Primitive War’s Tricia Helfer on How New Dinosaur Movie Differs From Jurassic Park | Interview
ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Tricia Helfer about the new dinosaur Vietnam War movie Primitive War. Helfer discussed her experiences filming the project in Australia, whether or not her character could return for any potential sequels, and more.
“Primitive War is an action-horror set in Vietnam in 1968, where a special forces unit, Vulture Squad, is sent to an isolated jungle valley to uncover the fate of a missing platoon,” a description of the film reads. “They soon find themselves in a fight for their lives against an unexpected enemy – prehistoric dinosaurs.”
Primitive War is out in United States theaters starting today.
Brandon Schreur: I’m so excited for this movie, and based on the trailer, this looks like it’s going to be totally up my alley. It’s bending genres and has some really fun sci-fi, it looks like. Can you tell me a little bit about what interested you in the project? What made you want to be part of Primitive War?
Tricia Helfer: Basically, what you just said. The mash-up or the blending of genres. I found it really intriguing to have this serious war film that is also an action film that is also a horror film that is also like sci-fi — it’s not really sci-fi, sort of. But that, to me, is what was intriguing about it. The unexpectedness of where we start the film to where it goes. It’s a lot of action. A lot of fun.
And, if anything, at San Diego Comic Con, which I just came from — anything I’ve learned from that is that there are a lot of people who are really passionate about dinosaurs. They get very into the details of what type, if it has feathers, this, and that. I’m like, ‘I don’t even — I’m not that educated on these prehistoric beasts.’ But that was really fun, and I think a lot of people are really going to enjoy it.
Sure. I love the idea of combining a serious war movie, which it sounds like there’s a lot of that in this, with dinosaurs. My mind wouldn’t have thought of it, but I hear the pitch and I’m like, ‘Oh, I see how those two genres work together.’ Was that surprising at all for you when you got the script for the first time? Did you know anything regarding what this was about, or was reading it just like, ‘Oh, wow, we’re doing this?’
When I got the offer, it was presented along with a pitch deck and information on the production team and the director. In the pitch deck, it was right there, so by the time I got to the script, I wasn’t surprised that, all of a sudden, dinosaurs show up. But I was really impressed.
I was a little trepidatious going over there, but once I landed in Australia and I saw the costumes and the attention to detail, I was like, ‘This is a big thing to take on.’ Especially for an independent film, right? So I was like, ‘Okay, things could go really bad.’ But I got there and the detail to the costumes and the sets, it was incredible. The team they put together and the other actors — we had so much fun.
Luke [Sparke], the director, said he really wanted to make sure that this was grounded in honesty and truthfulness. It is set in the Vietnam War, which was a real war; it’s not fictional, right? He didn’t want to take too many liberties with it. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s a film with dinosaurs and everything. It isn’t a historical drama. But he said that if we made it grounded and real, then by the time the dinosaurs show up, it would make more sense. It’s not like all of a sudden it’s a different film or something.
That kind of jumps into what I wanted to ask you next, too. Whenever we talk about dinosaur movies, I think the golden standard is obviously Jurassic Park. Since then, there’s been a bunch of others, and a lot of them try to recapture that same magic. Even some of the Jurassic Park sequels included. But this really looks like it’s doing its own thing, being a period piece with the Vietnam War backdrop. That’s nothing like Jurassic Park. Was it fun to be able to play in that period piece aspect of it?
This is definitely an R-rated film. So it’s nothing like Jurassic Park, in that way. There’s a lot of fighting, there’s a lot of action. And it was fun to explore it that way. I think that’s what’s interesting that way — you’re not expecting it. You’re not going to see Jurassic Park. The first at least quarter of the movie is about a recon team that’s going to try and find their missing green berets. The film opens with the same squad, the same team, going to get some POWs.
One thing that I was surprised about, considering that it’s an indie film, I was like, ‘Okay, the dinosaurs are going to be very sparse.’ When you’re filming, obviously there aren’t real dinosaurs, so there are all the tricks of the trade. The stunt and location guys out there tossing leaves and all the tricks that you do to make it look like something is coming.
But when I actually watched the product — and I knew on the page that there were going to be dinosaurs there, but again, I thought they were just going to have a glimpse of one here or a glimpse of one there — they’re all over this film. The CGI and the visual effects on this film, I’m astonished by what they’ve pulled off. I mean, there are dinosaurs all over this film. I know Luke said this weekend at Comic Con that he really tried to make them fairly scientifically accurate.
The movie is based on a book, Primitive War. There’s a series of books. I haven’t read the book, myself, and I didn’t have time to read it before we were filming; I got the offer about a week before I left for Australia. And I had a lot to take on with not only the script, but I also have an accent in the film. I’m playing a Russian paleontologist. So there was a lot to take on, and I didn’t have time to read the book. But anyone who has read the book, they’re of course going to know what’s coming.
Totally. I haven’t read the book, either — my list of books that I need to read is so long, and someday I’ll catch up.
I’m with you on that, yes.
But there are more books, so I’m assuming that this story continues after the first one. I don’t know what happens to your character, but if there were to be more, would you be interested in coming back to do more Primitive War?
Oh, absolutely. I know there is a series of books. I won’t say what the fate of my character is because I do know that is one thing the team down at Comic Con was like, ‘Don’t say who survives and who doesn’t!!’ That’s something we want to keep secret. And there’s another spoiler or two that we want to keep secret because it’s just more fun to watch when you don’t know everything that’s happening. So I won’t say if my character is in the next books or not.
Totally fair.
But I would absolutely, if my character survives and if she’s in subsequent books, I’d of course love to go back. It was a really wonderful experience filming. Indie filmmaking at its best, where you’re under the wire, under the gun, all the time to get the shots done. You don’t have the liberty of, ‘Okay, something has gone slightly wrong, so let’s just pick it up tomorrow.’ It is like, ‘Okay, let’s rework and shoot.’
We were in the jungles on the Gold Coast of Australia. One thing that was hugely helpful to the film, I think, was the fact that we had practical sets. It wasn’t CGI; we weren’t in a studio pretending we were in a jungle or pretending there were dinosaurs. We were actually trudging through the mud and hiding behind trees. They wanted the visual effects to then fit into that. I think it’s easier for the visual effects if it’s on green screen, but they made the decision to make the sets practical and then make the CGI work with that. Which was a huge undertaking, but for us, as actors, and I think for the quality of the film as well, it looks beautiful. Because you’re really in it. The climate and the topography really mirrors very closely to Vietnam as well. So it looks like we’re there.
I was going to say the same thing, I bet that just makes it so much easier for you to get into character when you don’t have to act against a green screen or those tennis balls. To actually feel and experience it, I’m sure that makes a world of difference.
It makes such a huge difference. We still had the AD walking with the pool skimmer above his head when we’re looking at the T-Rex, so there was obviously a level of imagination still needed. But to have the sets be there, we’re actually trudging through the mud. For a few days, there, we almost had to stop filming because there was rain every night, and we couldn’t get up to the locations because of the mud. They ended up having to get, like, you know what a snowcat is? Like a mudcat. I don’t know the name of it. But the entire crew and cast, everybody, had to be taken up in this one machine. The amount of time to get all the equipment, all the crew, and all the actors up, we were really in it.
You’re really sliding down the side of the hill in mud. You’re covered in it. You’re sitting there and, at one point, I looked behind me, and we were fighting, we were shooting, we’d been attacked, and Nick Wechsler and I, we’d fallen against this embankment. They yell cut and we turn around to get up, and there’s a spider the size of my palm right by me.
Oh, big no thanks.
That I could have done without, but it definitely brought a realism to us filming, for sure.
Thanks to Tricia Helfer for taking the time to discuss Primitive War.
Source: Comingsoon.net