The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with
Never Let Go
co-stars Halle Berry, Percy Daggs IV, and Anthony B. Jenkins ahead of the film’s release.
In
Never Let Go
, the survival horror film follows a family haunted by an evil spirit, with a twist causing internal turmoil.
The cast shares insights on stunts, emotions, and efforts to scare friends with their new movie.

Academy Award-winner Halle Berry has been entertaining the world for years. She’s dutifully upstaged James Bond, Fred Flintstone, and – as of a couple of years ago – the Moon. Alexandre Aja’s unique, horrific direction brought audiences killer gators in claustrophobic spaces, mutant hill people, and Daniel Radcliffe with a pair of horns growing from his head. Now, Berry and Aja have teamed up to terrify theaters once more with their new survival horror thriller, Never Let Go.

Never Let Go tells the story of a mother (Berry) and her twin sons, played by first-time leads Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins, suffering from the torment of a malicious spirit for many years. However, when one of the boys begins to doubt the existence of this evil, the family falls into turmoil, leading to a dangerous fight for survival.

Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the pleasure of talking to Berry, Daggs, and Jenkins. Together, they chatted about performing some of their own stunts, wanting their friends and family to see them in a horror film, and whether audiences will see Berry in future chapters of everyone’s favorite puppy avenger, John Wick.

Will Halle Berry Direct Another Movie?
Image via Netflix

COLLIDER: You two did fantastic in this. You really did. I have a bunch of questions for you, but I’m going to start with your co-star, if you don’t mind. [Halle], you recently directed a few years ago for Bruised . Is directing again in your future?

HALLE BERRY: Oh, for sure. I won’t star in and direct, but directing for sure.

Do you have something that you’re thinking about?

BERRY: I do. There’s something I’m working on.

Do you want to give me any hints?

BERRY: We’re writing it. It’s a 180 from Bruised. It’s a love story at its core.

There Have Been Conversations About a ‘John Wick’ Spin-Off
Berry is in — let’s get this made!
Image via Lionsgate

I will not pressure you anymore. I love your work in John Wick [Chapter 3 – Parabellum] and what you did with the dogs. They might be a little too adult for you guys.

BERRY: No, he’s seen the fight scene.

PERCY DAGGS IV: I’ve seen the fight.

I was wondering if you and Chad [Stahelski] have talked at all about Sofia making any sort of appearance in anything John Wick in the future.

BERRY: Mhmm. [Nods]

Is that all I can get? [Laughs]

BERRY: Well, I don’t know if it will be, so I’m not one to talk about things that may or may not happen. But that’s a conversation that’s been swirling around since we shot John Wick 3, so we’ll see.

I would like it to happen.

BERRY: Thank you. Me too.

‘Never Let Go’s First-Time Feature Leads Discuss Their Process
“It was surprising to be in this environment for so long.”
Image via Lionsgate Movies

For the two of you, this is your first time being leads in a movie. You’ve worked on many other things, but I am curious what surprised you about making a movie that maybe you didn’t expect going in?

DAGGS: The length. The length of it. I’ve done TV shows before, and I’ve done shorts, and those were normally, like, a few days shoots, but this was three months. It was surprising to be in this environment for so long.

ANTHONY B. JENKINS: Like Percy said, the length. Usually, for me, I do the same. The longest I’ve ever done something was three weeks, but this one, like y’all said, was three months. So, I was surprised, also.

You guys both deliver very emotional performances and have to really emote on screen. For the two of you, what was it like trying to enter that emotional headspace and stay in it for an extended period of time?

JENKINS: Something that I do is listen to music that reminds me of my Nana and Papa, who passed away a pretty long time ago. It helps me remember them, and it brings me into an emotional state.

DIGGS: Yeah, I use substitutions of things that have happened recently and things that happened a long time ago to get me into the emotional state that I need to be in at the time. Like if I need to be excited, I’ll listen to music like A.J., or if I need to be sad, I will think of whatever I need to be in that space.

The Cast of ‘Never Let Go’ Had To Work Quickly
“Whenever you work with young performers, they only get to be on the set for a certain amount of time.”

For all three of you, when you think about the shoot, which shot or sequence ended up being the most challenging for you guys to pull off for whatever reason, maybe a camera move, dialogue, or the emotion you needed to portray?

DIGGS: When I got pulled on the rope when I was being tugged backward, that was fun. It was challenging because I had to be acting, but it was also kind of easy because of the help that I had from the stunt team. So, it was pretty challenging and fun.

JENKINS: The scene wasn’t difficult, but it was getting difficult because we were reaching my time where I had to leave, but we wanted to get that scene done that day, so we were rushing. We were like, “Alright, we did it. Cut! Do it again. Cut! Do it again.” So, we were rushing a lot. It was going very fast.

BERRY: [Laughs] A lot of that. We had a lot of that because whenever you work with young performers, they only get to be on the set for a certain amount of time. So, to their credit, some things had to be rushed a lot because they had to go home. But they always took it on the chin and they always rose to the level. We never went without getting a great shot because they always pulled it out, even if it was like, “You got one more chance. One minute left!” They pulled it out. So, they were consummate professionals that way.

‘Never Let Go’ Is About Generational Trauma
Image via Lionsgate

I think a lot of people don’t realize with actors of a certain age, you can only work so many hours. I definitely have to ask you an individual question. What was it about this material that said, “Oh, I need to do this?

BERRY: I love this genre. I love psychological thrillers. I love the elements of this family. That was interesting to me, and a different kind of mother character for me. When I read the script, I didn’t know if Mama was schizophrenic or if The Evil was real, and as you go through the movie, that was what I struggled with the whole time I read it: “What’s real? What’s not real?” I realized it was about generational trauma. I love the religious and spiritual aspects of the movie. So, many things drew me in and made me want to sort of get in the skin and bring this to life.

One of the other things is there’s going to be a lot of young adults that watch this, and it’s going to be their first scary movie, their first psychological thriller. What does it mean for you to be possibly scaring other kids?

JENKINS: Well, for me personally, I would say — especially my friends — I want to scare them. I just want them to see my movie. So when I tell them about it, I’m like, “Oh, just watch out. You might want your family there with you. You might want some help.

BERRY: [Laughs] They’re gonna want some help.

DAGGS: I have a lot of friends who are into horror and scary stuff. I just can’t wait for them to see the greatness that we’ve all created because I want them to be happy. I want them to be like, “My cousin, my friend, they’re in a horror movie!” I’m excited for them to see it.

BERRY: And it’s such a genre for horror movies. People love horror, so it’s nice to hopefully give them something a little different in the space. That’s what we hope for.

Anthony B. Jenkins’ Dedication to the Art Is Real
The first-time feature lead had Berry convinced he ate a frog!
Image via Lionsgate Movies

I love learning about the behind-the-scenes of the making of a movie or the making of a show. What do you think might surprise soon-to-be fans to learn about the making of this film?

JENKINS: There’s a scene I want to talk about, but at the same time, I would release too much information, and I don’t want to. I guess I could say there’s a scene where I couldn’t really run, and I was hopping. They were dragging me, technically, and I fell, face-planted, and I don’t think they knew, and they kept dragging me, and I couldn’t get up. So at the end of the scene, I told them, and we all started laughing.

I know the scene you’re talking about, and yeah, that’s very amusing. Sorry!

JENKINS: [Laughs] It’s all good.

DAGGS: Another thing, we did some of our own stunts — me, A.J., and Halle did some of our own stunts. We did have great stunt doubles and stunt coordinators, but we did do some of them.

BERRY: I loved when Anthony ate the frog. [Laughs] I believed it. So much so, I was thinking later, “Did he eat a frog?” That’s how much I believed it!

Never Let Go is in theaters September 20.

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