Never Let Gois a new horror thriller starring Academy Award Winner Halle Berry. The story is set in the woods, where Berry’s character lives in a secluded cabin with her two sons. Berry’s character—who is unnamed—is sure of an evil lurking in the woods and believes that only by tethering themselves with rope to the wood of the cabin can she and her family remain safe. The unique premise was turned into script form by KC Coughlin and Ryan Grassby, whose previous work as a writing duo includesThe King TideandMean Dreams.
Screen Rant’sNever Let Goreviewcalled the film a fascinating psychological thriller, and the success of its execution fell in large part to director Alexandre Aja. The French director is a horror veteran, having made his mark on the genre in part withThe Hills Have Eyes(2006) andCrawl(2019). ForNever Let Go,Aja leans into family drama elements to craft a captivating watch that focuses on the relationship between Berry’s character and her children.
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Screen Rantinterviewed Aja to speak about the process of bringingNever Let Goto the big screen. During the chat, Aja discussed working with Halle Berry on the movie that would earnBerry’s highestRotten Tomatoesscore in years. Aja also spoke about what drew him to the film and the layers of symbolism behind its unique concept.
Alexandre Aja On The Tones & Themes That Drew Him To Never Let Go
The Movie Felt To Aja Like “A Classic Fairy Tale.”
Screen Rant:Never Let Gois absolutely phenomenal at its heart. It’s an incredible family drama with universal themes while still being a brilliant horror film. I feel like audiences are going to get way more than they expect with this film because it will keep them on the edge of their seats and keep them talking after they’ve watched it. When you first read the script, what spoke to you about it?
Alexandre Aja: Everything you just said. The experience of reading it was quite an intimate one. I got scared, but I didn’t get scared in a way [where] I was picturing a graphic, gory moment. It was not that type of movie. It was way, way more sophisticated and much more interesting, and maybe more scary, because of that. The theme—the reflection about what it is to be a parent, what it is to be a kid, and what it is to protect, or overprotect, your children—was something that was treated in a way I was not expecting. The mind game about guessing what is really happening and that story about those two kids, one who’s believing everything his mom is saying and the other one questioning everything… [there were] just so many layered themes that I wanted to explore to attempt to create a movie that was not anything you’ve seen before.
I feel like every 30 minutes or so, I felt like I had the movie figured out, and something new happened. I was like, “Man, I thought I had this.” The idea of a family being physically tethered with a rope is intriguing. Can you talk about what that symbolizes in the context of the film?
Alexandre Aja: In the movie, the world is gone, like some evil force possessed the people and made them kill each other. There is this blessed house where our characters are living deep in the woods, off the grid, and as long as they stay in the house, they are safe—which is the opposite of the usual scary movie where the house is usually where the bad things are happening. But [here,] this is not the case. The house is actually the safe place for them, and as long as they stay connected to the house with the rope, they are safe as well.
The evil cannot touch them, the evil cannot go to them, but the evil is patient and will do anything to make them let go of the rope. The rope is also a really limited amount of length that brings their world into the wilderness [on a] very, very kind of small [scale]. It’s only like a hundred yards of rope that allows them to just look for food and come back home, but the world for them ends at the end of the rope. And for me, the rope symbolized so many things. Of course, it symbolized the bond to the house.
The original title of the movie was Motherland, and I think it’s really about that. It’s about being tied to the motherland and being able to, at some point, let go of that rope or cut that rope and be able to be free. This is what the movie is really playing—are we really protecting those kids from the evil, or are we just keeping them prisoner? That’s really what the subject is, in, I feel, the same way as a classic fairy tale.
We all go through that same exact experience about, “When do we need to cut the rope? When do we need to accept or embrace our parents' legacy, or generational trauma? How can we not repeat the same thing that we are repeating from son to father to son to father and mother, [and so on?] How can we be free from that? How can we do the work?” It’s all those questions that I felt were very, very written into the story of that script. In the same way [that] a dark fairytale will reflect our own darkness and the monsters that are living among us, I felt that the movie was kind of doing a very similar thing.
Halle Berry Is “Everything In This Movie”, Says Aja
The Star And Director Collaborated Closely To Maintain The Right Tone For Her Character
Halle’s level of immersion in this film is absolutely incredible for Mama. She grew out her fingernails, her body hair, and stained her teeth on set. How did that level of immersion help Halle get into character, what made her the perfect choice for Mama, and how did her performance shape the film?
Alexandre Aja: She’s everything in this movie. She really kind of gave us the direction. I remember the first time we met, she said, “I just want to be sure that we’re not going to compromise on any layers of that character—that we’re not going to try to make her just a hero, make her just likable, not going to give up on all the darkness that she’s carrying, the troubled past that she has, [or] all the mystery that surrounds her.” It was music to my ears.
This is exactly the way I saw the movie. This is the way I read it, and together we just kept pushing and pushing and pushing to even go further in that duality. Yes, there are two kids that are fraternal twins that are opposites, but she’s also dual. She also has a darker side as well. So, that was really [an] exciting creative process—[getting] to push and be sure that we were going and embracing that direction as well.
More About Never Let Go (2024)
A family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years. Their safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the children questions if the evil is real.
Never Let Go
Cast
A mother and her twin sons are trapped in their house by a malevolent force, relying on their familial bond and physical connection for safety. When one son questions the reality of the evil, their unity unravels, leading to a terrifying battle for survival in this psychological thriller/horror.
