Why is everyone so obsessed with end of the world movies? According to Carolina Bartczak, who stars as Brenda Lopez in Roland Emmerich’s new disaster movie “Moonfall,” human beings love to scare themselves by imagining the worst. Even from a young age, whether it’s “there’s a shark in the bathtub!” or “don’t touch the ground,” it’s part of human nature to always imagine “what if?” Disaster movies are just a grown-up version of this, Bartczak told WrapWomen during a recent Zoom interview.
“Adults have money and can make movies. Now we get to scare ourselves again,” the actress said. “[For example,] what would it be like if I got bitten by a radioactive spider and I had powers and became a Spider-Woman/Man? Or what would it be like if the moon started heading towards Earth? How would I deal with that? I think that’s just in our human nature to always imagine.”
For some people, filming a movie during a global pandemic might sound like a disaster scenario, and the filming of “Moonfall” presented its fair share of challenges. For Bartczak, though, one of the hardest parts was not getting to meet the director or co-stars, including Halle Berry, prior to filming.
“We did not have a chance to sit down with Roland and speak with him about how he envisioned [the film] to be,” said Bartczak. “Usually, you get to ensure you get introduced to all the actors. And so, you start just having that relationship and vibe with them and getting a sense of who they are and how they might play the character.”
In fact, the first time Bartczak met Berry, the actresses were shooting a scene together. At first, Bartczak didn’t even recognize it was Berry under her face mask, despite having been a long-time fan of the Oscar-winning legend. But once the cameras started rolling, Berry’s presence was so intense that Bartczak almost forgot they were filming.
“It like all became slow motion for me,” Bartczak said. “I was like, Halle Berry is running towards me. And she’s saying something to me. Why is she saying something? I’m like, oh my God … I have a line; I have to respond. I almost felt myself take a step back because her presence is just so intense … I’ve been such a huge Halle Berry fan for so long. She’s so magnanimous and intense in everything that she does, so I really had to get it on the second take, you know?”
Between shooting scenes, the actors also had little time to interact with each other. Bartczak explained to WrapWomen, “We all had these kind of little telephone booths that we had to sit in … we barely even had a chance to talk really. But every time we the shot the scene, every time [Berry] looked at me, I swear to God, she could like knock me off my feet with like a single glance. She’s so powerful.”
Check-out Bartczak, Berry and other powerhouse women who are taking over the big screen in “Moonlight” in theaters now.
Watch Bartczak’s full interview with WrapWomen at the top of the page.
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