The Long Walk is no walk in the park.
The cast of the upcoming horror-thriller film stopped by Entertainment Weekly‘s San Diego Comic-Con studio to discuss the Stephen King adaptation — and revealed how much walking the production actually entailed.
Garrett Weaving plays Stebbins, a competitor in the film’s dystopian walk-or-die competition, and tells EW that he secretly tracked his step-count while filming. “I had my phone in my backpack the whole time, so I had to hide it, but I had my counter, right?” he says. “We were all walking — in addition to our crew members as well, who I want to shout out here — we were all walking eight to 15 miles a day. So what is it? 25,000 to 30,000 steps?”
David Jonsson, who portrays Peter in the movie, says that the film’s primary shooting location in Canada was extremely accommodating to the production. “Shoutout to Winnipeg, they were so kind to us,” Jonsson says. “We had this film that just took over all their streets because we just kept walking. They were very sweet to us.”
Tut Nyuot, who plays fellow competitor Arthur in the movie, adds that the psychological component of filming was more difficult than expected.
“We’re walking, we’re actually walking,” he says. “It’s something that I don’t think has ever been done, just constantly on the move. So mentally, just getting into that headspace and just staying locked in and treating every scene as if it’s new, ’cause we’re doing it so many times. We filmed one scene a day.”
Murray Close/Lionsgate
Joshua Odjick as Parker, Jordan Gonzalez as Harkness, David Jonsson as McVries, Cooper Hoffman as Garraty, and Charlie Plummer as Barkovitch in ‘The Long Walk’
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However, since the film was shot in chronological order, the actors say that they had an easier time shaping the arc of their performances. “I’ve never had the blessing as an actor, I’m sure you would agree, to be able to shoot chronologically and to make a choice on day one that you can carry through until day 30,” Weaving says.
The actor also recalls a cheery tradition that the assistant directors began to send off performers once their characters died in the film and were eliminated from the competition. “Our lovely ADs would make buttons for us that say ‘Happy Death Day,’ and we would kinda trade the buttons around on set for whoever’s [death] it was,” Weaving remembers. “We had balloons, and it would be a celebration of sorts of a long walk well done.”
The Long Walk hits theaters Sept. 12.
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