'Not Without Hope' Interview: Zachary Levi and More

Moviefone speaks with Zachary Levi, Quentin Plair, Terrence Terrell and Marshall Cook about 'Not Without Hope'. "All these lives were impacted," Levi said.

Opening in theaters on December 12th is the new survival thriller 'Not Without Hope', which is directed by Joe Carnahan (‘Shadow Force’) and based on an incredible true story.

The film stars Zachary Levi (‘Shazam!’), Josh Duhamel (‘London Calling’), Quentin Plair (‘Dirty Grandpa’), Terrence Terrell (‘Batwoman’), Marshall Cook ('Copshop'), and JoBeth Williams (‘Poltergeist’).

(L to R) Zachary Levi, Terrence Terrell, Quentin Plair and Marshall Cook in 'Not Without Hope'. Photo: Inaugural Entertainment.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Zachary Levi, Quentin Plair, Terrence Terrell and Marshall Cook about their work on 'Not Without Hope', their first reaction to the true story it is based on, their research, creating the friendship between the characters, filming in the water, survivor’s guilt, and working with director Joe Carnahan.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.

Related Article: Zachary Levi Talks 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' and Playing a Superhero

Zachary Levi in 'Not Without Hope'. Photo: Inaugural Entertainment.

MF: To begin with, Zachary, were you aware of the true story that the film is based on and what was your first reaction to the screenplay?

Zachary Levi: So, I was familiar with the story in that I remember it being on the news in 2009, kind of in the background. It was one of the mini stories that's on the news and I was thinking to myself, "Wow, that is so sad that these guys went out for a fishing trip and three of the four didn't come back." I didn't know any of the details. I don't even know that the details were available at that time. Then the script came across my desk, and I read it. I mean, honestly, the first thing that hits me, and it hits me watching the movie, is that all these lives were so insanely impacted and lost. Three of these gentleman's lives lost all over an anchor. As I'm reading the script, I'm like, "Just cut it. Just cut it." As if somehow, I could bring them back into existence, if I could change what had already happened. But that, also, I think, leads to investing you in the story and seeing how it ultimately plays out, and how they're able to survive. Ultimately, Nick is rescued at the last second, I believe that the Coast Guard said he was 45 minutes away from dying himself. But that last shred of hope, that against all odds, I will hold on, I will believe that something will change in this course of events, and it did. I'm grateful that he lived to write the book, and for us to go make this movie, for us to honor Marquis, Corey and Will because they're not here. So, I think all of that affected me as I was reading the script and, ultimately, wanted me to sign on.

(L to R) Quentin Plair, errence Terrell, Zachary Levi and Marshall Cook in 'Not Without Hope'. Photo: Inaugural Entertainment.

MF: Quentin, can you talk about the friendship that these four men had together and what it was like for you creating that on screen with your fellow actors?

Quentin Plair: Well, Marshall and I live very close to each other. So, we were in the same gym and this guy just walks up to me and he's like, "Hey, are you Quentin Plair?" I'm like, "Yeah, who are you?" He's like, "Hey, I shouldn't say this, but I just got this ‘Not Without Hope’ and I know you got it as well." I was like, "Oh man, that's awesome." So, during the prep process, I think that was probably maybe two months or so before we were going to film. The two of us exchanged information, and we pushed each other because we were swimming and working out in preparation for it. Then we get out there and the way that we did the shooting, we did the water stuff before we did the out of the water stuff. So, all of us were just going through this thing together. To be a survival movie, it's an intimate look at it. It's a up close and personal look at it. You kind of feel like you're out there with us. There were so many times, where Zach had to literally pull me onto the boat, pull me through the water, lift me up himself, hold me, and cradle me in his arms. I'm dead weight at that point because I'm being overtaken by hypothermia. What I call my last present moments are just his eyes looking down at me, my eyes looking back at him, and just having this intense, organic, genuine connection through all these tough external things, the water, the wind machines, the rain, the cold of the water, the waves, and just the relentless night after night of these night shoots. Then we get on land and it's kind of like, we just get to have fun. We just get to have this connection. We get to joke around, and we get to laugh. That felt like such a relief that like, “Oh, no, we don't have to go through this pain”. We're on a regular sleep cycle. We're on all these things, and we had built such a bond through going through that, that once we got to those scenes, I think it was just palpable. People that watched it, I think, saw that and I saw it myself and it just really all worked out.

(L to R) Zachary Levi and Marshall Cook in 'Not Without Hope'. Photo: Inaugural Entertainment.

MF: Marshall, can you talk about the challenges of shooting in water and acting in those harsh conditions?

Marshall Cook: Well, there's two different ways of looking at it. I mean, the one challenge is, obviously, you can't really plan anything because you're just constantly off balance. I mean, it was hard to just stay on the boat. There's a lot that you don't expect that Joe is doing behind the scenes. He's queuing water cannons to go off when you're not expecting them and there's just a lot of chaos. So, there's no real rhythm and you must do more reacting, which is the other way of looking at it is that you can just kind of be, and it requires less acting sometimes. So, I think not overthinking it and just saying, "Am I this person in this scenario? Is that convincing to the audience?" You can just kind of let go, and there's certain beats and things you must do in a scene, but you get away from overthinking or pre-planning. I mean, to me, I think it was a gift. I think the biggest challenge was just navigating the cold.

Director Joe Carnahan on the set of 'Shadow Force'. Photo: Courtesy of Lionsgate.

MF: Terrence, what was your experience like working with director Joe Carnahan on this project?

Terrence Terrell: Joe has so much energy and so many surprises. He'll say the tank's going to go off just twice, and it went off 15 times just to get you. Then the other cool thing about it was freezing in that water. I remember a couple of times; Joe went in the water with us. So, he was on the side with no wetsuit on or anything, with the camera and in the water with us. So, that was cool to let us know that not only was he directing us in this chaos, but he also didn’t mind jumping in the chaos with us. So, I love Joe. He's so cool.

Zachary Levi in 'Not Without Hope'. Photo: Inaugural Entertainment.

MF: Finally, Zachary, can you talk about the research you did for this role and how it helped inform your performance? Also, did Nick have “survivor’s guilt” and how did he overcome that?

ZL: I mean, I talked to Nick quite a few times just trying to get into his head and understand his journey through all of this. As you can imagine, it was quite a traumatic experience. With trauma, a lot of memory can get repressed. But I know that Nick is a strong man, and he continues to live his life. It’s like when Tom Hanks looks at Matt Damon in ‘Saving Private Ryan’. He says, "Earn it." Because all these guys, this whole platoon, basically, lost their lives for you to go and be with your family and live a life beyond this. I think that Nick really does step up to live his life to be an honorable man and to honor these friends of his that were lost. Survivor's guilt is real. We nod at that in the end of the film. Nick's still having these images of his friends and their experience together. I think we try to layer as much of that in there without being too heavy-handed. I mean, there's so much that you could unpack in all of it psychologically. But I think Joe did a really good job of telling the story that needed to be told, honoring the gentlemen in that story, and that's what we've got. That's what's on the screen.