Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller reveal that a gravity-defying action sequence in The Gorge required very little CGI to accomplish. Directed by Scott Derrickson, the sci-fi horror film sees Taylor-Joy and Teller as highly-trained operatives ᴀssigned to watch over a mysterious gorge. Released this Valentine’s Day, the two embark on a dangerous mission between the cliffs that brings them closer to each other—and death—than ever before. The Gorge also stars Sigourney Weaver, who manages The Gorge‘s Dark Lake research facility, and is available to watch on Apple TV+.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Taylor-Joy and Teller broke down the behind-the-scenes technicalities of the completely vertical jeep scene, where they scaled the gorge’s cliff face while being chased by its mutant humanoid creatures. The scene, which took several days to film and several months to rehearse, required that the actors engage in a complex choreography of acrobatic fighting and stunts as the jeep was slowly pulled upwards. Read what they had to say below:

Taylor-Joy: What’s incredible about this movie is so much of it is practical. We used very little CGI, so most of the gorge was built on a sound stage and we were doing everything that you see us doing in the film. So that was a Jeep that was slowly moving upwards whilst we were doing acrobatic fighting around all of it.

Teller: Anya and I, when we first started doing the stunt training, I think we started on the ground getting the movements, and then they put us on harnesses, and we were working on some different platforms. Then they actually made a model of the Jeep that we were going to be using, and we were like, oh man, this is actually way тιԍнтer than what we thought it was going to be.

So, just the practicality of it presented some unique challenges for us. I definitely got a little banged up filming that. We were very happy when that was done.

Taylor-Joy: What’s crazy about this film is there was a point kind of halfway through filming where every single day was a set piece, and so you were kind of rolling into each new challenge, carrying the other challenge on your back. But that also made it really exciting.

What The Making Of The Gorge’s Most Intense Scene Means

The Actors Were Required To Actually Scale A Cliff

The action-packed, genre-bending love story of The Gorge is Teller and Taylor-Joy’s first film together. Yet, it is not the first time the leading stars embarked on their own high-octane journey. For Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Taylor-Joy trained for a full year in stunt and motorcycle riding in order to handle the War Rig. In Top Gun: Maverick, Teller underwent an intense fitness regimen, including several months in flight school, for his role as Rooster. By the end of The Gorge, the two spent much of their physical and mental strength escaping the chasm.

Nonetheless, it seemed that neither could prepare the leading stars for the grueling sequence that required enacting a precise action choreographer several feet above the ground as stuntpeople in green suits pursued them from below. While reviews for The Gorge have been mixed, ScreenRant‘s Alex Harrison commended the action, which is “always crisp and visible through the gloom.” While the film was seeped in a mix of CGI and practical effects, Teller and Taylor-Joy grounded Derrickson’s latest not only with their electrifying chemistry, but with tangible and physical action.

Our Take On The Gorge’s Most Intense Scene

The Stars Successfully Managed A Gravity-Defying Feat

There’s something exhilarating about knowing that the mind-blowing action sequences we see on screen were actually performed by the actors themselves. In an era where CGI dominates blockbuster filmmaking, The Gorge uses practical effects for its most intense scene, making the vertical jeep sequence all the more impressive. Teller getting “a little banged up” speaks to their commitment on set and draws us deeper into the tension of The Gorge itself. Taylor-Joy and Teller aren’t just delivering a performance; they’re physically engaging with the environment, making every struggle, every near-miss, and every leap feel viscerally real.

Source: EW