“Lucky” begins with a crisis: Moments into Tess’ first date with a tech executive, the world starts coming to an end. He tells her its her lucky night: She can escape with him in a private jet to his post-apocalyptic bunker across the world. But she has to make up her mind in minutes.
The film plays today at the Coronado Island Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. Discoveries like “Lucky” are one of the reasons we rate the festival so highly.
Co-directors Ryan Malloy and Michael Langan, working from Malloy’s taut script, build their convincing, collapsing world with just two main locations and three actors: Victoria Ealy as Tess, Rowen Kahn as tech mystery man Sebastian, and Juan Francisco Villa as Ed, the pilot of Sebastian’s private plane.
We talked with Malloy and Langan about plotting the end of the world, acquiring a plane, and the connection between their ambitious, Seattle-based production and Coronado Island, a slice of paradise across the water from San Diego.
Ryan Malloy and Michael Langan on ‘Lucky’
MovieMaker: My favorite thing about movies is being surprised, and this kept surprising me. Can you talk about how you structured this to give out just enough information and always stay ahead of us?
Ryan Malloy: As a viewer, I find films most engaging when the surprises feel natural to the story, not when information is deliberately withheld for the sake of a reveal. So I wanted to throw the audience into the middle of the action; you’re catching up because the characters are, too. Tess and Sebastian are on a first date when a global disaster hits. They don’t know each other, they don’t know what’s going on, and Tess has six minutes to decide whether to get on his jet.
Beyond that general confusion, some of the characters have reasons to hide their true intentions. They’re sizing each other up and calculating how to get what they want. Honesty could cost them. And they all have blind spots. Each of them thinks they understand what’s going on and where they stand with each other better than they actually do. Those blind spots frame the story for the audience, and for Tess, until it comes out how badly everyone has miscalculated. Hopefully, when things twist, it feels authentic rather than manipulative.
MovieMaker: Ryan, you’ve said that you started this script in 2018, when you thought the world was ending, and started it up again in 2024, when that feeling returned. Do you still think the world is ending? Why or why not?
Ryan Malloy: Yes. The world is always ending in some way. I’ve had this feeling several times: the sense that things weren’t just trending in the wrong direction, but crossing lines we couldn’t come back from. My MFA thesis film, made back in 2011, is a self-reflexive documentary about me coming to terms with that exact feeling.
With hindsight, I can see the feeling comes and goes based on what’s happening in the world. When I feel like the world is ending, it’s usually a sign that things feel overwhelming and out of control. That doesn’t mean it’s literally ending, but it is changing dramatically, in ways that range from unappealing to downright dangerous. Climate change is the biggest driver for me, but politics, the economy, AI, really whatever’s in the news at the moment, all add to it.
I’ve tried to accept that dwelling on what’s lost keeps me from facing what’s in front of me. Even when things change for the worse, there’s some opportunity to shape what comes next. I’m trying to be an active participant in that, and I think that’s what drew me to Tess’s choice in the film. I wanted to leave the audience asking themselves, “What do I believe is the right choice?” That’s the question we’ll all be facing as we move into an unknown future.
MovieMaker: There are a lot of projects now about wealthy or elite people fleeing to bunkers, and I’m sure you realized that. How did you make your film stand out? The date angle is fantastic.
Ryan Malloy: I think we all read the same article about billionaires building bunkers on remote islands. Let this be a lesson: when you have an idea, jump on it and don’t wait six years. But even with so many projects in this space, I still hadn’t seen the approach I wanted to take.
My strategy was to keep it small and personal. The original idea was essentially the worst first date in history. Very few people can relate to being a billionaire, but nearly everyone can relate to being on a bad first date. There’s this enormous thing happening, but it all comes down to two very different people on a date, forced into making a life-altering decision. Sebastian being a rich guy with a bunker is just what makes that situation possible. What I cared about was how they connect with each other, and how differently they see the world and their place in it.
MovieMaker: Can you talk about casting your three amazing actors? I love a movie that feels big, but has a small cast.
Michael Langan: Everything is riding on the performances in “Lucky.” Virtually the entire film plays out in closeups. And each actor has a tricky balance to strike: Sebastian, the billionaire, needs charm to balance his calculation. Ed, the pilot, has a paternal warmth that conceals ruthlessness. And Tess, the woman caught up in this mess, is the only one of them whose heart is driving her decisions, but with an edge that won’t take bull from the men around her.
One of our producers, Meghan Mowery, had just worked with Amey René on Netflix’s Penelope, and we knew that a great casting director would be key to a killer cast. Thankfully, Amey loved the script, and she poured through countless auditions to help us reach the incredible cast we hired in the end: Victoria Ealy, Rowen Kahn, and Juan Francisco Villa.
MovieMaker: Where did you film this, and how did you secure the private plane? Did you actually film on board it?
Ryan Malloy: We shot at two locations in the Seattle area: Boeing Field and Vossler Studios, a virtual production stage, where we filmed the car scene. When I was writing the film, I thought I was being incredibly clever by limiting the settings to a car and a jet. I just had faith that we’d find someone who’d let us take over their private jet for a couple of days. I was wrong.
Michael Langan: The jet was the last thing to fall into place. Thankfully Sue Corcoran, one of our producers, is the most tenacious person in the world, and she was able to secure a deal with a local charter company with days to spare.
Ryan Malloy: We filmed the entire jet scene on board, with the plane parked in a hangar. We had limited time over two days, and ended up racing the clock to tow the jet onto the tarmac for the exterior scene in the last few minutes of the shoot.
Michael Langan: Turns out that jets are really loud, even when they’re off. Props to our location sound mixer Vincent Gates and sound designer Paul Miller at Bad Animals for cutting through the fan noise that had to be removed… before bringing back an even better fan noise. Production is so weird.
The lighting on board the jet is all practical. Chris Mosson, our cinematographer, wrangled those tiny ceiling spotlights with his gaffers Mike Astle and Brandon Leger to set the mood. The heavy lifting was tenting the plane for the night scenes and lighting it up for the morning, but the crew crushed it even on an aggressive schedule.
The virtual car process was wild. We worked with Sim-Plates to build a looping 3D environment of the dark country road, which ran on the LED walls at Vossler all day. The illusion is uncanny, and makes for a lot of nausea on-set. But the effect is seamless in the end, and saves a ton of time on resets vs. practical car process. It was also great not being crammed into the back seat of the picture car with our DP. Despite how much I love Chris.
MovieMaker: Any personal connection to the Coronado Island Film Festival, or anything that makes this screening really special to you?
Michael Langan: Meghan had a fantastic time there with Celia Beasley’s film Fitted Sheet, and it’s listed on your 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, which doesn’t hurt. I also have a special place in my heart for Coronado, having vacationed there with my kids when they were tiny. Insane sand castles!
“Lucky” plays in the Sliding Doors block today at the Coronado Island Film Festival. You can read more of our film festival coverage here.
Main image: Victoria Ealy as Tess in “Lucky.” Courtesy of the filmmakers
