The Gorge, the upcoming genre-bending movie from starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller is coming to Apple TV+ February 14. Along with that announcement, a brand-new trailer dropped during the streamer's panel at CCXP today in São Paulo, Brazil. The trailer gives us our first true look at Taylor-Joy's Drasa and Teller's Levi, two lethal assassins posted on opposite ends of a mysterious cavern filled with danger, intrigue, and monsters both real and imagined.
The two stars sat down exclusively with IGN at CCXP to talk about the building chemistry when the other person is off screen, how they hope fans will will react to the trailer, and (of course) what games they've been playing.
IGN: The trailer for the Gorge was revealed during the AppleTV+ panel at CCXP this afternoon. What do you hope excites fans most about this movie?
Anya Taylor-Joy: I hope that they enjoy the genre-bending (and) the fact that just as you get comfortable (with) something, we just thrust you out of that and put you into an entirely different sphere. It's really good alternative viewing for Valentine's Day.
Miles Teller: Hellacious (and) high octane.
Taylor-Joy: Hellacious, high octane shit.
Teller: What I appreciated when I read this script, and also hopefully when people watch the trailer, is there is a mystery. There's a true mysterious element to this thing. I think it's shot incredibly well. I think they're really complex characters and I hope people have fun, but you give them a little more emotion than they were anticipating.
IGN: For the first 30 to 45 minutes, you all are on opposite sides of the gorge. It's a two-hander, but they're almost extended monologues without a lot of dialogue. What was that process like? Was it difficult? Did you play off each other? Was it just you there in the studio filming? How did that work?
Taylor-Joy: We really tried to be there for each other because we get along really well. We love each other very much, and we thought that if we can be there for each other, that would be fantastic. The reality of the distance between them meant that if I was a real eyeline for Miles, I'd be (very small) and he could not see (my) face. But there was just this immediate rapport and we knew that that relationship existed. And so it was really fun. Sometimes I'd come to work and I'd watch something that (Miles) had done the day before, so I knew what I was reacting to. But it's also a feeling. It's a feeling that you can't really fake. So I think we're really lucky to be good friends.
Teller: I would watch some footage of what she was doing to her trailer. I'm like, she's having so much fun. My trailer is a lot of fucking night terrors.
Taylor-Joy: I had the fun tower. Miles would (look at) my tower and he'd be so pissed. He was like, you have music.
Teller: (Their relationship) is charming. It's endearing. They fall in love through their sniper scopes and that's something that I was so excited about.
IGN: There's romance and then there's hardcore horror action in the movie. Everything is shifting from one part of the story to the other. Is that hard? Is it fun? How is that in terms of an acting challenge?
Taylor-Joy: I think we were so lucky because the relationship really is everything
Teller: It was our kind of north star.
Taylor-Joy: You're following the relationship through it. So that actually gives you such an interesting way of looking horror or action because most of the time in horror you're frightened for yourself, and in this you're frightened for your other person, your significant other. And I think action-wise as well, the way that you protect each other, the way that they communicate without words, they literally have each other's backs. And because we were following these two people through all of it, it's just a fun adventure for us because we know how the story ends for them.
Teller: The skillset that they share, (how) they've spent thousands of hours practicing gun fighting, now they get to do it together. And those scenes were always really fun.
Taylor-Joy: We were playing to each other's strengths, and it's really fun whenever in character you get to put your gun down and be like, go baby!
IGN: I want to speak to the horror aspect of the movie. Is it fun to be kind of part of that pantheon of really cool horror movies?
Taylor-Joy: While I spend a lot of time making horror movies, I have a really active imagination. And so I have to be careful about the content that I consume because then I am alone with myself and I have to live with it. And I remember one of our ADs locked me in my trailer with the Walking Dead and was like, "You have to see this. This is so good." And then he would hang out outside and hit the trailer and rock it and it was so scary.
Teller: Shit. my older siblings did. Bloody.
Taylor-Joy: Man. This guy would be like, you can't come out until you finish this episode. And then he would pretend to walk away and wait until he knew it was going to happen.
Teller: For this movie, what I thought was interesting (was) it wasn't really CGI. I was so impressed with the makeup department and how they were able to fuse the environment into these (characters).
Taylor-Joy: And that just as a lover of film and as a little kid at heart, you get to come onto a stage and it's a built forest. It's unbelievable. Awesome.
IGN: Miles, a few years ago you said you had been a hardcore Xbox fanboy and had started playing PlayStation games. Is that still the case and is there anything you want to mention that you're playing right now?
Teller: I'm still on the PlayStation. Whenever I'm filming, it's kind of tough during the week because (of) prepping, but it is my (time) where I just check out and I just play some video games for a while and to me that is everything. I tend to FaceTime with my buddy and we play play MLB: The Show. We just FaceTime with each other and so it's like we're playing with each other.
Taylor-Joy: So Sweet. That's awesome.
IGN: Anya, when you were doing press for your role of Princess Peach-
Teller: Yes. My favorite.
IGN: You said you got into some Mario Kart and some arcade games as well. Are you still on the Mario Kart wagon?
Taylor-Joy: I wrapped a movie the day before yesterday and that movie had not a lot of electricity. So I've been in the woods for three months, but I'm looking forward to Christmas time. I'm going to be with all my husband's family and they're are big gamers. I love Mario,
This interview has been edited for clarity.
