Jordan Alexa Davis Talks The End of Oak Street, Dinosaurs and Her Film Debut

[00:00:08] Jordan, thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged. Thank you for having me. Exciting times. We have The End of Oak Street arriving in theaters and IMAX August 14th. How excited are you about this project that's finally going to get released to everybody? Yeah, I'm super excited. It's my first film that I've ever done, which is like pretty insane. I feel like I kind of just jumped into the deep end with this. But yeah, we shot it two years ago. So it's just been two years of just I'm so excited and ready for people to see it.

[00:00:35] We're going to go back a few more years there now. When you first received the script for this project, like what made you want to be part of this film right away in this mysterious world that we see you in? Yeah, well, I obviously like really admire David's previous work. And then just reading the script, I just thought it was so brilliant how he just created this whole world and just had this whole concept of something that hadn't really been done before yet still felt familiar and nostalgic in some ways. So yeah, that really drew me to the story.

[00:01:06] Do you remember the audition for Jeanette? Yeah, I do. It was a self-tape and I kind of just like recorded it like any other audition I did. I didn't really like put much pressure into it. Just tried to follow my gut, whatever. Just let it go. And then I did a Zoom callback and then that was it. Yeah. Do you remember the description you were given for this character?

[00:01:30] Yeah, it was. She was, I think it said she was reserved. She was reserved girl, young girl, 14. There wasn't really much, honestly. So that was kind of like a little bit daunting yet at the same time, very fun as an actor just to kind of be able to like play around with kind of a more blank canvas and like kind of create her own backstory and her own.

[00:02:00] internal world. Is that always a fun thing to do when you get a chance to like create this character because there's not a lot of detail about them? Yeah, it's really fun. It feels like a lot of pressure too because you want to like nail it and get it right, I guess. But like when you have more freedom, yeah, it's both intimidating yet fun. How would you describe this movie to people? Yeah, definitely a thrill ride for sure.

[00:02:29] A thrill ride, mysterious. It's very like driven with themes of family. Yeah, I don't want to give too much away. And dinosaurs. I mean, people know that too. Yes. For you, you know, like the film takes, you know, like a suburban neighborhood, it completely turns it upside down. Like for you, like how do you describe that kind of experience stepping into a set like that for the first time?

[00:02:57] Yeah, it was cool. We shot it mostly on like actual streets, like the exterior parts, which was cool. Because the location scouting, like they did a good job because it's set in the 80s too. So it really helped being in an actual place where the houses were a bit more, they weren't as like modern and stuff.

[00:03:18] And like all of the set design too, of like just like furniture, backyard, like patio furniture, stuff like that. Like I really felt like I was like transported to this other time. You mentioned David earlier too, you know, he's known for creating like suspense, you know, films and stuff like that. Did he, any advice when you stepped on set? When you're about to jump on this film? I'm trying to remember because we shot this two years ago. Right.

[00:03:47] I just remember him being like pretty, when we were just designing like her character look. I remember he was like very open to my opinion and like what I was comfortable with or what I thought, what I saw Jeanette wearing her hair like or like what the clothes she would wear. And I really like admired that he let me have room to create the character alongside him.

[00:04:12] And I'd like, cause as an actor, that's like what you hope that you're able to do. So yeah, that was really cool. You mentioned you felt a little bit pressured. How about working with Annie and Ewan McGregor? Yeah. I mean, it was a dream come true because I grew up watching them. So it was just like so surreal the first day on set, but I, they were like the best scene partners. Like I could have asked for it in my first movie just because they were so, um, they're just so brilliant and they're so good at what they do that they didn't really make.

[00:04:42] I wasn't, I felt safe like working with them. I didn't feel like, obviously I was nervous, but like once I got to set, I was like, okay, like these are good people. Like I know that they, if I had any question about anything, they were like so sweet and so willing to like help me learn. For the, for those scenes that you filmed like with the dinosaurs, would you have to heavily, heavily, uh, rely on your imagination or were there like props set up to help you? Curious about that.

[00:05:10] It was like a mixture of both. It would depend on the scene and depend on what special effects we would be using. Because sometimes like there would be somebody in like a blue, like full blue, like suits to be when it was like more technical with the stunts. But then other times there was just nothing there and it had to be our full imagination. There's also like some dinosaur heads, like on sticks too, that we can use for like. Is that for, is that for the face to face?

[00:05:37] Yeah. I think it was for like eyeline too. And just to kind of like, um, visualize like the size of it. Cause they're so big. So it was just like on a, so we'd know for like how big it was. Yeah. The stories about survival too. And, you know, exploring family. What do you think the movie is saying underneath all that spectacle about this whole, the way that this, this film is.

[00:06:01] Yeah. Um, well, yeah, I think it just says a lot about how, like when you are put into dangerous situations, like even if the people close to you have differences, like you, if you love each other, like you were gonna just come together. So it's really just about our like human nature and like what we will do for the people that we love and care about. What was like the, for you as an actor for this, on this movie, what was the hardest thing for you? Would you say? Hmm. Um,

[00:06:31] Or the biggest challenge? Yeah. Well, I guess just with it being my first film, like that was difficult trying to like also show up every day and like do the best work that I could, but still having everything else be new. It was just a lot to take in. And especially on like a thriller or horror genre, it's so physically and like emotionally demanding.

[00:06:51] So I definitely learned as filming progressed, just how to set boundaries and like separate my personal life from the very anxiety driven stuff that I was having to do. That was all make believe. So what's one advice you would give to another actor down the road? First time they step into a film like this.

[00:07:13] Oh yeah. Um, probably the same, a similar thing would just to be like, make sure you're just good with yourself and like good in your life. You have like good people around you to, to lean on for support and not just like totally make the whole thing your whole life. Cause it's exciting and you're so proud to be in it. So you want to just, it's easy to just let it consume everything in your life, but it's important to have like your separate life from like the work that you do.

[00:07:42] Obviously I don't want to talk about spoilers, uh, but how would you describe Jeanette's journey in this movie? Yeah. Well, a difficult one for sure. Um, she's yeah, definitely like put through a lot as are all the other characters, but she, I think kind of comes, she's like a surprising like underdog. She's, she's like very soft spoken and sensitive and sweet, but she's also like very brave and very strong.

[00:08:11] So I feel like audiences will be a bit surprised to see like just how brave she is. Now have you had a chance to do like a special screening with like family? Yeah. I saw it with my, like, with my team, with my, um, my agents like three months ago. What was the reaction? Yeah. They were, um, I, they were very on edge. They were like, like hiding behind their, like their hands, like a lot of the time, but yeah, it was special getting to see it with them.

[00:08:40] So when the audience leaves the theater after seeing this, like what reaction are you hoping for? Yeah. I hope that they're still intrigued and still, um, like, I hope they leave like feeling satisfied, but like still a bit curious about other things that were left out there. Yeah. So we have the movie August 14th. Uh, what's next for you now? Any other projects you'd like to tell us about before we end this?

[00:09:10] Uh, not quite. Just have to wait and see pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Jordan, I want to thank you for giving me a few minutes today. Good luck with the film and hopefully we'll see you down the road or another interview. We'll talk about more projects. Amazing. Thank you so much.