemic, and especially being alone for long time in small rooms without a lot of contact, you're fighting your fights pretty much alone, was something I wanted to add on it, too.
Peri, you wore more and more prosthetics as the movie goes on. How did you work to maintain your character's humanity through that?
Baumeister: Yeah, that's a good question. I think it works through your body, actually. You have to make the mask alive through acting through your body, about breath. You can see still the breath, for example. It was a big problem, because even when I started crying and I had these lenses around my eyes -- they were around the whole eye! -- so they took my tears away. [laughs] So I was putting myself into immense physical -- I put myself on my physical edge in front of nearly every scene. I was sometimes running or doing sit ups or coming sweaty into a living, breathing acting body so that there was something going on. The rest was, of course, an inner -- I can't describe what happens emotionally in that part. Yeah, this comes on top.
About midway through the movie, it subverts expectations by killing off Dominic's character. Tell me a little about working together to film that scene.
Purcell: Well, the stunt guys gave us a basic choreography of what we had to do, but because we were in such close confines, Peri and I basically worked out a way to make it realistic. From memory, it was all about timing. Once we worked out the timing of when she was going to hit my neck and this and that, and then we just [claps hands], you know, got into that death scene. But it was basically Peri and I working out the rhythms of each other.
Baumeister: What I really liked and what helped me, of course, because I was not that experienced with stunts and everything like that, that Dominic was very helpful. I could learn from the way he was asking questions to the stunt guys and with the director... So this was very helpful for me to work such scenes with an experienced partner.
What was one of your favorite experiences or memories from set?
Purcell: The ad lib I had with Alexander [Scheer]: "What the fuck are you looking at?" No, "What the fuck you're staring at?" -- something like that. I love that.
Baumeister: I have to say that, afterwards, I had the first time feeling -- or maybe it wasn't the first, but it was a long time ago -- that I really could trust what I can do, what I'm capable of, and that women can play everything. There's the character for it. Of course, it was very helpful that Peter created a character for a female action movie that doesn't have to be typically femme fatale sexy or anything like that. This was something that I liked about it, but in the end, I had the feeling, after 50 days of shooting, being a total Bruce. I was always standing up and everything was always working. So I took that with me, to trust in that.
Blood Red Sky has joined a long tradition of vampires on film, from Nosferatu to What We Do in the Shadows. What do you think it is about vampires that makes them so popular in culture, and what do you think this film adds to the genre?
Purcell: My experience with vampires is -- I've only done it twice. I played Dracula in Blade Trinity. Obviously, there's the mythical aspect of vampires, Count Dracula. It seems to touch a morbid, terrifying place in a lot of people's hearts. I don't understand it. I'm not really drawn or freaked out by vampires. [laughs] And again, I think the concept of this film is brilliant. I really do. It's not your standard fare. The hostage situation itself is amazing. I mean, just the way it's filmed and shot and the tension and the performances from the actors to everything! But then you throw in the fact that we have a vampire! I think this is a changeup for the vampire genre, for sure.
Baumeister: This was so good! [laughs] I was really listening! What I just feel is that I've, I mean, as the character who tries to suppress being this kind of monster, it is a mom who's trying to protect her son till the end, whatever happens. There's so many women outside there, who's doing nearly the same without being vampires, but having horrible circumstances and fighting monsters as well, even if this from the inner side or the outside world. So I think this is a timeless thing in it, and the heart of it.
The film is, of course, more than just a vampire film. It also explore other themes, like the love a mother has for her child. What do you hope audiences take away from this?
Purcell: I think apart from the vampire aspect, we're touching on universal themes. We can all relate to love. We can all relate to wanting to sacrifice your life for a loved one and vice versa. I think, essentially, that's one of the heartbeats to this film, is Peri's -- her character's love for her child and her willingness to put herself out there and to save her child.
Baumeister: I consent! It's perfect. [laughs] It's touching and I just think the same. I can't add anything to it.
Blood Red Sky is now available on Netflix.