When Murderous Memes Disrupt a First Date in a Nifty, Twisty Thriller: Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar Chat 'Drop'

If Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar get teamed up again on-screen after Drop, don't be surprised. In a film set in a swanky sky-high Chicago restaurant, the two make a dream first-date pair. The importance of that shrewd casting move shouldn't be underestimated, because this thriller relies on its stars perfecting a number of complex tasks that are crucial to the feature's vibe. Viewers should feel the sparks between them, even when things get awkward. They need to want to like them as a couple, too. A layer of suspicion also has to float over Sklenar's Henry — but when Fahy's Violet is told by anonymous airdrops to kill him or there'll be grave consequences, no one should hope for that to happen.

Directed by the Happy Death Day franchise and Freaky's Christopher Landon, Drop turns the initial in-person encounter been two people who've been connecting online into a fight for survival, and a puzzle. Inspired by IRL unrecognised messages coming producer Cameron Fuller (The Astronaut) and executive producer Sam Lerner's (The Goldbergs) ways on a holiday, the flick boasts a "what would you do?" scenario as well. In actuality, no one was told to get homicidal, of course, but that's what awaits Violet in a largely one-setting mystery where almost everybody is a suspect, tech surveillance and safety are also in focus, and the relatable fears that bubble up about the difference between how we present ourselves online and reality also drive the narrative.

Landon's aim: to make a film with a modern Hitchcock feel that also takes inspiration from 90s thrillers, both things that audiences don't see every day in cinemas of late. That mix, that mission, that mood that Landon was looking for — and achieves — stood out to both The Bold Type, The White Lotus and The Perfect Couple's Fahy and 1923 and It Ends with Us' Sklenar. "It had a very clear point of view, which is part of what I found so attractive about the idea of it. I think it really knew what it wanted to do and knew what it was," Fahy tells Concrete Playground. Adds Sklenar: "it's a decisive film".

Drop's villain is equally resolute: if Violet doesn't do what she's told or informs anyone about the instructions that she's being sent, this nightmare will impact her young son (debutant Jacob Robinson) and sister (Violett Beane, Death and Other Details). She can see on her home security cameras that someone has already broken into her house while she's out, waiting to harm her loved ones, all as she's attempting to be charismatic with Henry and uncover who is behind her hellish ordeal. Landon is purposeful himself, especially about plunging viewers into an immersive setup. The same applied with his cast and crew: to help those on the filmmaking journey with him, the production built a fully functioning restaurant to shoot in, right down to a real chef creating the menu.

Alex J. Berliner/ABImages.

Do real-life awkward date moments — including the highly relatable type when unease simmers, even if just to you, because small things have gone wrong but they feel huge inside your head — assist when that's what you're enlisted to navigate? "We've all had those kinds of experiences," Fahy advises. "Definitely," chimes in Sklenar, noting that he "can't do mouth noises". The duo riff about it. "Like chewing and stuff," says Fahy. "That would be a thing for me," stresses Sklenar. "Makes you twitch. I get that. Noted," responds Fahy again. As the two bounce back and forth while speaking with us, they're in the same bantering mode that Violent and Henry are early in the movie, and charmingly, before the picture's date is saddled with life-and-death stakes.

Drop places Fahy in another twisty mystery, as The White Lotus and The Perfect Couple both have in the last few years. With survivors of abuse also factoring into the storyline, as was the case in It Ends with Us, Sklenar is similarly in familiar territory. Symmetry also echoes in the two talents' paths to here, after starting out as actors at around the same time — onstage in the late 00s for Fahy, and in 2011 film Cornered for Sklenar — then working their way through the likes of One Life to Live, Political Animals, Miss Sloane, Mapplethorpe, Vice and Emily the Criminal between them to their recent respective TV successes.

Amid jokes from the pair about their parallels, plus also potential other genres that Drop could've taken its thriller-slash-relationship drama into, we chatted with Fahy and Sklenar about the latest standout addition to their resumes. How pivotal it was for the movie to be as invested in the date as in the unnerving airdrops, shooting in the film's very own restaurant, Violet's survival story, approaching the picture as a long play: they all came up as well.

On How Crucial It Is That the Film Is Invested in the Date, and in the Relationship at Its Centre, as Much as Its Horror-Thriller Setup

Brandon: "It was important."

Meghann: "I think it's part of what totally is so fun about the movie, because it has a romantic component to it, it is sort of a date movie, but it is also kind of a thriller. You get both. It's very much a hybrid."

Brandon: "There was a sci-fi element early on, but we took that out — we just thought it was too genre-bending."

Meghann: "But I think ultimately the story is about this relationship, and these two people who really are connecting in a way that is important and new for both of them. And it would be a great date if she didn't have to kill him."

Brandon: "Yeah, it would be."

Meghann: "It would be great."

Brandon: "And in the end, it ends up being a good thing, I think. I think that it's not all bad."

Meghann: "Nope."

On Shooting in a Fully Functioning Restaurant That Was Created Just for the Film, Right Down to a Real Chef Whipping Up the Menu

Meghann: "It was hugely helpful. I mean, you're in the environment, and it's so real that there's not even a big weird movie light in your face. It's just the lighting on the table and in the ceiling, so you really genuinely walk onto that set and you think 'I'm in a restaurant right now'. Which is incredible. It was very realistic."

Brandon: "Yeah, it was."

On Fahy's Task Digging Into Violet's Survival Story, and What It Takes to for Her to Keep Enduring

Meghann: "I think that the way that we meet Violet is so violent and disturbing, and it has so much to do with her journey as a woman after that — and how she interacts with him, and why she's so nervous to go on the date in the first place.

And so it's hugely informative, and was something that Chris and I talked about a lot, because it was so important that we honour her journey into moving on and having a healthy relationship — and being happy and feeling brave, and getting outside of herself and trusting herself.

And I think that's what feels so good about this film, is the audience really gets to see her kind of become her own superhero. And it's just so wonderful to see that happen."

On How Sklenar Approached Portraying Someone That Viewers Have to Remain on Edge with and Suspicious of, But Also Still Want to Like

Brandon: "I think that there's a small degree of being aware of the plot and where it's moving, and trying to mislead the audience consciously in a certain way — and how you look at somebody or how you speak a line, or maybe a moment that you do that isn't scripted necessarily to misdirect the audience.

And other than that, I think that it's on the page, mostly.

And then, in just finding a rhythm with Meghann, and doing these scenes — it's essentially one giant scene, because it's in real time as soon as we get to the restaurant. So it's one 70-something-page scene."

Meghann: "Yeah."

Brandon: "And I prepared it like that. I memorised it like a play. And then you just show up and do it, and it just requires a great deal of presence and being present, as it is really like an acting exercise. And just being as present as you possibly can be."

Meghann: "I don't think he gives himself enough credit for how interesting he made that character and how many tiny, nuanced things he layered into Henry, but it was really impressive."

On Whether Fahy's Run of Twisty Mysteries, Including The White Lotus and The Perfect Couple, Is an Active Choice or How Great Parts Have Come Her Way

Meghann: "I guess it's a little bit of both, to be honest with you.

It is a genre that I really enjoy myself when I'm watching stuff, and it's super fun to make. So yeah, I think it's kind of — it was never consciously something I was chasing. I think it's just how things worked out.

But yeah, there's definitely a mixture of both of those things for sure."

On Fahy and Sklenar's Similar Journeys to Drop, After Starting Acting Around the Same Time and Enjoying Recent Small-Screen Successes (Including in 1923 for Sklenar)

Brandon: "I guess we kind of do have paralleled situations. Same age. Kind of hitting it at the same time."

Meghann: "Same hair."

Brandon: "Same hair? Yeah, both Irish. I think that it's cool. I mean, I wouldn't have it any other way."

Meghann:"Yeah, me either."

Brandon: "I think there's something, there's a certain appreciation you have for the journey when you're not, I think, in your early 20s and you reach a certain level of success, and you've sort of worked at it for a really long time and tried to improve yourself personally along the way — because I'm a firm believer that the external is just a reflection of the internal.

And neither of us would be sitting here at this table had we not grown as human beings outside of this crazy thing we decided to do with our lives.

So that's imperative. And I think they're one and the same, and it's just a testament to keeping at it."

Alex J. Berliner/ABImages

Meghann: "Yeah, taking it as it comes."

Brandon: "And trying to do the best you can."

Meghann: "Yeah, day by day. 100 percent. I completely agree."

Drop opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, April 17, 2025.