“These are really crazy circumstances and we wanted to make sure that the audience felt bought in”: Michael Cimino and Ella Rubin on Until Dawn
An extension to the lore of the 2015 survival horror game, Until Dawn follows a group of friends stuck in a dangerous loop of life, death and extreme violence. Led by Clover, who’s in a hopeless search for her missing sister, Max, Nina, Megan and Abel stumble upon an abandoned house in the middle of torrential rain. As strange and dangerous things begin, their wits and bonds are tested, highlighting what terror and desperation can do to a person. The film focuses on the use of practical effects and explores the psychology of fear and anxiety, as well as the price people pay for survival.
The cast is full of young and incredible talent, from Love Victor’s Michael Cimino, The Artful Dodger’s Maia Mitchell, The Girl from Plainville’s Ella Rubin and Sitting in Bars with Cake’s Odessa A’zion. With Shazam! and Annabelle: Creation director David. F Sandberg at the helm, the feature showcases some clever fusion of different horror genre tropes and a mix of old school and modern technology to truly up the ante. The Upcoming caught up with actors Cimino and Rubin to talk about their characters’ journey, keeping stakes and tension high despite the idea of constant second chances, and themes of grief and found families.
To start, can both of you give us a brief introduction to the film, what people can expect from it, and an insight into your characters?
Ella Rubin: It’s a really, incredibly fun thrill ride about a group of friends in quite an insane situation, and navigating the dynamics of this horrible place they found themselves in. My character, we meet her at a time when she’s deeply entrenched in her grief and is having trouble finding herself and rooting herself in any solidified identity. I think the horror genre plays so well into Clover’s journey because it’s a representation and manifestation of where she is internally. Despite the more sombre and emotional elements of the film, it still brings a lot of levity and fun. I personally love seeing characters be able to powerfully rise out of their grief.
Michael Cimino: Until Dawn is all practical effects, exciting, and it feels like there are so many different subgenres of horror inside this one film. So, this is really a love letter to all horror fans and horror films. Besides that, my character is just trying to navigate losing this relationship that he had with his ex-girlfriend who has also lost this relationship with herself. Now, he’s trying to figure out how to navigate that and get through this difficult transition in his life while, obviously, going through these really crazy circumstances.
Michael, typically in horror films, once you die, you’re dead; there are no second chances. This is different in that you essentially have lives to redo and try and survive. How did you keep the tension and stakes high in your performance despite this caveat?
MC: That’s the thing about it, right? Throughout the course of the film, every night is going to feel a little bit different. That’s such a testament to everyone and the amount of prep in their work. Everyone worked really hard on this to make sure that it felt realistic. These are really crazy circumstances, and we wanted to make sure that the audience felt bought in. Making sure that we did all our prep-work, making sure all our ducks were in a row, and making sure what night we were on every night. Because every night, yes, we should be scared, but it’s also a different kind of scared after you’ve died four times versus the first time. Like, you have to imagine what that would be like. Everyone did a really incredible job of keeping the stakes and also adjusting with it as it went along, so that the audience feels like they can ride along with the story as well.
Ella, another crucial part of the film is the psychological exploration of fear and anxiety. What do you think that layer adds to the overall horror and thriller aspect of Until Dawn, especially concerning your character, Clover?
EB: For me, that was the centre of what I tried to put forward in my performance. Fear and anxiety are these, unfortunately, very common emotions that almost everybody feels. What David F Sandberg, the director, and writers Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler did that was so smart was to take this thing that is a commonality among people and manipulate it and make it loom so large in a violent way over Clover. As she’s grieving and feeling such deep fear and anxiety in her own personal life, it’s coming towards her from an outside source. It was this horrible thing that woke her up into being more horrifyingly aware of how she feels and having to confront it in this physical way, which forced her to confront it emotionally. Anxiety and fear are the central forces of the film and of Clover’s character; how do you outrun that when it’s a physical embodiment of your fear and anxiety literally chasing you? What’s most special about the film is the reality of feeling met with these unbelievable, fantastical circumstances.
Underneath all the horror and the spectacle, there are these core themes of found family and friends, grief and moving on. How do these themes speak to you personally, and how do you hope they’ll speak to the audience as well?
EB: The grief aspect was really important for me to try to play accurately. Something that’s so beautiful about the depiction of grief in this film is that when you’re lucky enough to have found family around you, it can be a different circumstance. What’s so beautiful in many horror films, especially this one, is the friend group element. Whenever a character in a horror film goes out alone, we all clench our fists in fear. But in a group of friends, having this togetherness really allows the group of friends to fight this and figure it out together. Horror is just a beautiful way to show the necessity and importance of friendship in regular life. Especially in the situation that Clover’s going through, she needs her friends so desperately, but she’s rejecting them out of her own anxiety and fear. The physical horror aspects of the film allow her to reconnect and accept her found family, and realise that they’re her family too.
MC: This film is so much about what you said, about found family. There’s something so powerful about that, especially in a time like now. Life in general can be so difficult, and when you start navigating it with your friends, your family – your friends become your family eventually! When you watch this film, there’s such a strong sense of camaraderie, and horror films in general, you want to go see with your friends. But there’s something about this one in particular where each friend group has these friends in their friend group. I feel like people are really going to relate to it, and even if there is an overarching, deeper story to it as well, grief in general is such a relatable feeling. Everyone has gone through some level of grief. Throughout the course of the story, learning how to heal and come to terms with your grief is a very powerful message. But also, this film is just fun! Friend groups and all these people are going to really enjoy just watching it together, laughing and screaming. I encourage people to just scream and yell at the screen.
Mae Trumata
Until Dawn is released nationwide on 25th April 2025.
Watch the trailer for Until Dawn here:
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