“Z for Zachariah” is an apocalypse movie unlike any you’ve seen. There are no zombies or big special effects, and there are just three characters: a scientist, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who believes they can restore civilization by being innovative; a handsome drifter played by Chris Pine; and a resilient young woman played by Margot Robbie.
Two men, one woman, and the apocalypse. Yes, there is some sexual tension.
When Ejiofor joined us on The Frame, he talked about his immediate interest in the interpersonal relationships of "Z for Zachariah," how he doesn't care about playing parts that aren't race-specific, and why he'll perform in a hotel room if he loves a story enough.
Interview Highlights:
"Z for Zachariah" is a post-apocalyptic film that has little interest in what actually brought about the apocalypse. Rather, it's about the resilience of a couple of people. When you look at a movie like that, what do you latch on to in terms of what you want to do and why you wanted to do it?
I loved the idea of doing a three-hander. That was immediately a hook for me, just the idea that the story is only about the relationships between three people and how that can be dramatically as exciting as anything else, numerous car chases or whatever. [laughs] It's just about these interpersonal relationships and how the dramatic tension ratchets up to this impossible point.
Half of the movie is actually a two-hander with myself and Margot Robbie, and I always thought that was going to be really intriguing — how do you figure out a relationship with somebody if you feel that you are the last two people on the planet? The last thing anybody wants to do is be in a bad relationship with the last girl on the planet. [laughs]
It's bad enough to be in one when there's millions of people around. [laughs]
Exactly. [laughs] How do you negotiate those things? How do you seriously try to investigate a relationship dynamic that has that much pressure? How do you seriously try to investigate the Adam and Eve quality of that?
Of course, all of that gets thrown out the window once another guy arrives, especially in the form of Chris Pine. Now a completely different instinct kicks in, and that's what the film explores and I just thought it was a fascinating idea.
Is it equally attractive to you that the movie is not interested in race or class, but about personality, such that any actor of any race could have played these parts?
I think that's an interesting part of the movie as well — at what point or to what degree do we forget any of those things, or do we? They certainly investigate not worrying about that, but when Chris arrives, there's clearly an insecurity for my character, Loomis, about the dynamic between Margot and Chris, as they're both white people.
So, from a circumstance where race doesn't involve itself at all, it's Loomis in a way who creates the paranoia of those things. Whoever's the minority feels the pressure of being the minority, regardless of their race.
In terms of your acting and specifically with jobs in Hollywood, has that evolved at all over the last couple years. Are you now offered parts that could be played by somebody of any race? Or do you still feel as if people only see certain actors in certain ways?
Ultimately, I've never been that worried about that. I don't have that much aspiration, in a sense, to not play black people. [laughs] I engage with all aspects of myself, so if you look at "12 Years a Slave" or "Endgame," where I played Thabo Mbeki — it's a long list of people that could only be played by a black person.
I've been equally engaged with those parts and I've loved them just as much, so it's not like it's been more exciting for me somehow to play parts that don't have a racial specificity. It's equal, it's about character and what you bring to character, and ultimately I'm not that interested in the cross-racial paradigm.
You've done TV, you've done film, you're doing a play now called "Everyman" in London — are you platform-neutral in that way, as long as the part or the project or the person behind it is interesting?
One hundred percent. It's one of the things I've never understood, ultimately, is how someone can be like, I don't do TV or I don't do this. If I loved the show, I'd do it in this hotel room. [laughs] I'd do it anywhere, for anyone that wants to see it. I believe in telling stories, I believe in characters and what they mean and what they can mean to other people, and I believe in narratives. The platform or the medium in which you do that is completely irrelevant. All of it's an opportunity to tell a tale.