The Cast Experience Making The Last Voyage Of The Demeter Sounds Miserable And Way Too Much Like Actually Being On A Ship In The 19th Century
It was a rough filmmaking experience.
Making any movie is tough, challenging work for all involved, but André Øvredal’s The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is a special case. For starters, almost the entire film has the ensemble cast working in one relatively small location (aboard the titular ship), but there’s also a whole lot of rocking around and getting drenched in water. You can tell while watching the finished feature that it was not an easy production, and the cast confirmed as much when I had the chance to speak with them about their experience earlier this summer.
I spoke with the stars of The Last Voyage Of The Demeter back in June during the movie’s virtual press day (prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike), and one question I asked all of them was about the rougher-than-normal conditions they were working in during the film’s production. Liam Cunningham, who plays the captain of the Demeter in the story, explained that the film in its own way benefitted from its lack of A-listers/big names, as the ensemble cast was made up of performers who are accustomed to the rougher aspects of the profession. Said Cunningham,
Continuing, the former Game Of Thrones star affirmed my suspicions that the water and close quarters made The Last Voyage Of The Demeter a challenging movie to make, but being surrounded by good people helped the experience:
Misery certainly is a big part of the game where this story is concerned. As alluded to by Liam Cunningham, The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is a partial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that digs into what transpires when the titular vampire takes a ship from his home in Transylvania to England. Along the way, he surreptitiously hunts the members of the crew for sustenance so that he can be at full strength by the time the Demeter arrives at its final destination.
Corey Hawkins plays Clemens, a doctor who joins the crew of the Demeter at the last minute, and he told me about a rare sensation that he experienced in the making of the film. Despite not actually taking a vessel out to sea, his time making the new feature left him with a touch of sea sickness. Said Hawkins,
Following up, I specifically asked about working with water and the sequences where there are waves crashing and storms raging. Corey Hawkins admitted those days were rough, but he also found himself marveling and what was being accomplished by the dedicated team of filmmakers:
Corey Hawkins told me that he was able to get into the fantasy, though there were some unfortunate snap backs to reality. He added,
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Playing first mate Wojchek in The Last Voyage Of The Demeter, the often cinematically ill-fated David Dastmalchian put it bluntly. The movie wasn’t easy to make and it hurt, but the effort and pain was worth it:
Also starring Aisling Franciosi, Stefan Kapicic, and Woody Norman, The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is now playing in theaters everywhere.
Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.