For this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, we got to cover our first two red carpets ever… both in one day! For romantic dramedy Space Oddity, we received insight on filming at Robin Hollow Farm, working professionally with one’s spouse, favorite tick, tick… BOOM! songs, and several exciting upcoming projects! Major thanks to Kyle Allen, Kevin Bacon, Madeline Brewer, Carrie Preston, and Alexandra Shipp for taking the time to chat with us!
A drought is coming, and it may be time to finally sell the family farm. Alex (Kyle Allen, West Side Story, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things) is the next in line to take over for his overworked father Jeff (Kevin Bacon, Footloose, Friday the 13th), however Alex is committed to a different cause entirely. From the very first scene, Alex insists that he is going to be part of the first colony on Mars. He has been rigorously training for weeks, and video chatting daily with his future coworker for Mission Mars program, Curtis (Andrew Polk, The Many Saints of Newark, House of Cards). To make matters more complicated, Alex gets his family together—phone-obsessed sister Liz (Madeline Brewer, The Handmaid’s Tale, Hustlers), emotional mom Jane (Carrie Preston, True Blood, Claws), and father Jeff—to announce he will soon be leaving for ten years of isolated training in preparation for this program. Is there any way to make Alex see reason? One day heading into town, kids shooting mini-marshmallows at Alex accidentally hit Daisy (Alexandra Shipp, tick, tick…Boom!) instead. Thus, a meet cute is born. Check out our red carpet coverage after the jump!
Carrie, it is such a pleasure to chat with you today! I loved True Blood and Claws. Can you tell us a bit about filming at Robin Hollow Farm, and share a favorite memory from the Space Oddity set?
CARRIE PRESTON: Well, it was an actual working flower farm, which was amazing because I’m playing a flower farmer! The people who ran that beautiful working flower farm were so generous with their space, that the woman who actually works there literally gave me her apron to wear in the film that has all the different pockets and stuff! She taught me how to arrange flowers, you know, and how to snip them and stuff. There’s a real art form. Just to be a part of a movie that has such a positive message in a dark time in the world is very important, I think.
We are both so excited for your movie They/Them! Is there anything you can tease about your role in the new horror film?
CARRIE: I’m playing his [Kevin’s] wife in both Space Oddity and They/Them! So I have zero degrees of separation. It’s going to be premiering at OutFest, the closing night film.
Let’s just say it takes place in what they like to call a conversion camp, which in real life is a pretty horrible thing. So it’s a great setting for a horror film. And let’s just say some people don’t make it out!
What has your favorite thing been about working with your spouse throughout this experience?
KEVIN BACON: Well, you know, it was a really beautiful spot that we filmed in a beautiful flower farm in Rhode Island. Just to kind of be out there in that world, and then touching the dirt and seeing the farm operating. It’s just great. Kyra—I’ve worked with her three times now, she’s directed me three times. And you know, she’s just a great director. She has a gigantic heart, and also has a great eye for shots and structure and definitely performance. As you’ll see in the movie, she just gets beautiful performances out of all the actors, including me.
We are both so excited for your new film They/Them! Is there anything you can tease about your return to horror with Blumhouse?
KEVIN: Well, I can teasethat Carrie Preston—we play husband and wife in two movies in a row. She’s in Space Oddity as my wife as a redhead, and then They/Them as a blonde. It’s a very cool movie. It’s a kind of traditional 70s/80s horror slasher film. But the true horror of the movie is that it’s a gay conversion camp. That that even exists in this country is such a horrible and sickening notion that it makes for a great backdrop for a scary movie.
Madeline, what can you tease about your character Liz?
MADELINE BREWER: My character Liz is his [Kyle’s] older sister. She works in PR, she’s kind of a bad bitch.
Is there anything you can reveal about the upcoming season 5 of Handmaid’s Tale, and Janine’s journey?
MADELINE: Nothing! All I can tell you tell you is that Janine as per usual, she’s like a cat with nine lives. And they’re running out.
Can you tell us a bit about filming at Robin Hollow Farm, and share a favorite memory from set?
MADELINE: Oh, it was beautiful. It was so much fun. And my favorite memory was one of our last nights. We all kind of like perched up on this hill, and sang songs with each other. It was really fun… Kevin brings his guitar, and our DP brought his guitar as well. We had so much fun.
I think I speak for both myself and Josh in saying that we adored tick, tick…Boom! Did you film Space Oddity right after, and what was it like going from the tone of a musical straight into a complex drama?
ALEXANDRA SHIPP: So we filmed it a year later. We filmed tick, tick…Boom! in 2020. And then this was 2021 Okay, so it was kind of right after, but it was a good amount of months. I had a good amount of time between tick, tick…Boom!, and this. It was really interesting. I think it’s the most fun thing, going from a big production studio film to something that’s really grassroots and broken down and really getting to sink your teeth into a role that’s different, essentially. So I mean, it was a jump, but it was a good jump.
What’s your favorite song out of the show?
ALEXANDRA: Okay, so I sing all of them. What is my favorite? I’m trying to think I mean, I love “Boho Days.” I think everyone loves “Boho Days.” That was a scene for us that was really major—it was COVID, and none of us had been in a room full of people in like six months. To all come together and not be in full PPE and to be singing and dancing, it really did feel like it was a party.
Kyle, I wanted to say that I loved The In Between, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, and especially West Side Story! What attracted you to Space Oddity as your next major role?
KYLE ALLEN: Thank you! 3 for 3. I think it’s an incredible and really relevant story. I mean, Kyra Sedgwick, directing. The cast is incredible. I think Rebecca Banner wrote an incredible script. It was all there from the beginning.
Huge congrats on your casting as He-Man! Is there anything you can share about production of Masters of the Universe?
KYLE: Thank you. Me too! It’s gonna knock your socks off. I think I think people are going to be really excited. It is an F word BLAST. Absolute blast.
It was an absolute pleasure chatting with Kyle Allen, Kevin Bacon, Madeline Brewer, Carrie Preston, and Alexandra Shipp, and we can’t wait for audiences to see Space Oddity!