[This story contains spoilers for Rebel Ridge.]

Insurgent Ridge star AnnaSophia Robb is keenly conscious that nobody may write a extra storybook ending to the behind-the scenes saga of Jeremy Saulnier’s newest critically acclaimed movie.

The thriller, which required a number of makes an attempt at finishing principal images earlier than lastly wrapping in 2022, has reigned atop Netflix’s prime ten and varied different streaming originals charts within the two-and-a-half weeks it’s been out there to stream. The pic chronicles Aaron Pierre’s Terry Richmond and Robb’s Summer season McBride as they danger life and limb to place a cease to a corrupt small-town police division in Louisiana.

After the movie’s scheduled manufacturing was shut down by the pandemic in 2020, Robb joined the solid forward of 2021’s spring shoot, changing one other actor within the course of. A month into filming, former lead actor, John Boyega, abruptly left the mission on account of “household causes,” placing the mid-budget movie in a precarious state of affairs. Fortuitously, Robb didn’t must toss and switch for too lengthy over whether or not she’d be capable to painting what’s now thought-about to be one among her best roles so far.

“We waited for a couple of month down [in Louisiana]. We had been on this holding sample to determine what was going to occur, after which, as soon as that wait was over and the whole lot had been found out, that’s after I knew I’d be coming again the following yr,” Robb tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So we began after which paused, and I used to be down there for about two months [in total]. We then began again up on the identical time in 2022.”

By “found out,” the Colorado native is referring to Pierre’s re-casting and now star-making flip as Terry Richmond. He was employed comparatively quickly after the second shutdown, however the solid and crew nonetheless needed to wait till the spring of 2022 to inform their story. Naturally, with two strikes within the depend already, there was an excessive amount of anxiousness upon everybody’s return to set in 2022.

“Individuals had been like, ‘Okay, are we going to make this film?’ And it grew to become extremely obvious in a short time that, sure, we had been, and that this was the fitting model that wanted to be advised all alongside,” Robb says. “It was like I had a very lengthy rehearsal course of [that started in 2021].”

Robb’s character is an aspiring legal professional who’s additionally working to regain custody of her little one following a felony conviction. Summer season’s painkiller dependancy prompted her to pawn her former father-in-law’s lawnmower in useless, leading to an uncontested divorce and custody loss. So she stands to lose the whole lot for a second time by serving to Richmond expose the civil asset forfeiture rip-off of the Shelby Springs PD.

However one piece of backstory didn’t make it into the movie, thus explaining the foundation of Summer season’s dependancy.

“The backstory for Summer season is that she had most cancers and received hooked on [painkiller] lollipops,” Robb shares. “There aren’t plenty of plans in place to assist folks get off of painkillers, and so she began getting medicine off the road earlier than pawning her father-in-law’s ride-on mower. That total backstory just isn’t within the film, however I knew it and did plenty of analysis.”

Under, throughout a latest spoiler dialog with THR, Robb additionally discusses which scenes from the abbreviated 2021 shoot made it into the ultimate reduce of the movie.

I seen that Joey King has been an enormous cheerleader for Insurgent Ridge, so it’s cool to see each of your new films atop the Netflix charts on the identical time.  

I do know! Joey is one among my closest mates, and I really like her a lot. After I noticed that each of us had been on the Netflix billboard, I used to be like, “Woohoo! It is a cool expertise.” These moments are form of uncommon, and I simply checked out it for some time and thought, “Wow, that is actually particular. I’m so happy with her.” It’s a particular trade.

Jeremy Saulnier and I beforehand talked about Insurgent Ridge’s manufacturing troubles and the way the whole lot has clearly labored out in the very best approach. You joined for spherical two of principal images, which was shut down after a month or so in the course of 2021. Have been you on pins and needles for a very long time relating to the destiny of the film? 

We waited for a couple of month down [in Louisiana]. We had been on this holding sample to determine what was going to occur, after which, as soon as that wait was over and the whole lot had been found out, that’s after I knew I’d be coming again the following yr. So we began after which paused, and I used to be down there for about two months [in total]. We then began again up on the identical time in 2022.

Terry and Summer season are a dynamic duo, so did you and Aaron learn collectively on Zoom as quickly as he entered into the casting combine? 

No, we didn’t. Jeremy advised me about Aaron, and I used to be acquainted with his work from The Underground Railroad. My performing coach, Miranda Harcourt, who had labored with him on Foe, additionally advised me that he was completely beautiful, so I used to be actually excited to work with him. And as quickly as I met Aaron, there was an actual peace. I simply knew that he was so able to dealing with this position. He checked out it with this deep appreciation, and he noticed the entire intricacies of Terry’s character. What’s actually particular about this movie is that it’s a thriller and an motion film, however as Aaron usually says, it’s about an motion hero with plenty of emotional intelligence.

What initially piqued your curiosity? 

The sturdy dialogue was actually the very first thing that drew me to this mission. When the audition got here into my inbox, I noticed Jeremy Saulnier’s identify and was like, “Fucking cool. Love him.” And after I learn the scenes, I simply needed to leap into it. I needed to start out saying the phrases and rehearsing as a result of it’s actually onerous to get an awesome scrumptious scene. There’s a lot data and transformation that transpires in a single scene; it’s dense materials, however the characters nonetheless really feel like actual folks. So it was a pleasure to learn, it was a pleasure to carry out and it was a pleasure to look at the opposite actors chew these phrases.

When you returned to set within the spring of 2022, may you sense that everybody was on edge at first after two unsuccessful makes an attempt to make the film already?

Yeah, folks had been like, “Okay, are we going to make this film?” And it grew to become extremely obvious in a short time that, sure, we had been, and that this was the fitting model that wanted to be advised all alongside. So everyone jumped proper into it, and it was enjoyable. It was like I had a very lengthy rehearsal course of [that started in 2021]. I bear in mind getting again on set and being like, “Okay, I do know what I’m doing now.”

It’s fascinating being on a set. This was a very rigorous movie as a result of we had been in Louisiana throughout hurricane season. It was sizzling, the times had been lengthy and there have been plenty of takes, however there was such a love of this story. A whole lot of the crew members confirmed up for this film as soon as, twice or thrice [from 2020 to 2022]. They only needed to be part of it, so nonetheless lengthy the times had been, they had been pumped.

As you mentioned, Aaron had caught folks’s consideration in supporting roles, comparable to Previous and The Underground Railroad, however he was nonetheless broadly unknown. Have been the solid and crew abuzz after seeing the preliminary work he was doing? Being throughout from him for his “afterlife” line should’ve knocked you sideways.

I bear in mind the scene that you just’re talking about, and I treasure that reminiscence. One among our skilled digital camera guys got here as much as Aaron and I throughout that Chinese language restaurant backroom scene to inform us how pumped he was to be there. So you might actually really feel the care that the crew members had for this story.

To your information, did any of your spherical two footage from 2021 make it into the ultimate reduce of principally 2022 footage? 

Sure, I don’t know that anyone else would discover, however a pair scenes that I did [in 2021] with James Cromwell made it into the ultimate reduce. We had accomplished some scenes up in his character’s workplace and on the faculty, and I’ll give credit score to Jen [Jennifer Serio], the top of our hair division, as a result of she needed to match my [2021] haircut [in 2022]. In the event you see the again of my head after which the again of my head once more, each pictures had been a full yr aside, and he or she nailed it.

I do know that it comes with the territory of being an actor, but when I left a film like this for no matter purpose and the ultimate product turned out to be this nice, I’d be inconsolable. It labored out to your profit on this case, however general, do you at all times have to organize your self for both facet of the coin? Financing, film star commitments and scheduling are all so fragile. 

I simply present up and attempt to do my finest work. On the finish of the day, filmmaking is mostly a workforce sport. It’s about everyone bringing their finest ahead, after which it’s in regards to the director taking items of everyone’s onerous work and weaving the entire thing collectively. And Jeremy did that expertly. He had a precise imaginative and prescient of what he wanted and needed, and it was larger than everyone else. As an actor, you acknowledge when a filmmaker is setting everyone up for achievement, and it was at all times abundantly clear that Jeremy was setting everyone up for achievement. He knew precisely what he was doing. He knew precisely the story he was telling. He additionally edited it, so it’s precisely his imaginative and prescient. In the end, this was undoubtedly the perfect model of the film, and everyone put their finest foot ahead. So I’m simply so happy with the film, and I’m so happy with Jeremy, and grateful, that he was in a position to inform his story.

Given the danger that she’s taking in relation to the custody of her little one, why do you suppose Summer season gives Terry a serving to hand within the first place? He asks her this query, as properly, however is it primarily as a result of she’s confronted her personal systemic injustice? 

Yeah, Summer season, for me, is all of us. She’s simply making an attempt to get her life again on observe. She’s making an attempt to handle herself. However when she sees anyone in want, she goes, “Man, I do know what it’s wish to be wronged, and I understand how vital it’s to get a second probability.” So she takes that one step out of line, after which that’s when the selections start. At each flip, she is confronted with questions of, “Do I do the fitting factor or do I look away?” And what I respect most about her — and what I grasp onto to at the present time — is that option to do the fitting factor. In the event you select to be an ally and arise for what is true, then hopefully different folks come alongside you, however it’s a very dangerous factor that she does. By that Chinese language restaurant scene, she doesn’t actually have a selection any longer. She’s gone down that path of doing the virtuous factor to the purpose the place she’s both going to run away or she’s going to dig in and get the details in order that she will defend herself and Terry in an actual approach. And with Terry on her facet, she’s hedging her bets at that time.

Jeremy is huge on analysis, so I’m guessing there’s plenty of authenticity to the way you needed to painting the heroin injections that the cops subjected her to?

Jeremy actually trusted me there. I watched plenty of very disturbing footage, and I really feel very near the opioid epidemic. The backstory for Summer season is that she had most cancers and received hooked on [painkiller] lollipops. There additionally aren’t plenty of plans in place to assist folks get off of painkillers, and so she began getting medicine off the road earlier than pawning her father-in-law’s ride-on mower. That total backstory just isn’t within the film, however I knew it and did plenty of analysis. I watched completely different documentaries on the science of what opioids do to your physique and the way it feels, and it’s actually upsetting. So the movie feels so grounded and actual, and I additionally needed Summer season to really feel that approach on digital camera.

After I first noticed her haircut, it learn as a quite common Southern look, however now that I learn about her most cancers battle, she’s clearly on the opposite facet of chemotherapy. 

Yeah, I used to be filming a Mary Harron-directed sequence [The Expecting] the place I needed to shave my head, and after I taped for Insurgent Ridge, I had a shaved head. So Jeremy ended up loving my audition, and he requested if I’d shave my head once more. And I used to be like, “No person within the South would have a shaved head. They’d stick out like a sore thumb.” So we went with the mother haircut that doesn’t stick out a lot, however sure, the concept was that she went by way of chemo.

Your friendship with Joey King makes much more sense now. You’ve each needed to shave your heads for characters. 

(Laughs.) Yeah, I referred to as Joey earlier than I shaved my head. I used to be like, “Lady, you’ve accomplished this a pair occasions. Do I do it?” And she or he was like, “Sure!”

I really like the ultimate scene a lot as a result of most heroes would get their buddy to the hospital after which relaxation simple. However Terry’s distrust of the system runs so deep that he doesn’t take any probabilities. He instantly finds the closest ax to take away the cop’s harddrive from the trunk, after which he holds on to it for pricey life. 

Yeah, he finishes the job. I bear in mind studying the script and feeling so happy that he will get that data, however what’s actually highly effective is that it’s a win with a lot loss and devastation. Aaron did an attractive job portraying that Terry just isn’t totally protected but. He nonetheless has to advocate for his cousin. David Gallego, our cinematographer, is an excellent, joyous and good man, and he did an attractive job with that monitoring shot. It was fantastic watching Jeremy and David collaborate collectively to seek out these photos, however I’m fairly positive that’s one Steadicam shot that we rehearsed. You continue to have this pulsating vitality and pressure. It’s all nonetheless transferring, and it feels prefer it may go someplace else. Terry is taking a beat, after which he’s going to take motion to make one thing occur and get justice.

The Web loved your latest Letterboxd anecdote relating to Wong Kar-wai’s Within the Temper for Love and smoking your first pack of cigarettes in response. Did Aaron really obtain Letterboxd after your pitch? 

I’ll textual content him, however I can see him doing it. Man, I really like Letterboxd. I want they would come with tv, as properly. I do know it’s contested, however there’s plenty of good things and I would like to have the ability to go to at least one place.

Yeah, they make exceptions for the “8 to 10-hour film,” however I agree with you general. 

Yeah, they’ve restricted sequence. So I’m in all probability going to get some hate for that take, however it’s 2024. We’ve got to just accept media as it’s. (Laughs.)

Lastly, what day finest sums up Insurgent Ridge for you? What day will you be fascinated with a long time from now?

All of it appears like one lengthy day, however it might be our first day on set with Aaron. I had already filmed among the scenes earlier than, however it was only a monitoring scene on this court docket hallway late at night time. It was a [working] courthouse, so we needed to movie within the evenings, and there’s this unusual peace while you’re filming late at night time. All people was actually engaged and actually on, and it was simply this lovely monitoring shot that had an actual energy to it. You not solely felt a sinister vitality to the city, however you additionally felt Terry coming into the body with this energy after which a spark between our characters. I watched playback to see what Jeremy was doing, and the vitality was simply so good. Regardless that it was tremendous late at night time, it felt thrilling that we had been all there and able to lastly inform this story. I’ll always remember how yummy that complete factor felt.

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Insurgent Ridge is now out there on Netflix.