Following a rave reception at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, Adam Carter Rehmeier's critically acclaimed Carolina Caroline is now playing in theaters and, ahead of its release, we were granted an exclusive opportunity to sit down with the film's stars Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come; Over Your Dead Body) and Kyle Gallner (Dinner in America; Smallville) to talk about the old school adventure.
Weaving and Gallner walk us through developing their electric chemistry as Caroline and Oliver, respectively, and how they initially broke the ice. They also get into the mindsets of their characters and how their first meeting sets the stage for their epic journey across the American southeast.
The cast features Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Jon Gries, and Kyra Sedgwick.
Adam Carter Rehmeier (Snack Shack; Dinner in America) helmed the feature, with a screenplay from William Thomas Dean IV.
Carolina Caroline is now playing in theaters!
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ROHAN: Samara, one of the central themes of the movie seems to be that there’s no lie more convincing than the one you tell yourself. With that being said, what would you say Caroline’s mindset is at the beginning of the movie, when she meets Oliver, and begins this crazy journey?
SAMARA: I think, you know, she grew up in this small town, she never really knew her mom, she's been doing the same thing, with the same people, and I think she's just itching to get out, and she has these big dreams of, you know, escaping her world, and then, meets Oliver, and not only does she sort of fall in love straight away, it was like love at first sight, but he's also, you know, her ticket out of there. It was so much fun to play that, and I mean, Tom Dean did such an incredible job with the script that it made my job really easy.
ROHAN: Kyle, you start out as this lone wolf con man, but after meeting Caroline, he becomes something more, and Oliver’s judgment begins to change, ultimately resulting in the decisions he makes at the end of the movie. What do you think it was about Caroline that awakened something within him?
KYLE: I think he really genuinely falls for her, you know, I think they really do. They go on this whirlwind adventure, but through it, they really do fall in love, and I think that he's just willing to do anything for her at that point. I think it's, you know, whatever you want, whatever you need, you know, I'll do it. You do crazy things for the people that you love, and I think that's really where he's at, and I think he wants to make sure he can be there for, help in any way that he can, and you know, he knows she's also going through kind of a heavy time, and he wants to, I guess, maybe it's his own weird way of being supportive, but yeah, I mean, I really do think he's just he's all in on her.
ROHAN: Samara, this movie has a really timeless road-movie aesthetic. Did the lack of modern technology, like no cell phones, make playing these runaway outlaws feel higher stakes or present a different kind of challenge?
SAMARA: I didn't think it was a challenge, it was just really fun. I think being set in the ‘90s just added such a cool layer to the movie, you know, just the outfits and the cars, and yeah, seeing, I mean, the production designers did such an incredible job. How many sets were there? Like, nearly 100 or something?
KYLE: Yeah, it’s insane. Any movie with Adam is like a million and one.
SAMARA: A million sets! And, they all had to set it like the ‘90s. They were incredible. They did such a good job, I mean, with no money and no time. It was really cool. It added this, you know, we sort of lived in this Carolina, Caroline bubble, for a while.
KYLE: Yeah. I also think, you know, setting the sets and everything complicates things, because it's the ‘90s, but I think it also simplifies the story in some way, because you don't really have to overexplain anything, you know, there's no cell phones, there's nothing like that.
SAMARA: Yeah, you’re not like ‘Oh, my phone’s dead!’
KYLE: Yeah, or ‘We’ll track them on the phone’ or ‘check their coordinates!’
ROHAN: You two have fantastic chemistry in the movie, so when you first met and started to click. Was there anything you guys did to break the ice before you embarked on such an emotionally charged adventure?
SAMARA: Well, I watched Dinner in America when I got sent the script, and I was going, who is this gentleman, this talented little [frick]er, and I just had such respect. I was a real fan of Kyle's, and I think that helps, right? Because you're going, even if you're a dick, I still think you’re good.
KYLE: It is nice to know that and to like somebody's work before you go in and genuinely want to work with them, and it is great when you show up, and you're like, oh, you're cool and you’re nice, and we can hang out. Yeah, we got to know each other, the nice thing about Adam is, Adam really tries to shoot things chronologically, and one of the things he does, which he also did on Dinner in America, is that some of the first stuff we shot was me meeting Patty, and it was the same thing with this. One of the first things we shot was Oliver meeting Caroline, so there is sort of that automatic, awkward or unsure kind of feeling about that and then, he takes it in order, so we actually had time to really get to know each other and spend time together, so that chemistry kind of grew naturally.
SAMARA:In real time, yeah.
Acclaimed director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s romantic crime thriller stars Samara Weaving (READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME) as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast. Also starring Kyra Sedgwick, the film features a wide-ranging country music soundtrack, with tracks from artists such as Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Loretta Lynn, and over a dozen others.