Lost in a world reclaimed by nature and overrun by mysterious creatures, Die Alone picks up with a young man suffering from amnesia who teams up with an eccentric survivalist to find his missing girlfriend.
Written and directed by Lowell Dean, the movie stars Carrie-Anne Moss, Douglas Smith, Kimberly-Sue Murray, and Frank Grillo.
Earlier this week, we had the good fortune to speak with Moss about her role as Mae. Badass, mysterious, and compelling, the character is one of the actor's best creations - no easy feat when she played The Matrix's Trinity - and Moss talks us through her approach to Die Alone and what she enjoyed about exploring this role.
We also hear from the Jessica Jones alum on the shock cancellation of Star Wars TV series The Acolyte earlier this year. As Master Indara, Moss was only ever going to appear in one season and explains why the news didn't exactly leave her reeling.
You can check out our full interview with Moss on her Die Alone role in the player below.
Mae is an awesome character; she shows up with the scar and the costume as this ultimate badass. How useful were those elements to you in helping find who she was?
She was written really well so, of course, all the elements of it help. The costume designer was so good. You’d have a fitting with her - her name is Brenda - and every single thing I have on, she has a story for. Where she got it and how it was repurposed in some way. You’re looking at a very extreme situation of many years with the world not functioning anymore. That was fun. Ultimately, all those pieces help but the real work starts in the writing and Lowell wrote her very developed. She’s all there because he wrote her that way.
She is a fascinating character as people will see as the story progresses and a very grounded one as well, despite the circumstances. With one of your most iconic roles, Trinity, she became so powerful - what excites you about playing someone like this very much in our world?
I just remember reading it and really just thinking I wanted to be in those shoes. I wanted to play in that world and there’s something very freeing about playing her as well. I don’t know, I’m just finding as I’m getting older, it’s getting funner. That’s how I feel about the last few jobs I’ve done. They’ve been so fun. I’ve always loved acting and love The Matrix. I loved that more than anything, but I wouldn’t necessarily say, ‘Oh, that was so fun.’ It was fun, but it was so many other things more than that. Than fun. Now, working is so fun and I don’t know if it’s the roles that I’m getting but I really am in awe and reverence that I’m somehow attracting fun things to do. That was a really fun role, even though the content is so heavy. There’s so much heaviness to it, but at the same time, it was really fun to do it.
This film has such incredible creature designs. Mae only briefly crosses paths with The Reclaimed, but seeing those makeup effects in person must have been a fun day on set too?
Yeah, and I got to know the artist that was doing it and he’s really good. I respect the artistry of any kind really, so although it may not be my thing - I’m not really that into it. Some people are really into that, I’m not really, but I definitely appreciated the artistry in what great work they did. It was fun to see that.
Mae is such a mysterious character, but when you sat down to read the script, what did you enjoy about uncovering about who she is and following her on this journey?
I loved that she was super capable, very grounded, quite eccentric. Also, very committed to what she’s doing. She’s just so committed and tired and weary because of this commitment she’s made. I felt like her humanity was interesting to me. How she was dealing with this situation. It’s such an extreme situation and she’s just trucking through it. She’s trucking through it without being unfeeling. That would be the temptation: to play that really unfeeling quality where you’re almost like a robot going through the motions, but I never felt that with her. I felt like she was still alive in it all. Still human in it all. Again, the circumstances are so extreme that you wonder how much of your own humanity you’d keep in that situation.
Another role of yours I loved was Master Indara in The Acolyte. I know it was a one-and-done for you but were you disappointed when the show was cancelled?
Yeah, I don’t really invest in thinking about whether thing…it’s like when I was in a Marvel show and I was really shocked when it got cancelled in the end. You kind of get used to that so you don’t really…you can’t even have a moment of disappointment. It’s just not worth it. It just happens. It’s part of it.
Die Alone arrives in theaters and on Digital and On Demand on October 18.