Summary
- Meg 2: The Trench introduces a different director, Ben Wheatley, which changes the tonality of the film and brings new elements, surprises, and unexpected hurdles.
- The movie takes liberties from the novel it is based on, The Trench, offering surprises even for those who have read the book.
- In Meg 2, the character DJ evolves into a badass, and there are multiple antagonists to worry about, not just the shark. Page Kennedy also has a song called “Chomp” in the end credits from his album “A Book of Pages.”
In 2018, a pre-historic creature from the depths arose to devour unsuspecting swimmers in monster movie hit The Meg, but despite the predator being vanquished, there are more giant sharks on the way in Meg 2: The Trench. Based upon Steve Alten’s 1999 novel The Trench (itself a sequel to Alten’s 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, which was the basis for The Meg) Meg 2 has finally swum into theaters around the world for another bite, with many members of its original cast returning, including Page Kennedy as DJ.
In Meg 2: The Trench, Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) continues to lead deep-sea explorations into the trench where the first Meg originated. He and his team come to discover more Megs headed for the surface, with anyone in their path in danger. It is once again up to Jonas and his teammates like DJ (Page Kennedy), Jiuming Zhang (Wu Jing), and his niece Meiying (Sophia Cai) to stop the high seas rampage of the new Megs.
We speak to Page Kennedy on Meg 2: The Trench and what audiences can expect from the aquatic sci-fi monster sequel. Note: This interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
Page Kennedy Talks Meg 2
FilmmakerFocus: We had the pandemic come about between The Meg and Meg 2. Did that affect the timeline of Meg 2 getting started?
Page Kennedy: I think so, because The Meg came out in 2018, and I think they wanted to do the next one in 2020, but then that was derailed. Then they wanted to do it in 2021, but that got pushed back because of scheduling, so that’s when they decided on 2022. Obviously, I’m sitting there waiting for it to happen as soon as possible!
Without going into spoilers, what can you share about Meg 2: The Trench in terms of how it steps things up from its predecessor?
Page Kennedy: Well, it’s a different director [Ben Wheatley], so the tonality of the movie is different. There are also many more elements to this film, and there’s lots of twists, turns, and surprises and unexpected hurdles that we have to go through. So, that leads to a lot in the movie.
How much would you say Meg 2 evolved from the story of the novel it is based upon, The Trench?
Page Kennedy: I feel like with movies, we’re always able to take liberties off of novels, and so, there are certain things that, for the audience who read the books, there are surprises that are not necessarily in the books, and that many people won’t see coming. And I think that’s a good thing, because if you read the books and everything is the same in the movie, it’s kind of like ‘What’s the point?’ So, are there definitely some liberties taken.
What can you share about the process of filming scenes where the Meg is involved and having to react to a giant shark, and how was the Meg represented or created on set before the VFX team puts the Meg into the movie?
Page Kennedy: That’s an interesting question. The shark is so gargantuan, you can’t necessarily just put a tennis ball out and say ‘That’s the shark’, because it covers so much space. So, they kind of just give us a vast area that we look in, which isn’t really a problem. A bigger issue, and this was mainly in the first one, is the level of fear or intensity that I would choose to play compared to everyone else. You don’t want to be doing something that’s completely different or over everyone else, but with my character being a little more lilly-livered or pusillanimous, I would think my reaction would be not as unflappable as Ruby Rose or Jason Statham. So, it’s a thin line of my character is going to be a bit more bold in his histrionics, and also just not looking like you’re in a different movie from everybody else.
