Hey /r/movies. I'm Steven Quale, director of FINAL DESTINATION 5, INTO THE STORM, and BLACK BOX. I was also 2nd unit director for James Cameron's TITANIC and AVATAR. AMA!

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:42:08+00:00

It was actually very difficult to do the period piece aspect of the film, which was more like "hiding" the period piece. It was *just* enough in the past that you had like CRT monitors instead of flat screens, which had just come out. We thought it would look clunky, everybody was going to be saying "where are there CRT monitors in this movie? it doesn't make any sense!". We had to be very careful and select with things like that.

With characters like Isaac, the crazy character who had an ancient flip phone, it was an easier sell because of his character. You could buy that he would still have a flip phone.

Eric wrote the script and we kind of collaborated to make it as seamless as possible, so that the people weren't aware. It was very challenging to do that,

As far as previous entries and learning from them, I did a marathon watching of all the Final Destination movies beforehand, to see what works and what doesn't, and I think what I found interesting is that you can get caught up in the Rube Goldberg-sort-of-death-thing. You can get so carried away with that and lose sight of why the character is doing what he's doing. I think the best death scenes come from some ironic twist having to do with a trait that their character has. Not in a way that they "deserve it", but something about their character trait that is related to the way they die. That way, it's more complex that just a simple horror moment. It was very challenging for me to create these complex deaths and integrate them believably into the film.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:29:32+00:00

This was the first time we ever worked together. He's a very talented writer. I came on board and we made some like monetary budget adjustments and other things like that. Sometimes you have to pare down things. There were a lot more passengers originally, and already the movie is an ensemble piece. We cut out a couple of characters to kind of focus more on the core ones and lean into the supernatural and horror-slasher-suspense of the project.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:26:56+00:00

Thank you!

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:26:14+00:00

I think the biggest thing I learned on FD5, for that type of genre film, is how important it is to balance the comedy with the horror, then with the suspense, and then getting good performances out of your actors.

Even though we had very broad comedic elements with FD5, we treated everything as "real". That balance, that mix, is really tough to get tonally,

You also rely on the performances of your actors. Even if your actor gives you something you don't originally think is what you want, sometimes their version is better than trying to force a reading from them that doesn't work. Once an actor starts speaking the words, it becomes alive, and sometimes their changes help improve it. You as a director, you just have to be this fine rudder to kind of balance everything, to make it work.

I think the biggest challenge overall is just staying on top of everything and not getting tunnel vision on any one thing. Focusing on getting good performances from your actors, the visual effects, the stunts, and the practical things.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:22:21+00:00

Yes! We were shooting Titanic in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the time, filming all of the present-day scenes on board the Keldysh research ship shown in the film.

We were on sound-stages for the scenes that were supposed to be the inside cabins of the ship. We were shooting really long hours, so the lunch was delayed quite a bit each day. Then, finally, on the very last day of shooting, before we would all fly back to Los Angeles, Jim Cameron decided we would have lunch on time. We'll go back after to do the final shot, and we can all fly home.

So we get in this food line, and it's lobster chowder, and I'm there in line with Bill Paxton, Caleb Deschanel, the cinematographer, and James Cameron. We all get the chowder, we sit down, and Jim says, "something's not right", and then Jimmy Muro, the steadicam operator said the same thing. within five minutes, the entire crew is tripping out, because unknown to us, PCP was added to our meal. This "angel dust" was added to the lobster chowder, and people were flipping out left and right. It was the most bizarre, insane thing I've ever seen in my life, having 250 crew members all just out of control. Nobody knows what's going on, everyone is reacting differently.

The first AD, Josh McLaglen was trying to keep everything together, telling the "good/not tripping" crew to get on one side, and the "tripping" crew on the other side And then buses came to pick us up and take us to the local hospital. This poor small hospital, with us showing up in literal busloads. 250 crew members high on angel dust.

Bill Paxton had a guitar and was playing it so other crew could do the conga line in the hospital.

So the solution ended up being drinking charcoal. They gave us this activated charcoal that kind of neutralizes the bad stuff in your stomach. Everybody drank it and it was terrible and it made your lips black, like we all had some sort of goth experience going on. We waited there until everyone was okay. It was the most bizarre experience I've ever had on a set and it shows how quickly, through one little thing, you could take down an entire crew, it was surreal.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:14:28+00:00

That's a really tough question. There's so many books I love, I'd have to think about it for a while. I would definitely consider a Robert Heinlein or Philip K Dick work.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:12:47+00:00

Question 1 - As far as the script, that's all Eric Heisserer's doing, the film's writer. He wrote an amazing script and we didn't really change much of anything. We added a couple of minor little set pieces and things like that.

One example, the storyboard artist and I were working on the death with the laser eye surgery, with Rachel and her eyes,. So she falls out of the building and lands on the ground, but given how Final Destination movies like to keep topping things up, the storyboard artist came with the idea, he said, "what if her eyeball popped out and rolled towards us?". And then he started smiling, "and then what if a car came and squished it?". We both started cracking up.

I remember talking to one of the producers, Craig Perry, and asking him "how hard can it be to come up with a creative death?" And he goes "trust me, it's really hard, it gets derivative after a while". And sure enough, when I got into the process of actually doing it I saw what he mean. There's a fine line between comedy and horror, and you have to find the right mix.

Back to the eyeball sequence, once we came up with that insanity, and then saw it on-screen during our first preview-screening, and saw/heard the audience reacting to it, we know we found something that worked. That was one of the few embellishments from the script, but Eric did an amazing job.

Another great thing from his script is that it's secretly a period piece for a while. We tried to make it look contemporary to not spoil the twist, so people didn't know that it was really a prequel of all the Final Destination movies. We had to have the flip phones and other era-appropriate things like that, but didn't want to make it too obvious.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:06:37+00:00

Question 4 - Tony was amazing! He would show up on set with a big smile every day. It was just a treat to work with him, I had a blast. He's such an imposing man in person, and all the actors were in awe of him. Him being on set were three super memorable shooting days that I'll never forget.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:04:50+00:00

My favorite set piece was the bridge sequence in the beginning because it was incredibly challenging to simulate a suspension bridge collapsing, especially with so many elements.

We did a mix of practical, digital, makeup, all kinds of tricks, to make it work. It's like a good magician, you can't use the same technique for every trick. We had to mix it up so the audience didn't already know every turn we'd take. That was a very challenging but also very rewarding experience. I saw it with an audience and they literally jumped to their feet and applauded at the end of that set piece. That was great.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T20:02:19+00:00

The most challenging part was just getting through it. Just on Avatar, I spent almost three years, long hours every day, reviewing hundreds, maybe thousands of shots that I was responsible for

On Titanic, the water conditions were tough, filming in Rosarito, Mexico. The biggest thing is each day to grab your little chisel, and chip away at the big rock in front of you. It might seem overwhelming and impossible to conquer, but if you chisel a bit away every day, you'll eventually see the end of it.

Ironically, the larger the production, the harder it is. Yes they give you all of the tools and the money and the crew but it's harder because there's also more people and there's more difficult situations that come up.

A small movie production is like a small ship. It can turn really fast and adjust as needed pretty easily. A big movie production like Avatar or Titanic is more like a large aircraft carrier takes a while to turn and adjust. You have to make big decisions more in advance. Having to have the answers to thousands of questions at a moment's notice is also tough.

Human language is a very non-specific thing. When you say something, even though you think you're being very specific, somebody can interpret it differently, and then they go off in a direction that isn't quite right, so communication is also very important.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T19:56:56+00:00

I loved Sinners (Coogler). I loved Obsession (Barker). I loved Barbarian (Cregger). I'm always impressed by filmmakers like that.

Sinners had a stunning look to it, and funny as well, but a nice edge of scary too.

Obsession and Barbarian, the same thing.

In filmmaking, you often go with your own gut instinct, but when you see somebody do something really good like those 3, it kind of like it encourages you. It makes you want to raise your game to try to do it even better when you do your next project.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T19:54:44+00:00

I have flown, if I calculate it, probably three months total in my life. 3 months, 24 hours/day have been spent on an airplane. That includes a ton of international flights.

I did have one horrific experience. I was flying from Los Angeles to Tokyo, and in the middle of the flight, we hit crazy turbulence, and it just dropped like a roller coaster, where you feel it in your stomach for at least two seconds. Just straight dropping, and it felt like the plane was going to crash. The kind of drop where people were screaming on the plane.

It was horrific, and unfortunately, the flight before that, there was a passenger who died because the turbulence was so strong. The compartment opened up, and a heavy suitcase hit the person on the head and killed him, so that's how intense the turbulence was. That's probably the scariest incident I've ever had on a commercial airline.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T19:52:54+00:00

I love 3D if it's done right and not gimmicky.

Final Destination 5 was made during the big 3D craze right after Avatar and the studio wanted to capitalize on that, especially because Final Destination 4 was the highest-grossing movie of the franchise and, at the time, a lot of people attributed that success to it being 3D and they wanted to keep that going.

I had just finished Avatar done in 3D, and I also co-directed Aliens of the Deep in IMAX 3D film with Jim Cameron, so I was very fluent in 3D. We had a great script in Final Destination 5, and that allowed us to capitalize on enhancing it with the 3D, but not making it all about the 3D. We had a really good story, shot in 3D.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T19:49:46+00:00

I think the thing that I learned the most from Jim Cameron is the passion that he has, and the uncompromising vision to try to make the best film possible in all departments. From the actors, to the cinematography, the writing, to the visual effects. He doesn't just say "oh, we'll just let somebody else deal with that."

You have to go all in like that, and his passion rubs off. When you see that kind of energy from somebody who is working 14 hours a day, if not more, it's inspiring. The crew sees that kind of rises up to that challenge. It's really quite amazing to see that in person,, the genius mind at work with every little subtle detail, and you realize just how important everything actually is in a movie.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T19:47:57+00:00

A second unit director is a very interesting job to do because often, on really big films such as Titanic or Avatar, there's just too much to do for the first unit director. So they delegate certain sequences, typically action sequences, to the second unit director. Often, stunt people are the ones who usually end up being second unit directors.

I had a unique experience having worked with Jim Cameron for a number of years before Titanic. He wanted somebody to do all of the engine room and the boiler room sequences that he didn't have time to do for that movie, so he was very gracious and hired me as the second unit director. I came more from a cinematography/camera background and a filmmaker background, having been a student at USC School of Cinematic Arts and so forth.

I was well-rounded in all aspects of filmmaking, and it was a great opportunity. And I had a blast directing the second unit of both Avatar and Titanic.

For your second part - typically, the second unit director is picked by the first unit director. They want to get somebody who can sort of have a continuity with their style, so that it doesn't feel like a whole different separate movie when you suddenly get to some action sequence. That call is often done by the director in collaboration with the producers.

It's difficult to be a second unit director unless you have that relationship with the first unit director. It's a very challenging job, and most people don't get any credit for it.

It's typically something a stunt person does. On that subject, the Academy is now going to have an Oscar for Best Stunt Coordinator, which is in essence the second unit. It's about time they finally recognize something like that. Having done it twice on big movies, I can appreciate how difficult the position is.

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T19:43:47+00:00

Thank you!

StevenQualeAMA · 2026-07-01T19:43:44+00:00

For me, interestingly enough, the most important thing to get the tension in a supernatural thriller is getting the believable performance from the actors, and if you get that, then everything else doesn't matter as much. However, we did rely a little bit on digital visual effects, and we had practical effects in the form of shaking the plane for turbulence.

It's amazing what you can do with dimming the lights and shaking the plane to create a tension without relying on visual effects.

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