Mel Gibson directed Flight Risk, starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace.
Written by Jared Rosenberg, this suspense thriller has a pilot, played by Wahlberg, transporting an Air Marsha, played by Dockery, accompanying a fugitive, played by Grace, to trial.
Crossing the Alaskan wilderness, they experience soaring tensions and tested trust because not everyone on board is who they seem.
Dockery says she appreciated being in the tight space while at the same time “flying through the mountains looking at those incredible views. It was really refreshing – even though we weren’t actually ‘flying.’ Flight Risk is about three characters who can’t go anywhere, so there’s a kind of intimacy and beauty that will be powerful on the big screen. It will feel vast, and it will feel like they’re alone out there.”
“Any time you’re in an aircraft, especially one as small as ours, it’s going to be claustrophobic,” Gibson explains. “We’ve played into everyone’s fear of flying, high altitudes, falling, and crashing.”
At the same time, what’s happening outside the plane provides its own kind of thrills, as Gibson continues, “The beauty of the film is that it takes place over the beautiful Alaskan Alps, which are stunning and spectacular, as well as intimidating and scary.”
Gibson was also drawn to the project because the script “kept me guessing and had some unexpected laughs; it was terrifying and had an intriguing mix of elements I found charming. There are no dead spots.”
