By Travis Johnson
Bojana Novakovic first came to our attention in 1997’s somber teen drama, Blackrock, before going on to forge an impressive career both here and abroad, racking up appearances in Thunderstruck, Drag Me to Hell, Edge of Darkness, Burning Man, The Little Death, Westworld, and more. This week she appears opposite tough guy Frank Grillo in the science ficiton actioner Beyond Skyline, which sees her playing Audrey, a Los Angeles transit worker who finds herself battling for the survival of the human race in the jungles of South East Asia after an alien invasion. It’s an absolute blast, and it sounds like it was as fun to make as it is to watch.
How did you get involved in Beyond Skyline?
Frank Grillo actually asked me to be in it! I read it and I thought it was really fun. I really liked the writing – I thought [writer and director] Liam O’Donnell did a really good job on the script. I knew it’d be a really good time and it was filming in Indonesia, so why would I say no? I was free, I didn’t have a job [laughs], so why would I say no?
Had you worked with Frank before?
I know him from around, but I did my first film in the US with him, Edge of Darkness. He played the guy who killed me! And we’ve stayed in touch since then.
This is not your first genre film – are you a fan?
I’m not too much of a genre person. I like watching them but I don’t too much like being in them because they’re very thankless jobs for actors. The amount of energy needed to be frightened of a green wall – I don’t think anyone needs to be doing that for a profession, but we do it.
Genre films are great right now, particularly ones with a lot of amazing CGI, but it can be really taxing on an actor. So it wasn’t necessarily the genre aspect of it, it was really just the tightness of the script – it just read as a really fun story, with kind of a lovely message. I’m not really that much of a fan of alien films that purport the alien as the enemy, and then you fight off the enemy and they’re gone. In this film it’s not the case – there are good and bad aliens, just like there are good and bad humans, which I liked.
How did you find working with debut director Liam O’Donnell?
He was lovely. He got me and Frank as his two leads, and I’m super-opinionated and bossy, and Frank is super-opinionated and bossy, and so he’s contending with us changing lines and so on, but it was all very collaborative – all about getting the best out of the story. But the actual structure of the story never shifted. Liam is masterful at structure – he really understands stories. I’m being facetious about all that stuff – we had a really good time collaborating. I just think he’s really smart and he really understands the genre.
One thing that leaps out at cult movie fans is the sudden appearance of Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian, the stars of The Raid, in the back half of the film. How did you find working with those guys?
Oh my god, can I please work with them forever? It was so much fun. If you scroll deep, deep down into my Instagram, Iko and I made some videos together as well, where I’d play an actor who gives him notes and he just kicks me in the face! He’s so easy to work with, he’s so egoless, he and Yayan. Culturally, they’re different – their film industry is very attuned to my experience of the Serbian film industry – you don’t make movies for money. Working with them was incredible – I’d love to do another action film with those guys.
What kind of challenges did shooting in Indonesia present?
I was so sick at one point – I got some kind of stomach bug – and then a scorpion crawled up my leg and the entire crew went crazy – they panicked so badly! I had one of those clear scorpions on my leg, the really nasty ones. They were trying to figure out how to get it off! I was like “Can I just shake it off?” and they were like “Don’t shake it, it’ll bite!” So I was sick out of my mind with scorpions crawling on me. But at the same time it was beautiful – we got to see the temples and shoot outside there. We didn’t get to see much because we were busy shooting, but it was pretty awesome.
Acting-wise, honestly, it wasn’t crazy challenging. The challenge was to keep Alaina [Jayaraz], the little girl, happy. Her first day was really hard, but her mum spoke to me and then she started to trust me. The challenge was to keep her focused and make sure she felt safe, and just have a good time working with her. That was kind of a delightful challenge, really – I had a real good time working with her.
Beyond Skyline is out on disc and digital now. Read our review here.
Great article! Awesome to hear it from her perspective. She is fab. Just wanted to point out that Alaina’s last name is spelt as Jayaraj. She is half Aussie and half Singaporean.