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No Exit Cast Praises Young Mila Harris & More In Interview

Hulu’s No Exit cast says that young Mila Harris (who plays Jay) is an incredible talent, discusses down time on set, and more in this interview.

No Exit cast interview

No Exit is coming to Hulu this week and in honor of the film based off the best selling book, the cast participated in a press conference where they gave us all the inside information. From what it was like filming snow scenes during a very hot New Zealand summer, to losing all their money to Dennis Haysbert during downtime on set, to the singing the praises of young Mila Harris (Jay).

Participating Talent

  • Dennis Haysbert (“Ed”)
  • Danny Ramirez (“Ash”)
  • David Rysdahl (“Lars”)
  • Havana Rose Liu (“Darby”)
  • Damien Power (Director)

Mila Harris No Exit

Praising Mila Harris

No Exit is a very intense thriller, and so having a child on set, especially as such a main part of the story, could have its challenges. When asked about this, every single cast member had something positive to say about Mila Harris. They explained that she is not like a child at all, but a very professional actor who never let the story get to her.

Director Damien Power calls her “ferociously talented” and says that when she is in character she is completely terrifying. He recalls watching her audition and being completely convinced by how scared she pretended to be. He felt it on set whenever she went to this place.

Danny Ramirez (Ash) admits that she is one of the best child actresses he has ever worked with and that she “knocked it out of the park every single time”. On set they would often check on her to make sure she was ok and she would pop herself out of the trauma with a smile, something he can’t believe she could do so easily.

Jokingly Dennis Haysbert (Ed) ads that she can’t be a child, she must be like 40 years old. He would often wonder if she was traumatized at all, considering the intensity of her role, but she just wasn’t. 

“She also has an incredible innate sense of confidence. I remember after the table read, we all were packing up and still discussing, and she was walking out, and she’s like, ‘Great work today, everyone,’ and leaves the room. This is coming from the tiniest one of all of us, and she’s the least nervous. I found a lot of inspiration from Mila. I thought of her as very much like my little sibling in at all. And I feel very lucky she was on set, ’cause she was very grounding. To have a child in all of this violence, it reminded you that there’s light and beauty and play to be had. And she really brought that energy for all of us.” – Havana Rose Liu (Darby)

No Exit Hulu movie review

Filming In New Zealand

No Exit takes place in the dead of winter, with the characters being trapped at a rest area because of a massive snow storm. So it might come as a complete shock to know that the movie was filmed in the summer in New Zealand. So none of the snow is real. Director Damien Power explains “We had a lot of fake snow, which was not without its own hazards, as Havana can tell you. She got totally hosed by a snow tornado on day one, which was pretty painful.”

They ended up having to dial the snow back a bit, so on top of the fake snow, there is some digital snow as well. Every time you see snow in No Exit, some element of it is digital. Havana adds that it was very hot and warm on set — and jokes that any shivering she might be doing is from heat exhaustion.

Related: No Exit Movie Review: A Heart-Pounding Good Time

No Exit Hulu movie review

Havana Rose Liu as Darby in 20th Century Studios’ NO EXIT, exclusively on Hulu. Photo by Kirsty Griffin. ©2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Based On A Best Selling Book

The novel No Exit is critically acclaimed and a best seller, so it was important to keep the film close to the source material. Director Damien Power says that right form the initial script it was faithful to the novel.

“As a novel it had a great character-driven plot, it’s got high stakes, it’s got these surprising twists and turns, this incredible, hostile setting, and this great ticking clock with the girl in the van. And all that was already in the script that I read. I can see why people read it and thought this would make a great movie. So did I.” – Director Damien Power 

No Exit cast interview

Passing The Time On Set

No Exit is extremely intense, so when asked about what they did to lighten the mood on set, it turns out the cast would play high stakes card games to pass the time between takes. Danny and David admit that they still owe Dennis money from the poker they would play between takes and Dennis butts in to say that their debt is paid in full. Since they had packs of cards on set already — a BS game is played while the characters wait for the snow to clear — they took to playing Poker with real money. But it wasn’t about that, it was all about spending time with each other and just having a good time says Dennis.

“One thing I’ll add, is that of all of the movies I’ve done, it’s very rare when you find every single character, every single actor, that you absolutely adore. There’s always one, you know? There’s always one throws that cog into the wheel. But not on this cast. This cast was an absolute delight to work with. And Damien was an absolute delight. The crew, oh, my God. I would look at their faces after a take, and they were in wonderment of what was going on. It was such a pleasure.” – Dennis Haysbert (Ed)

No Exit comes to Hulu on February 25th.

No Exit Hulu movie poster

About No Exit

In “No Exit,” Havana Rose Liu (“Mayday”) makes her feature film leading role debut as Darby, a young woman en route to a family emergency who is stranded by a blizzard and forced to find shelter at a highway rest area with a group of strangers.

When she stumbles across an abducted girl in a van in the parking lot, it sets her on a terrifying life-or-death struggle to discover who among them is the kidnapper.

Directed by Damien Power (“Killing Ground”) from a screenplay by Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari (“Ant-Man and the Wasp”) based on Taylor Adams’ 2017 novel and produced by PGA Award winner Scott Frank (“The Queen’s Gambit”), the film stars Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez (“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Top Gun: Maverick”), David Rysdahl (“Nine Days”), Dale Dickey (“Winter’s Bone), Mila Harris (“Young Dylan”) and Dennis Haysbert (“Breakthrough”).

No Exit comes to Hulu on February 25th.