Original-Cin Q&A: Hilary Swank and teen co-star on the Netflix space/family drama Away, and isolation here on Earth
Hilary Swank is back leading the team in a new Netflix series. The two-time Oscar winner stars in Away as an astronaut dealing with family separation.
The series revolves around her character Emma Green, who is leading an international crew on the first mission to Mars — which will take three years. Needless to say her family life on Earth gets increasingly strained and difficult in her absence, and causes countless problems for her husband played by Josh Charles and 15-year-old daughter Alexis (Talitha Bateman).
On her mission to Mars, she’s accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Misha Popav (Mark Ivanir), botanist Kwesi Weisberg-Adebayo (Ato Essandoh), Air Force fighter pilot Ram Arya (Ray Panthaki) and chemist Lu Wang (Vivian Wu), which creates its own parallel drama.
Hilary Swank is an astronaut and a mom who misses her family in Netflix’ Away
Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with Hilary Swank and Talitha Bateman about the series.
(CLICK HERE for Bonnie’s video interviews with Away stars, Josh Charles, Misha Popav, Ato Essandoh,Ray Panthaki and Vivian Wu.)
Away begins streaming on Netflix on September 4th.
ORIGINAL-CIN: Talitha, you play the only daughter of Hilary Swank and Josh Charles’ characters in Away. Working with a couple of veteran actors has to be invaluable, but I wanted to know what it was like to have multi Oscar winner Hilary Swank play your mom and did she give you any acting tips.
HILARY SWANK: “Let’s be clear, I didn't help her with anything. This girl is talented to the bone like inside the bone, in the marrow.”
TALITHA BATEMAN: “It was a lot of fun and I did learn so much. It’s hard to describe because she’s sitting right here in this Zoom interview and I want to compliment her, but I don't want to make her uncomfortable.
“But I will say, I was really blessed with this role and the entire cast was extraordinary to work with in general. Especially Hilary and Josh because I had so many powerful and private scenes with them. They're both such giving actors and they're always available to you and just open and I really loved that.”
OC: Was there anything in particular that stood out for you?
BATEMAN: “There’s one scene in the series that really stood out for me, and feels kind of under-rated in my mind, that took place between me and Hilary. It’s when she sneaks in my room before she leaves for Mars and gives me a bracelet.
“I really loved that scene because it just said so much about the person Hilary really is. Our hug came so naturally and just made it just so much better and more real. It felt like a real mother daughter relationship. That was like one of our first scenes together, and I just walked away from it feeling really solid.”
OC: Hilary, your commitment to this project was extraordinary. It’s one thing to prepare physically to play an astronaut, but how did you prepare mentally to play this role?
SWANK: “Well, I'll just be honest. This was a huge undertaking and it really wasn’t one of the easier roles I had to prepare for.
“You are right, the physical challenge was one thing from getting back in shape, to doing extensive wire work to simulate the weightlessness in space. But psychologically, there was a lot to wrap my mind around.
“The thing about something when it is really well written, it’s like when you read a great book. You just feel it or you just connect to it.
“So when something is written that well, you just try to get out of the way and you try not mess it up. I just tried to play it as honestly as possible.
“And I think there’s the idea of what isolation feels like. We all have a deeper understanding of that now with COVID happening in the world, and what that means and that life is everything. You just want your loved ones around you, and you want to work together and support one another. Getting to that place is like a myriad of things that pop up that's just the thing called life.
“Something else, which was just as significant to me when I read Away, was that the script was unique in its inclusion of so many multi-ethnic characters. They too are all struggling with their own powerful personal stories, which really connects all of us. It also highlights the beautiful fact that space has no borders. We could use more of that down here right now.”
The role did look physically demanding though, even just wearing the space suit!
SWANK: “The space suit itself weighs 35 pounds, and then the backpack part was about another 20 pounds. Pretending you’re in zero gravity with all that weight was very challenging.”
OC: How was it bonding with your co-stars knowing that you were going to be in a contained space for most of the shoot. Do you all have an instant connection?
SWANK: “It was an instant connection with everyone, including everyone who I worked with on the Earth scenes. Everyone was really excited to be there. Everyone really wanted to be a part of collaborating and telling the story, even the crew behind the scenes. Everybody was really just wonderful and brought their A-game every day.”