Christopher Rhoten
Kevin and Matthew McManus’ new sci-fi action thriller Redux Redux explores the ramifications of being stuck in a loop. After acquiring a machine that allows her to travel across the multiverse, the grieving Irene (Michaela McManus, the duo’s real-life sister) uses this device to repeatedly take revenge on iterations of the man who killed her daughter. Her encounter with the rebellious Mia (Stella Marcus), however, threatens to either disrupt the cycle or pull both women deeper into it.
In contrast, the film marks major milestones for the cast: Irene is a layered role that offers the veteran McManus a fresh challenge, while Marcus makes her feature-film debut. Film Obsessive sat down with both Michaela and Stella to discuss their careers, the production, and what audiences can expect from this recursive action film, opening February 20th. This interview has been lightly edited for flow and clarity.
Film Obsessive: Michaela, you’ve heard this a million times, I’m sure, but what is it like working with your brothers, who wrote and directed the movie? More specifically, do you feel like it brings pressure, or maybe more freedom?
Michaela: Both. I think it truly brings on both. I felt extreme pressure with this particular project because I knew they’d been working on it for so long, and I’d been hearing about it for so long. So the stakes were really high. I didn’t want to mess it up, and being their sister, I’ve watched them throughout their career build to where they’re at now, and it’s so exciting to just get to have a front-row seat to that. So the pressure was intense, but at the same time, because I know them—I mean, they’re my brothers, I’ve known them their whole lives, and we grew up together, and we’ve gotten to play in this way since we were kids, making movies. We watched our mom perform on stage in Rhode Island, and that’s kind of what got us into it. It’s so ingrained in us.
The freedom is absolutely there, too, because the trust is already there. We don’t have to build a relationship; it’s already there, and in a way, it was almost like telepathic how we could communicate on set. It was just easy, in that sense. Yeah, both things.
How much would you say you brought to the story, or to your character? Did you help flesh out Irene as production went along, or was it kind of just all there in the script?
Michaela: I think that it was all there in the script, and what I appreciate about my brothers is that idea that you can have this woman who is tough, she’s hard, she’s cold, she’s a badass, but she’s also vulnerable and, you know, all of those things can be true at once. I liked how they were able to see this fully formed human and allow her to be all of it, and I think that’s what makes it more interesting as a viewer, too. To get to watch that all play out.
This is definitely a character-driven film, for sure. Stella, given that this is your feature film debut, what was it like stepping on the set of a big sci-fi action movie for the first time? I know you’ve done a lot of work on the stage, so what was the transition like?
Stella: I mean, the biggest thing I’ve done on stage came after we had wrapped Redux Redux, and so that was a huge transition. But I think kind of a smoother one than if it had been the other way around, because I got a few months to sort of, before we went into rehearsals for that play, to digest everything that we had just done on this movie. And also start building that separate character on my own, in my bedroom, and not just be coming from a play and a run, which is the most exhausting thing you can do—immediately plunging into a set.
So I was kind of grateful that they went in that order and not the other way around. But going back to your initial question, it was literally a dream come true. There’s not a single thing I would have changed about it. I mean, this was my first professional gig, and not only was I just able to do a job and be employed, which maybe sounds like the bare minimum, but [it’s] every actor’s dream to just have a job. But it was also something that I really, really loved doing, and I was trusted with so much responsibility in this movie, and got to work with people that I really loved. So yeah, it was a dream come true.
That’s awesome. I think it comes across in the performance, too. Michaela, you’ve worked across TV and film for a long time, of course. Was there anything about this role that was especially fresh, or maybe a little bit challenging for you?
Michaela: Yeah, it was… I’ve never played a role like Irene, that’s for sure. I talk about this a lot, that when you start out in Hollywood, it’s really easy to get put in a box. I think every actor kind of has to deal with that, where people see you a certain way, and that’s where you fit. I loved getting to play Irene and just, like, dirty her up and be tough. That is not an opportunity that comes along that easily for me, right?
But again, like, to bring it back to my brothers, they’ve seen me in so many—I mean, they’re my number one pick for any kind of acting coach, so whenever I’m working on auditions that run the gamut, my brothers are the ones I turn to. They’ve actually seen all my work and all the different kinds of things that I play, so I think they were able to see that I could fit in that role in a way that not a lot of [other] people can see, right? So, very cool.
Stella, I want to talk about Mia, because I feel like your character adds not only heart but a sense of humor to the movie. Talk a little bit about the dynamic between the characters. It kind of reminds me of movies like Logan or Paper Moon, you know? What do you think the characters bring out in each other? And then, what do you think you bring out in each other as actresses?
Stella: As characters, we’ve actually been talking about this today, how they give each other what the other lacks. In the most straightforward sense, Mia doesn’t have any parental or maternal figures, and Irene sort of, has this hole in her [from] missing her daughter, and so they do fill those voids for each other. But that feels a little transactional, because they have their own unique relationship that isn’t just mother-daughter. They become family, and both of them need family, I guess is a better way to put it.
But also, I think that before Irene meets Mia, she’s very much full of this hatred and passion and revenge herself. And then she meets Mia, who is that in spades as well; she’s a teenager, and she has that energy, and she’s been wronged, and so, rightfully so, to an extent. But then it gives Irene this sort of perspective of ‘maybe I need to rein it in, because I’m witnessing this hatred take over somebody else, and somebody I care about, and I don’t want that to be how they go through the world.’ And I think it teaches her a lesson of how she should, you know, she should take her own advice in that regard.
Totally. Yeah, even in the title, right? Redux Redux—it’s both characters, you know, how similar their paths are.
Stella: And then, as actresses, I was really grateful that Michaela was always there, because I felt very comfortable on set. Because everybody was so welcoming, and it was such a community. But it was still very new to me, and so if I ever felt like I was having sea legs, or I just needed that extra little push of, you know, someone rubbing your back and telling you you’re okay, I wouldn’t even have to voice it. I think Michaela just knew, and so it was really nice to have someone that I was in almost every scene with, and really bonded with immediately, at my side, someone who’s so experienced and has been doing this for a really long time.
Michaela: So nice. Yeah, I would just piggyback that: I think my character, Irene is just on autopilot with this revenge cycle, and then Mia kind of throws it all off. She is really a reflection of Irene, and she sees herself in her, and that’s when things finally change. And yeah, just on a personal level, too, with working with Stella. When she came to set, I definitely felt a sense of wanting [to], you know, [be] protective, because I knew this was her first experience, and I want it to be positive for her, and so that actually really played in well with our characters and who we are in the movie as well.
This is an action movie, and a sci-fi movie, but it’s also, as we alluded to, very character-driven. What do you hope audiences take away from the film once they see it?
Michaela: Well, when I’m watching a movie, the best movies are when you walk away and you can’t stop thinking about it. And if you’ve seen it with somebody, it just opens up all these conversations about life. That’s what I truly hope [happens when] people walk out of this movie: it stays on their minds, and they think about it, and they think about their own relationship to revenge and what you get out of it. I think that’s the sign of a good movie, when you can’t stop thinking about it.
Stella: Yeah, I agree completely, and I think I’ve said this before, but in my mind, at least, the multiverse and sci-fi aspect of it is really central to the story, but it’s also kind of just the vehicle by which the McManus brothers have created this really emotional, character-driven story, and so I think it’ll draw people from different types of audiences, and maybe they’ll go in expecting something that they will get aesthetically, but also leave with, like, a surprise emotional gift.
I’m gonna wrap up on a little bit of a sillier question: were there any funny stories from set? Which scene was most fun to shoot?
Michaela: Oh, that’s a good question. Juicy question.
Stella: Yeah, I’m trying to think…
Michaela: I would say a pretty funny moment was when I’m, at the end, and I’m in the swamp, and it’s freezing cold and it’s 2 in the morning and it’s just pretty brutal out there and this swamp is disgusting, I mean, absolutely foul, and there’s massive bullfrogs just all over, to the point where I’m batting them away while I’m in the water and I’m standing on this little square box. And Matt comes over, he’s like, ‘so, um… I need you to get under.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’
Michaela, you don’t have to defend your brothers. If anything happened on this set, you know, we need to… we need to hear about it.
Michaela: [laughing] Right. Like, I just throw them under the bus with this one.
Redux Redux opens in theaters Friday, February 20th.
