From friendship to a family bond: The Gorge brought Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy closer

LOS ANGELES – Actors Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy have known each other socially for many years.

Now, they finally share the screen in the romantic action thriller The Gorge, playing elite snipers who form a bond despite being stationed on opposite sides of a vast ravine.

And when the highly classified threat at the bottom of the gorge is revealed, Levi (Teller) and Drasa (Taylor-Joy) must summon all their skills and work together to survive.

In a recent Zoom interview for the movie, which premieres on Apple TV+ on Feb 14, the pair say their friendship grew much stronger on set.

And Teller, the 37-year-old American who starred in the action hit Top Gun: Maverick (2022), says knowing Taylor-Joy before filming began helped with their characters’ chemistry.

“We were friends before this project even came about. We share some mutual friends and had met socially a couple of times. She and my wife became very good friends and it’s really blossomed over the last couple of years,” says the star, who is married to American model Keleigh Sperry, 32.

“So, as soon as we started filming, as much as we were looking forward to doing the performances together, I think we were really excited to just hang out as well,” adds Teller, who also starred in the acclaimed psychological drama Whiplash (2014) and the Divergent science-fiction trilogy (2014 to 2016).

Taylor-Joy, the British-American star of chess drama The Queen’s Gambit (2020), says it was not a given that they would click as scene partners.

“I think on-screen chemistry is a very ephemeral thing. You’re not really sure if you’re going to have it with somebody.

“We had a good feeling that we would, but then when we came on set, we were, like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is very easy,’” says the 28-year-old, who headlined the black comedy horror The Menu (2022) and apocalyptic actioner Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024).

“And it was easy to play. I think with a co-star, you want to feel like you are able to go anywhere and he is going to follow you and catch you. That is certainly the case with Miles.”

Teller says they probably spent more time on set shooting the breeze than acting.

“Honestly, you spend way more time hanging out. The time spent between ‘Action!’ and ‘Cut!’, it’s like baseball – there are very few minutes when the ball’s in play.

“Our relationship just strengthened after that, and you truly get to know who somebody is when you’re spending 14 hours a day with them for half a year. So, I love Anya. We’re very close,” he adds.

The actress agrees. “I feel like the family bond just deepened,” she says.

“You can conceptually know that somebody has your back, but then you go through an experience like this and it’s, ‘No, he definitely has my back 100 per cent.’”

The pair also enjoyed portraying highly trained operatives, which meant learning from real-life snipers.

And while Teller has played military characters before, including a fighter pilot in Top Gun: Maverick, he says: “They’re not all the same. They’re from different branches with different expertise.

“So, for me, getting a technical adviser – somebody who’s spent a lot of time as a sniper – was important, because there’s a certain fluidity that comes with doing something after 10,000 hours of practice.”

Their characters are both loners, but they connect because of their similar histories.

“Their backgrounds are part of the reason they make such a good match,” says Taylor-Joy.

“And I found Drasa fascinating because, despite the darkness of the world she inhabits, she is a very light-hearted person. And that comes from her relationship with her father, who was somebody she could say anything to.

“So, she was so comfortable in her skin that I think she really allowed Levi to come more into his own.”