Exclusive: Director and Stars of Endangered Discuss the Shocking Twists in Their Thriller

The gig economy is in full swing but buckle up—the ride can get bumpy. That’s certainly the case in Endangered, where a beleaguered rideshare driver takes one last passenger only to find herself thrust into a series of twisted, life-threatening situations that involve a mysterious duffle bag, plenty of subterfuge, and a rideshare dude she just can’t drop. Brought to life with vigor by director Drew Walkup, the film, streaming on digital platforms on July 22, stars Lizzie Zerebko and Michael Olavson. That it manages to stand out in a movie universe loaded with thrillers is a good thing, but equally refreshing is its commentary about the precarious times in which we live.

“Both the characters function within the gig economy,” notes Olavson, who plays the shady passenger in the film— Zerebko is the down-on-her-luck driver. “We’re all kind of pulling ourselves out of this overwhelming sense of exhaustion and fatigue from the last few years. These characters are feeling that — for better or for worse. There’s a sense of desperation and having to carry yourself through a hell of an ordeal. The characters are each in their own desperate situations, and I believe that script element contributes to a larger conversation of what’s happening now in the world, as we come out of this pandemic—needing to find a way to get through it.”

Walkup reveals that the tightly executed tale, which was conceptualized before the world turned upside down in 2020, holds an added level of eerie depth in 2022. “As we created this, along the way we started realizing we wanted to also add some social commentary… There were things we really wanted to say about what we’re going through now, but through a unique thriller. Hopefully, it gets people thinking a little about what we’re all going through right now.”

Creating The Ultimate Thriller

Written by Adam Armstrong and Marcus DeVivo, Endangered sets up the intrigue from the get-go. Alison has been doing everything she can to keep herself afloat in an uncertain world. Would that one last passenger really make a difference in her pocketbook? Hell yes! Misadventure quickly ensues, but in the creative hands of Armstrong and DeVivo, we’re offered a series of twists that keep us invested until the final frame.

“When I first read the script, it was a page-turner for me,” said Zerebko. “I truly didn’t see what was coming. That’s what drew me to the project initially. My favorite theme of the movie is the desperation of people and the lengths they go to get what they need. Alison has done everything she was told to do. She was an extremely good student, had a very good work ethic, had a dream career that she planned. She did all the steps. And yet, at this point, she’s not able to work in the field that she has prepared her entire life to work in. The rug has been pulled out from underneath her. I think that’s what people our age have been facing. We were all told a certain thing, and not everything has worked out the way that we all hoped it would once we hit our thirties and forties.”

Zerebko effectively infuses Alison with a definitive edge. She even went so far as creating a unique playlist to absorb mentally before and during filming. “I listened to a lot of Eminem and some good, angry female artists like Bishop Briggs,” noted Zerebko.

Another perk: she could perform her own stunts for the film, which vividly come to life in the movie’s second half. “I don’t want to give everything away, but I’ll just say the night with the alligator was incredibly memorable. Yes… one of my favorite scene partners, other than Michael was a six-foot Florida alligator.” Chomp on that idea for a moment.

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For Olavson, morphing into his precarious character turned out to be more compelling than he imagined. From the onset, he knew he had to play a guy with a funky vibe—those intense glares at the driver as they catch each other’s eyes in the rearview mirror, the mysterious phone conversations he had to bring to life, the intense range of emotions he had to carry in the film’s second half. But what thrilled him the most was the fact that the director didn’t have him meet Zerebko until the first night of shooting, which mirrors the two characters meeting in the film.

“At first, I pushed up against it, like, ‘What do you mean? I’m not going to get to meet her until our first day?’ But I knew Lizzie and I had a similar education, and it was one of those things where you immediately meet people, and you have a sense that it’s going to work well. Within five minutes, I realized that because I trusted Drew, and I discovered that Lizzie and I had a similar [creative] language.”

Having a small cast — and a budget for that matter — also created a sense of intimacy in the production. Zerebko and Olavson spent a great deal of time in the car, with many one-on-one scenes, which allowed them to dig into the characters quickly and deeply.

Meanwhile, as director, Walkup, while he relished the script, faced several filmmaking challenges. “Making a film is like trying to roll a boulder up the hill,” he joked. “For me, I was trying to understand how we address each problem as they came.” It was also one of his first feature films, so the stakes were high, especially in today’s competitive marketplace. He credits the supportive crew behind the project, and production manager Jennifer Miller, who took on numerous roles. “One of the things that stood out, though,” he added, “was the creative breakthroughs with Lizzie and Michael on what we wanted to convey to audiences. What’s most rewarding is that we’ve screened this film at numerous film festivals now and audiences have raved about Lizzie and Michael’s acting. They added something truly rare to the film.”

“My greatest hope,” Zerebko chimed in, “is that audiences go along for this ride—no pun intended. For me, this was great filmmaking on so many levels.”

Endangered is available for streaming on July 22.