BTL Radio Show – 02/23/2026 with director BRAD ANDERSON discussing WORLDBREAKER

Welcome back to another week of BEHIND THE LENS!  This week, we’re taking a look at WORLDBREAKER, an apocalyptic, action-oriented, sci-fi, creature feature with a dad and daughter dynamic that is told from the perspective of a young teenage girl, directed by BRAD ANDERSON.

Described as a pulse-pounding sci-fi action thriller about survival, sacrifice, and a young woman’s fight to step out of the shadows and into the war she was born to face, we encounter this apocalyptic world at a time of war following “The Stitch”, a rift in the earth that released the Breakers, monsters that infect and twist their victims.  There are also the Hybrids, the term for infected humans when attacked and injured by the Breakers.  Men succumbed first to the Breakers, leaving women to lead the fight.  Willa’s mother is one of the war’s fiercest warriors.  Her father, a battle-scarred veteran not yet infected by the monsters, hides with Willa on a remote island, training her to survive.   Their fragile peace is shattered when a mysterious girl drifts ashore.  Willa, longing for connection, shelters her in secret—until the truth emerges and danger follows.  With Breakers closing in, Willa must rely on her father’s training and her own courage to survive.

As I mentioned, WORLDBREAKER is directed by Brad Anderson and written by Joshua Rollins, and stars Luke Evans, Billie Boullet, and Milla Jovovich, with the bulk of the film carried by Evans and Boullet as Dad and daughter Willa.

I just spoke with Brad on Friday about the making of WORLDBREAKER.

As mentioned, WORLDBREAKER blends apocalyptic sci-fi, action, creature feature thrills, and an unexpectedly emotional father–daughter story into what Brad sees as a modern fable where heart and horror meet, which is something akin to the darker Old World tales of the Brothers Grimm or Nordic or Irish storytelling legends.

Shot on location and set against the wild, mist-shrouded landscapes of Northern Ireland, the film leans into real locations and the dramatic landscapes of the cliffs, coast, forests, and sea.  Brad is a big believer in visual storytelling and using wide shots and suspenseful techniques to develop that.  As a result, WORLDBREAKER has a restrained, suspense-driven visual style, and a color palette of deep greens and greys to create a world that feels both mythic and grounded.

As you’ll hear Brad discuss in this exclusive interview, he keeps us in Willa’s point of view – as both a female and a daughter who looks up to her father – as she comes of age under the protection and training of her father.  The dynamic between these two characters is the heart of the film and has to be resonant and heartfelt, and thanks to Luke Evans and Billie Boullet, it is.  They anchor the film’s heart.  What I noticed is Luke’s wonderful rapport with Billie, something that I have seen from him in prior films, such as the father-son dynamic in “Dracula Untold.”  Luke Evans is terrific working with young actors and kids.

Drawing on the tradition of Grimm’s fairy tales and the “less is more” monster strategy of “Jaws”, Brad emphasizes what we don’t see, using sound design and a carefully crafted score by Matthew Rogers with beautiful Celtic shadings of instrumentation and classical editing rhythms to balance horror with hope, emotion, and suspense.   Visual tonal bandwidth and the visual grammar are beautifully designed and achieved thanks to Brad and his cinematographer, Daniel Aranyo.  And you’ll hear Brad’s excitement as he talks about the editing process, “his favorite” part of filmmaking, and working with editor Brian Philip Davis to find pacing, as well as develop some wonderful montages, particularly of Willa’s fight training sequences.

For Brad, WORLDBREAKER is another exploration of the space where genuine emotion and genre tension meet—what he calls the yin and yang of heart and horror….and with this film, he finally got to do a creature feature!

Enjoy!

WORLDBREAKER is now available On Digital and VOD.

FOLLOW US ON X (formerly Twitter):