BELOW

About The Characters
In BELOW, each member of the U.S.S. Tiger Shark has his own personal fear, and his own personal suspicions, to face. Although the men have grown close over their mission, once the unexplained sightings and events start occurring, even their battle-tested bonds of trust begin to fade.

Now, it is every man – and one woman – for themselves as they struggle to figure out whether the strange occurrences are in their own fear-driven psych-out or a true curse, an evil malediction, against the entire sub.

The crew is made up of young men with very little experience at sea, a situation that was common on World War II submarines. Explains David Twohy: "In World War II, they discovered that younger men did far better than veteran commanders on submarines, because they would really take big risks and go out there and destroy ships at their own peril. These are the kind of men aboard the Tiger Shark – young, brave and brash, and very much wedded to the chain of command."

At the top of the sub's hierarchy of power is Lieutenant Brice. Brice has all the requisite charm and savvy of a born leader, yet his authority is constantly undermined by his lack of experience, his indecisiveness, and most of all his searing sense of personal guilt over recent events. Brice is played by Bruce Greenwood, last seen playing President John F. Kennedy in "Thirteen Days."

For David Twohy, this last role convinced him that Greenwood was perfect for the tough but tormented Brice. "I wanted somebody who could play a classic American hero but with a flaw," he explains. "I knew that anyone who could carry off JFK would be able to embody everything that Brice wants to be in life, even if he hasn't quite succeeded."

Greenwood responded to the way the script for BELOW puts the audience directly in the driver's seat. "I love that in this movie it's up to each person to come up with their own interpretation of events," he comments. "Is there some netherworld presence at work on the sub or is there a more logical explanation for what's happening? It's up to you to make up your own mind. You have to decide whether things are really as they appear to be."

Certainly Brice is having trouble with his own understanding of what's happening and why, even though he has secret suspicions he won't voice. Greenwood provides the following profile of Brice's personality: "Brice is an ambitious career officer and always figured he would go on to become a captain of his own ship. But then he makes a terrible choice that kind of unravels his psyche and sets off this harrowing chain of events. I think his conscience preys on him to the point that he just stops functioning. It eats at him and eats at him until his behavior becomes more and more questionable, until he's not even sure what's real and what's inside him. It turns out maybe he wasn't made for command. He has to face the worst nightmare of his life."

Greenwood was particularly interested in how Brice's personal demons begin to clash with what's going on inside the other men – clanging up against their own deepest terrors and suppressed secrets. "I find that what's most interesting about this story is the way you see the personalities of the men begin to shift under pressure," he says. "At first, you<