Now streaming on Hulu, thriller No Exit stars Havana Liu Rose as Darby, a woman who’s stranded at a rest stop waiting out a blizzard while traveling to attend to a family emergency. While there, she discovers a girl has been kidnapped and is trapped in a truck in the parking lot. Darby attempts to uncover who the culprit is. Among the suspects is Ed, played by veteran actor Dennis Haysbert.

Screen Rant spoke with Haysbert about what drew him to the film, his experience playing Ed, and more.

Screen Rant: This movie was freaking awesome. I loved it. What drew you in most when you read the script? 

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Dennis Haysbert: I liked the fact that everyone was flawed, and each one had to react and be the best possible person they could be with all those flaws and to see how we overcame them or didn’t.

How do you describe Ed and do you relate to him in any way?

Dennis Haysbert: I relate to Ed very closely. I mean, I’ve never been in the military, but I’ve played a lot of military characters, and no two soldiers are alike. They all come in with their gifts and flaws, and poor Ed has a lot of them, a lot of things that are unspoken that I chose to give him as my internal preparation. He has a certain amount of PTSD. I think to be a soldier and to have been in either of those theaters, whether it’s Afghanistan or Iraq, you are suffering from PTSD, and then that’s expanded by his connection to gambling. That’s a disease. So he’s got a couple of diseases here that he’s got to deal with, and one of the biggest ones is no self-worth. He’s a warrior without a war. Also, he’s reached an age where you can’t go back to war. There’s no one left for him to save and no one left to save him. So, when certain things arise, maybe he can redeem himself.

He likes a little gambling, he likes to play some games. In No Exit, they play the game BS, which is a game I really like. Did you play anything during your downtime to bond as a cast? 

Dennis Haysbert: Oh, absolutely. When we would cut, we’d get a fresh deck and we’d start playing some Seven Card Stud. That was basically Danny [Ramirez] and David [Rysdahl]. Poor Dale [Dickey] was still stuck on her Sudoku, which she hated. But she had to learn it and she had to play it. And whenever Havana had some time, we would incorporate Havana in our Poker Game.

I love thrillers. What’s an is there an audience reaction, if you’re sitting in a thriller, that you look for where you know that people are hooked?

Dennis Haysbert: I love that gasp, you know? That air intake. Oh my god. I imagine if we were in a theater, there would be a lot of people talking to the screen.

I wanted to ask you because the Chip and Dale Rescue Ranger trailer dropped and everybody’s talking about it, and I saw your name that you’re in it. 

Dennis Haysbert: Yes!

What did that mean for you to be in that movie? 

Dennis Haysbert: When you’re doing an animated feature, you’re always in a room by yourself. So you really have no idea what the film looks like or whatever. I haven’t seen the trailer yet. So I’m looking forward to seeing the trailer.

I’m very curious because it’s John Mulaney, Lonely Island, kind of appealing to the adult audience? I can’t tell.

Dennis Haysbert: Yeah, I think it was half live-action, half-animated. I think that’s great.

Key Release Dates
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  • No Exit (2022)Release date: Feb 25, 2022
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Ash Crossan
(214 Articles Published)

Ash Crossan is a Lead Content Producer & Host for Screen Rant. With nearly a decade of experience under her belt, Ash joined Screen Rant in 2021 as a lead interviewer. Based in Los Angeles, Ash is a fan of all things Star Wars, Marvel, DC, 90s Nickelodeon and rom-coms. Follow Ash on Twitter: @AshCrossan.

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