A thriller where nothing and no one are what they seem will debut on February 17 streaming on Apple TV+. Including Tom and Sandra, two of the key characters in the story, the first we meet in this film directed by Benjamin Caron. We interviewed their interpreters, and this is what they told us.
Sharperthe film Apple Original which debuts streaming on Apple TV+ February 17or, has two great strengths: an intricate but perfectly functional script (of those that had entered the Black List, the annual list of the best screenplays that circulate on the desks of Hollywood producers), and the interpretations of the leading actors who often animate characters and willingly deceitful, being that of Sharper a story of scams and above all of scammers, in which what we often see is a deception or a falsification of events, psychologies, events.
Impossible to say more about the plot of the film without incurring the sin – in this case yes, quite serious – of the spoiler. What we can say, though, that if in the cast of Sharper those of Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan e John Lithgow they are the best-known names, and which perhaps attract the attention of the potential spectator more, they should not be underestimated for this reason Justice Smith e Briana Middleton, who complete the group of protagonists. First because they are both very good, second because, after all, Sharper’s story is almost primarily theirs, especially since it is the two of them, in the role of Tom and Sandra, respectively, who we meet first in the opening chapter of Sharper.
Interviewed via Zoomthey in London, I in Rome, Smith e Middleton they first of all underlined (precisely) the goodness of the screenplay that was proposed to them. “I couldn’t stop reading it, it was enthralling and I never knew what was going to happen,” she said Smith“and I thought I had to make the film, a film in which from the first scene you see something that is then reversed”.
“The film, as it came, does perfect justice to the script and its twists and turns,” he added Middleton“and as a spectator”, she advised herself “you must be constantly concentrated: because you always know that what you see may not be the truth”.
Play multiple characters in one
Without going into too much detail, still obviously for spoiler reasons, what the two actors have highlighted is that they too, or rather their characters, tom and sandra, they may not be what they seem. Which meant, for them, somehow, playing multiple characters in one.
“The greatest challenge of this film was precisely this duality,” said Smith, “We had to interpret as actors characters who play a role and who however have to tell what is a truth of the moment: all these levels can sometimes be a bit complex to decipher”. For this reason, even if his character is the “least ambiguous”, Justice Smith he “sought the sincerity of every single moment. Sharper,” the actor later said, “was one of the first films in my short career where I let go more than I usually do, where I prioritized presence over preparation: I went to set every day trying to live in the moment, to react to the people who worked with me. Not a difficult thing at all because the actors in front of me were truly incredible”.
Also for Briana Middleton the work on Sandra’s character “was complex”. She, she said, “focused a lot on physicality, on the actions performed with the body. Then I had a playlist and certain songs helped me find the right mood for the scenes and the character. TOI always kept in mind what my physical space was, and I let it influence my choices of the moment”, looking from time to time, scene after scene, for “the right physical and emotional behaviors for each circumstance”.
Read also Sharper’s review
The race for well-being that gets in the way of human relationships
Sharper it is a film that also speaks of greed and oppression. And second Middleton “These characters, at different levels, make very extreme decisions to get what they want, or feel they need. I’m very curious to understand what drives you to feel that need, that greed, the need for money and power, or to feel that you have an advantage over someone else. It’s very interesting, and I think it all stems from a real scarcity of resources, in a world where not everyone has, materially, what they need”.
Also Smith agrees on this point, speaking of “an insidious nature inherent in money. I believe,” he said, “that money can interfere in our interpersonal relationships. I think this movie shows how we are all united by the desire to chase money and our desires, and how this having all the same goals is hindering the connections between people. It’s very ironic,” he concluded Smith“because we are all the same, but we don’t realize it”.
