Elevation's Morena Baccarin Needs Ben McKenzie for Apocalypse Survival

Morena Baccarin face a world taken over by monsters in an exciting new game Height — and knows exactly what he'll need to survive a real-life apocalypse.

“My family,” Baccarin, 45, said to himself Us Weeklyreferring to the husband Ben McKenzie and their children. (She shares children Frances, 8, and Arthur, 3, with McKenzie, and son Julius, 12, with ex-husband Austin Chick.)

Baccarin continued to add more items to his list, he said Us“But after my kids and husband, a really good book that I could read over and over again, some kind of music player, or [to] play crossword puzzles. It won't be about connecting with him [other] people, but more about, like, art or entertainment. And clothes!”

It lives in the mountains of Colorado, Height – which hits theaters on November 8 – follows single dad Will (Anthony Mackie), Nina (Baccarin) and Katie (Maddie Hasson) as they flee the safety of their homes to save the life of a young boy in danger. The twist? Monsters have invaded Earth, causing all humans to live above 8,000 meters where creatures cannot live.

“I read the script and it was a page turner for me,” Baccarin said Us of taking the role. “I really enjoyed how scary and fun it was and how unique this character was. [Nina is] you are suffering, you are in a bad place. And he is trying hard to save humanity. So I felt like those were very good goals.”

Baccarin added that “unfortunately it can be rare” to find female characters with “real purpose,” adding, “That really appealed to me.”

Purpose is certainly something that Nina has; a natural scientist, he helps to develop a weapon designed to extinguish the predators that wipe out humans one by one. Baccarin, for her part, enjoyed portraying a woman in STEM — and being allowed to make it real.

“Usually STEM women in movies are like they are beautiful [and] they have long hair, but they wear glasses because they are slightly bent,” he explained. “It was really refreshing [play] a person who had darkness in him [and] he was not perfect. [Someone] that was chaos.”

When asked about her tendency to take on the roles of strong, independent women – Baccarin stars as Vanessa in the play Deadpool franchise and is gearing up to feature Mickey Fox in the upcoming series Sheriff's Country – the actor in question Sigourney Weaver's A recent Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.

“He was asked why he always plays strong women. And he said, 'Cause I think I'm just playing women. They are usually strong because we should be. We have no choice but to quit,'” Baccarin recalled. “And I thought that represented who he was [NIna] is something [in Elevation]. He still has a lot to do and a lot to find even though he is in a dark place.”

Playing a flawed character in a post-apocalyptic setting also meant spending very little time in the hair and makeup chair, which Baccarin couldn't have been more grateful for.

“I think I had hair and makeup for, like, 15 minutes of this movie, which was also really refreshing,” she said. Us. “The little time I can spend on hair and make-up, I tend to take, honestly.”

Baccarin added that while there are times when a long hair and makeup procedure is required — count “play Marilyn Monroe” or the use of artificial limbs as a few examples — he believes the film industry is entering an era of allowing people to look “a little more real” on screen. That philosophy worked for her when she stepped into the role of Nina.

“[Nina] he was someone who didn't care about his looks – not because he was bad, but honestly because he had bigger things on his mind,” she explained. “It didn't seem like it was part of the story of the character we were telling. So we just had to mess up my hair and make it look like I hadn't combed it in months or years.”

Although Baccarin says it can be a struggle not to look like a mess during her downtime after not brushing her hair on set, she found the experience “really freeing” overall.

“It was so amazing,” she said. “I realized [how] just to be in the moment of the film and not have to be heavily retouched or worry about looking a certain way.”

One thing that wasn't so easy? A heavy reliance on the use of CGI when it comes to fighting monsters is set.

“We had drawings and paintings of the creatures, but we couldn't see them, obviously. So that was a little bit of a challenge, especially if you're in Boulder, [Colorado]and in the mountains and it's just like, a beautiful place and it's like, 'Imagine that between those two peaks there is [monster] something.' And he's like, 'Okay, okay. I have to really immerse myself in this scary peaceful world with very few people,'” he said with a laugh. “But I think that's the challenge and the fun of what we do.”

Elevation iit's in theaters now.

With reporting by Nicole Massabrook