The Scorch Trials cast talk about filming in New Mexico
Apparently it wasn’t all fun and games filming the sequel to The Maze Runner as The Scorch Trials cast talk about the challenges in sand, elevation, and even some ancient burial grounds. The Latin Post got a chance to speak with actors Dylan O’Brien (Thomas), Kaya Scodelario (Teresa), Rosa Salazar (Brenda), and Giancarlo Esposito (Jorge).
Latin Post: How did you guys prepare for your roles and what kind of physical training did you guys have to do?
Dylan O’Brien: We ran a little bit and a lot of it was getting acclimated to the Albuquerque. We just kind of jogged as a group every morning before shooting. But nothing to[sic] crazy because we needed to survive the shooting days.
Rosa Salazar: I got a terminator woman named Alice destroying my life for a month before I showed up in Albuquerque. So I looked light but I had no more sense of humor. Never trying that one again.
Latin Post: Kaya and Dylan, you guys were in the first film. How was the experience of getting back into your characters?
Dylan O’Brien: It was great. It was another great experience and bigger. There were a lot of cool new characters and a lot of cool new locations. The world really opens up and the scope of it.
Kaya Scodelario: We were lucky in that we filmed fast after the first one. So we still kind of knew the characters and we knew who we were. We had just finished doing press for it. For me as an actor it kind of always takes a few weeks on a new set to adjust to how a director works, how the costars work and how we are going to work against each other and what are each other’s process. And there is something really safe and relaxing knowing who you’re going to work with. So you can get straight into it and you don’t have that awkward period at the beginning.
Latin Post: How did it feel for you, Giancarlo and Rosa, to be the newcomers in a franchise with cast mates who already knew each other?
Rosa Salazar: It was really seamless. We showed up and we were all friends immediately. I would walk up to the others already having conversation and I was already in that conversation. They were all very inclusive and welcoming and I got to say it’s almost never this tight. I thinks that why it translate so well to screen and I think thats why everyone is raving so much about the chemistry. It’s because it’s one big 11-headed organism.
Giancarlo Esposito: We had a director who talked about us all to each other. I remember he would talk about the actor who he was going to hire. Also before production I did my homework and we were able to get familiar with Dylan, Kaya, Dexter and Thomas before we were actually with them. So that was good as well. One thing about life and the movies is that people kind of know a part of you even if they don’t really know who you are when you get on set. They’ve at least seen you acting as a particular you. You listen to people’s voices, you observe them, their actions and you try to really blend with them and see what their rhythm is and how they work. This has been a terrific experience in that regard.
Latin Post: What enticed you guys about these characters?
Giancarlo Esposito: For me I think that the novels are full of intrigue, mystery and action and imagination. One thing I love about this particular film and liked the first one as well was that it reminded me of literature, of a book I read many years ago, “Lord of the Flies.” I mean, you’re trapped in one place and you try to escape. This one had a bigger part to it. People turn on each other and there are questions as well: “How do you help each other?”; “Who is going to lead?”; and “how do you distinguish brawl is what?” It really is about trust and hope and change. There are great messages within James’ [Dashner] books that attracted me to do this.
Rosa Salazar: I really like Dylan. I think he was really animated. I had done a YA franchise beforehand and I was like, “I probably won’t do that again.” Then this came up and I read the script and I was like, “It’s really good and the characters jump off the page.” You know them when you’re reading the script and I really like that. Then I got to meet Dylan before I tested for the film and there was some sort of kinship with Dylan. And then meeting the rest of the group and then meeting director Wes [Ball]. Wes is so passionate about the film that when he talks about it he is so animated and his feet never touch the ground. So he really got us sort of pumped for the film.
Read the rest of the article, including what they had to say about the ancient burial grounds, on Latin Post