Interview: Director Michael Polish Talks Alarum

Michael Polish is the director of the new action thriller Alarum starring Scott Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Mike Colter and Willa Fitzgerald.  Michael stopped by to chat with us about making the movie and working with Stallone.

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Hey Michael, how are you?

Hey Eoin, I’m good. How are you doing today, man?

 

Good, thanks. Thanks for taking time to chat. Today we’re talking about your new film, Alarum. What was it that appealed to you about the script that made you want to jump on board?

Spy thrillers are something I wanted to explore. I wanted to work with Scott, I’ve known Stallone for about 20 years. That combination is hard to resist.

 

Oh, you’ve known Sly for 20 years? That will definitely help.

After a movie I did with my brother called North Fork, and that was 2002 when we filmed it. We started to talk to other actors and there was a project that surfaced and we were able to meet him and ever since then we’ve kept in contact. We’ve touched base here and there every so often.

 

So, where does the name Alarum come from? Because I struggle to say it with my accent.

It’s actually Irish. It means a call to arms. And how is that going to work? We’ll see. But I think it works for this one.

 

I’m Scottish/Irish, I should be able to pronounce it better than I do.

It should just roll off your tongue (laughs).

 

For shame (laughs). Anyway, I thought Willa Fitzgerald was a fantastic addition to the cast and she gets some great action scenes as well. Did she have to go to any specific training for it?

She had people working with her that specifically knew the type of fighting she wanted to do. I believe she had some training. She was training before we started the film, that was independent of her own. And then when she came, she started working with the coordinator. She kicked some butt.

 

Oh yeah, she was great. How was it just working with that whole cast in general?

It’s great working with professionals that are just on top of their game. Mike Colter is just great to work with. Willa’s fantastic. Scott just works his butt off. You know, Stallone just comes in and he’s the master. He knows everything.

How challenging is it to create action scenes that feel fresh and did Sly give you any tips?

We have a lot of fun, because you’re the audience too. The nice thing about the action genre is when you’re blowing things up and shooting bullets, you’re the audience still because you’re watching it go off and you’re hoping that it’s going to be great. So, if it’s great, it translates. Action is really about safety, right? What you pull off and the idea that you’re going to try and do something new is great. You give everything you got, your dream scenario, and then it gets whittled down because it becomes about safety.

 

How did you work with composer Yagmur Kaplan in creating the right musical sound for the film?

It was great to just let somebody watch it and listen to all the different ideas they had. The point of the action genre piece is to really assist the picture, as opposed to sometimes other movies that it’s in the background or it’s buried. So, it really assists what we’re trying to say in the story and it just fell right into place.

Were there any scenes that you had to cut from the film which you regretted?

The idea that we could spend more time with each character because it has to be a specific amount, it has to be a running time, has to be a specific running time. So, cutting scenes like the dinner down or cutting relationships with Willa and Scott, you have to really finite those things. And it’s not so much leaving a scene on the floor, it’s cutting the space out of it.

 

Speaking of spending time with the characters, is there a potential sequel idea you have there to bring them back?

My response is, do you want one?

 

Yes.

Do you like them?

 

Yes.

Okay. We’ll see what happens next. That’s an easier question for me to ask back because that seems to be what people want.

 

I know, for sure. Finally, how would you like the film to resonate with audiences?

To be purely entertained. That’s what this movie is about. To go in and watch it, have fun with the characters, see some chemistry, have some explosions, and walk out and just go, “hey, that was good. That was a good entertaining movie”. These are the movies that I grew up on and to see a genre picture like this these days is fun. It’s very refreshing to see it.

 

Yeah, because it’s kind of my bread and butter as well.

It reaches our parents. It reaches the younger people that know Stallone from other things. Willa has a great crowd, and Scott has his own crowd, and Mike has his own crowd. Put them all in a genre picture like this, it’s fairly nice.

 

For sure, yeah. Well, thanks very much for taking the time to chat, and all the best with it, and hope to speak to you for the sequel.

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your time.

 

ALARUM will be released In Theaters, On Demand and On Digital on January 17, 2025.