Inside the making of 'Beware Boiùna'

What do you do when nature fights back and everyone is the enemy? The suspense horror Beware Boiúna is a thrill ride that everyone can get on. The story takes place deep in the Amazon, where a medical mission spirals into a fight for survival when Boiúna, a colossal ancient predator, awakens to reclaim her domain. Director Mike P. Nelson, along with lead actors Kiana Maderia and Jessica Rothe, sat down in the Miami Everglades for an exclusive conversation with Romeo International to share why you do not want to end up on nature’s bad side.

LISTEN NOW: Inside the making of 'Beware Boiùna'

What was the challenge? Was it more of the physical aspect that you had to bring to the role or the emotional that you had to give?

Kiana Madeira

"For this one, more of the challenge was physical. I think the script was so well written, and there's so much heart on the page that as an actor for me to just bring life to the words and the characters that were so beautifully written. That wasn't very challenging. Also, we've had so many conversations with Mike. So much time and so much opportunity to really, flesh out our characters. And then coming to set and meeting Jessica, meeting Logan, and all of us now, creating together, I feel like we were able to play off of each other. So, emotionally, it wasn't as much of a challenge for me, personally, but the physical with the mud, and everything else was more of a challenge."

Jessica Rothe

"I think this one was also, for me, in a lot of ways, a really beautiful combination where the challenge of the physicality fed the emotion, and the challenge of the emotion fed the physicality. Especially because we were in such an immersive environment. Shooting in the actual Amazon. And I talked a little earlier about how in every role you hope that you discover something. You hope that you stumble upon something you didn't know, and this one for me, not only was it kind of Allie trying to balance her good intentions with the time she missteps, or her altruistic nature and all of these things, but also that maybe she's got a little crush on Lena. That there's this kind of awakening that's happening within her as she's this fish out of water and experiencing all these new things, and learning things about herself she never knew, and that partnered with the extreme terror and fear of confronting this force of nature was a really fun and interesting thing to explore."

Beware Boiùna, a Lionsgate film, is now in theaters.