Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: Double Life, exclusive, interview, Javicia Leslie, Martin Wood, paramount, Pascale Hutton, Vincent Gale

Double Life: Javicia Leslie on Recreating the 90s Female-Led Thriller

Javicia Leslie (Batwoman) talks to Bleeding Cool about her latest Paramount thriller in Double Life, Martin Wood, stunts & more.

Javicia Leslie is no stranger to action and suspense, given her work on BET's The Family Business, The CW's Arrowverse on Batwoman, and most recently, The Flash. In Paramount's Double Life, Leslie stars as Jo Creuzot, the mistress who works with a grieving widow (Pascale Hutton) whose husband she was seeing following his death. The two form an unlikely alliance to uncover the truth behind his murder to unmask the man they both loved. The star spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with director Martin Wood, co-stars, and stunt work.

How Double Life Became a Learning Experience for Javicia Leslie

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'Double Life?'
Leslie: It reminded me of thrillers I watched when I was younger, like women-led '90s thrillers, movies with actresses like Sandra Bullock and other powerful actresses leading them. That's what attracted me to the script.

How do you break down the set that Martin Wood ran?
It was amazing. I usually love the sets in Vancouver. It's always a great group of people to work with. A few of them I already knew from working on other projects out there. I initially met Martin virtually while I was still in L.A. We hit it off, and [in addition to starring] he also allowed me to shadow him as a director. I went out there two weeks early and got to pay attention to the set-up, like the prep you do before shooting. It was a fantastic experience with a great crew and director. I love Martin and the excellent cast. I got to meet some fantastic and talented actors. It was a lot of fun.

So how do you break down your chemistry with the cast, especially Pascale?
It was great [laughs], and it was a lovely cast. Everyone was unique, talented, accommodating, and genuine.

Was there any challenging sequence or aspect of the film, like scenes or stunt work?
I wouldn't say anything was complicated. I don't like cold weather and snow, meaning Vancouver, where it's raining; cold kind of sucks sometimes. I'm sensitive to cold weather, so they were all used to me needing so many heat packs and coming to work with like mad coats on. Other than that, it was relatively seamless. We did have a few stunts. I worked with a stunt double that I worked with from my last show, and it was amazing. I quickly learned the fight sequence and loved the action sequences, the same with the guns. We had a weapons person on set, but we were all fluent in that world so that we could hit the ball, hit the ground running, and go with the flow. It was a lot of fun.

Written by Michael Hurst, Double Life also stars Vincent Gale. The film comes to theaters and digital on May 5th and on-demand on May 19th.

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