While some productions are plagued by COVID-19, union disputes and scheduling conflicts, Karrie Crouse and Will Joines had their hands full with “rattlesnakes, lighting strikes, dust storms and locusts” while shooting their Dust Bowl-era horror, “Hold Your Breath.”
“There was one day where we had to stop shooting because an actual dust storm shut our shoot down,” Joines said. “Once the actual dust storm stopped, we all got back on location, cranked up a huge 20-foot fan and shoveled dust in it to make a fake dust storm.”
More from Variety
Luckily Crouse and Joines were spared from nature’s wrath at “Hold Your Breath’s” Los Angeles premiere Oct. 4 at the Harmony Gold Preview House. Sarah Paulson and the rest of the film’s leading cast joined the directing duo on the red carpet.
“Hold Your Breath” follows Margaret Bellum (Paulson) and her two daughters (Amiah Miller and Alona Jane Robbins) who are barely scraping by during the time of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. While she waits for her husband to return from an out-of-state job, Margaret is driven mad by visions of the Grey Man, a ghostly drifter who materializes during violent dust storms.
Paulson, who served as executive producer and star, was “in every conceivable way” imperative to the film’s success, the team said. Joines and Crouse praised her as a “champion for the film,” emphasizing her grit in the face of challenging shooting days.
“There were certain times when she was out in front of this massive fan with all this dust in her face. And we thought, ‘Surely she’s gonna say no more.’ She actually did the opposite,” Joines said. “She said, ‘I want it to look right. I want it to feel right. Give me more.’”
“She argued with the safety director like, ‘It’s my face. I’m breathing it in. Throw more dust at me!’ It was amazing,” Crouse added.
Paulson, who plays mother to Miller and Robbins, felt “very, very lucky” to share the spotlight with her two young co-stars, who both make breakout performances in “Hold Your Breath.”
“Amiah, it’s not her first job ever, but close to it. And this is Alona’s first acting job,” Paulson said. “I feel like I’ve been blessed in that way. I was in Elizabeth Olsen’s first movie, Lupita Nyong’o’s first movie and now these beautiful girls who I’m sure are going to run this town very quickly. I’ll be begging them both for jobs.”
“Hold Your Breath” is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.