“The cast in this film is really unique,” says co-director Zach Lipovsky about “Final Destination Bloodlines,” the latest movie in the fan-favorite horror franchise. “In this film, we have an entire family. We have a character who’s 16, all the way to a character who’s in her late 70s. And together as a group, they have to survive Death coming after them. What’s really cool is seeing the dynamics of all those different age groups, all marked for death, all working together.”
According to Lipovsky, finding a cast that could all work as a family was even more challenging than in the other films. “Not only did we have to find amazing actors that all feel unique, grounded, and relatable, but they all had to work together as a family – you really needed to believe their chemistry and history from all having been together for a really long time.”
Leading the talented cast of “Final Destination Bloodlines” is Kaitlyn Santa Juana, a Canadian actress of part-Filipino descent. Santa Juana describes her character, Stefanie, as “a brainiac college student, very studious, top of her class. But she’s been suffering from nightmares that prevent her from reaching her full potential. And then she becomes like an action hero girl.”
In her early meetings with the filmmakers, Santa Juana says, “I mapped her out and, maybe this is a personal thing for me but, I think Stefani is three different people over the course of the movie. She’s kind of a detective in the beginning, trying to find answers to why she’s having the dream and why it keeps happening. And once she finds out, she becomes the protector of her family. And towards the end, she becomes a survivor of everything that she and her family have gone through.”
All of the “Final Destination” movies have begun with the main character having a premonition of an impending disaster. “What’s unique about this movie,” says Santa Juana, “is that it’s not a premonition, it’s a recurring nightmare of something that happened 50 years ago. It’s a huge twist.” Santa Juana’s previous acting works include “Dear Evan Hansen” on Broadway, and TV’s “The Flash.”
Playing Stefanie’s brother Charlie is Teo Briones, a Filipino-American actor. Briones is a huge fan of the franchise. “‘Final Destination 3’ is one of my favorite horror movies of all time,” he says. Devon Sawa, the star of the first movie, played Briones’s father in the first season of the “Chucky” TV series, which Briones was a part of. “Devon was the first person I texted when I got the part!” Briones says. They met up a few months later and, he says, “Devon regaled me with all kinds of stories that made me realize the ride I was in for. He told me that being a part of a death is a long and arduous process. The days are long and brutal, but they’re fun, and he told me I was in for an awesome journey that I was never going to forget. And that’s true!”
Of his work with Santa Juana, Briones says, “My relationship and connection with my own sister is one of the most important things in my life. Being able to recreate that a little bit in this movie was very special. Kaitlyn’s amazing, she’s so easy to work with. It didn’t really feel like acting in our scenes; it just felt like I was talking to my big sister.” Briones’s big sister is actress Isa Briones, who plays the divisive Dr. Santos on “The Pitt.” Their father is also an actor, JonJon Briones, who played the Engineer in the West End revival of “Miss Saigon,” and is also known for TV work including “Ratched” and the Emmy-winning “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.”
Rated R-16 without cuts, “Final Destination Bloodlines” takes audiences back to the very beginning of Death’s twisted sense of justice. Plagued by a violent recurring nightmare, college student Stefanie (Santa Juana) heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle and save her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all. The newest chapter in the bloody successful horror franchise is directed by Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky.
New Line Cinema presents A Practical Pictures / Freshman Year / Fireside Films Production: “Final Destination Bloodlines,” now showing in cinemas!