In a remote mountain range, six girlfriends meet for their yearly adventure, a caving trip into the arteries of the earth. The group makes their way through the remote cave system, enjoying the hazardous but beautiful surroundings. Then, deep inside the cave, disaster strikes when their route back to the surface is blocked by a rockfall.
When they learn that Juno, always pushing herself that little bit further, has brought them to an unexplored cave, and that no one is coming to rescue them, the group starts to splinter. Left with no other option, they push on through the cave, praying for another exit. The women battle through this harsh underground world, pitting their strength and determination against each new challenge. Unbeknownst to them, there is something else lurking under the earth, a race of monstrous creatures hidden from the light, evolved to live perfectly in the dark.
As the friends realize they have become prey, they are forced to unleash their most primal instincts to face the creatures. As old wounds break open and loyalties disintegrate, the women realize the horrible truth-they have most to fear from one another.
Shauna Macdonald
Shauna Macdonald, who plays Sarah, says: “I wanted to do this film because I had seen Dog Soldiers and I really liked it. Also I had never done something with so much action in it, something so physically demanding.
“To prepare for the film we all did a course of climbing. I also did some private tuition for climbing; even though it doesn’t specifically state in the script that ‘Sarah is a climber’ I wanted to look like I could climb. We also did white water rafting training, and went caving. I didn’t really prepare mentally, I just prepared what I thought the journey of the character was going to be. It’s quite dramatic, the change she goes through – it’s not really full circle, it’s more a spiral.
“The best part of this film so far has been going to Scotland for the white water rafting scenes. The worst part has been getting so filthy that you need two showers at the end of the day.”
Making The Descent tapped into some of Shauna’s own fears. “I can get my head around most things but the dark does scare me because I have quite a vivid imagination. I’m also a bit claustrophobic so it was a challenge when we really went caving. I had to concentrate on breathing. During the scene when my character gets trapped in the fissure, although you don’t really feel like you’re trapped because filming stops and starts all the time, and it’s mostly polystyrene, it was actually really sore crawling through it all morning, really fast. The pain of that actually helped me act the hyperventilating more than anything else!”
On working with Marshall, Shauna says: “It’s good working with Neil because he’s very free to change things. He actually encourages coming to set with an open mind about things, even in terms of the dialogue. Sometimes I’ve found that frustrating in other situations, getting new lines on the day or someone suggesting you try it completely differently to how it’s written, but in this experience it has been really enlightening and lots of fun.”
Describing the crawlers, she says: “They look brilliant and the prosthetics are absolutely amazing. If a Clingon and Spock had a child, but it was totally hairless, and a bit shorter and quite sinewy, and was cousins with Gollum, that’s basically what a crawler looks like.
“My character is the first to see a crawler, and when I saw it I was fascinated more than scared. Neil kept us apart from them, but because we knew they were Geordie lads dressed up with KY jelly all over them, we knew it wasn’t going to be that scary! But the suspense was fantastic and close up they are actually terrifying. They have these contact lenses and a certain way of moving that is quite horrendous, and each time we meet them we notice something else horrible about them.”
On who will like The Descent, Shauna says: “I think this film has got a broad audience. You’ve got the girls, so boys will like the film, but it is not just chicks with picks, so to speak. It’s got a proper story line, proper journeys for the characters, as well as great action sequences and great effects, so I think everybody, young and old, will like it, but nobody with a faint heart though!”<!--page-->
Natalie Mendoza
Natalie Mendoza, who plays Juno, says: “I wanted to do this film because for me, as an Asian actor, it’s rare to come across a character that it isn’t written as Asian. Juno a very full, well thought out character who has this huge spectrum of emotions and experiences, and that for any actor is a real blessing. You don’t come across those kinds of characters very often, and because it’s horror, everything is extreme, which makes it even more amazing.
“The best part about working on this film is being able to express such extreme emotions. Juno is so confident and so cocky at times. She’s supposed to be charismatic and all these things, but then she’s also got this side that almost falls apart when something emotional happens, so being able to express that and really see if I could do it, has been really rewarding.
“The worse thing for me is the rain cloud that always seems to follow Juno around - she’s constantly soaked to the bone. I’m like, where is all that water coming from? I don’t swim. I didn’t actually mention that in my audition. So being thrown into the icy cold water in Scotland was absolutely terrifying. And I also don’t drive but thankfully I didn’t have to do that. We re-jigged the script a little bit. Those are two things I have to learn to do this year.”
On working with Marshall, Natalie says: “Neil’s been absolutely fantastic. We’ve been really lucky to have someone who really listens and has allowed us to collaborate with him. I remember him saying that he wasn’t interested in us playing one-dimensional characters and I think in horror it’s very easy to do that, but he really allowed us to flesh these characters out, give them lots of different levels, give them a back-story. He’s been really patient and always given us space. Some of the scenes are really horrific and to make them believable you’ve actually got to experience these emotions.
“The thing that I love about this film is there’s a real honesty about the characters. They’re all great girls, but they’re thrown into these extreme circumstances, and things start to break down, and you start to see their weaknesses. I think Juno could quite easily be perceived as the baddie, definitely when I first read it I thought it was written like that, and I thought, no. I wanted people to empathise with her. I think she’s very human, she made a mistake, she wants to rectify that and get rid of the guilt. The characters are thrown into this hideous nightmare, and they all have this moment where you think, ‘that’s not that nice’, even Sarah has her moments. And that’s what I love. It’s honest. They haven’t just made someone out to be the ‘baddie’ and it’s one-dimensional. It’s confusing, because you see little glimpses of bad and good in all of them. That’s what was interesting for me.”
Out of all the characters, Juno is involved in the most crawler fights, which was grueling for Natalie: “It was difficult because I was actually wrestling a guy and that was hard work. I have lots of bruises and burns to prove how difficult it was. It has been pretty harrowing. I have not had to fight a man like that before and literally throw him. We didn’t have enough time to really rehearse because of the hectic schedule so the direction was basically to just go for it. So he went for me, and I went for him, and I have never felt that much rage, having to throw him was so grueling, and fighting on the sand was like glass cutting your skin. But by the end I was like, ‘wow, you did that, girl, good on you!’”
Natalie adds: “Working on a film with an all female cast has been so much fun. It’s such a rarity. I respect all the girls so much as actors. They’re all completely different and we have a lot of fun off set as well as on set. There’s a real support actually. I really believe in sisterhood, and going caving and rock-climbing together it was so great to have their voices down the bottom going ‘come on, you can do it’.”<!--page-->
Alex Reid
Alex Reid who plays Beth, says: “I wanted to do this film mainly because I’d seen Dog Soldiers and I wanted to work with Neil, and also once I’d read the script, I thought the idea of working with an all female cast was a little bit different, and the nature of the film, and how physical it was, appealed to me.
On working with Marshall, Alex says: “Working with Neil is great. He’s very calm. He creates a great atmosphere on set and he’s very open to any ideas you have on the day, or changing things at the last minute. He gives you an idea of what he wants but he’s still really open to your ideas as well. And he’s really enthusiastic.”
Alex was the last actress to see a crawler on set: “Keeping us apart from the crawlers was a good idea, because it did build up anticipation and adrenalin, and also competition to see if anyone could spot one before we were supposed to. It was scary the first time I turned round and saw one, and it was frustrating because everyone else had seen him before me. There was this thing breathing down my neck, and I wanted to see it but I kind of didn’t really want too turn round.”
Saskia Mulder
Saskia Mulder, who plays Rebecca, found the physical elements of The Descent appealing: “It’s so challenging if you do a film where you learn a new skill. I’m now actually quite a good climber and that’s very cool. I was really excited by the thought of it being so physical, and so much extreme sport, and the fact that we had to go through training at the start and come out with a new skill.
“I started preparing physically for the role only about a month and a half in advance because that’s when I knew I had the part. At first I just started going to the gym a lot, doing a lot of upper strength exercises, a lot of pull ups and hanging there for a bit, which creates massive respect from the guys in the gym, I can tell you. And then we had climbing training, which was amazing. I absolutely loved it. One thing that’s very important is that my character, Rebecca, is very safety aware. She’s always look around for the things that could possibly be dangerous and how people are doing. So to get into that and make it natural, I spent a few weeks really annoying my friends, by checking them out all the time!”
Saskia loved working with an all female cast. She says: “The best part working on this film is the girls. They’re just fabulous. I’ve just loved it. I’ve worked on ensemble pieces before but working with five girls has just been phenomenal. It’s been really like having your gang with you the whole time. The worst part has, without a doubt, been being very cold and very wet and very tired. There are days when you just want to say ‘stop, can I have a break?’. You’re completely drenched, the studio is very cold, there’s a draught, and it just doesn’t stop.”
On meeting the crawlers, Saskia says: “The first scene we did them, they just scared the living daylights out of me. We were supposed to stand still, and I went screaming to the other side of the room. But then these poor guys, they’re standing there, and other than their little pouch in the middle area, they’re completely naked, so they’re freezing. You see this absolutely horrific looking creature, shaking, so you really want to give them a hug.”<!--page-->
Nora Jane Noone
Nora Jane Noone, who plays Holly, had to make a drastic change to her appearance to play feisty wild child Holly: “For my character I had to chop my hair off. It was quite long, so it was a bit traumatic for the first week or two, but it’s cool now. In terms of mental preparation, I suppose it was just a matter of amplifying specific traits. Holly is very hyperactive, not afraid of anything and just up for a challenge, so when we were training I just made sure I went for it.”MyAnna Buring
As MyAnna Buring’s character Sam is a medical student, she’s the first one the other girls turn to for impromptu first aid in the film.
MyAnna says: “I did speak to doctors to research my role, and I’m very fortunate in that my father is a surgeon so I had first hand access to advise on what you would do in the first aid situations that Sam finds herself in. There’s a scene where Holly breaks her leg, so I asked my Dad what I should do. We were sitting in a restaurant and he grabbed hold of my leg and showed me how to push the bone back into place! You have to straighten the leg, push the bone back, and rig up a splint. Which is exactly what we do in the film, but with no painkillers, nothing to make it any easier.”
Craig Conway
Craig Conway plays the crawler who features in the majority of The Descent’s fight sequences. He says: “A crawler is a sub-human, almost Neanderthal, creature that ended up missing out on the evolutionary development of mankind, and has been left in the cave systems to dwell forever more. They’re scrawny, horrible, dangly things, that climb everywhere and grip to things. They’re covered in slime and are almost translucent, and covered in veins.
“Originally it took about five hours to be made up into a crawler, but now they’ve got it down to between three and a half to four hours and through out the day there’s constant touch ups, reapplications of the paint, and sometimes the prosthetics have to be refixed and glued. To apply the entire make up and the prosthetics we’ve had to shave every part of our bodies.
“To prepare physically for the role I did a lot of rock climbing and I spent some time playing out some of the scenarios. We had a couple of workshops where we developed a movement for the beast, and a way for it to attack, trying to find a sense of physicality that was different from humans. A lot of films now use CGI to create these movements, but on this film we’ve decided to go for the real thing, so everything you see is prosthetics and performance. None of it is CGI.
“We were hidden from the girls right up until the first scene where they encountered an attack from a crawler. That was really good fun actually, and it also gave a bit of an edge because although the make up, special effects and prosthetics are fantastic, when you first come out people go, ‘oh right, right, that’s interesting’, but because it was in the scene, the girls were expecting something but didn’t know what, and of course you arrive and they get a shock and you get a shock as well. It was just brilliant, fantastic, to be hidden away from them, and a lot of fun.
“The fight scenes are challenging. We’re all getting small injuries now. Cuts on the knees, and feet and hands. We’re filming a lot of fight sequences on a sandscape, and unfortunately the sand is industrial sand, so it’s got grit and stones in it, so when we crawl about on all fours and fight on the floor, everybody’s getting lacerated.”
Craig has worked on a number of Marshall’s projects: “I meet Neil a few years ago through a friend and he invited me to work on a short film with him called Combat. And then he invited me on to Dog Soldiers, which was tremendous. Then this came up and he said, ‘come and be a beast’. It’s a real privilege to work with somebody like Neil because I really respect his work. I’ve worked with him as an editor before and seeing his growth and seeing what he’s capable of, is a real privilege.”
Craig trained in performing arts and has worked extensively in live physical performance with a number of theatre companies. He has worked across radio, television, theatre and film, and was recently seen in Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake. Craig is also a writer, director and choreographer.
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