Havana Rose Liu Interview: No Exit

The thriller No Exit, which is now streaming on Hulu, stars Havana Rose Liu as Darby. While stranded at a rest stop waiting out a blizzard, Darby makes the startling discovery a girl has been abducted and is trapped inside a van. What unfolds is Darby trying to figure out who the kidnapper is before it’s too late. What makes this performance standout even more is the fact it’s Liu’s feature film debut.

Screen Rant spoke with Liu about her experience making No Exit, what drew her to the movie’s story, playing games with her co-workers on-set, and more.

Screen Rant: I have to say, this movie rocks. It was awesome from start to finish. I just absolutely loved it.

Havana Rose Liu: Oh, that’s so good to hear! That makes me very happy.

What drew you in most? When you read the script for the first time, what was the big hook for you?

Havana Rose Liu: There were so many, to be honest. I was in a moment where I just watched my first scary movie in a really long time. I’m not a fan of scary movies, in general. I really can’t handle them. I don’t have the stomach for them. But I had just watched one that had made me reexamine the art of fear and how to use that as a tool in filmmaking, and also, in life, really. I think there’s something very potent about that feeling and to use that to deliver a message, or to use that to artfully take an audience on a journey, and also to be able to experience fear in an enclosed environment that is actually safe. These things aren’t actually happening to you. It allowed me to examine my anxiety a little bit differently. So when I got the script, I originally was like, “A thriller? I don’t think I can do this.” And then once I was reading it, I just fell in love with Darby so intensely. I had to. I think she’s bold and gritty, and complex and powerful, yet also very nuanced and vulnerable, and has a quieter power that makes her really interesting. In falling in love with her, it just felt like, “Oh, I really want to do this part, even if it’s terrifying.” The journey she goes on, spiritually in a way, is even more important than me [having] to get over my fear of fear.

What was your audition process? What did you have to do?

Havana Rose Liu: My initial audition was interesting. I think I just prepped the way I usually would. I am untrained, so my methodology is very scattered. But I try to make a visual medium. I have a background in multimedia art and dance, and some experimental performance art, and some music. So I try to attack it from all angles: a visual medium, I have a Darby dance, I had an extensive playlist. I remember bringing together some of those pieces going into the audition, and then, really, the callback is where it all came together. Because I found that after that initial audition, I had been still thinking about her consistently for a number of weeks, and that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes you just have to let them go and see what will happen. But this one, I just kept thinking about her, and metabolizing her internal psyche, and what makes her tick, and trying to understand the things I loved about her so much. Then in the callback, I remember Damien [Power] and I were talking for, I think it was actually maybe even around two hours, and it was just like fire. We were ablaze in speech about it and the passion for the project from both our sides came through. It felt like a really powerful collaboration.

We have to talk about the ensemble cast. It’s just a fantastic cast. Who were you most excited to meet?

Havana Rose Liu: It’s interesting. I was so excited to meet everyone. We started chatting right away. But I was most interested in meeting the actress who plays Jay, who is little Mila [Harris], in part, because I was like, “Who in their right mind would let the child play this role?” And then she has the most amazing parents, who acted almost like surrogate parents to me a number of times in the process, and who were so supportive and you realize, “Yeah, this person can play this role because it’s not leaving any residue on them.” They’re just in-flow, loving their craft, and being so alight by the experience of working, and she brought so much light to set and really was an inspiration to us all. I was just so intrigued to meet her.

In the movie, they play the game Bulls*** to kill some time. I know it’s a thriller movie, there’s a lot going on. But did you play anything or do anything during your downtime to bond as a cast?

Havana Rose Liu: 100%. Yeah, we did a lot together. I feel like I have nothing but the most genuine, deep respect for all of these people. They feel much like family to me. I really feel like if something happened to me, I would call Dennis [Haysebert] and he would hop on a helicopter and come rescue me. I have so much care for all of them. I think that was born out of doing a lot of really fun stuff together. We would hike together. This was filmed in New Zealand, so we were constantly trying to get out and explore the whole beautiful world, and culture, and people there. Also, we did play a lot of Bull****, honestly. We played a lot of cards and I think that was so much fun because you got to see everyone’s personality come out in their competition. It built a lot of trust and play, which I think is really essential when you’re dealing with difficult material the way we were.

Who’s the most competitive?

Havana Rose Liu: Secretly, David [Rysdahl]. On the outside, Dennis, also maybe Danny [Ramirez]. On the outside, Dennis and Danny feel very competitive, but David’s a secret twist of competitive.

I really hope we get to see a lot more from you. I thought you were so fantastic in this role. What’s a dream role for you? Or what’s on your bucket list? Is there any genre or specific role that you have your sights set on?

Havana Rose Liu: I think for me, I’m genuinely quite new to acting. I never aspired to be an actor growing up. I also never trained to be an actor. I was street cast for a number of things. So for me, I never had these goalposts or flags set in the sand of my aspirations, but I think now that I’m within it, I just think every new experience has opened up some things, that I’ve learned very much about myself and about the craft and I’m in a huge love affair with it right now. So to me, anything. Really, acting is the oyster. Anything goes. I’m open to whatever it has to throw at me because everything feels like an experience of, “Can I?” And, hopefully, I can. It feels like a trust fall.

About The Author

Ash Crossan
(225 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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