Miles Teller isn’t the biggest fan of revisiting his films. But when it came to the rom-com that grapples with life after death, the actor, 38, was all in.
“Miles hates watching his own work,” David Freyne, director of “Eternity,” exclusively told The Post.
“He really does. But he did watch it. And he was like, ‘It’s probably one of the best things I’ve done.’ He was so proud of it. And I think he was so proud of all the work and how they reflected ordinary love. I think he really put a lot of himself and his grandparents into this role and kind of what that means to him.”
“I think he felt really honored that the film reflected his work and our work. That was really meaningful to me,” the writer continued. “That reaction from him was amazing just because I know he doesn’t like watching himself necessarily. He’s such a brilliant actor, but I think I understand that reticence. So that was a big one.”
“Eternity” is set in the “afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity.”
While there, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) is faced with deciding between her husband, (Teller’s Larry), and her first love, (Callum Turner’s Luke), who died young and has waited to be with her.
Making the choice a little easier are afterlife coordinators Ryan (John Early) and Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).
Randolph, 39, also had a visceral reaction to watching the film for the first time.
“I remember Da’Vine sitting behind me in Toronto watching it, bawling her eyes out. So just hearing her cry was nice!” recalled Freyne.
During production, the cast shared their own experiences with life and love — which made for one of the director’s most beloved moments.
“My favorite scene is the squatting scene that just came from my conversation with Miles talking about how he loved how Larry wants to make Joan happy,” recounted Freyne. “And he’s always trying to do that. For this old couple in young bodies, squatting felt so romantic. So I remember writing that as a response to that conversation.”
Olsen, 36, also had a revelation about playing the one and only Joan.
“Lizzie really hit on this notion that I love, that Joan has never really made a decision for herself. It’s always been about one of her husbands or her family, her parents, and she said it so eloquently that I just wrote it into the script,” confessed Freyne. “So there’s a moment in the pearly gates when she’s really drunk and on the ground with her friend Karen, where she just verbalizes that. She says, ‘I’ve never made a decision.’ And it just came directly from Lizzie’s amazing insight into Joan.”
“There’s loads of little moments like that kind of pepper the film.”
“Even just little breaths and touches that we added in as a response to these incredible actors. And I think if you’re gifted with such a brilliant cast, you need to use them to their fullest,” Freyne gushed. “Squeeze every penny from them. They made it so much more impactful and moving than it would have been without them.”
For Freyne, finding the perfect cast was a no-brainer.
“It’s funny because obviously, when you have a dream like this, you just make the approach and you just hope that, first they like it and then you get on. But we managed to get together, myself and Lizzie and Callum, then myself, Lizzie and Miles, in groups of three in LA in pre-production,” he explained, noting that it was “lovely” to do it that way.
“I could feel the chemistry with her and Callum and feel the chemistry with her and Miles,” continued Freyne. “The very first week of production, we shot all the memory tunnel stuff to build up those past relationships and essentially use them as an extension of the rehearsal, where these guys got to fill in the gaps of their lives together and get to know each other even more.”
“And that’s actually when Miles and Callum first met each other, which was incredible,” he added. “And that’s when I had a sense of ease because they got on so well and they had such great banter.”
For Freyne, “it felt like the final relationship in this whole triangle was completed.”
“I love that kind of buddy comedy relationship between them that develops throughout the film. But it wasn’t until we got to production that we knew that would happen,” detailed the creator. “So until you get there, you’re kind of just praying it works out!”
“Eternity” is now in theaters.
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