'One Fast Move': KJ Apa, Eric Dane talk 'intense,' 'scary' and 'therapeutic' scene in motorcycle racing film
"There's a lot of vitriol and animosity and resentment and rage," Dane said
Riverdale star KJ Apa, and Euphoria actor and Grey's Anatomy alum Eric Dane, explore a fractured father-son relationship through motorcycle racing in Kelly Blatz's film One Fast Move (now on Prime Video). While the movie, which also stars Edward James Olmos and Maia Reficco, spends significant time in the racing aspect of the story, the more emotional moments were "intense," "scary" and "therapeutic" for Apa and Dane to take on.
"I'm a motorcyclist myself, it came later in my life, in my late 20s, and it became a part of my identity," Blatz told Yahoo Canada about writing and directing this film. "It was a form of meditation for me. It became an obsession, really."
"There weren't any grounded motorcycle racing films out there. ... I love great character dramas set in a specific arena, like The Fighter or The Wrestler or Rocky. ... The father and son story came from questions that I was having in my own life about what it means to be a man. Coming from young manhood into being a man you have all these questions, and you're trying to find mentors and answers in which direction you want to go. So I put all of those themes into the father-son aspect of the film."
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'It's a scary scene to explore'
In One Fast Move, Wes Neal (Apa) tracks down his estranged father Dean Miller (Dane), who's a former motorcycle racing champion. Wes, who has been kicked out of the military, wants Dean to train him to race, along with Dean's mentor Abel (Olmos). Throughout the process Wes ends up falling in love with local waitress Camila (Reficco), as Wes and Dean both face the scars from their past.
While Wes shows up adamant that he's looking for a coach, not a father, there's one particularly heated moment in the film where Wes confronts Dean about abandoning him his a child, while Dean is brutality honest about his motivation for not keeping in contact with Wes.
"Eric is a very intense human being and intense actor, and it was intimidating working with him in a thing like that," Apa said. "Because he has a very strong presence."
"We didn't spend a ton of time on that scene, all of the other scenes too. It was just there. The chemistry was there, Eric was there, I was there, and it was a beautiful moment."
"It's a scary scene to explore because there's a lot of vitriol and animosity and resentment and rage, and all these things that need to be conveyed in a short window," Dane said in a separate interview. "And also there's a physical aspect to it that is, in itself, pretty heartbreaking to see a father put his hands on his son like that."
"It's somewhat, I guess therapeutic in that regard where it's a great release, a controlled release, but still a great release. But at the same time the architecture that you're working within to create that release, or that therapeutic opportunity, is ultimately negative. Everything comes to a head with [his son] and it's not a happy scene."
For Blatz, that's the moment the armour Wes has built up starts to come down.
"The tension continues to build to a boiling point where finally he is forced to ask that question, because he is essentially losing all the good things in his life," Blatz said. "So finally that moment, to me, is the question that he came there to ask, which is, 'What happened? Why'd you leave?'"
"They're incredible actors and then just to see how they took that material and ran with it, I was speechless. I don't even think we did more than one or two takes of that. They were just amazing."
In terms of how Blatz worked with the actors on that moment, Dane highlighted that the director gave them their space.
"For the most part, Kelly left us alone," Dane said. "Kelly had a very clear idea of what he wanted ... and he knew when to just let KJ and I do our thing, and he knew when to intervene and offer up different ideas, and make some suggestions."
'I didn't see him as a bad guy'
While Dane has had a bit of a pattern playing villains recently, initially Dean comes across as a bit of a dirt bag when we meet in him One Fast Move. But Dane stressed that in order to really play the role he couldn't judge the character.
"I couldn't pass judgment on this guy if I really wanted to put myself in a position to make the most effective choices for him, as an actor interpreting this character," Dane explained. "I didn't see him as a dirt bag. I saw him as somebody who made a few colossal mistakes in his life and while some of his behaviours may be perceived as immoral, I didn't see him as a bad guy."
"I feel like sometimes if you portray somebody as a bad guy you leave little room for redemption. ... I wasn't concerned with how I ended up looking, but I just wanted to make sure that there was more to him than just the sum total of some of the poor choices [he] made."
'I trusted him immediately with telling a good story'
Aside from crafting this film with Dane, Apa praised Blatz for not just being a great collaborator on One Fast Move, but someone he could truly trust.
"We just connected on a level that I trusted him immediately with telling a good story that had themes that I loved, being hope and redemption, and watching a character learn was important to me, especially in a time where I feel like not a lot of those stories are being told," Apa said.
"[Kelly Blatz] attracts people who are perfect for whatever it is that he's creating. ... Then when we're shooting, his trust in everything happening as it should be, it becomes an effortless experience. ... I feel like that's because Kelly created a very open environment for the universe to kind of do its thing."
With Blatz having worked as an actor himself, including starring in the Disney XD series Aaron Stone, and being featured on episodes of shows like NCIS andThe Good Doctor, he had a good sense of the environment he wants to create on set as a director.
"I worked as an actor for over a decade and as you're doing that you're working with so many different directors on so many different sets, and you're picking up these things," Blatz said. "You're going, 'I don't think that worked very well.' Or sometimes the environment maybe isn't so conducive to being vulnerable."
"For me I said, ... because I always wanted to make films, when I do direct I hopefully want to create sort of a dream environment for actors, which is nothing you do is wrong. There is no pressure. I would love to talk to you in lengths about your character beforehand, but while we're there I just want you to do your thing. I trust you. There's no pressure. And just give them the space and the time to play and to explore those emotions. ... I had learned, mostly as an actor, just to create the environment that felt safe for them to open up."
