Jaylan Salah Interviews Director Mel Eslyn on her recent film “Biosphere”
Billy (Mark Duplass) and Ray (Sterling K. Brown) are lifelong best friends, brothers from another mother – and the last two men on earth.
It didn’t take more than that line for me to sink my teeth into Biosphere. The first thing that comes to mind while watching this movie is how breathless it leaves you. A creative mix between the sci-fi and buddy comedy genres, Biosphere is a movie for comedy lovers, but also those who want to sink their teeth into something beyond their average Cup O’ Joe on screens recently.
I had the pleasure of talking to Mel Eslyn, director and co-writer of the film with Duplass, and tried getting inside the mind of the genius behind this tale of biology, camaraderie, survival, and evolution. The world as we know it might not stay like this forever, there are a million things that threaten its existence and stability. If people are not careful about how they treat their planet, civilization in its most recent form will decline, eating away with it what remains from the land, the soil, the crops, and the greenery.
Biosphere is not only about the dying planet but about the surviving few humans living on whatever remains of life form. Using a few symbolic Darwinian objects, Mark Duplass’s humor, and Sterling K. Brown’s charisma, Eslyn keeps the movie momentum monotonous and easy-paced.
I had to ask Eslyn what compelled her to tackle a story that seemed simple yet complex plot with as much thoughtfulness as there is also humanity and compassion,
“I’m trying to keep the plot under wraps because I miss the authentic experience of walking into a movie theater and knowing nothing. So much of the film today is that we’re having these conversations before seeing it, and I’m like I wanna those after, cuz there’s so much that I wanna talk about that I won’t. But what I can say is: Mark Duplass came to me with a little kernel of an idea. He had a great half-formed idea and what I did with it is that I kinda finished the sentence. So we threw in all these things we loved, and I threw in some themes that I am the most interested in which are science, magic, humanity, evolution, gender, and toxic masculinity [and kinda dismantling it]. I really found a way to put that all in but for it to feel cohesive and it all makes sense together. I think that was the biggest challenge.”
Speaking of comedy, not once will the viewer be able to stop laughing. As the plot progresses and the two leads sit down to talk something out or run in a marathon to discuss it with the camera tracking them, or simply watching them from a steady pace as they pace and cry and shout, the dialogue keeps the viewer both on edge and entertained. The bizarreness of the situation that the two leads find themselves in is constantly disrupted with a joke or a perfectly thrown punchline. The comedy doesn’t only come from Duplass whom everybody is used to seeing as a big-time jokester, but also Brown whose calm demeanor and perfect line delivery makes his character both charming and engaging as the voice of the wisdom of this strangely matched duo.
Working with both actors must have been a treat but also a challenge. Both actors come from completely different schools and mindsets. Those who are familiar with Sterling K. Brown know that he has a thing for complex, serious roles, whether as hunter Gordon Walker in Supernatural, Randall Pearson in This is Us, and domineering but loving father Ronald in Waves. Mark Duplass on the other hand, is the master of loose, improvisational comedy and for that combination to occur, it must have been one gigantic mount for the director to climb,
“The crazy thing is that Sterling [K. Brown] is actually so funny and you would never know it because a lot of the roles he played are so serious. When I wrote this role for him it was because I saw him in this indie film Waves and he was so great in it, also in the O.J. series [The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story], but then I was like can this guy be funny and lighthearted? So I googled him and found a video of him super goofy and dancing so I thought yes, he’s got it in him. I took them to dinner. Mark [Duplass] is one of the closest collaborative relationships of my career. So we brought Sterling in and took him to dinner and I left them to create this energy and this kind of bro-ship and they really clicked. It worked. It feels like they have different energy, but it was actually weirdly similar and they fit perfectly together.”
Eslyn compared Brown’s and Duplass’s styles, with the latter being more improvisational as opposed to how Brown takes his lines seriously. Having to find the middle ground between the two of them was her accomplishment and success as a director, and that was what gave the movie this air of freshness without losing their polarizing natures in between.
Biosphere‘s quest to dismantle toxic masculinity exposes male vulnerability, especially in Duplass’s role. I had to ask Eslyn about creating a safe environment for her actors, not just in terms of physical safety but also from an emotional standpoint,
“It’s all about choosing the right collaborators and setting a tone on set. You know because this film is in a biosphere, you physically can only have so many people with us on set. Everybody else was outside of it at different video villages. So that really helps. The intimacy. And also most crew members I have worked with for years ended up being on this film, and really brought together a group of amazing people. They were all super-talented, loving humans. That just set the tone. For all of us to come in knowing each other, and for Sterling to be the new addition, it made it more comfortable for him [Mark] and he had the safe space to explore.
I think the fact that Mark and I have worked together for so long, he feels very comfortable with me. I feel that I am Mark’s safe space. Sterling saw that and recognized it, and kinda slid in.”
Eslyn also made sure to let everyone have fun by bringing everyone on set and turning on Footloose in the biosphere so that people would just burst dancing together. That must have swept off the tension immediately, not to mention having a video of Sterling K. Brown dancing which all his fans would pray to the film gods that it finds its way somehow into the BTS footage.
Biosphere is an important, small film with big ideas. It’s made with love and passion, the team behind it is an incredible ensemble of artists and thinkers, comedians and professionals, and to support the arts audiences need to tune in and keep these movies being made.