Imagine Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai if Ameesha Patel were the under-appreciated employee and Hrithik Roshan the obnoxious, entitled yet hot boss. Except there’s no romance, only survival instincts on full display. That’s how Send Help hits its viewers, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, who get stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash and are forced to survive together as tensions rise between them.
Stories like these usually drift toward romance when two people are stuck together long enough. But with Sam Raimi in the director’s chair, this story swerves hard into thriller, psychological tension and horror. Ahead of the release of Send Help, Filmfare caught up with the producer Zainab Azizi for an exclusive chat where she spoke about her bond with Raimi and casting McAdams for this morally murky role.
Talking about the film, she shared, “What excited me was the character of Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams). Everyone can relate to her, whether you’re a man or a woman. She is a hardworking executive but she is overworked, undervalued and underappreciated. And the idea of being stranded on a deserted island with a terrible boss is something many people probably think about and fantasise about. So I thought it was a very interesting idea for a film.”
Send Help marks Sam Raimi’s return to the director’s chair after 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Asked whether there was added pressure with fans eagerly awaiting Raimi’s comeback, Azizi said, “There’s always pressure when you’re making a film. Sam Raimi is a master of horror. We want to entertain audiences, and we hope people really connect with and love this film. Sam is a director who loves to entertain and he wants audiences to be thrilled. That was our number one priority when it came to making this film.”
This is not the first time they have collaborated. Raimi and Azizi co-produced films such as Umma, 65 and Boy Kills World. She continued, “The best part about collaborating with Sam was how open he is to collaborating. I’ve never met any director who is almost like a communal director. He works with his cinematographer, his actors, his producer, costumes, makeup and is open to any ideas.”
Azizi also opened up about casting McAdams, who she calls ‘America’s sweetheart’ for such a dark role. “When we were developing Linda Little, we wanted someone that everybody could fall in love with. The character is so kind and loving. And Rachel embodies all of that. We know her as America’s sweetheart in films like The Notebook and The Wedding Crashers and About Time. It was really exciting for us to see her play this darker role. And it was also a reunion for her and Sam Raimi, who have done Doctor Strange 2 in the past.”
Azizi also has a Bollywood connect as she loved Hindi films growing up and is also close friends with Preity Zinta. Expressing her love for the industry, she further shared, “When I was younger, I loved horror. I was a huge fan of Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Priti Zinta is one of my closest friends. I love Bollywood films and I hope to one day do a crossover.”
Send Help will be released theatrically on January 30.
Also Read: “People Forget I Have Worked My Ass Off…”- Bhumi Pednekkar on Daldal, Trolling & More | Exclusive
