Summary

Danielle Deadwyler stars in action film Carry-On alongside Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman.

The film involves a mysterious traveler coercing a TSA officer to allow a dangerous package on a flight.

Deadwyler discusses the importance of grounded characters in action films for audience connection.

Danielle Deadwyler has had an immense year. She starred in five films, including massive critical and audience hits like I Saw The TV Glow and The Piano Lesson. In fact, the latter has just earned her a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award for her heart-driven performance as Berniece Charles against John David Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. Her final release this year is Carry-On, a thrilling Christmas action picture starring the ever-impressive Taron Egerton.
In Jaume Collet-Serra’s (Black Adam) new action-thriller, a mysterious traveler (played by a disturbingly dark Jason Bateman) blackmails TSA officer Ethan Kopek (Egerton) so he can get a threatening package through security and onto his flight. The film also co-stars Sofia Carson (Disney’s Descendants) and Dean Norris (Breaking Bad).
Deadwyler was kind enough to sit down with Collider’s Steve Weintraub to discuss all things Carry-On. In this interview, they discuss the difference in scale between this type of big, popcorn action flick versus smaller set dramas such as The Piano Lesson, and how they kept the story and characters grounded in reality despite the film’s enormity and exceptional Christmas thrills.
Pennies for Danielle Deadwyler’s Thoughts

“It’s poignant, beautiful little moments.”

STEVE WEINTRAUB: How are you doing?
DANIELLE DEADWYLER: What’s up, Steve? I’m good.
I really want to start with congrats on your Independent Spirit Award nomination.
DEADWYLER: Oh, thank you.
I think that you’re having a good day.
DEADWYLER: I’m ready!
So you probably can’t tell, but this is not a matte painting behind me. I’m in Brazil at a Comic-Con called CCXP. It’s a massive, massive Comic-Con, so I’m gonna be asking this of everyone today. Is there anything that you collect or used to collect?
DEADWYLER: Pennies.
Did you say pennies?
DEADWYLER: I said pennies.
Do you still have them?
DEADWYLER: I still have them. I especially like older ones. When I find a penny, I pick it up, and I always look at the year. I know it’s a testy thing to do in a society that’s ridden with germs, but I still do. I still do it when I see it. It’s poignant, little beautiful moments where I see the penny, and I pick it up, and I go, “Oh, what year is this?” Sometimes, I get stuff from the 1930s. That’s crazy!
I also think that it must be getting harder for you to locate pennies because everyone’s moving to a cashless society.
DEADWYLER: I know! Exactly. Exactly.
Danielle Deadwyler Would Star in This Michael Jackson Classic

“I want to be one of those elegant dancers in those beautiful gowns.”

Image via Universal Pictures

Here’s another curveball for you.
DEADWYLER: Uh-oh.
If you could be an extra in any TV show or movie, anything going back even to the past, what would you pick and why?
DEADWYLER: The Wiz. I mean, I wanna dance. “You got to be seen and green,” right? I want to be one of those elegant dancers in those beautiful gowns and whatnot. I wanna be in a beautiful gown, and I want to elongate , and all that stuff. That’s the ticket.
I think that could still happen for you in the future.
DEADWYLER: Oh really?
Yeah, I’m confident. You’re doing okay. You might land on your feet.
‘Carry-On’ Is Physical, Lighthearted, and Playful

“Christmas action films bring out a depth and a bigness, a hugeness to the filming experience.”

Image via Netflix

True or false: you took on Carry-On so you’d have an easier time going forward at airports with TSA agents.
DEADWYLER: [Laughs] False! I might have TSA pre-check. It’s still an experience. I did take on Carry-On to have fun physically, but not moving through lines faster. That’s not necessarily happening.
Being serious, you’ve done a lot of serious roles recently. How much fun was it for you to do what is a popcorn movie?
DEADWYLER: It’s delightful. It’s what I want. You gotta make the body’s experience, the mind’s experience dynamic, and that was the point of getting into this, to getting into doing something much more physical and to have the ability to bring that lightheartedness and that playfulness along with the rigor that Elena has, right? That assuredly was it. Finding spaces to do things that pull different levels and different forms of energy out of you, and working with different kinds of people.
This is a different kind of set, like being out in space in a kind of way. Being on this set that has fifty million background folks in all kinds of uniforms and to work at the old New Orleans airport, that’s the crazy stuff that, you know… The intimacy of drama sometimes is so enclosed, and so Christmas action films bring out a depth and a bigness, a hugeness to the filming experience.
Even the Villain of ‘Carry-On’ Is Super Grounded in Reality

Image via Netflix

I really enjoyed this movie and I think one of the reasons I really enjoyed it is Jason Bateman’s portrayal of the villain. It’s not over the top. It’s not stupid. It’s grounded. He plays it really well, and it’s written well. Can you talk about the importance of having a good antagonist?
DEADWYLER: The beauty of this is you don’t have a villain, right? Nobody calls themselves a villain. They’re just doing the thing that they gotta do to try to survive. Protagonists always have something challenging to them. The thing that is negative isn’t the only thing about a person, and the thing that is seemingly positive isn’t the only thing about a person. So, we’re doing a teeter-totter of what that means. The question of the moral ethic of who are you when the shit hits the fan, right?
Grounding in any kind of genre draws you in way more than anything else. Unless it’s supposed to be camp or high level or high energy or high genre or whatever. But this is the critical nature of Carry-On, making it super grounded. Make it super accessible in a space that the public is, that you can actually imagine yourself being in because you have literally been there, and pushing you over the bridge, pushing you over the building to test who you are as a person. So, I think that’s what’s gonna connect to people and connect to audiences.
Jaume Collet-Serra’s ‘The Woman in the Yard’ Is a “Totally Different Ballgame”

The horror thriller is slated for 2025.

Image via Netflix

Do you know what you’re filming next year? What can you tease about Jaume and your next collaboration, The Woman In The Yard?
DEADWYLER: I’m waiting to see what’s up. It’s stuff on the docket. I’ll let you know when we get there. Definitely, the Jaume collabo is coming quarter one, for sure. And that’s a totally different ballgame, but moving further into Jaume’s beautiful mind of darkness.
Carry-On is available to stream now on Netflix.

A mysterious traveler blackmails a young TSA agent into letting a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Day flight.

Cast

Taron Egerton
, Jason Bateman
, Sofia Carson
, Danielle Deadwyler
, Tonatiuh
, Theo Rossi
, Logan Marshall-Green
, Dean Norris
, Sinqua Walls
, Curtiss Cook
, Joe Williamson
, Gil Perez-Abraham
, Josh Brener
, Benito Martinez
, Edwin Kho
, Reisha Reynolds
, Adam Stephenson
, Michael Scott
, Jeff Pope
, Raymond Rehage

Runtime

119 Minutes

Writers

Michael Green
, T.J. Fixman

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Watch On Netflix