Jeff Wadlow Talks ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ Collaboration With Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor

No streaming globally on Prime Video, The Devil’s Mouth centers on five friends who go on a thrill seeking adventure along Thailand’s. What starts off as a risky journey through a cave ends in a fight for survival thanks to a shark that’s out for blood. Director Jeff Wadlow talked to Deepest Dream about the challenges of shooting inside these caves and how having veterans like Kathryn Netwon and Lana Condor enhanced the production.

 Part of The Devil’s Mouth draw lies in its claustrophobic and maze like setting. A healthy portion of the narrative has the friends navigating within a darkened location with seemingly no end in sight.

“I think people sort of take for granted what we had to do with this movie,” said Jeff Wadlow, who previously directed Fantasy Island. There’s 13 caves that are scripted, and we only were able to have three sets. “Only two of them in water, and varying depths, so there was a lot of different shots I had to pick up on different sets to try to make it work. Fortunately, Alec Hammond, our production designer, is a mad scientist. The guy is an insane genius, and what he was able to pull off working closely with me really is an awesome feat. And a lot of credit also goes to the Thai crew, because Alec kinda had the vision. But then they made it a reality. It was a very challenging jigsaw puzzle of moving walls and changing sets and going from stage to stage and using certain parts of sets for different sets. But we figured it out.”

What also helped make The Devil’s Mouth a reality is the performances by lead actors Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor.  “They are total pros, and I could not have made this movie without actors with that kind of experience,” said Wadlow. “Because the technical challenges were so massive. I mean, you can’t even put a mark down. How does an actor hit a mark when they’re in the water? There’s no way to put a mark down. So Lana and Kathryn, they’ve talked about this, how they started to figure out kind of the geometry of the set. And if the camera’s over there and the other actor’s there – lhow they need to find the line so they make sure that the lens can see them. It’s just a blessing.”

Speaking of blessings, Wadlow made his first feature with 2005’s Cry Wolf. Having a long and varied directing career has been part of Wadlow’s trademark, and he has taken a cue from late filmmaker Richard Donner (Superman). “ I love that he worked in different genres,” said Wadlow. “He worked in action, comedy, thriller. I mean, people forget he made The Omen. He made The Toy. He worked in all these different spaces. It wasn’t just action movies. And all of his films have verisimilitude.

Catch The Devil’s Mouth on Prime Video. Share your thoughts on the movie in the comments!