ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Breathe star Quvenzhané Wallis about the intense thriller, which takes place on an Earth with an uninhabitable amount of oxygen. Directed by Stefon Bristol from a script by Doug Simon, the film features a terrific cast, including Jennifer Hudson, Milla Jovovich, Wallis, Raúl Castillo with Common, and Sam Worthington. Capstone Global and Warner Bros. will release the film in theaters and on digital on April 26, 2024.
“Breathe is a heart-pounding thriller set in the future. After Earth is left uninhabitable due to lack of oxygen, a mother Maya (Hudson), and her daughter Zora (Wallis) are forced to live underground, with short trips to the surface only made possible by a coveted state-of-the-art oxygen suit made by Maya’s husband, Darius, whom she presumes to be dead,” says the synopsis. “When a mysterious couple arrives claiming to know Darius and his fate, Maya tentatively agrees to let them into their bunker, but these visitors are not who they claim to be ensuing in mother and daughter fighting for survival.”
Tyler Treese: What was your initial reaction when you found out that Jennifer Hudson was gonna play your mom in the film and then Common is your dad? Because I can’t imagine a cooler pairing in that.
Quvenzhané Wallis: It was really exciting. I got to talk to Jennifer before I got to talk to really anyone other than Stefon. We got on FaceTime, and before she called me, I felt like I was getting ready for like a virtual date. Because I got up, I got outta my bed, I like fixed my clothes, fix my hair, and I was like, “OK, I look okay.” And then I got on the phone with her, and she was the sweetest thing on earth, and I kind of melted a little bit. The starstruck kind of faded away, but not completely. We had a short little conversation, and then after that, we got on Zoom calls, and that’s when I finally got to talk to Common.
It was just interesting to see all of us together on a Zoom because me and Stefon, really everybody, we were trying to see if it worked. So we were all like staring at the Zoom, like, “OK, yeah, this looks like a little happy family. OK, it’s working.” Then we got on set, and I spent a lot of time with Jennifer and the scenes that we had with Common to be able to, I mean the living room that we were in, like the dining room, made it feel family and like homey kind of, ’cause it was a bunker, but we definitely fell into the characters and a family dynamic that was so cute. I loved it.
One thing that really impressed me about Breathe was the mother-daughter connection that you and Jennifer have in the film. You can tell that there’s this deep care for each other there, but there are also parts where because they’re trapped alone together, they’re getting on each other’s nerves. Occasionally you can see that in the film. It’s a very fun dynamic. How was that building that with Jennifer?
I mean because we spent so much time together, it was not that we had those issues, but it was just like fun to play around with. It was fun to like fake act like we were fighting in between scenes to keep the energy up and keep the energy going and having banter and just like improv-ing lines and just randomly, like we all loved a good random cuss word on set. Like, we all liked a random f-bomb here and there, and it was just like so much fun all the time. There was never a dull moment. There was never even in the emotional, vulnerable scenes, there was still some laughter, some joy on set that I love to have so much.
One aspect of Breathe that really stood out was Sam Worthington’s performance. Usually, he is playing a kind of stoic, reserved character, and he’s very intense in this. He is really going for it. What stood out about working opposite him, especially during those big, very intense freakout scenes that he has?
I mean, he was very much method. When I first met him, we didn’t really speak a lot and I was kind of confused until I got on set with him. I was like, okay, I get it. And then we had like small talk and once I understood his boundary and like where he was as the character and where his craft was, I was like, “OK, I get it. Cool.”
But the scenes that me and him had together were so intense and so it was probably some of my favorite scenes also because he challenged me to get there with him. He challenged me and pushed me to match his energy, how intense he was in his scenes, and how intense he was in the moment. I had to match it. I had to make it make sense. I loved that. I loved working with him. He was so much fun. Even though it was intense on and off camera, I loved it. It was like you never knew what was coming with him on set.
One thing we get to see here in Breathe, I don’t know if you’ve done a ton of this in your career so far, is you get into a bit of a fight with Raul Castillo, who plays Micah. How is filming that back and forth and getting to show some fight choreography?
It was interesting. I kind of wish that I could have been more involved in my stunts. I’ve always said that I wanted to do a movie where I did all of my own stunts. So I wanted to get in there, but then I saw the stunt people do it, and I was like, actually… never mind. You got it. Like, you can do it. That’s great. I love it. I love to watch you do this. This is so much fun, but playing it out, I’ve never done that before where you kind of work with stunt people, and you got pads and butt pads and hip pads and elbow pads. I don’t know. It was fun to be able to be in that position and with an enemy character. I’ve never really had that before. So it was exciting and thrilling.
You spend a decent chunk of Breathe tied up. How is it acting when you’re limited with your movement? How was it kind of dealing with that?
It was interesting. We had this scene where I needed to figure out how to get the mask or the mic that was in the mask to my face without my hands. So we spent a good 30 minutes of me playing with the mask with my feet and trying to pick the mask up with my feet and roll it over and like nudge it. It was something I’ve never thought of doing before.
Some of the scenes, I didn’t even have them like completely tied because ow. But that’s what made it even more challenging because I knew I could use my hands. They were right behind me, and they weren’t tied up completely, but I had to use my legs and my feet and my toes and like trying to reach stuff, and it was exciting and thought-provoking to try to figure out how to do something that I could definitely do with my hands.
You’re in an interesting part of your career. It’s crazy to think about because of your age, but you’ve been doing this for over a decade now, and now you’re getting to play different types of roles and explore different genres. How do you kind of feel right now because you have so much work behind you, but you’re also evolving and mastering this craft?
Like you said, I’m still evolving. So every time I start a new project, it feels like I’m starting from the very beginning. It feels like for Breathe, probably like the complete beginning of everything because I’ve never done anything like it. It is a whole new thing for me. I just turned 18 two years ago, so I just started being able to work longer hours. Everything, every stage that I’ve gone through in my life, it’s always been something new. It’s always been a new beginning, a new chapter. So I’m always evolving. I’m always growing, and that’s what makes it exciting for me.
I couldn’t believe this when I was looking it up, but Annie turns 10 years old later this year. How do you kind of just reflect on that film? It is such a fun movie.
Anytime I’m cleaning my house, or I’m doing something chore-related, I start singing, “It’s a Hard Knock Life,” or I bring it up, or I reference it. I do that with a lot of the movies that I’ve done when I was younger in the previous years. So when it hits the 10-year mark, I don’t know, it makes me feel old in a weird sense. Like 10 years is insane. I started the award show stuff when I was 10. So it’s just mind-blowing to even be to this point right now. But it makes me grateful and thankful that I am at this point right now and that I’m still growing and evolving and doing new roles. How Annie was new for me 10 years ago, Breathe is new for me now. Who knows where I’ll be in 10 years.
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