SPOILER ALERT: The following story and Q&A contain descriptions of several scenes and plotlines in “Carry-On.”
In Netflix’s new action thriller “Carry-On,” Oscar nominee Taron Egerton plays Ethan, a hapless TSA agent who gets blackmailed by a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) into taking down a plane headed from LAX to JFK by allowing a bag filled with chemical weapon bombs to get through security.
As Ethan tries to save the day, Bateman threatens to kill his pregnant girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) who also, of course, works at the airport.
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Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film’s cast also includes Danielle Deadwyler, Dean Norris, Theo Rossi, Tonatiuh, Logan Marshall-Green and Sinqua Walls.
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I talked to Egerton for a spoiler-filled conversation about why “Carry-On” is a Christmas movie, if he’s up for a sequel and Bateman’s gnarly death scene.
I love this movie, Taron.
I did hear that you loved it. I was told that you loved it, and it was music to my ears.
I think I got invited to the premiere and I was like, “Let me watch it.” I went in not knowing anything about it. I had no idea what it was, and I was like, “I’m obsessed with it.” It’s so ridiculous in the best way.
That’s great. It’s bombastic, and it’s larger than life, and hopefully, it’s a kind of great Christmas event for people to sit down and have two hours of pure escapism.
Let’s talk about that. Is this a Christmas movie?
Marc, I can’t believe that you’re engaging me in this debate. Of course, it’s a Christmas movie. Could you not see the Christmas trees at the airport?
I did.
Did you not hear the Christmas scoring to the movie?
Should people be watching this movie before they take their holiday flight home?
Now, that is an interesting question. Should people be watching the movie before they travel at Christmas? Yes. I feel that I am possibly even contractually obliged to say yes, because it comes out on the 13th of December. It’s a movie, and I think, for that reason, it should certainly not be something that makes people feel existentially afraid at Christmas. Rather, it’s just a way of cathartically imagining how nasty things could get in a worst-case scenario, but it’s important to remember it is just a movie and I think you are very, very safe to travel at Christmas.
How was the movie pitched to you?
I can’t remember what the logline was, but I know that I read it in one sitting and I thought, “This is a movie I want to see.” For me, personally, in my creative life, I’ve been blessed to do a real mix of different things, but finding projects where you think it’s bombastic and larger than life but also smart [is rare]. I felt that it was a rare opportunity for me as an actor to be involved in something that could reach a really, really wide audience. I think this movie has that scope, so aside from the fact that I thought it was a great fun story, I thought it was a really great opportunity for me too.
It’s the ultimate what-would-you-do movie.
It is. I think it’s obviously got inspiration from “Die Hard,” a movie that’s made in homage and in the spirit of that film. I hope in the same way that “Twisters” felt like an affectionate throwback in many ways, “Carry-On” finds that same place in audiences’ hearts.
When Jason Bateman’s character is talking to you on the phone, was there someone reading those lines to you? How did that work?
The first couple of days, it was Jason. He was great. He read some of the early scenes with me, I think the first handful of scenes, and then after that, it was a working earwig. We had an actor stand in for him and read those lines, and it was great. It was obviously so weird and unlike anything I’d done before, but a real challenge. A challenge in terms of making it feel interesting and grounded, but I loved it. This movie is not like anything else I’ve ever done, and that’s exactly what I want out of my creative life.
I love the fact the first time you saved the day, I think you had two seconds left on the bomb.
Just in the nick of time. Right, Marc?
Literally. It starts at three minutes and then you use this bloody pen to stop the timer.
The pen has already been used for nefarious purposes.
Yeah, someone stabbed your boss [Dean Norris] in his neck with it.
It’s wild.
I guess you have to be careful of not looking too goofy like, “I got two seconds to go.”
The thing about me is I like a bit of goofy. I like the messiness. I don’t think people look glamorous or sexy in stressful situations. I’m not the guy that you call to look amazing, and composed, and hyper-sexy all the time. There are a number of actors who are very, very good at it. I think I’m the guy you call if you want it to feel like a guy that you believe is real. I’m a bit more of an everyman, so I think when I read the script, I was like, “Yeah, I’m the right guy to do this.” I hope that I’m someone that you relate to as an ordinary person. For that reason, it felt like a great role for me. But to answer your question, I’d never try and avoid looking goofy. I think the reality and the grit of it is in him looking panicked, and terrified, and completely ridiculous, because I think that’s how you’d look in that situation.
At one point, obviously, there’s the red light from a gun on Nora’s head. Did you see the light during filming? If you did, how freaky was that?
We used a real laser pen. It’s a really horrible thing but amazing in terms of playing the stakes and the drama of it in the scene because it’s immediately viscerally disturbing. But a lot of what we did in the movie was done in camera. The airplanes taking off in the background, the shots and things, because we shot at a real airport, which is so rare and such a treat to do things practically like that.
Your character’s name is Ethan. Is that an homage to “Mission: Impossible?”
You’d have to ask the writer, but the same did occur to me, and people have asked me about my running, which has been very flattering. But I don’t know. I think probably a coincidence, but it may well be. I got a feeling Tom Cruise isn’t going to be quaking in his boots about me playing another Ethan in an action film, but I’m happy for you to draw the parallel.
Let’s talk about when you killed Jason Bateman’s character. [Ethan locks Bateman’s character in a fridge in the plane’s cargo area with one of the bombs.]
I shoved him in a fridge. It’s a very legitimate way of taking out a bad guy in a movie.
An airtight fridge. It has to be really airtight.
It’s industrial strength airtight fridge, Marc. Did you not hear the seal when it closed?
Well, I saw you were holding it.
Well, he’s a very strong character. He’s able to create a stronger airtight seal that saves everyone in the vicinity.
What was it like seeing Jason die like that?
That was some extreme makeup. He came on set with that and I was like, “Wow, we are going for it.” But yeah, he was great. It was fun. At that point in the movie, it’s so elevated and it’s so camp and larger than life, but it was fun. It’s fun not to take yourself too seriously.
And you got to fight with Tonatiuh on a conveyor belt. How much fun was that?
Aside from the fact that it was absolutely filthy and I think a prehistoric baggage belt from a decommissioned wing of the Louis Armstrong airport in New Orleans, it was great. I’ve done action before, but it was nice to do action that was messy and pedestrian, not larger than life in the sense that I’m not playing a spy or whatever. He’s just a regular guy tumbling through the baggage trying to save his girlfriend.
Did you get hurt at all?
No, no. The thing about me, Marc, is I’m so tough, honestly.
When I think Taron, I go, “Tough guy.”
That’s exactly it. Everyone does. It’s Jason Statham, it’s Dwayne Johnson, Taron Egerton. That’s the trio.
What about a sequel?
I mean, to be honest, until this morning, I hadn’t really thought about it, because the movie’s so lightning striking in one place, but I guess that never stopped “Die Hard.” I think it turned out great, and I am open to anything and everything. I’m still the guy who thinks every job is his last. You say sequel and my tail pricks up, so I’m all good.
Ethan on a boat, Ethan on a train.
You could have Ethan on a boat, you could have Ethan on a train. You could have Ethan underwater in a submarine.
What has been your worst airplane experience?
When I was a kid, I got separated from my mom on an airplane. I remember they made us sit at opposite ends of the plane. I was so little and it was really stressful and traumatic. I remember that now, even 28 years later or whatever it was.
Did you cry? Were you a crier? Were you screaming?
Yeah. I mean, I’m a crier. I’ve nearly cried twice in this interview, Marc. I was definitely a crier in 1996.
You can listen to the entire interview with Egerton on “Just for Variety” above or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
