Right down to its very bones, Apex is a tale of survival at all costs. The latest film from Baltasar Kormákur – director of Everest, Adrift, and Beast among others – sees him once again throw his cast to the elements. Except, Charlize Theron’s hardened climber Sasha isn’t just battling against vertiginous rock faces and raging river rapids. No, amid the treacherous terrain of an Australian national park, she’ll also find herself running – and climbing, and swimming – for her life from Taron Egerton’s sadistic hunter, Ben. Turn up the terror.
To bring a sense of visceral danger, Kormákur wanted his cast to really feel the elements around them during production. “The environment, the geography where you make the film, it starts to inform the story and vice versa,” says Kormákur. “Space and weather and landscape are a character in films. It’s very important to me to use it.” Safe to say, making a Baltasar Kormákur movie isn’t a walk in the (national) park. “I try to drag the cast through hell — because they have to experience it!”
Thankfully, Theron and Egerton were ready to push themselves; and their director was right there alongside them. “[Kormákur] was always the first one to fucking do the craziest thing that he was asking us to do,” Theron tells Empire. “He knew what I was capable of. You want someone that can push you to a level that you can’t take yourself.” For Egerton, that meant some adrenaline-jolting dangles. “I don’t usually struggle with heights, but I found hanging from a wire to be quite challenging,” he says. “There’s a free fall, and Balt asked if I would be open to doing it. I decided to give it a shot, and I don’t mind saying — I was petrified.” It turned Egerton into a real-life rocketman. “I called, ‘Action,’ and we rolled. And I fell. And I screeeamed,” he recalls. “The moment we called, ‘Cut,’ I got a lovely round of applause from the crew. I suppose that felt like a kind of real moment of achievement.” Any chance of an encore?
Read Empire’s full Apex feature – speaking to Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton and Baltasar Kormákur about their no-holds-barred thriller – in The Mandalorian And Grogu issue, on sale Thursday March 12. Pre-order a copy online here. Apex is on Netflix from April 24.
