EoM Senior Interviewer Thomas Manning recently sat down with filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite to discuss her latest directorial effort, the sci-fi thriller I.S.S.. Cowperthwaite discusses the influence of her documentarian background on narrative filmmaking projects like I.S.S., as well as the challenges of directing a movie that takes place in a confined zero-gravity environment.

I.S.S. director Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street.

Thomas Manning: In terms of your background as a filmmaker, you’ve mostly done work in documentaries and drama. And with I.S.S., you get to explore the sci-fi genre, which is a bit different than most of your previous films. So, what did you appreciate about the opportunities that this particular narrative gave you as a storyteller, and to have that chance to explore themes that are important to you, but in a different genre setting? 

Gabriela Cowperthwaite: That’s almost exactly it. It was sort of like, “Okay, I know how to do this other stuff, or at least l’ve done this other stuff with a sort of authenticity, and human drama and humanity.” And then being able to take all of that and put that on a space station, a world that seems aspirational and seems futuristic and all this stuff. I’m not always getting those scripts, right? And so it was like, “Oh my gosh, now I realize why I’m getting it.” And that is because it’s really a play almost, with these six people. It just happens to take place in a place that we can think of as being kind of futuristic. So it was combining those two worlds that I was excited about. I come from these earnest documentaries and dramas and stuff like that, but I love a fun ride. I’m a popcorn-chomping moviegoer. I love horror. I love big comedy. I love, you know, sci-fi space station movies. And so being able to be entrusted, with that world, that genre, whilst maybe bringing some of that humanity that I feel is more my tool set into it felt like a very fun challenge.

Ariana DeBose as Kira in I.S.S.. Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street.

Manning: And when you’re working in narrative filmmaking, are there any ways that you notice that your roots in documentaries inform the decisions you make or your approach?

Cowperthwaite: Totally. I think there is an agility that we have as documentary filmmakers where you’re always on the balls of your feet. You’re always like, “Okay, anything can happen.” I’ve wanted to bring a little of that sensibility to the extent that I could. [Director of Photographer] Nick Matthews and I shot listed every single second. You come in with exactly what you’re going to do in a way I never had before. And that’s because there’s tethers, and we’ve got to fly off a bunch of ceilings to be able to even get the physicality of it down. And then you put your lighting in, then you put your cameras in. So, it’s like everything has to be a machine. Within that, I still wanted performance to feel loose. And so it was sort of like, once we get all that going – I think documentary filmmakers will say this, a lot of directors will say this – but you sort of know what real looks like. You know when something’s too performative versus when something just kind of comes from somebody. Documentary I think is part of why I love some of that authentic acting. I like improv, I like people coming up with stuff on the fly. That I think is the clearest crossover.

Manning: You alluded to those zero gravity environments that you’re working with in I.S.S.. I’d love to have you expand a little bit more on that, and how that challenged you as a filmmaker – and what you learned about yourself creatively working in such an interesting set?

Cowperthwaite: Yeah, it was so intimidating at first. I remember my assistant director, Sean Vawter, and I were like, “What are we doing? We don’t know what we’re doing. We can’t tell anybody that we don’t know what we’re doing, but wow, this is going to be hard.” The most daunting aspect was just the machine of this film. One thing being out of place, one thing not working means you have to start all the way over. And we didn’t have that kind of budget. We shot for 32 days, I think it was. And so we didn’t have room to make mistakes. That was daunting. And I think just really not being able to come in and kind of see what everybody’s feeling, and see where – maybe the actors have some new ideas about what we should be doing. That all is not going to happen. You’re just like, no, this is a little more stringent. The guardrails are in a little further, but in a weird way, it’s like this freedom that came with that, oddly – because you’re constantly thinking about what’s next and you’re moving and you’re metabolizing what normally would be stress. You have no time for [stress]. You’re actually moving and metabolizing it. So that part was cool.

L-R: Maria (Masha) Mashkova as Weronika, John Gallagher Jr as Christian, and Costa Ronin as Nicholai Pulvov in I.S.S.. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival/LD Entertainment.

Manning: You also mentioned your cinematographer, Nick Matthews. What were the most important elements in your partnership with him in developing the look of the film? 

Cowperthwaite: Oh my gosh, he’s just one of my favorite collaborations of all time. He understood from the jump that I wanted this claustrophobic feeling, that I wanted always this insidiousness to creep in. I told him about the surveillance cameras, like I just want those on at all times, that black and white surveillance feeling, because I want you to always feel like ground control is watching you. He just got it from the beginning. I wanted to tilt the camera and have it do some 360 stuff so you could just always feel disquieted. He was a master at seeing that, executing that, and then really just setting up the camera, fitting it into places to capture some of that. He did Hotel Mumbai – it had a lot of that feel too, of just a little bit of this haphazard [feeling] but the camera is always in the right place. So he brought that genius to this.

Manning: Looking to the cast, you’re working with a relatively small cast in a confined setting. And I imagine that brought its own unique challenges. Can you speak to the significance of that for you as a director, and engaging with your cast, and how that collaborative experience looked like for you and the actors you’re working with?

Cowperthwaite: Well, they were so uncomfortable the entire time. So there was that. You’ll see that. Nobody was ever comfortable. There’s nowhere to hide. Working with them, they just knew what to do. They knew the story I was trying to tell from the get-go, that I wanted it to be a deeper thing. I wanted it to be this character study of different people making these decisions, and maybe abandoning who they know that they are deep down inside in lieu of a bigger mission. So all those types of things were stuff they agreed with. They wanted to do these character studies in front of the camera. And so that was just beautiful. So it was a really good experience in that way of working with them, given the fact that they were like, “Please get me out of this diaper. This is like a horrible harness and a horrible way of hanging loose. Nobody has that much core strength.” It was very intense, but one of the most rewarding parts for me.

A scene in I.S.S.. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival/LD Entertainment.

Manning: Gabriela, I just want to thank you for your time. Also, I want to say as a North Carolinian, thanks for filming this in Wilmington. I always love to see that. So thank you for your part in that.

Cowperthwaite: You guys are incredible. The shooters, everything, the stage, the people were kind. We did it during COVID and it could have been terrible, and it wasn’t, because of you all.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Official Synopsis:

Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling, the US and Russian astronauts aboard each receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite brings together a stellar cast including Academy Award®-winner Ariana DeBose in this high-stakes space thriller.

In theaters January 19th, 2024.

For more information, head to the official Bleecker Street I.S.S. webpage.

Thomas Manning is a member of the NCFCA, SEFCA, and CCA, and also the co-host of the television show and radio program Meet Me at the Movies. He has served as a production assistant and voting member on the Film Selection Committee for the Real to Reel Film Festival. Additionally, he manages his own film review and interview site, The Run-Down on Movies. Manning is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University with a double-major in Communications and English. His passion for cinema and storytelling is rivaled only by his love for the music of Taylor Swift.

Categories: EoM Presents, Filmmaker Interviews, Publications, Stream

Tags: action, Ariana DeBose, Bleecker Street, Chris Messina, Costa Ronin, directing, drama, EoM Presents, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, I.S.S., interview, John Gallagher Jr., LD Entertainment, Masha Mashkova, Nick Matthews, Nick Shafir, Pilou Asbæk, Sean Vawter, Thomas Manning, thriller