Hulu's science-fiction film Mother/Android hits the small screen this December. The latest Hulu original film opens with young couple Georgia (Chloe Grace Moretz) and boyfriend Sam (Algee Smith) attending a Christmas party. The celebration is interrupted when Georgia discovers she's pregnant, leading to Sam proposing. However, the shocks keep coming when the robotic servants at the party lash out, slaughtering guests. Sam and Georgia manage to escape, only to realize it's not an isolated incident and robots are taking over the world.
Nine months later, Sam and a pregnant Georgia trek through the woods on their way to Boston, where they hope to hitch a boat ride to an androids-free Asia. But a chance encounter with survivalist Arthur (Raul Castillo) might spell something else for the pair. Moretz recently spoke with CBR about her starring role in Mother/Android and her views on technology.
CBR: What about this dystopian setting makes it a great vehicle for storytelling?
Chloë Grace Moretz: What I really loved about director/screenwriter Mattson Tomlin, and Pat Scola, our amazing cinematographer, is that they really wanted it to feel vibrant. In a lot of ways, they didn't want to fall into the cold barren side of a dystopian or apocalyptic setting. There was an interesting juxtaposition between life and death that was constantly surrounding the film and the future of humanity with [Georgia] being nine months pregnant. It was very interesting to deal with those certain ideals that were incredibly present every day and to also find the levity within the darkest moments. What is so true about everyday life, I find, is when you go through some of the hardest things you were going through, it's also the time you laugh the most. You find the little things to smile about. To have those roller coasters of emotions going through Sam and Georgia's relationship was something we wanted to have acted out like a play.
Georgia has this baby bump throughout the movie. Can you talk about pulling that off and filming those sequences on location?
I carried a 21-pound baby belly around that was attached to a corset. It really allowed the physicality to fall into place, in a way that I hoped it would. The fact that the corset allowed a restriction to the rib cage, so I couldn't get full, deep breaths of air in, I think added to the reality of what it would be like to be nine months pregnant and trekking across the mountains of Massachusetts.
How challenging was it shooting in a wheelchair, doing that big climactic sequence against the androids?
I wanted that to feel realistic. Not to give too much away, but there was a circumcision without pain medication. You would be in immense pain from that, not to mention the staples that they would have used. Not to share too much, again, but you are trying to get yourself to a safe place to help the future of humanity. We wanted that to feel palpable and to feel messy, and for it not to feel like a movie. We wanted it to feel sloppy. We wanted it to feel feral.
Obviously, this movie punctuates our fear of technology. What is your relationship with technology? How worried should society be about where we are heading?
With the most recent videos of the most advanced robot we currently have -- a female robot that has a millisecond-reaction rate and breathing -- was very interesting. There are not many ways that ends well for humanity. The closer we get to consciousness for machines is probably the nearer we get to the fate of the human race, in a lot of ways, not to get dark about it.
I have a relationship with technology in the way that I was born in the late '90s, so I remember a time without iPhones and stuff like that. Then, I remember a time when the iPhone became the most important thing. I find that people even two years younger than me have a very different perspective on technology. It's one of those things where I want to stay abreast of everything. I love gaming. I love that type of stuff, but there's a level where I think it goes too far. There's not really any stopping it at this point. So, to not educate myself on it feels like, ''Ahhh.'' I don't want to be in a position where I'm completely lost. It's a catch-22.