If you’re after a new young adult fantasy in the same vein as Harry Potter but with elements of The Good Place and Succession, you’ll want to check out The Portable Door. Stan’s new original movie, directed by Jeffrey Walker, is based on the novels by Tom Holt and has brought an all-star cast to our shores for filming in Queensland.
Prior to the movie’s release, Lifehacker Australia sat down with leading star Patrick Gibson (Shadow and Bone) to find out more about his character, Paul Carpenter, who is thrown into a world of ancient magic and corporate conspiracies after he becomes an intern at the mysterious J.W. Wells & Co.
“I think at the start of the film [Paul] is quite lost. He doesn’t know his place in the world. He’s kind of trying to find himself and he’s always felt like he doesn’t quite fit in, which I think is relatable for a lot of us. So I think at the start, he’s kind of searching for his purpose,” Gibson explained.
“Then he what feels like (sic), stumbles on it, but as J.W. Wells says, there’s no such thing as a coincidence. So, then his driving force is really the person that he meets, which is Sophie.”
Sophie, played by Sophie Wilde (Eden), is another intern at J.W. Wells, working under a strange board of enigmatic advisors played by A-list talents like Sam Neill, Christoph Waltz, Miranda Otto and Rachel House.
When it came to working with such screen legends every day, Gibson said they were nothing but generous:
“When they’re people that you’ve watched your whole life and admired it can be a daunting thing, but they were just so generous and so welcoming and ready to share all of the knowledge that they’ve gained over the years,” he said.
The Portable Door is set primarily within the strange walls and halls of the J.W. Wells company, an organisation that uses magical practices to engineer things like coincidences.
As a believer in coincidences himself, Gibson said it was fun to imagine that a mystical corporation out there is responsible:
“My favourite kind of fantasy stuff is stuff that’s grounded in reality, you know, that you can imagine in our world and it kind of gives an explanation for things like coincidences,” he said.
“I think that is what’s so fun about Paul and a lot of the characters in this is that (sic), even though it’s this fantastical world, it’s very much grounded in experiences that we have.”
@lifehackerau Does Patrick Gibson believe in coincidences? @StanAustralia #theportabledoor #patrickgibson #stan #movies
The Portable Door has a rich source material to draw from, with Holt’s novels series spanning seven books. The success of book adaptations in the past few decades has varied, but Gibson predicts fans will be satisfied:
“The books are so out there and so wild and so fun. I definitely think tonally the film has stayed true to that,” he said. “I think fans of the books will definitely be pleased.”
The Stan Original film The Portable Door premieres April 7, only on Stan. In select cinemas now.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.