Phoebe Dynevor Aurore Marechal/Getty Images Logo text There likely came a point on the set of Thrash where star Phoebe Dynevor started to miss the half corset she wore throughout her breakout role on Netflix’s period drama Bridgerton.
If that early 19th century wardrobe felt restrictive, then her costuming for the Adam McKay-produced, Tommy Wirkola-directed shark thriller easily had it beat. Dynevor plays Lisa — a newly single expectant mother who’s about to burst when a Category 5 hurricane rocks her South Carolina town. The fast-approaching storm traps Lisa inside her Mini Cooper, forcing her to contend with rising water and the unexpected arrival of ravenous bull sharks.
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Dynevor admits she’s never been more uncomfortable on a set due to the half-dozen layers she had to wear in freezing cold water.
“I would put on three wetsuits every day — plus a pregnancy belly [maternity dress and trench coat]. The process of getting into a wetsuit is already quite difficult, but putting on three and then a belly is virtually impossible,” Dynevor tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Thrash’s April 10 Netflix premiere. “Then I was plunged into a really cold body of water. If it was warm, you’d see the heat rise off it. So it had to be cold, and I ended up really making friends with a hot hose that would go into my wetsuits in between takes.”
Like a lot of genre fans, Dynevor was disappointed when M. Night Shyamalan’s supernatural love story, Remain, was delayed from October 2026 to February 2027 for the benefit of Valentine’s Day audiences. The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable filmmaker is widely known for his deployment of plot twists, but he’s already revealed a major one as far as Remain is concerned. The film is based on a story that Shyamalan and novelist Nicholas Sparks conceived together.
The pairing of the famed genre filmmaker and celebrated romance author is not completely out of left field. Shyamalan previously turned down the chance to script the film adaptation of Sparks’ The Notebook because he was tied up writing The Sixth Sense at the time. Ultimately, the right decisions were made as each film would go on to become their highest grossers at the box office. In any event, Shyamalan and Sparks took their co-written story of Remain and adapted it to their respective mediums. Sparks primarily wrote the novelization, but Shyamalan did receive co-credit for his contributions.
In the case of the Cape Cod-set film, Dynevor plays a mysterious woman named Wren who challenges the status quo of Jake Gyllenhaal’s grieving architect named Tate Donovan. And while it sounds like Sparks’ novel was potentially available to Shyamalan’s cast and crew before its street date of October 2025, Dynevor shares that she was not permitted to read it due to the expected deviations in plot and character. Sparks previously described the film and the novel as “fraternal twins.”
“I wasn’t allowed to [read it prior to filming] because I was told there are differences,” Dynevor says. “So I read it as soon as we wrapped, and I’m glad that I didn’t read it until I wrapped because they are in fact different. The book is brilliant, and I really enjoyed it.”
Dynevor has yet to see Shyamalan’s big-screen take on Remain, but she believes it’s a perfect balance of each creative’s calling cards. “It really is a perfect blend. There’s romance, but there’s definitely a lot of horror and twists. I really think both Shyamalan fans and Sparks fans will be really happy,” Dynevor adds.
Below, during a conversation with THR, Dynevor also looks back on her most cherished experience to date on Chloe Domont’s Fair Play (2023).
***
Thank you for the anxiety attack that is your new movie, Thrash.
You are so welcome. I like to bring anxiety to people.
Phoebe Dynevor as Lisa in Thrash. Ben King/Netflix Netflix acquired Thrash from Sony, and you’d already worked with them several times. When they like an actor, they tend to keep working with them. Do you think your history factored into Netflix picking up this movie?
I’d like to believe that was the case, yeah. They’ve definitely acquired a few projects that I’ve done independently from them. They bought Fair Play, for example. So I’m happy that they’re drawn to things that I’m in.
I just talked to a couple filmmakers who polled their friends and collaborators on what the title of their movie should be. Were you ever asked to give feedback on the various titles Thrash has had over the years?
This movie is hilarious. I now just call it “the shark movie” with everyone in my life because it’s gone through so many titles. It was Shiver before Thrash. Then it was Beneath the Storm before Shiver, and before Beneath the Storm, the original title was The Rising. It’s been through a lot of versions. But I don’t know anything about titling a movie, so I feel like I’d be the wrong person for them to ask.
Thrash is pretty cool.
Yeah, it makes an impact, for sure.
The term worst-case scenario doesn’t begin to accurately describe your character’s predicament in Thrash.
(Laughs.)
She’s nine months pregnant, and she’s been abandoned by her poker-playing/aspiring DJ fiancé. Then she becomes trapped inside her Mini Cooper during a Category 5 hurricane, and sharks soon circle her flooded car. Mentally and physically, was this the most uncomfortable you’ve ever been on set?
Without a doubt, yes. When I was told we were shooting this movie in Australia, I thought, Great, I’m going to learn how to surf. It’s going to be so tropical and hot. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Then I slowly realized while we were shooting that the climate is a little bit cooler in Melbourne and that we were shooting in the dead of the Australian winter. So I left beautiful, sunny June in London to go to Melbourne in the dead of winter, and that was the beginning of the end, really.
I would put on three wetsuits every day — plus a pregnancy belly [maternity dress and trench coat]. The process of getting into a wetsuit is already quite difficult, but putting on three and then a belly is virtually impossible. Then I was plunged into a really cold body of water that couldn’t be warm. If it was warm, you’d see the heat rise off it. So it had to be cold, and I ended up really making friends with a hot hose that would go into my wetsuits in between takes.
But the beauty and fun of it was that the crew was in the water with us. They were in wetsuits, so all of us were wet. It really felt like a team effort because we were all uncomfortable, not just the actors.
Phoebe Dynevor as Lisa in Thrash. Courtesy of Netflix The Mini Cooper is an inherently small car, so you had it much worse than your castmates. Did you ever get claustrophobic?
I did at one point, yeah. I thought I was good, and then I had a little bit of a panic attack at a certain point. The branches were everywhere, and then the water rising was very scary. The water was not actually rising; the car was getting dropped into water. But it’s still scary. You know you’re safe, obviously, but your body doesn’t. So after being in that situation all day for a week, or however long it took us to shoot it, I was pretty drained. It certainly wasn’t an easy job.
Hysterical strength is when people exhibit superhuman abilities during life-and-death circumstances, and the most common example is when a mother lifts a car to rescue her child. Is that concept something you thought about as Lisa fights for her and her baby’s survival?
Oh my God, I thought about it so much. What originally drew me to this script was that it felt like a love letter to women that had gone through childbirth. It’s such an incredible thing anyway, and to then add all this chaos into it was just fascinating. I did so many deep dives on childbirth and what the process is like to do it naturally and the beauty of that. I talked to women who had given birth in bathtubs or in all sorts of situations, and it was very fascinating. I also watched a lot of YouTube videos of women giving birth, and so many of them filmed the whole process.
I really wanted to get it as right as I could. It’s obviously a movie, so it’s hard to get it exactly right because there are so many different stages to childbirth. But it’s funny to now watch the film because I really didn’t need to be as worried as I was. There’s sharks and hurricanes and so much else happening that it’s hard to focus on the birthing. But I really did the research because I haven’t given birth yet, and I just wanted to get it right.
You have an iconic line, one that I expect to be in your lifetime achievement reel someday: “Mommy’s just gotta fight some fucking sharks.”
(Laughs.)
Was this the most excited you’ve ever been to perform a line?
It’s one of those lines where it could be really awesome or it could be really awful. So you just have to give it your all and hope that it lands. But at the time we were shooting it, it was really fun. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a movie like this, and I’ve never gotten a chance to until now. So that line was definitely the cherry on the cake.
You’ve never experienced a Category 5 hurricane, but have you ever been caught up in a climate-related quandary?
Yeah, the Palisades Fire was very close to our house, and it was really scary. I had just wrapped this movie too, which was very strange. What also drew me to the script is the fact that Adam McKay is so conscious of our changing environment. I just love how he’s able to express that in a fun way for everyone to enjoy, but it’s also truthful to the fact that the climate is affecting so many people around the world, whether it’s through floods, hurricanes or fires.
Thrash is obviously meant to be a thrilling genre movie above all, but you can tell that the production consulted experts in a few necessary places.
Yeah, it’s only really when the sharks come into play that I’m sure shark people [would object]. They’re very protective of the fact that sharks are lovely creatures, and I’m sure they are too. But that’s where it gets … I was going to use the word fishy. (Laughs.)
Perfect pun.
Thank you.
So I knew 2026 was going to be a long year when Remain got pushed to 2027.
Ugh, heartbreaking.
I was very much looking forward to it this year.
Me too.
When you first got the email that said M. Night Shyamalan and Nicholas Sparks, did you think it was a misprint or a prank of some sort?
(Laughs.) I could not have been more excited about that duo. Firstly, my favorite genres in the world are romance and thriller-horror, so I freaked out a lot. I was really excited about it then, and now I’m really excited about the film. I haven’t seen it yet, but they’re such a perfect duo in so many ways. This film really shows the best from both of them — and Jake Gyllenhaal. I was just like, Wow, this can’t be real. I’m still pinching myself that I got to be a part of that film. I really am.
Despite having a more romantic bent to it, does it still have all the touchstones of Night’s filmography?
Oh, yes, it does. It really is a perfect blend. There’s romance, but there’s definitely a lot of horror and twists. I really think both Shyamalan fans and Sparks fans will be really happy. It was an incredibly special experience that I will always treasure. Between Night and Jake, I learned so much about film and the making of film. I’m sure you’ve had this experience with Night, but he’s so fascinating to talk to about film.
I could talk to him for hours, and I did talk to him for hours about everything from performance to cameras. He just has so much knowledge, and I have so much awe. He’s one of a kind — and Jake as well. I talked to him a lot about acting, and I pinched myself every day on set that I got to work with two real icons of cinema.
Nicholas Sparks’ novelization of Remain came out a couple months after you wrapped in October 2025. Did you eventually read his iteration of the story for curiosity’s sake?
Yes, but I wasn’t allowed to [prior to filming] because I was told there are differences. So I read it as soon as we wrapped, and I’m glad that I didn’t read it until I wrapped because they are in fact different. The book is brilliant, and I really enjoyed it.
You have a couple other genre films in the pipeline. Do you know yet if A24’s Famous and Black Bear’s Pendulum are coming out this year?
Oh my gosh, I’ve been trying to get the inside scoop, but I don’t know anything yet.
I recently watched a show called Wonder Man, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays a struggling actor with one scene on American Horror Story. As a day player, he only has a couple lines, but he treats his scene as if he’s the lead of the show. He requests blocking and script changes, and the production eventually sends him packing. When you were starting out in smaller parts, did you quickly learn how far you could and couldn’t go in terms of questions and suggestions?
Yeah, I started out when I was 14, and I did a lot of British television. That was my thing for a decade. It wasn’t until I did a show called Younger [in 2017] that I worked in America for the first time. But by doing bits on TV for the good part of a decade, I saw it as my learning ground. I really just absorbed what everyone was doing and how they were handling themselves on set.
It wasn’t till I had the experience of being a lead on Bridgerton that I felt like I had the experience to be able to speak up, character-wise. You get to know a character really well when you play them for countless hours to make eight hours of television. So that was really the first time that I was able to stick up for myself, but only in a way of character. As an actor, I don’t want to do other people’s jobs; I just want to do what’s right for my character. I’m very aware that I’m a cog in someone else’s vision, especially when I’m working in film. It’s a director’s medium, so I never want to get in the way of that.
I talked to Kurt Russell recently about a beloved Western of his called Tombstone, and he reiterated that the screenplay is better than the finished movie. In your experience, how often is the script better than the final product? And how often does the final product end up better than the script?
Oh my God, what an interesting question. I don’t know if I’ve had the experience of the screenplay being better than the film. What actors and the director and the cinematographer are usually able to do is bring the script to life. So I haven’t had that specific experience, but I’m sure it does happen. I’ve definitely had the experience of envisioning something in my head and it just not turning out the way I envisioned. I’d say that happens more often than not because you’re never really in control of what happens. But for a text to be more brilliant than the film itself, I would want to read that screenplay, for sure.
You mentioned Fair Play earlier, and given the complex dynamics between your character and Alden Ehrenreich’s character, what types of takes do you hear from people when you’re out and about?
It is such a complex film, but weirdly, people do seem to be on Emily’s side — more so than other characters I’ve played — which is interesting. I don’t know what that says, but a lot of people are very sympathetic to Emily in that film, which I was relieved and glad by. People also have very different opinions on the film and the dynamics. I think she’s a controversial character, for sure, so I’m kind of surprised by people’s reactions to her. That final scene is pretty cool. People can watch it and think, God, I wish I’d said this to my boss. Without causing physical harm, I think there’s a lot of women especially that wish they’d stood up for themselves in that way or in a different way.
Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor in Chloe Domont’s Fair Play. Courtesy of Sundance Institute You really didn’t expect the audience to side with Emily as much as they have?
I thought I’d face a little bit more backlash. It’s a niche movie, so the people who’ve seen it are specific types of people that like those kinds of movies. But I’m always very excited to meet someone who’s seen Fair Play because I wasn’t able to promote it due to the strikes. And it was hard because I’m more proud of that movie than any other movie I’ve been a part of. It was such a special process. So it’s really close to my heart, and it means the world when people say they’ve enjoyed it.
*** Thrash streams April 10 on Netflix. Remain hits theaters in February 2027.
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