ANYA TAYLOR-JOY AND MILES TELLER TRIED TO REMOVE THOSE “QUEEN'S GAMBIT”, “WHIPLASH” NODS IN “THE GORGE”
"Do we not think that this is a bit on the nose?" Taylor-Joy recalls thinking.
The fun little nods to Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller's past star-making turns that appear in their new film The Gorge were entirely coincidental — in fact, the actors tried to remove them from their new movie.
In the genre-bending project, Taylor-Joy and Teller play two highly trained operatives appointed to guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge. Their mission? To protect the world from an undisclosed, mysterious menace that lurks within. Though they've been instructed not to make contact with each other, they soon start bonding from a distance while trying to stay vigilant in defending humanity against this unseen foe.
During this bonding, there's a montage of the two playing chess, à la Taylor-Joy's Netflix hit series The Queen's Gambit. At another point, Teller plays air drums in the style of his Oscar-winning film Whiplash. And while both moments feel oddly specific to the film's stars, they predate Taylor-Joy and Teller's casting.
"That was in the script from the very [beginning], before either of us were attached to this project. That was a part of the very first draft. We tried to remove it," Teller recalls to Entertainment Weekly with a laugh.
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Sitting next to her costar, Taylor-Joy nods in agreement. "Yeah, we were like, do we not think that this is a bit on the nose?" she says. "And they were like, 'Nah, they're trying to get to know each other. These are things that you can do across the gorge.'"
"He's a drummer; she likes chess," Teller interjects, to which Taylor-Joy notes that this sounds like the start to an Avril Lavigne song.
Keeping the joke going, Teller starts ad-libbing a "Sk8er Boi"-esque tune, much to Taylor-Joy's delight. This playful banter isn't just the result of working on the Scott Derrickson film together — the two have been close friends for many years but have never had the chance to work together until now.
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The level of trust the duo had for each other lent itself to the many demands of the film, which can be accurately described as horror, sci-fi, action, and romance all rolled into one. Says Taylor-Joy, "We were really there in a supportive manner for everything, and that level of care makes such a difference to you because you're going into these very difficult [scenes]. Especially when it's physically strenuous in this way, you're going into this state where knowing that somebody has your back in that way and wants you to succeed and will help you do that, that's really special."
Related: Anya Taylor-Joy says she has Chris Hemsworth's prosthetic tongue in a box: 'Silenced him'
Working long days away from home while balancing extremely physical tasks with the demands of co-leading a film would be enough to test any friendship, but the two felt it only deepened their appreciation for one another.
"You really do get to find out who somebody is when you're working extremely long hours," Teller says. "There's a lot of pressure; you're both in this performance world all the time. Usually you'll see through the cracks with people's personalities and things, but I loved that time with Anya getting to know her on an even deeper level."
Taylor-Joy agrees. "It's so wonderful when you can go through an experience like this where you really, really get to know a person, even if you thought you had an understanding of them before," she says, adding to Teller, "This is an entirely different experience, and I'm an even bigger fan of you as a person and as an actor now."
The Gorge, which also stars Sigourney Weaver and Sope Dirisu, is now streaming on Apple TV+.
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2025-02-14T20:08:53Z