Ariana DeBose and Gabriela Cowperthwaite Reveal How They Pushed Their Limits in ‘I.S.S.’

The new high-altitude thriller I.S.S. comes out in theaters this Friday, and for both star Ariana DeBose and director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the move was a way of testing their limits as artists.

“For me, it’s new territory,” Cowperthwaite said when we sat down with her and DeBose to talk about I.S.S. “I’ve always been a thriller film goer. I love thrillers, I love horror, all these things that I’ve never been allowed to make. So it was really fun to be able to do something completely new.”

“I was very clear with myself that I don’t want to be a one-trick pony,” DeBose added. “I told my team, ‘just find me anything that I can go for’ … Dr. Kira Foster felt so different from any other character I’ve played thus far.”

In I.S.S., Kira is the newest crewmember aboard the International Space Station. At first, she and the other researchers bond over the quirks and peculiarities of life in microgravity. However, when an apocalyptic war breaks out on Earth, the American and Russian contingents aboard the station each get new orders: take control of the I.S.S. at all costs.

But stepping out of their comfort zones opened up a whole host of challenges. “The biggest [challenge] for me involved this big production machine that I hadn’t experienced before,” Cowperthwaite said. “My filmmaking in the past has been very agile. You come in, there’s a lot of feeling the room and seeing what actors want to do, and taking that as the lead …. There was a new, exciting, rather intimidating aspect to[I.S.S.], in that I had to have everything ready to go before I stepped on the stage.”

“This film taught me about the limits of my own body,” DeBose said—especially since filming involved performing in harnesses to mimic microgravity. “No matter the amount of pain or fatigue you’re feeling, there’s always a little bit left in the tank. If you just quiet your mind, your character will speak and come through in a way that will surprise you.”

Check out our full interview below! You can also see our other interviews on our Youtube channel.

(featured image: Bleecker Street)