Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor play a suburban couple whose family is forced to fight for survival after their neighborhood is transported into a world inhabited by dinosaurs in “The End of Oak Street.”
Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows”), the film follows the Platt family after a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports it to an unknown place where dinosaurs roam the streets. Hathaway and McGregor play Denise and Greg, with Maisy Stella as their daughter Audrey and Christian Convery as their son Brian.
Hathaway said she drew inspiration from Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” while developing Denise’s look, imagining an early 1980s wife and mother who had a childlike quality.
“I just wanted everything to feel very defenseless, so the house coat she wears, it has that pink underlayer to it, pink pockets on it, and I just wanted her to feel like the last person you would ever imagine could transform into a beast.”
That contrast becomes apparent when Denise is forced to protect her children from a giant snake-like creature. For Hathaway, the transformation was part of the character’s appeal.
“When she does, when she’s got blood splattered on her and she’s screaming and protecting her children from certain death from a gigantic billion-foot-long snake thing, you’re just like, ‘wow, I had you wrong, Denise Platt,’” she said.
McGregor said filming the action sequences involved long runs through gardens and streets, jumping fences and crossing front yards.
“Annie and I had some really long runs to do,” he said. “Over gardens, down streets, jumping fences, running over peoples’ front yards, careful not to put our ankle down a hole. But we had fun doing that.”
For McGregor, however, the family remains at the center of the story.
“As much as the dinosaur action is going to be incredible and insane, I think if you didn’t have a believable family at the heart of it that you cared about, it wouldn’t matter so much,” he said.
“The End of Oak Street” opens in Philippine cinemas today, Aug. 12.