The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff speaks with
Get Away
writer and star Nick Frost and director Steffen Haars at Fantastic Fest 2024.

Get Away
follows a family on a vacation that takes a grisly turn on a Swedish island.
Frost and Haars discuss reuniting for another collaboration after
Krazy House
, the inspiration behind
Get Away
, how crucial casting was to the tone, and tons more.

Name a more iconic duo than horror and comedy. This year’s Fantastic Fest celebrated this genre dynamic with more than a few films, including the World Premiere of Get Away, Nick Frost’s second team-up with filmmaker Steffen Haars. Like their first feature together, Krazy House, this one plays around with the classic network TV family sitcom and contrasts it with a heavy dose of terror.

Written by Frost, Get Away introduces viewers to Richard (Frost) and Susan Smith (Aisling Bea) and their two teenage children, Sam (Sebastian Croft) and Jessie (Maisie Ayres), who ferry out to the fictional Swedish island of Svälta for a fun getaway. It isn’t long, however, before their Griswold family vacation takes a grisly turn as their presence is greeted with hostility — but the Smiths aren’t letting the locals’ macabre traditions get in the way of their family fun!

While at Fantastic Fest, Frost and Haars stopped by to chat with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff about reuniting after working together on Krazy House, another genre mashup that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Frost shares his own personal vacation story that first sparked the idea behind Get Away, and the two discuss why they make such a solid filmmaking team. They talk about the importance of trust on a set, casting, and Frost teases future projects, including the live-action How to Train Your Dragon.

‘Get Away’ Was Inspired by Nick Frost’s Own Odd Vacation

PERRI NEMIROFF: B ecause Get Away is getting a festival debut, a lot of our audience will first learn about it here. Nick, as the writer, I’ll give you these duties. Would you mind giving a brief synopsis of the film?

FROST: Essentially, it’s a really lovely family of four British people who go on an island called Svälta, which is in Sweden, to see a Midsommar-style pagan play. We discover quite quickly that they’re not welcome at all on the island. Let’s have a look at a clip.

[Laughs] I wish we could do that! This video would get flagged, and you wouldn’t be able to watch it anymore.

FROST: I said that in every interview I’ve done for 22 years, so I just wanted to get it out of the way.

Have you really?

FROST: Yeah. And sometimes they use it, and then they just put a clip there.

I will direct everyone to Collider.com when a clip becomes available, and we will share it and promote it there ASAP!

I want to go back to the writing process here. Nick, what was idea number one, the thing that started it all, but then also, did you have a break story moment on this, something you came up with a lot along the way that made it feel whole to you?

FROST: So I’ve spent a lot of time on a really small island in Sweden — and let me just underscore what I’m gonna say by saying, I’ve always had a lovely time, and everyone’s always made me feel very welcome — but even after 20 years of going to this island, there is still very much an “us and them” mentality, which is fine. I think that’s how communities of small people keep the outsiders at bay, and I think that’s pretty fine. But I enjoyed the fact that I never kind of made it in, you know? They never trusted me enough. And I thought that would be an interesting place for a family to go on holiday, but to be quite stubborn about it and not want to leave, and, “Why can’t we be here?” That kind of vibe.

The other half of the story was, my wife and I went to Greece on holiday, and we had an Airbnb, and it was owned by very old people, but they kept coming in. Like we’d left one morning to go to the beach, we forgot something, so we came back 20 minutes later, and we walked in and the old man just stood up like he’d been laying on the floor, which was really weird. He couldn’t speak English, we couldn’t speak Greek, but they’d come in all the time. My wife was really pregnant, and the woman would touch my wife’s stomach, and they’d talk to each other, and then she’d go off and bring like a pie, and then they’d make us sit and eat the pie in front of them, and they wouldn’t have any. So, I know it’s a very obvious trope now, but it’s like, you have no idea whose house you’re in. So, it was a kind of mixture of those two things.

‘Krazy House’ Helped Develop a Shorthand Between the Two Creatives
Image via Sundance 

I want to go to your collaboration next. What is something you saw in the other while making Krazy House that signaled to you, “I must continue to work with this person?”

HAARS: That’s easy, in a way. I was already a really big fan of Nick and his work. Krazy House was the other film, and that was a script that I wrote together with Flip [Van der Kuil], and Nick just understood. It’s a pretty weird movie, and there are lots of reasons why you wouldn’t do that movie, but I feel there’s a sort of connection, comedy-wise, and that’s just great. I don’t have to say anything to this guy. It’s just really great working together.

When you say there are a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t do a movie, that’s the best reason why you should do a movie.

FROST: Agreed. When I read Krazy House, it didn’t frighten me at all. I just thought, “Yeah, fuck, I’m in. Why not?” As a comedy actor, you wanna do funny things that stretch you, potentially, also as a person, so I was like, “Yeah, I’m in.” I think the only thing I asked not to do was to push a statue of Christ into a man’s anus. I mean, I’m all right with it, I just said, “Can we just do it beneath the frame? Is that all right?” But I mean, I love the fact, also, that it wasn’t just a yes in the room. Steffen and Flip had to go away and talk about it. Then I got an email, like, three days later to say, “Okay, we can just do it beneath the frame.” And I was like to my wife, “Yes!” But I think in hindsight, when you watch the film back, I should have complained about a lot more stuff.

But, as Steffen said, once we did Krazy House together, even though we don’t speak the same first language, we like what we like. I know what he needs and wants, and it just worked like that. So when we came to doing Get Away, we had a shorthand already, and it made it a lot easier in terms of, “I’ve got you. What do we need?” I like that in a relationship making a film. It’s nice. It makes it easier.

Related Nick Frost is Protecting His Family in New Trailer of ‘Krazy House’ The movie comes from the directorial duo Steffan Haars and Flip Van Der Kuil.

Absolutely. So you both obviously go into making this film knowing how talented the other is …

FROST: I didn’t say that.

[Laughs] What is an example of a time on the set of Get Away when you looked at the other and thought, “I knew you were good, but I never realized you were capable of that?”

FROST: I don’t think that happened for me. I think Steffen is capable of anything. I watched all of his films in the build-up to working together, and, yes, people will say whatever about Ron [Goossens, Low Budget Stuntman] and New Kids [Nitro], but they’re wonderfully directed films.

HAARS: It was just so great to work with an actor who wrote the script. Nick just knows everything so well, of course, especially in this movie. So, I get all these little presents and surprises because things already worked in your head. For me, this was just amazing sitting behind the monitor, and we’re like, “Oh, wow. Yes!”

FROST: I think there comes a time, though, as well, when I’m 23 years in now to working in this job where you get to realize that you have to trust the director you’re working with. You can’t be constantly at the monitor saying, “We should be here on this.” It’s like, “Then direct it yourself.” That doesn’t make sense to me. I think that was a good thing about doing Krazy House first is when it came to this, it enabled me to sit back and just be an actor or to produce bits and pieces. I don’t have to worry about anything else. You have to give that trust away. Otherwise, what’s the point of having someone like Steffen if you’re gonna constantly nitpick and undermine? That’s fun for no one.

Having trust in your collaborators on a film set winds up bolstering everybody’s work.

FROST: But it isn’t always the case, for real.

Perfecting ‘Get Away’s Tricky Tone Came Down to Casting

This movie has an incredibly specific tone, and I know you two can nail that, but I am curious about finding the right lead ensemble to cast around you. What is something you saw in all of them that signaled to you, “You will get this style and tone, and be able to execute it with us?”

FROST: I can see his internal Google Translate working. I can see him buffering slightly.

HAARS: [Laughs] I think for the family, it is a sort of tone in comedy. Aisling [Bea] is super funny, so that gave just this big trust, like, “Alright, if we’re gonna put them together, then that’s gonna work very nicely.” I was blown away by the casting of Maisie [Ayers], the daughter. She had this very interesting, it was a little bit dark and it was funny, and she brought all these extra things to it. Sebastian [Croft] was someone who Nick already worked with and had a very good connection with, and that just worked. That was just great. It was really nice to have that family together. But it was a little bit scary in a way because with a movie like this, it’s an indie, it’s not the biggest budget, so you have the family all together the first time just a couple of days before shooting and then for real. Of course, there was a dinner, and, of course, we had some small rehearsals and stuff, but getting them all together the first day of shooting in one car on a very hot day in Finland was the best thing that could happen.

FROST: It’s a nice way to start, I think.

HAARS: Yeah, it was hard to direct because I had the headphones on and it was just one big comedy show. It was so fucking funny. I was like, “Alright, they are a family.”

FROST: I think that’s the thing. You have to believe that they’re a family, and you have to believe that spiritually and emotionally, they’re all fairly weak. They’re having troubles. We talk about in the film that Richard and Susan go to couples counseling. Me and the son obviously hate one another, and Maisie, they don’t want to be there. That was the key to the four of us in a car. It was like, if you can all remember what that remit is, then it makes it that bit easier. Everyone’s watching these people feeling really kind of sorry for them because they’ve paid almost €1500 to be there, and they’d rather just be at home.

This is coming to mind because you brought up the monitor and watching everyone play. Nick, does Steffen have a monitor dance? When you nail a scene, what does he do that signals to you, he’s loving it?

FROST: I’ve never seen you do a little monitor dance. You do a thing where you kind of skip up on the tops of your feet, which from one ADHD/autistic man to another… because this movement is very ADHD! He kind of does that kind of thing. Just nuts and bolts. This is gonna sound really boring, on lowish-budget independent films, you don’t necessarily have the time to do a dance. It’s like, “We got it. Let’s go shoot. Let’s do something.”

Here’s a question I’ve been recycling since our first Fantastic Fest interview that leans into taking pride in your work and the fun you have doing it. The first movie that came in was The Rule of Jenny Pen . It’s the movie with John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush, and their director, [James Ashcroft], was highlighting how much joy these two acting legends have on set while they’re working. Can you each name the moment on the set of Get Away that brought you the most joy as an artist?

HAARS: I’ve got one moment. It’s super small. This is a spoiler. I have to say that there was a situation with a prosthetic, like a body part in combination with Nick, and it was just the visual of that… I couldn’t do anything anymore. Every time I looked him in the eyes, I was just laughing, crying. It was just so funny. So, that was a moment for me when I almost broke down in a good way.

FROST: Look, day to day, for me, I’m incredibly grateful to be working. I’m never happier than when I’m on a film set, much to my wife’s chagrin. But in a different way. It’s like this is what keeps me sane and happy, and I know this. I’m comfortable here. So, there’s that every day. That’s my baseline. But I’m also terrified every day in terms of fucking up, not doing it right, stepping on someone else’s shit. So the other day, on Friday, when we watched the film for the first time with an audience, that was the best bit. When you know it’s done, you’re here, and you’re doing press, so people believe in it. You’re at a festival, so someone’s liked it. Then you get to the screening, and people laugh and go with what you intended them to enjoy. That’s the big thing. It doesn’t happen that often. Even though I’ve said this three times, that I’ve been in the business a long time now, I’m never not grateful that you’ve come out and you give a shit and you’ve enjoyed it. That’s the best bit for me.

I’m a big believer that that fear comes from caring, and if you stop caring, why are you here anymore?

FROST: 100%. Again, it’s something my wife says, “What are you doing? Why do you do it to yourself?” And the answer is I don’t know how to do anything else, you know?

We don’t want you to do anything else!

Nick Frost Goes Off-Script for Live-Action ‘How to Train Your Dragon’

My last two questions are for you, Nick, and they are about other projects that a lot of people are very, very excited about, myself included. The first one I wanted to ask about was the How to Train Your Dragon movie, and in particular, Mason Thames. He’s already proven himself via a movie like The Black Phone , but I still feel like there’s no ceiling for him. Is there anything you saw him do on that set that gave you the confidence, “This kid’s a star, and he’s unstoppable?”

FROST: A lot. That’s funny you should say that. Even not when we’re shooting, just watching him, watching how his body works is so weird and funny, and he has funny bones and he’s lovely. I got to meet his family a lot and they’re all lovely, and you can see why he’s as grounded as he is when you see where he comes from. In terms of scenes, we had a lot of scenes together, and there wasn’t one thing that I did during a scene that was unscripted that ruffled him at all. Not one thing. He just loved it. He loved to improvise. We loved to improvise together. I was like, “Hey, why don’t we try this?” And he’d be like, “Yeah, let’s do it!”

You get Mason there as a #1 on the call sheet, and then of all people, it’s Dean [DeBlois] at the helm. You obviously couldn’t get a better director for a film like this. What is something about working with him that made you think, “Even though we’re changing the format of this story to live-action, this couldn’t have been done without him?”

FROST: 100% agree. He’s just fucking lovely. He’s funny, he’s clever, and he’s smart, and you’re just like, “Okay, he’s got it. Relax. Don’t worry about it. Just learn your lines and have fun.” It’s so nice knowing that someone’s just got you. Also, he’d come along sometimes, and he’d be like, “You want a drink? You alright?” You’d be like, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” He worries and he cares about everyone.

It’s an important quality to have in a leader.

FROST: Yeah, but it’s not always the case. I mean, at all. I mean, this fucking guy, [Haars], he didn’t ask me once if I wanted… Not once.

HAARS: [Laughs] I wanted for myself.

FROST: You see? He would throw a drink in the face of the old woman sometimes. He’d say, “Fuck off. Fuck off.”

She’s great, by the way.

FROST: She’s amazing. Anitta [Suikkari].

That is not an easy role to sell and she does big time.

FROST: We did a table read and she was remote in this cabin in Northern Sweden, and I came off the table read, and there wasn’t one single line that I’d written that she didn’t hit. Every single line, she just got it. It was like, “Wow, that’s amazing.”

I would believe it.

I promised you two questions about upcoming films because you’re working with so many of my favorite people, and the other one I’ll add to that list is Corin Hardy. I feel like I’ve been waiting a little too long for another feature film from Corin, but it’s finally gonna happen, so what can you tease about Whistle that might suggest to folks that it is going to be well worth the six-year wait since The Nun ?

FROST: 100%. If you like horror and Corin, I felt like I was shooting an ‘80s-style horror, the kind of horror films that I used to love as a kid. It’s great. It’s kind of fucked up and disgusting, but it’s gonna be great.

Plan your own vacation when Get Away hits theaters on December 6.

Get Away (2024) A family’s vacation to a remote island turns into a nightmare when they discover a serial killer is targeting them. Combining dark humor with chilling suspense, the show explores the family’s desperate struggle for survival as they attempt to outwit their relentless pursuer​.Director Steffen Haars Cast Nick Frost , Aisling Bea , Sebastian Croft , Maisie Ayres , Jouko Ahola , Ville Virtanen , Eero Milonoff , Anitta Suikkari Runtime 86 Minutes