Never let go is a new horror film that also leans heavily into the realm of a family drama. It was brought to the screen by writing duo KC Coughlin and Ryan Grassby (The King Tide, mean dreams) and directed by Alexandre Aja, known for his past horror work including crawl And The hills have eyes. The film stars Halle Berry as a mother—unnamed, as far as the audience knows—who makes sure her twin sons never leave the house without a tongue, ostensibly to keep them safe from deadly evil lurking in the woods.
The sons in question, Nolan and Samuel, are played by Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins, respectively. Despite their age, both actors appeared in exciting projects before joining what would become the movie with Halle Berry’s best Rotten tomatoes Score since 2019. Dogs previously published in The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray And AntonAnd Jenkins was in The deliverance and multiple episodes of Florida man.
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Screen Rant Interviewed Daggs and Jenkins about their work in Never let go. Screen Rants Never let go Reviews praised the performances of both young actors, and they each discussed the interviews of their characters’ relationship with their fearful mother. Both Daggs and Jenkins also shared their personal experiences working with Halle Berry as an actor.
Percy Daggs IV & Anthony B. Jenkins discuss working with Halle Berry on Never Let Go
Nolan and Samuel have very different relationships with their mom
Screen Rating: Never let go is absolutely phenomenal. It’s an incredible horror film, but at its heart, it’s an incredible family drama with universal themes. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and keep you guessing until the last minute. Tell me about Nolan and Sam’s different dynamic they have with their mother, played by Halle Berry. We’ll start with you, Percy.
Percy Daggs IV: Nolan’s dynamic with his mom is that he loves his mom. He cares very, very much for his mother, but he begins to think that maybe she no longer understands what they need. So, he’s trying to find a way to make things better, which starts to cause some other things, but he’s always trying to make sure she’s okay. He is trying to be very, very helpful. He tries to adapt to the things they need, and also tries to show what he needs and what he thinks everyone else needs too.
Absolutely. Anthony, how about Sam’s dynamic with Mama?
Anthony B. Jenkins: Sam’s dynamic with Momma is [that] He will believe everything she says. He will eat what she says, he will do what she says, he just trusts her. I would say he is difficult. Also, Nolan doesn’t really trust Momma, [so] He is also trying to get Nolan to trust Momma. He tries to stay on his mother’s best side, so that—maybe if he argues with Nolan or something—his mother can be on his side, because she trusts him and she knows Sammy won’t do anything bad.
Halle said that the two of them are both some of the best actors she’s worked with, and that means at any age. She said you are two of the best, and in your performances I absolutely see it. Can you talk about working with Halle on this film? Is there a bit of advice she gave you that stuck with you?
Percy Daggs IV: Lots of advice. As you know, she is a producer on the film, and I was there with her. She was always so welcoming when she had her producer hat on, and I got to learn a lot on the opposite side of the camera. Also, I learned a lot on the camera side – to always stay focused, to always be ready, to always understand the work, and always understand what you need in the scene. So, basically to come prepared. Working with Ms. Halle is so wonderful. She is such a lovely person. She’s easy to work with because she has your back and she’s one of the greatest actresses of all time, and I was so honored to work with her.
What about yourself, Anthony? Any advice what happened to you?
Anthony B. Jenkins: Just like Percy said, she told me [to] Always stay focused, and she said I won’t book every job I audition for, but I will definitely book some, so know to keep going. And my eyes [are] My super power.
Now in the film, the two of you and Halle have this family bond, and the chemistry comes right off the screen. Can you talk about cultivating the chemistry between the two of you and Halle on set?
Percy Daggs IV: We had a lot of time to help each other and to get used to each other, and a lot of that time was in the casting process. It was a whole month of casting trying to find me and AJ, and when they found me, I was part of finding my brother who would end up being AJ. When I did screen tests with all the kids, AJ and I had the biggest connection and we automatically clicked into the things we liked and things we enjoyed. Also, he’s just a great actor.
Working with Ms. Halle, me and Ms. Halle had an immediate chemistry. We automatically clicked. She was always there for me, and I will always be there for her. When she asks for my help, I will always be there. We just built an immediate chemistry. We worked together. She helped me with the audition when I auditioned, and after all the time of searching, I’m so glad she took that little extra time to find me.
Daggs & Jenkins worked to bring aspects of their own personalities to their roles
They also overcome differences between themselves and their characters
Absolutely: Both of you are absolutely incredible. Sometimes, when it comes to horror movies, I feel like you see the scares coming, but what really convinces me something is scary is your two reactions. You guys have such great reactions [that] It really scared me at times. Can you talk about what you guys wanted to bring to your role that isn’t on the page? We’ll start with you, Anthony.
Anthony B. Jenkins: I would say what I wanted to bring up…Samuel is not like me. I trust my mom. I love her, but what I’m saying is he’s more pure. He is very innocent. I am not very innocent. He is the pure side, the innocent man, [and] The nice man. What I had to bring was more clean, try my best, and do what I can to try to be just like Samuel.
Percy, what did you want to bring to the role that was beyond the page?
Percy Daggs IV: The thing that I needed to bring, probably, to Nolan was, I needed to bring more of my adventurous side. One thing that Nolan and I have in common that you see in me a lot is, I always want a better understanding of things. Say I don’t know a word – I want to understand the definition of that word. Say I don’t know why you’re doing it – I’ll find out, or I’ll ask you why you’re doing it? That’s one thing Nolan [and I] Have in common, so I didn’t need to work on that too much, but I still have to work on it.
The thing I needed to bring out was that adventurous side. He is ready to take action immediately. He is ready to go. He is ready to go into the forest to find food for his mom. He is ready to take immediate action, and I need to be ready for it.
Director Alexandre Aja worked closely with Driggs & Jenkins for Never Let Go
The boys agreed that “he was like an acting coach”.
Alex is such a visionary director. I love his work. I love his attention to detail. I love his approach to filmmaking. Can you talk about how his directing style helps shape your performances? We’ll start with you on this one, Percy.
Percy Daggs IV: What his directing style helps me with is the horror aspect. It’s just knowing the horror aspect. I’m not the biggest fan of horror myself. I don’t watch a lot of horror, I don’t play a lot of horror, but I know a few things… get to hang out with him and see behind the camera [and think]”What does he do to make this scene more scary?” It’s really cool to see and really cool to work with. He was also so helpful, always willing to give me direction, always willing to take a soft approach, and I was very grateful to work for him.
How about you, Anthony? Can you talk about working with Alex on this film?
Anthony B. Jenkins: Working with Mr. Alex is amazing. He really helped me with my acting. He was like an acting coach for me. Shout out to my acting coach who helped me out with this role, but he helped me out. He puts a lot of stuff up, but he would help before scenes with the acting coach. He would come to me in Percy. He’d be like, “Okay, let’s do it. Let’s do it.” He makes sure we’re comfortable for every scene, and he’s such a nice person.
Daggs reveals some tricks from the makeup department on Never Let Go
The makeup department would “paint our arms to make it look like we’re thinner”
One of the things that is super noticeable in the film is when we see her for the first time. We see that your wardrobe is tattered, and you have makeup on, so it’s like you’ve been living in this type of situation for the first 10 years of your life. Then, as time goes on, we see you guys get thinner as food becomes more scarce. Can you talk about the makeup process in? Never let go?
Percy Daggs IV: Makeup is amazing. They were so wonderful. They were always so nice on set and, as you can see, the makeup is just beautiful. Sometimes we wouldn’t comb our hair or anything like that. Sometimes we would just come to set and they would add… they even had our teeth. They would grind our teeth a little and they would put black around our eyes [to] Make us look tired. It was a lot. They would sometimes, I think, even paint our arms to make it look like we were thinner. It was a lot.
Never Let Go’s Cabin was a real house in the woods
This helped the actors turn in realistic, grounded performances
The last question I have for you guys is, in most horror movies, the creepy old haunted house is where a lot of the scares take place. However, in this film, this is the family’s safe space. How did the actual location help add to your performance? And we’ll start with you on that, Anthony.
Anthony B. Jenkins: Being in the real place helps me be a lot more afraid, and it shows that Samuel is afraid of the outside. So, when I go out, I’m a little nervous and stuff. That’s why I always make sure I have my leash on, always looking at it. Staying at home makes me more comfortable and stuff, because since it’s a real set, you’re going to hear the real frogs. It helps you feel more comfortable being like, “Oh, this isn’t fake trees. This isn’t a green screen.” It was much more helpful to be in the woods, too.
What about you, Percy? How did that help you, like in the actual physical house?
Percy Daggs IV: It helped me a lot. Especially going out in nature helped. The design plan was great. They added a few more things to the house, but it was so wonderful just to be there knowing that this is a real place here. Getting that feeling of, “This is the perfect place for this,” is a great feeling, because [the] Set is very important. It helps make it look more real, which is a very, very important aspect of movies. It was great to be there. It helped a lot with the emotion, with the feeling, and there was another physical detail that was very important.
More About Never Let Go (2024)
A family that has been possessed by an evil spirit for years. Their safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the children questions if the evil is real.
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Never let go Will hit theaters on September 20.