ORION Explores the Boundaries of Truth, Memory, and Humanity in a Claustrophobic Sci-Fi Duel - Interview with Andrew McCarthy and Drew Van Acker

The upcoming sci-fi thriller Orion is not your typical space adventure. It’s an intense psychological showdown wrapped in cosmic mystery, focusing less on spectacle and more on the unnerving question of truth itself.

Directed by Jaco Bouwer and starring Drew Van Acker and Andrew McCarthy, the film traps its audience inside a confined emotional space where manipulation, morality, and memory collide.

In Orion, McCarthy plays Jim, a NASA interrogator tasked with helping Apollo (Van Acker), an amnesiac astronaut, recover his memories after a catastrophic mission that left the rest of his crew dead.

As the two characters face off in a battle of wits, it becomes clear that neither is being entirely honest, and that the truth may be far more alien than anyone expects.

I got to talk to the filmmakers in an explosive interview and when asked how he would describe the film, Van Acker didn’t turn to plot or effects, but to philosophy.

“Um, I mean, I like to bring it back to a lot of fundamental truth. What is your truth and do you understand or is it a possibility for you that truth can be different for this person? Sure. I love the idea of with like what is true for you might just absolutely be not.

“It’s fun. It's true, and subjective, and how does it differentiate between people? Yeah. That's kind of like a very vague way of putting it is. It's, it's a, it's an umbrella of the film. But, it kind of keeps the mind open when you watch it, I think.”

That focus on perception and subjectivity drew McCarthy to the script. “Well, I'd never done a two-hander like this before, and I found that the perspective kept changing and the, the truth kept changing.

“I thought as I was reading it, I thought, oh, it's this way, then something, something would be revealed. And they go, oh no, that's not at all. They were just be manipulating and lying. And so, it was a constant little cat mouse and who was telling the truth and had the truth used in service of whatever it is that you want, and I thought that was really interesting.”

Bouwer was immediately intrigued by the creative challenge, saying: “I guess for me, when I read the script the first time, there was something about like, I think with what Andrew link with Andrew saying is like, you know, how.

“How do you make it cinematic of two people in a room for two thirds of the film? Having a conversation and I kind of like those challenges and rules or confinements that you kind of stuck between these four walls and how so? I find the challenge of making it, or, yeah, to, to make it cinematic. That was kind of a challenge and it kind of excited me to try and see if it's possible in some way.”

Bouwer’s approach embodies the new wave of slow sci-fi stories that favor psychology and atmosphere over explosions and effects. By setting Orion within such tight confines, Bouwer turns spatial limitation into emotional depth. The result is a film that mirrors the mental isolation of the digital age, where truth feels elastic and perspective shifts like gravity.

Van Acker reflected on that theatrical quality, saying: “Yeah. It reads, it reads a lot, I think. I don't know about you, but from first week it kind of feels a lot like a play, which was intentional, I think. And you have to have a lot of things working in your favor to make a movie like this with this scale.”

What truly brings the story to life, though, is the chemistry between McCarthy and Van Acker. Bouwer said: “Well I think, I think he chemistry between the two of them, I feel I was very lucky, or the project was very lucky to have them to really kind of carry the audience through that journey. I think it was, if it was different, it may have been done. You know, in another direction.”

McCarthy agreed: “Yeah. It seems like you never know when two actors show up, you have no idea. It doesn't mean whether they're good or not good or that's nothing to do with it. Just whatever industry they have.

“Luckily we just had a very immediate and sort of unspoken, just, we just fell right into our roles very easily. And the dynamic that was established was just very immediate and, and never discussed.”

That dynamic became essential, especially given the film’s demanding long takes. “The scenes were very long, so it, you know, which is both a fucking curse and a blessing,” McCarthy said.

“So many times a movies, you know. if you do page scene, it's a page and a half. It's a long time. And so we had, you know, seven, eight page scenes and so to just get up, to get up and then just have the scenes ebb and flow and just sort of evolve, that was a real luxury and interesting experience. It was really satisfying.”

Filming wasn’t without its challenges. “We were up in Syracuse and it was really hard,” Bouwer shared. Van Acker added, “So the air conditioning was a problem. It was a problem. We were on a stage that at times it was a little makeshift and so it was the middle of summer. So we kind of had some, some tubing we funneled in to, to bring some ing to.” Despite the heat and long days, the team’s camaraderie and creative focus held it all together.

When I asked what audiences should take from the film, McCarthy’s answer spoke directly to the heart of Orion. “The notion of what's true and what, what place truth has in getting what you want and how plyable it is, is particularly relevant in our world right now.

“And I don't think that we would never discuss that as being in any way political in any way. But you know, it's become such a dominant question in our culture of society now. Like, does truth even fucking matter? 'cause you know, as long as you get what you want. So you know, this movie could be accused of, the characters could be accused of them.”

Van Acker added, “Yeah. Again, going back, I think going back to. The, you know, you have to, truth can be so different for each person. I guess keeping an open mind to that and kind of understanding that, that your perspective might not, might not be the only way.”

Ultimately, Orion reflects the modern condition, our collective crisis of truth and meaning. Through the intimate confrontation between Jim and Apollo, Bouwer and his cast explore how memory, perspective, and desire distort reality. The film might be set in space, but its message hits close to home.

Orion isn’t about what’s out there, it’s about what’s inside us.