Richard Armitage and Max Deacon Interview: ‘Into the Storm’

Richard Armitage (The Hobbit trilogy) and Max Deacon joined their co-stars Arlen Escarpeta and Jeremy Sumpter along with Into the Storm director Steven Quale at the 2014 WonderCon to show off footage from the upcoming disaster film set to hit theaters on August 8th. The Into the Storm cast also hit the red carpet to chat up the Warner Bros Pictures action-filled thriller, answering questions including what they would grab if a tornado hit.

Richard Armitage and Max Deacon Interview

What would be the most ridiculous pun to use to get people excited about this movie?

Max Deacon: “You know what I’ve just been stoked about is that no one’s brought up sharks. No one said anything about sharks yet. I’m really excited people seem to be taking it more seriously. It’s nice.”

There are no flying sharks in this movie, right?

Max Deacon: “Thank you very much. There’s no sharks in the film.”

Coming to WonderCon means you’ll be showing off trailers and scenes from the movie. Do you ever wish that people wouldn’t watch the trailers and just see the movies fresh?

Richard Armitage: “Do you know what I think is with this genre of movie there’s something about an incredible trailer that such a tempting thing to watch that will get people into the cinema. They’ve done a great job because they’ve captured the best of the film without revealing too much of it. I always find a great trailer like that is quite compelling.”

Max Deacon: “I think that’s the danger. I think we’ve all seen things where, ‘Oh, that’s the film.’ I was excited to see [our trailer] because I knew that they had cut together something special from the amazing stuff we have in the movie.”

If a tornado was coming toward your house right now and you were trying to save yourself, what items would you take with you?

Richard Armitage: “What items would you take with you, Max?”

Max Deacon: “Thank you so much! What stuff? I’d take my dog – I’d do that. I’d have to save the dog, that would be the first thing, and my little brother.”

Richard Armitage: “I’d probably go and grab my mom. If I had a dog, I’d grab that.”

Probably?

Richard Armitage: [Laughing] “Well you can’t tell until it happens to you.”

Max Deacon: “He’s a hero in the film but we’re saying in real life, cowardly. Straight out.”

Richard Armitage: “It depends on where I am at the time. If I was alone I’d take absolutely nothing but my underpants.”

Max Deacon: “I learned recently…we had the earthquake out here recently – that’s my first one. I found out that I…”

Richard Armitage: “Did you run?”

Max Deacon: “No, I didn’t. I woke up and I went, ‘Oh, I’m in an earthquake. I guess this is it.'”

How would you summarize the movie to get everybody pumped up about seeing it?

Richard Armitage: “What’s pumped to me about this film is the amount of practical effects that we were able to do onsite, on set, on location, out on the street. And that blended together with some incredible CGI from Steve Quale who’s worked with Jim Cameron who’s the master of great special effects, I think putting those two things together makes for a really kind of exciting, incredible film.”

Watch the interview:

(Additional reporting by Melissa Molina.)