Jacques Traver > Just for reference, production did request we increase the security due to the unexpected guest but looking at her I fail to see a place to hide a weapon…
Maret Takala > I was just going to joke about transparency
< Laughter echoes through the studio >
Jacques Traver > Were she always that transparent?
Maret Takala > To a disturbing degree, asking a question really did carry the risk of hearing an answer.
Paige > You did say you wanted as real as it got.
Maret Takala > I know! Still made it hard to believe sometimes.
Eric Sault > Just so it’s on the record – we spent unreasonable amount of money trying to verify the story prior to filming and at least a solid half of that there are actual, living witnesses for.
Paige > …the rest was me smooching Thomas, so that’s off-camera and no witnesses that I know of.
Jacques Traver > I honestly expected him to come when we saw you but he is absent.
Paige > He’s just salty he doesn’t look like Peter so he didn’t want to come.
Peter Roy > This guy is unbelievably large. The size difference between you and him is like me and Maret, just… more.
Paige > Oh I know, believe me.
Peter Roy > What did they feed him when he was young, seriously!
Paige > Spite and gruel?
(…)
Jacques Traver > Eric, the fights. People anticipated this when you were name-dropped as the director. And this may your the best yet, especially the finale.
Eric Sault shrugs slightly > Sometimes you innovate, sometimes you iterate – we were happy with this style for Ascent, so we just iterated.
Jacques Traver > The final one is just breathtaking, Roy we all expected but Maret-
Maret Takala > I was sore for two days.
Jacques Traver > …and that’s not saying you came at it without prep, you are fit, you don’t just do romantic comedies where half of the movie is sitting at a coffee table.
Adel Freir > Hands down the most surprising thing was being told to try to kill Maret more and put my back into it, imagine you were betrayed and wish nothing but revenge.
Jacques Traver > …and the result shows, you are terrifying!
Adel Freir > But she wasn’t happy! Even the take that went into production!
Paige > Hey, hey – I’m fairly sure you could’ve taken your “almost want to kill Maret” one more notch forward.
Adel Freir > Yeah, but I don’t want a whole career of being the bad guy, it’s already half of my thing.
Peter Roy, theatrical whisper > …Adel still hasn’t realized he’s been the movie’s only good guy all along.
(…)
Jacques Traver > Obviously, you had some eyewitnesses guiding you, and some general guidelines on your character.
Maret Takala > I did, and kudos to you Paige for not being annoying and letting me “get into your boots” as silly as it may sound. A lot of people expect this… total replication? “Oh walk like this, wave your hand like that!” - she just told me some pointers and then I just tried to understand what being her was like at the time.
Jacques Traver > And how was it?
Maret Takala > Less brave than I thought, I guess? I heard some of the stories and thought ‘hey look, total badass, I know the drill’ and I tried to get that mood in, get some of that grit on the camera. She’d tell me “Maret, this was a moment in my life where I very nearly ■■■■ myself out of fear. We’re cutting on the paralyzing indecision to save time, but believe me I laid there still for solid minutes.”
Paige > Oh that moment! You nailed it eventually though.
Maret Takala > It was at a later scene where I “got” it, really.
Jacques Traver > You’re talking about guidance, what is it like to work with a capsuleer?
Maret Takala > I heard a lot about how they vary from person to person. Paige is nice, but there is always that level of unease.
Peter Roy > One of the most terrifying things I heard at a lunch, you dropped the idea of a sequel Eric…
Eric Sault laughs, buries his face in his hands then composes himself > You know, you reach a point in your life when you’re a well-known director and do things you always striven to do, things you love. You had people threaten you before, because you made this scene or didn’t make a scene about something – and then at lunch, this girl hears your remark and with her mouth stuffed with a burger casually drops “You do that, and I’ll kill you and get away with it.”
- Traver, Maret laugh, Paige deadpans and then gets an epiphany*
Paige > Out of context! Totally- no wait, it’s… perfectly in context.
Sault keeps giggling > The worst part is, you realize she probably could actually do that so it’s either you don’t do a sequel, or tackle her on the ground while you still have the advantage of mass.
Maret Takala > If someone could snap a photo of both of you at that moment, it’d be gold.
Jacques Traver > Eric, Paige. Sequel?
Paige, Eric, almost shouting over each other > No!
Maret Takala > I wouldn’t mind one. You’re here all flashy, almost the entire movie I spend in rags that just get progressively more and more cut up. I want justice for movie-Paige, I want her in a nice dress on camera.
< Eric throws Maret a death stare, Paige bursts out laughing followed by Roy. >