Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Andy Allo, assassin, bruce willis, Dominic Purcell, exclusive, interview, Mustafa Shakir, Nomzamo Mbatha, Saban Films

Assassin Star Andy Allo on Saban Films' Unique Sci-Fi Opportunity

Andy Allo (Chicago Fire, Upload) talks to Bleeding Cool about her latest sci-fi action thriller in Saban Films' Assassin, creativity & more.

Andy Allo is always looking for a new challenge to expand her range and believes she's carved a bit of a new path in science fiction thanks to new opportunities in the Amazon Prime Video series Upload, the Disney+ animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch and now in Saban Films' action sci-fi thriller Assassin. The film follows a private military operation led by Valmora (Bruce Willis), who invents futuristic microchip tech that enables an agent's mind to inhabit another person's body to carry out covert, deadly missions. But when Sebastian (Mustafa Shakir), an agent, is killed during a secret mission, his wife Alexa (Nomzamo Mbatha) takes his place to bring the man responsible to justice. Allo spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with Jesse Atlas, who's making his directorial feature debut, and collaborating with the ensemble cast.

How 'Assassin' Became "Actor Catnip" for Andy Allo

Bleeding Cool: What drew you to 'Assassin?'
Allo: There were several things. I hadn't done a lot of action, so that was the first thing that piqued my interest. I was like, "It's a sci-fi, and it's action?! Hold on. Okay. Let me open the script" As I was reading it and getting to see; the short film was brilliant. After seeing that and reading the script, I was getting sucked into this character Mali, who's an artist, but there's that challenge as an actor also to think how do I show the signs when someone is in my body and has taken over my consciousness but not completely lose myself? I had great conversations with Jesse and Nomzamo about figuring out how we balance that. It was like actor catnip. It was like all these things firing off, and I was excited to jump in and have some fun.

Can you speak of the liberating experience of taking on a role like this compared to your previous work?
This was a play for me. We didn't have much time, and it's common knowledge we shot this in two weeks. It's a testament, and it's incredible. I love a challenge, and this film allowed me to play in a sandbox with a lot of action. I got to work with Dominic Purcell, Nomzamo Mbatha, Bruce Willis, and even with Jesse in his first feature. That in and of itself is so exciting, and to be a part of that collaborative energy. That's what I felt, and that was so exciting to be a part of something that even though he and Aaron had. This is their baby, and they'd worked on this and created this for so long that I felt like I was part of the conversation. It still felt like I was coming into something, and I got to add my own little something to it. I have a special place in my heart for playing characters where there are like two sides of one coin, and I get to do that in 'Upload,' and I get to do this in this one too. I love that it is something I mentioned a bit earlier about being an actor. You look for those roles where you can stretch, and this was one of those for sure.

Assassin is available in theaters, on digital, and on demand.

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