Michael Bay is no stranger to action thrillers, being the director who made the Watchmen) and Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), who attempt a bank heist in order to bankroll surgery for Will's wife. To say it does not go smoothly would be an understatement.
We spoke with stars Gyllenhaal and Abdul-Mateen II about the playlists that got them ready for set and the improvisations that made bringing a Michael Bay action scene to life all the more fun.
This was a fast shoot. I don't think as fast as The Guilty, but pretty fast. What is the fastest you've ever said yes to a role?
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: I'll go. It was The Trial of the Chicago 7. I read it, and I'm halfway through. And I'm ready to say – let me speed up – I'm ready to say yes, but I say, “You know what? I'm going to sleep on it.” Just because it makes sense to go to sleep and wake up and make that call in the morning. And that's what I did. But I wanted to just say yes because it was Aaron Sorkin, Bobby Seale. The words were great words. And as soon as I started reading it, I said, yeah, this is mine.
Jake Gyllenhaal: All the movies I've ever auditioned for, you're saying yes before you even get it. So that's the fastest.
The brothers have their calming song, their Christopher Cross. Do you guys have a playlist that you use on set, maybe on this set, things you were listening to that kind of got you into the vibe?
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: My playlist on this set was a calming playlist, which doesn't help to get you in the mood for the stuff that we were going to do. It was more so for me just to have my own personal calm.
Jake Gyllenhaal: I a lot of Marvin Gaye. I sort of rolled with his playlist after a while because he has his phone on and he just presses play in between takes and you just listen to some slow jams.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: But it was never pumping us up though.
Yeah that's kind of the opposite of what I was expecting.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: You don't need help getting pumped up for this.
Jake Gyllenhaal: Not with Michael Bay.
I'm really curious how many vehicles were totaled in the making–
Jake Gyllenhaal: So are we actually [laughs]. It might be a Guinness Book of World Records.
Jake, you were cracking me up at some points in this movie because some of the stuff you were yelling was so out of pocket.
Jake Gyllenhaal: Michael Bay has a real penchant for rolling the camera and just throwing lines at you, and then you throwing them back. So, he would say something and it's almost like he's sort of dishing things out. He'll say something and you go, "I'm not saying that. What about this?" "Fine. I'll say it." And I'll say it. And then, "What about this?" And then say it.
Then you work off him and you give him some things, and he says, "I love that." It's a pretty open, free-flowing kind of really wacky process.
And then you go home and you're like, “What did I say today?”
Jake Gyllenhaal: Sort of.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: [nods] Little bit.
Jake Gyllenhaal: Like I see some things in the movie and we're both like, “What? What did we... Who?”
What transpires being in the close quarters of the ambulance? I even read at some points you guys were having to operate the camera because it was such a small space.
Jake Gyllenhaal: It's funny. it was hard to get your energy up and it was hard to, at certain points, act in such a small space. As Yahya has said, if there are three actors in that space, it means there are probably six people shooting it.
There were a lot of people kind of squished in getting knocked around. And a lot of times, as we're driving down the street at 50-60 miles an hour doing a scene, bumping into things and knocking yourself, I thought to myself, “What about the people who do a real job in these vehicles? People are saving lives every day. We think it's hard to act in here, how hard it must be to actually do that job.”
It just made me think, in the middle of what was a second wave of the pandemic here in Los Angeles, just the incredible work they were doing. And here we were trying to act. It was a pretty huge difference.
Yahya, we are one year away from the return of Black Manta. Is there anything you can say to tide us over for the next year?
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: I wanted to have waves in Aquaman 2, and I didn't. I didn't get it done, because I had hair. But I have waves in Ambulance, so that's something to look forward to.
I make waves, but I don't have them.
Ambulance: In Theaters Now
Needing money to cover his wife's medical bills, a decorated veteran teams up with his adoptive brother to steal $32 million from a Los Angeles bank. However, when their getaway goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate thieves hijack an ambulance that's carrying a severely wounded cop and an EMT worker. Caught in a high-speed chase, the two siblings must figure out a way to outrun the law while keeping their hostages alive.
You can also check out our interviews with Eiza González here.
Ambulance is now playing in theaters.
