Film
Tom Payne: MindGamers is a mind-bending experience
An “action film for the mind”? The Walking Dead actor, who stars in the film, explains more.
2 minuta
MindGamers teaser trailer
Watch the trailer for the new "action film for the mind", Mind Gamers, from Terra Mater.
Tom Payne has been making waves with his role as Jesus – no, not that one – in The Walking Dead. But his new film is set to get even more heads turning – and minds spinning.
MindGamers is billed as an "action game for the mind", following a group of brilliant young students who create a wireless neural network with the potential to link every mind on Earth via a quantum computer. Tom stars as prodigal talent Jaxon, who faces the question of what ethical boundaries he is willing to blur...
With the success of Mr Robot and Black Mirror, it seems there's a substantial appetite for dark sci-fi revealing what might be in our near future.
Tom Payne stars as Jaxon in new film, MindGamers
© Terra Mater
An image from upcoming film MindGamers
© Terra Mater Factual Studios/Vlad Cioplea
Sharing freerunning skills
© Terra Mater Factual Studios/Vlad Cioplea
Sam Neill plays the role of Kreutz
© Terra Mater Factual Studios/Vlad Cioplea
For the global premiere of MindGamers on March 28, 1,000 individuals across the US will be the first to participate in a neuroscience experiment on an unprecedented scale, as their brains are simultaneously connected to the cloud in real time using brain-computer interface technology. ( Find out more about the event here.)
We spoke to Tom to find out more about the film, and what the experiment promises.
MindGamers promises technology that some think is already almost with us. How has the scientific landscape changed even since shooting the film?
Scientific advances have caught up, which is amazing actually.
When the scientists came and talked to us when we did the first press day a few weeks ago I was pretty surprised and astonished at how close we are to what happens in the movie – and frightened by that, actually, in a few different ways!
How was it working with Sam Neill [who plays Kreutz] in the film?
Sam is awesome, he was like a father on set. You have a really nice, calming presence of someone who’s been working for such a long time and is so assured.
What do you think about the experiment?
I just signed up to make a movie. Sign up, say some words, don’t fall over, and go home… Then it’s ended up being this whole science experiment, which is really amazing and really exciting.
[The film] is not linear in the way that any other film I’ve been in, or read or watched, is. In the context of the event it really is like this workout for the mind. You do walk away thinking about it and trying to piece it together.
I’m excited by the experiment: I think it’s an amazing opportunity to move things forward.
And will you participate in the experiment?
I’m don’t know! I’m not sure. Possibly… Although I’ve seen [the film] already. It might be better if it’s people who haven’t seen it at all, because I know what’s going to happen, whereas a lot of people sitting there will be like ‘what the f*** is happening now?’ You need that bewilderment at certain times in the movie.
Visit MindGamersMovie.com for more about the film, plus the global premiere and experiment on March 28.
The film will subsequently be released in Germany on April 6, Austria on April 7, and the rest of the world this spring.