Director John Crowley claims ‘Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea’ twist ‘had a horrible inevitably’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“I hadn’t played in the sandpit of science fiction before,” exclaims John Crowley about directing “Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea.” In our recent webchat he adds, “I was delirious with joy doing it. The playfulness of realizing it visually was extraordinary.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

“Black Mirror” is the Netflix anthology series created by Charlie Brooker in which each episode takes on new characters and stories to tell a dystopian tale using sci-fi technology.

“Beyond the Sea” is a featured installment from the sixth season of the show. Set in 1969, Josh Hartnett and Aaron Paul play the only two astronauts on a years-long mission. Technology allows both to send their consciousness to replicas of their bodies back on earth. Crowley explains, “Shooting the material where Josh or Aaron were on their own was fascinating and quite paranoid making. It was so claustrophobic and difficult for us all to move around in. My back was sore from stepping in and out of the ship dozens of times every hour. But it was a glorious dark playground. I could feel shot by shot the performances were growing beautifully.”

In the film, after one of the spacemen suffers an horrific tragedy, the other offers him a turn in inhabiting their replica. This leads to a violent twist. Crowley reveals, “It had a horrible inevitably about it. The most appalling symmetry of when something dreadful is visited upon somebody and they literally revisit that on other people. I found that appallingly truthful. Without mentioning it’s own importance. Because it’s also entertaining with a satirical element to it.” He muses that “you are left reflecting on the smallness of men in all senses at the end of it.”

The director won the Best British Film BAFTA for the Oscar nominated film “Brooklyn” in 2016. Reflecting on his love for filmmaking, he says he loves “the thrill of seeing an actor push through an emotional moment for the first time on camera. That’s the thing that excites me. To sit at the monitor, see that happening and be that first audience. To see in an actor’s eyes something crack open and a moment of truth fly into the room. That’s thrilling.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: For the interview, the reference to the House of Atreides was meant to be to the House of Atreus. We apologize for this brief error in the video.

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