Austin Abrams Still Won't Admit Which Was Harder to Film, 'Whalefall' or 'Resident Evil'

The actor dives deep into "Whalefall" and takes part in a post-mortem speed round of "Resident Evil."

Austin Abrams' fall kicks off with Whalefall, his second one-man genre effort in a month.

Autumn's emotional survival story joins Resident Evil in theaters as Resident Evil continues its $324 million haul at the global box office. In Whalefall, co-written and directed by Brian Duffield, Abrams stars as college student Jay Gardiner, who reluctantly returns to his Central Coast California home a year after his father, Mitt (Josh Brolin), receives a terminal diagnosis of mesothelioma.

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Forced to visit an empty grave in a decision partly influenced by his mother (Elizabeth Shaw) and two sisters (Jane Levy and Emily Rudd), Jay decides to find his father's remains on the ocean floor near Abbey Beach. The underlying hope is that the gesture will help him resolve his longstanding rifts stemming from his overly harsh seafaring upbringing.

But the plan is almost immediately foiled when a whale chasing a squid also swallows Jay and traps him in its multi-cavity stomach. Like Resident Evil, Whalefall only gives its protagonist one hour to reach their goal, which in this case means escaping inside a whale before its oxygen tank runs dry.

When The Hollywood Reporter last caught up with Abrams for Resident Evil, he refused to say which film ended up being the more backbreaking ordeal. He certainly didn't complain about splitting his head open while jumping an elevator in the third act of Resident Evil or being crushed to death by a 150-pound bag of blood in the second act.

But now that I've seen the whale, it seems that the only thing worse than actually being in the belly of a whale is pretending to be in the belly of a whale. However, Abrams still doesn't want to sit on a small set with a camera crew in the belly of a whale while a dozen crew members around a practical gut toss him around like a wet rag doll with a gimbal.

Duffield - who is also working with Resident Evil filmmaker Zach Kreger on the upcoming Siren Head - believes his film gets the prize for putting their leading man through the ringer, as his limbs weren't restricted in Resident Evil.

Meanwhile, Abrams continues to walk the fence in gentlemanly fashion. "[Being able to move my limbs] was a good part about Resident Evil," he tells THR in support of Whalefall's Oct. 16 theatrical release. But both have their advantages and [pitfalls].

Abrams acquired the necessary certifications to prepare for a diver's worst nightmare. He also visited a sperm whale sanctuary on an island in the Caribbean. Although the trip didn't guarantee any wild animal encounters, Abrams was lucky when it appeared to him, something they hadn't seen in the past nine days.

"It was beautiful. It was peaceful. It was the opposite of what you think. You immediately know and feel how kind and loving they are," Abrams recalled.

She also walked around her neighborhood in a full wetsuit to get used to the extra weight. While his neighbors weren't alarmed enough by the unusual sight to call security, Abrams wasn't so lucky during filming at Radford Studios in Studio City.

"There's a point where Jay becomes visibly more anxious and explosive," says Abrams. "I remember walking around that place during that time and just because I looked so bad, security called me over."

Abrams, who generally avoids sharing too much about himself on a personal level, has revealed that his family is a little irritated by the number of times his characters die in movies, a pattern that began with his first film, 2011's Tick Tock. A few years later, Abrams made his major studio debut, working alongside Ryan Gosling in Gangster Squad until his slick-boy character was shot during a mob ambush near a newsstand. (Brolin also stars in the 2013 crime flick, but won't be sharing the screen with his future Weapons and Whalefall co-star.)

Abrams unwittingly took a page from Gosling's playbook when preparing to shoot his sequel Whalefall and Resident Evil in 2025. Only 26 Dergasling felt he had to sell the look of a grieving father to two teenagers and a 4-year-old. Jackson was so impressed with Gosling's unexpected decisions that he switched him with Mark Wahlberg.

With little time to prepare to shoot Resident Evil in Prague after the whale went down, Abrams took an "easier to give than to take" approach to his undisclosed weight gain. He wanted his medical courier, Brian, to appear ill-equipped to deal with a zombie outbreak, and getting approval in advance might put off financiers and producers, who usually want the most physically attractive lead possible. (Even Keanu Reeves' beard almost cost John Wick.) Fortunately, Kerger liked Abrams' surprising choice.

"I wanted Brian to be someone you look at and think he can't get out of this," Abrams says. "I just had a strong urge to do it. If you say you want to look a little bit different, it's hard for people to imagine that. So I felt like it was something that needed to be done, and I just went with it."

Below, during a conversation with THR, Abrams also talks about the careful handling of a particular letter in Whalefall.

I asked you earlier which movie caused you the most pain and you decided to be Switzerland about it. But now that I've seen Whalefall, there's no doubt that it was more unbearable than Resident Evil. Are you ready to tackle it now?

(Laughs.) No man. You said not me

Your Whalefall director, Brian Duffield, wasn't proud of it, but he immediately recognized his film as the more punishing of the two.

"The fact that Austin can freely move his arms and legs in Resident Evil gives Whalefall an edge," he said.

This was the good part about Resident Evil. But both have their advantages and [problems].

I'm curious how your family will react to these two new movies. Was it hard for them to watch their little boy in such risky situations?

i don't know I imagine it can be to some extent, but I also feel like everyone is taking it well. I feel like they'd prefer that I die less in some of them, but other than that, I think they're good.

Yes, this has been a pattern in your work. The line was particularly brutal.

Yes, the man has been like that from the beginning, I don't know why.

It's funny you say that because I want to address the first main point.

Well, the first thing that struck me about Whalefall was how different you looked as Jay, especially since you filmed right before Resident Evil. Then I read that you got fat for Brian in Resident Evil. Given the little time you had in between, did you microwave tubs of Häagen-Dazs when you arrived in Prague and found yourself in the gorge?

(Laughs.) Oh man. Yeah, do whatever you can. I wanted Bryan to be the guy you look at and think he can't get out of this situation. I didn't want him to look like someone running around in his spare time or anything like that so the time period was close, but there was really no science to it. You just do whatever you can to get where you need to go. Haagen-Dazs method? i don't know Only pure ice cream is preferred.

It was a bold move not to tell Zach Kerger that you were packing on a few pounds. There is a famous story about your shiny shoe customer, Ryan Gosling. [In Gangster Squad, Gosling's character asks Abrams' young cobbler to go home, but he doesn't listen and ends up the victim of a mob-related shooting. ]

(Laughs.) The shoe shine customer is funny.

He showed up with a Peter Jackson set that was 60 pounds heavier than drinking melted down Häagen-Dazs, only he didn't tell Jackson he was doing it. So that's why Mark Wahlberg is now the one who starred in The Lovely Bones.

Yes, but I just had a strong urge to do it. So I just left. If you say you want to look a little different, it's hard for people to imagine. So I felt like something had to be done, and I just went with it.

By all accounts, you were a great sport filming inside the whales' bellies, but was there ever a day when you had to get out early because it was just too much?

I don't know if we had such a situation or not. The nature of the film meant that every problem was welcome. When something is welcomed, it makes it less difficult. You don't want to get out of any trouble. You want to keep it there [for the sake of the scene].

I read that you walked around your neighborhood with scuba gear to get used to the weight. Did your neighbors give you weird looks or call the police when a man wandered around in a snorkel?

I can't remember if there were any funny looks. It's a little different than what you're talking about, but there's a point where Jay becomes visibly more anxious and confused. I remember walking around the area during that time, and just because I looked so damn good, security called me over.

Before filming, you traveled to an island in the Caribbean to get in the water with some real sperm whales, and they showed up for you, which they don't always do for people. Are you shaking with fear? Or was it more peaceful than it seems?