From directorSeth Savoy, the based-on-a-true-story crime thrillerEcho Boomersfollows recent college grad Lance (Patrick Schwarzenegger), as he realizes that he might never be able to climb out of the debt that he’s left with or reach the goals that he envisioned for himself. When the opportunity to steal from the rich is presented to him, he finds himself as part of a criminal operation that seems to provide a solution but that is also sending him on a very dangerous path with no way out.
During this phone interview with Collider, co-starsJacob Alexander(who plays Chandler Gaines, one of the members of this burglary crew) andMichael Shannon(who plays Mel Donnelly, the guy responsible for getting the stolen goods to interested parties) talked about what most interested them in this project, what makes Amazon CEOJeff Bezosmore dangerous than these thieves, character dynamics, and shooting the burglary scenes. Shannon also talked about the experience of shooting the upcoming TV seriesNine Perfect Strangersin Australia and why he wanted to sign on, while Alexander talked about what’s next for him.
COLLIDER: This is my kind of crime thriller because the twists and turns kept me guessing and I had no idea where any of this was ending up. When you guys read this script, what were your first impressions of it? Was that what interested you in the story as well?
JACOB ALEXANDER: What interested me the most was that there was some truth to it. It was loosely based on true events, so the fact that people were actually doing this really drew me to it. I thought the writing was solid. I enjoyed reading it. Within the first few pages, I was gripped and really into the story.
MICHAEL SHANNON: I just thought it was telling a very important, very relevant story about what young people are experiencing nowadays with this certain kind of disenfranchisement that leads to hopelessness where you’re like, “Well, it doesn’t really seem to matter what I do. The older generation doesn’t seem to give a flying rat’s ass about us. Why don’t we just go knock over some rich people’s houses? That sounds fun.” The moral compass and the center is gone. It’s collapsing and broken. I remember when it was Gen X and they were gonna be lost at sea. But this is an infinitely more troubling time to be a young person than it was back then.
This is also such an interesting twist on the whole Robin Hood idea of stealing from the rich to benefit those who get screwed by them. While it’s still criminal behavior, it’s easy to feel just a little bit less bad for rich people who have their excess taken from them. Why do you think people tend to have a bit less sympathy about these things when it happens to people that have so much?
SHANNON: I don’t know. There’s this double standard right now. Someone like Jeff Bezos is a criminal, as far as I’m concerned. He’s stealing from America. He’s stealing from the American people. If he just paid some modicum of the amount of taxes that he should be paying, people would suffer less. The American citizenry would suffer less. But he doesn’t do it, and he gets away with it. If you’re not rich and loaded like him, and you’re just some person and you sneaking into somebody’s house and get caught, you’re up shit’s creek without a paddle. That’s a double standard. I think Jeff Bezos is more dangerous than the kids in this movie, and I’m pretty sure they feel the same way. They’re not role models. I’m not advocating that all young people should start doing what the people in this movie are doing, and I don’t approve of what they’re doing. If a bunch of kids broke into my house and stole a bunch of stuff, I’d be mad as hell. I’m not saying it’s the solution or that it’s gonna solve any problems, but I am saying that there’s a double standard. If people that have immense wealth had more compassion for their fellow man, a lot of the problems that we’ve been grappling with for decades would probably be alleviated. But I don’t know, that just doesn’t seem to happen.
ALEXANDER: There’s a complete disconnect. I think that’s part of the problem.
Jacob, this team of thieves has mostly been together for quite some time. Did you guys do anything to bond and get to know each other? What was it like to form that dynamic?
ALEXANDER: We spent the month of August in Salt Lake City, so we spent a lot of time together. We did have an extensive shooting schedule but in the mornings, when we would have time off, we would grab breakfast together. Me and a few of the guys would go hiking. Hayley [Law], Gilles [Geary] and I would go hiking every now and then. We made sure that we spent an adequate amount of time with one another, just to get to know each other. We didn’t really know each other before the project came together. We just thought the more time we spent with each other, the more it would feel organic and genuine while we were working as well.
SHANNON: It’s helpful that you’re in Salt Lake City because it’s not like there was much else to do.
ALEXANDER: It was great. I have really fun memories of time that I spent with everyone in the project. It was pretty great. It was a special time.
This ensemble, including both of you guys, is made up of actors with very different backgrounds and varying amounts of credits and time practicing the craft. What is that like on set, especially when you’re doing scenes where all or most of you were working together?
SHANNON: It was interesting, when I showed up, they had already been gone for a little while.
ALEXANDER: We were a week and a half or so in until you showed up.
SHANNON: It was fun. I always feel a little bit of pressure walking into a situation like that because I know everybody is standing around thinking, “Well, what’s this guy gonna do? It better be pretty neat.” And I have to live up to that. But I guess they get nervous too because they’re like, “Oh, here’s that guy who’s done all of those movies.”
ALEXANDER: It’s terrifying. I know you and it’s terrifying but that’s just because of the pressure of wanting to execute and do your job. I think artists, in general, and especially actors, musicians and whatnot, just do put all of this pressure on themselves, which is totally normal. But it’s like getting in cold water. After awhile, your body just adapts to it.
Jacob, what was it like to actually put the mask on and do the robbery scenes where you smash stuff up?
ALEXANDER: That was the best part. We spent a whole day in the studio. It was fun for the actors, but it was hell for the crew. We spent about six hours shooting, and five and a half hours of that six hours was people putting things back together and cleaning up everything. There was a lot of debris on set but it was fun. I was grateful for the masks because they protected our faces. The masks were fine. I guess they trained us for what’s happening, now that we have to wear them all the time. It was cool. It was great. I enjoyed breaking things and throwing things. It’s a good feeling. You get a lot of aggression out.
What do you think these characters would do if they had the perspective of knowing how all of this would turn out? Do you think they really wouldn’t do it all again?
ALEXANDER: I think it would depend on where they were at the moment. I would think that they would do it again. That’s my personal opinion. With the way my personality is, a lot of the things that I’ve done in my life, I’d feel like that’s part of my makeup as well. Why would I change that? That’s how I look at it.
SHANNON: Another way to look at it is, what did it change? What did it accomplish? If I’m sitting there thinking, “Well, I had fun doing that but I’m still in the same spot that I was in, if not even worse. So, how do I affect change in my life? How do I conquer this hopelessness that I’m feeling?"
Michael, you’re currently in Australia. Are you shootingNine Perfect Strangers?
SHANNON: Yeah, and it’s a vibrant day Australia.
What’s it been like to be back filming and to be doing so in Australia, and what was it about that project that made you want to do it?
SHANNON: There are zero cases of COVID. One of my daughters is actually going to school without a mask. She’s just going to school. She hadn’t been to school since March, and she’s so excited. Every morning, I drop her off and she bolts out of the car. It’s a beautiful thing. And they did it the hard way. They’re strict. They don’t mess around over here. When I got here, it was a two-week quarantine. It’s not suggested. They’re not like, “Oh, we hope you do it.” They put you on a bus, take you to a hotel and lock you in your room for two weeks, and there’s somebody in the hall that makes sure you don’t leave. That’s it. And now, they can have a normal existence, which is a beautiful thing.
In terms ofNine Perfect Strangers, it’s being directed by Jonathan Levine, who I worked with onThe Night Beforeand I really enjoyed working with him on that. I just think he’s a really sharp guy and he’s got amazing taste. We just clicked and we have fun working together. It’s another one of Liane Moriarty’s books. She just didBig Little Lies. The storyline that I have is very moving with deep stuff. There’s just a lot of flesh on the bone, in terms of the story. I’d been sitting around my house for four months, doing nothing, and honestly not minding it too much. Every once in awhile, I’d get a little antsy but didn’t mind it all that much. But when this came along, it felt like time to get off my ass and do something.
Jacob, do you know what you’re going to do next, or have you thought about what that next step is that you’d like to take?
ALEXANDER: I think about it and I really don’t know. I’m just taking things one day at a time. I’m waiting for things to go back to whatever normal will be and will start pushing forward then. There are things that I wanna accomplish and do but everything seems very dormant. But I did work on a film in Lagos, Nigeria, that is making its rounds on the film festival circuits. It premiered at the London Film Festival this past month and at AFI in the States. That’s been getting a lot of recognition and it was a beautiful project. It’s calledThis Is My Desire. I was in Lagos for a month, and that was definitely a perspective shifter, one hundred percent.
Echo Boomersis out in theaters and available on-demand and on digital.
Christina Radish is a Senior Reporter of Film, TV, and Theme Parks for Collider. You can follow her on Twitter @ChristinaRadish.
