How can human beings function without the influence of emotions? Can one express love when they don’t even know what love is? Those are the types of questions that “Equals” intends to answer.
In Drake Doremus’ upcoming science fiction film, Nicholas Hoult’s Silas and Kristen Stewart’s Nia are 2 members of a totalitarian monotone state, white-clad, sterile society who are not allowed to feel any emotion.
The official synopsis of the movie is as follows:
“Equals tells the story of Silas (Hoult) who lives in a future society called The Collective. The inhabitants of this modern world are a new breed of humans called Equals. Equals are peaceful, calm, fair, and polite and life in The Collective is perfect; there is no greed, no poverty, no violence, and no emotion. But a new disease is threatening everyone: Switched-On-Syndrome (SOS) is activating in its victims everything they thought they’d escaped: depression, sensitivity, fear, love but once a person is overtaken with SOS, they are sent away to The Den, and never seen again.
When Silas is infected, he becomes an outcast, but he notices one person who seems to understand what he’s going through. Nia (Stewart) has feelings, but she seems to be able to hide them. When he confronts her, they discover a connection that quickly takes over everything. They feel love and intimacy for the first time in their lives but the only way for them to insure their survival is to escape.”
The futuristic flick features little dialogue, instead, it hones in on the sexual tension between Silas and Nia. One particular scene in the trailer shows the twosome enjoying a steamy hot shower after rolling around in bed.
During a Q&A session at the movie’s screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, Doremus was asked on how he managed to capture the intimacy between the star-crossed lovers. He said the process was trying “to keep the camera far away and shoot it on a long lens so they don’t feel like the camera’s there. We’re trying to be sort of behind a wall or behind a beam, rolling constantly . . . trying to capture something genuine.”
Long weekend plans… #FindYourEqual pic.twitter.com/ZOBn9Q31N0
— Equals (@EqualsTheMovie) February 12, 2016
“Between the two of them, it’s just trying to make it seem like the camera wasn’t rolling. There is no ‘action,’ there is no slate. We’re just kind of exploring a moment. I mean, we’ve got four hours of them in the bathroom just touching each other’s faces,” added Doremus.
If you listen to the smooth sound of the lyrics (“Everybody’s got a secret to hide“) from the Chromatics’ “Kill For Love”, you may catch the hint that Silas and Nia’s fate may end tragically. The almost wordless trailer has the words: “Would you risk everything to feel something?” followed by Stewart whispering, “Just remember what this feels like”.
Watch the trailer below:
The released date for “Equals” has yet to be announced but the film is expected to debut later this year.
Sources: Pop Sugar, E! Online, Daily Mail.
