Maggie Grace On ‘Hurricane Heist,’ Performing Stunts & Learning To Shoot [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]

Maggie Grace stars in the new thriller The Hurricane Heist, which follows her as a vault agent for the U.S. Treasury, going after a group who stole millions of dollars. Grace sat down with uInterview exclusively to talk about her role, the stunts she had to perform and her weapons training with the LAPD.

Grace plays Casey, who must “somehow get back this $600 million that these crazy, opportunistic, very millennial hackers have stolen from the U.S. Treasury right as a storm’s approaching, and then it gets upgraded to a category five, so she’s got heaps of problems,” Grace said.

Grace explained that while filming, the CGI effects in the film “really took a backseat to the physical effects. Normally, you work with a green screen and you’re just trying to create a reality for yourself [but] we had 100-miles-an-hour wind machines all over the place and we used six million gallons of water. It was completely nuts every day,” she said.

Maggie Grace’s uBio: Her Story In Her Words

As for stunts, the actress said all but one were performed by the actors. “We were actually hanging off of buildings doing the wire work ourselves. We had awesome stunt double as well, but they let us do every stunt except one,” she explained. “The guys were hanging off of cars, I was dropping 30-feet headfirst out of a three-story window, it was nuts.”

Hanging onto the side of a building was thrilling – but also scary – for Grace. “It was really exciting the first time… human beings can adjust to anything it turns out,” she said, but added that the stunt still made her nervous. “Luckily my husband’s a nerd and I was like, ‘um, can you tell me about the engineering redundancy, just explain it to me so that I really feel safe?’ So I felt much more comfortable after that.” 

Grace also worked with “the LAPD maestro of shooting” who taught her how to “handle the weapons, so hopefully I look the part of a treasury officer.”

Working with the cast and crew was a rewarding experience for the actress. “I’ve worked with Ryan [Kwanten] before [and] that dude’s hilarious in the most laid back way,” Grace gushed. In fact she said both of her co-stars are “the guys you want in your corner for your movie because they just beat the heck out of us for three months. We were really a good team. They’re the most hardworking, never complain, they just take it for three months, it was pretty punishing. It was awesome.”

Hurricane Heist hit theaters March 9.

Full interview transcript below:

Q: Who’s your character in the movie?

A: Well Casey is a Treasury agent, whose go the vault codes, and it’s up to her to somehow get back the 600 million these crazy, opportunistic, very millennial hackers have stolen from the US Treasury, right as the storms approaching and then it gets upgraded to a category 5. So she’s go heaps problems.

A: What were the challenges you faced while fiming?

Q: Challenges and gifts definitely while filming it because normally you work with a green screen, it’s mostly CGI, and you’re just trying to create a reality for yourself, and in this one, the effects really took a backseat to the physical effects. We had hundred mile an hour wind machines, all over the place, and we used 6 millions gallons of water, it was complete nuts every day. We three weeks a night shoots, we were actually hanging off of buildings doing the wire work ourselves, like we had awesome stunt doubles as well, but they let us do every stunt except one. I mean the guys were hanging off of cars, I was dropping 30 feet from a third-story window, headfirst, like it was nuts.

Q: What was it like hanging on the side of a building?

A: It was really exciting the first time, and then bizarrely, you know a couple hours into it, you get little breaks, but human beings can adjust to anything it turns out. I was the first time, forsure, luckily my husband’s a nerd and I was like “um can you tell me about the engineering redundancy, just explain it to me like I’m in preschool so that I really feel safe.” So luckily, yeah I felt much more comfortable after that.

Q: What gun training did you have for the movie?

A: Yeah it got to work with the LAPD, maestro of shooting a Shoji on their protocal and how to handle the weapons so, hopefully I look the part of a treasury officer.

Q: What will you remember most about working with the cast?

A: I’ve worked with Ryan before, like for a while, that dude’s hilarious in the most laid-back, he’s an Aussie. They’re both like the guys you want in your corner for this kind of movie because it just beat the heck out of us for three months, you know, we were really a good team, you know. They’re the most hard-working, never complain, they just kind of just take it for three months. It was pretty punished. It was awesome.