Video/Audio: Drake Doremus narrates a scene from 'Equals' and mentions Kristen

The science-fiction drama “Equals” imagines a future where emotions have become pathologized and criminalized. Nicholas Hoult plays a man who is diagnosed with “switched-on syndrome,” what his colleagues see as a disease that begins to bring his suppressed emotions to the forefront. Kristen Stewart plays the object of his forbidden longings. In this scene, which takes place after hours in their workplace, the two are no longer able to prevent themselves from acting on their emotions. In a recent interview the film’s director, Drake Doremus, discussed the scene. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

After making a pair of contemporary dramas (“Like Crazy,” “Breathe In”), what got you interested in a more futuristic film?

What interested me was trying to do something that seemed really out of my comfort zone and foreign to me. The genre seems to be a distant, cold one and I wanted to try to turn it on its head and do something really warm. I’m a huge fan of Truffaut’s “Fahrenheit 451” and Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner.” I love this idea of an emotional, musical and visual odyssey that you can let wash over you. That’s what I wanted to do here.

The film’s design and architecture has a stark, uniform look. Could you tell me about the locations?

We looked all over the world for locations that had this sterile, cold concrete mixed with this beautiful, Zen-like green earthy kind of a vibe. We ended up finding these beautiful structures all over Japan. We shot the movie all over the place, Kobe, Osaka, Awaji Island. We were chasing these wonderful buildings. I didn’t want to make a green-screen movie. I wanted to make a movie that was very practical and felt very grounded. And being in Japan and being so isolated was awesome, because it really contributed to the feel of the movie.

Your previous films have explored big emotions nearly from their beginning. What was it like to make a movie where emotion was so suppressed?

That was the most difficult part. Usually, we’re building the emotional complexities. Here, the process was about stripping that down and starting with a clean slate. We did a lot of exercises where the actors would have to spend a few hours really forcing themselves not to feel anything.

What would you say is the central focus of your movie?

I would say the film is really a metaphor for a long-term relationship. You fall in love and it’s exciting and wonderful. Then over the course of time, the relationship changes and evolves and you have to fight to remember why you’re in that relationship. But at the end of the day, it’s not an intellectual film. It’s an exercise in emotions. I always try to tell audiences to turn off their brains and turn on their hearts.

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