Lost Above the Clouds: The Real Story Beyond Horizon Line
Horizon Line arrived in 2020 with little fanfare amidst a pandemic-induced world dominated by thrillers and dramas. Still, the film, one of the few pandemic-set survival movies, had something distinctive: a survival drama with a broken compass in a small plane set in the endless Indian Ocean. It was a modest production, but for its stars, Allison Williams and Alexander Dreymon, it became a pivotal project, one that required a unique blend of emotional and physical commitment that was as demanding as the acting required.
Horizon Line became a valuable lesson in time and resource management for the filmmakers. The film has been described as a metaphor for everything the actors were grappling with: the emotional turbulence of their art, the fraying strands of their relationships, and the crises shaping their identities.
A Flight with No Destination
At its heart, Horizon Line tells the story of Sara (Allison Williams) and Jackson (Alexander Dreymon) — an estranged couple who board a small plane to attend a wedding on a tropical island. Midway through, tragedy strikes: their pilot suffers a fatal heart attack mid-flight, leaving the duo stranded thousands of feet in the air, with no clue how to fly, no communication, and a storm closing in.
The film’s premise is deceptively simple, but emotionally heavy. The sky becomes both their cage and their test of love. There’s fear, regret, anger, and reconciliation — all compressed into one endless horizon.
Director Mikael Marcimain shot most of the film in tight spaces, with real aircraft interiors and limited CGI, to intensify the claustrophobia. The scenes where Williams struggles to keep the plane level or Dreymon patches wounds while whispering hope into chaos — these weren’t just acting moments. They mirrored the inner turbulence the actors were living through in their personal lives.
Allison Williams: Breaking Free from the “Good Girl”
Allison Williams also made appearances in marriage and divorce advertisements during that period. Prior to the film Horizon Line, she was the composed and almost too perfect face of Girls and the frighteningly composed Rose in Get Out. Williams developed the persona of a sharp and capable performer in these roles. However, they also boxed her in as a woman hiding her secrets behind calm and composed eyes.
Horizon Line shattered that image. As Sara, she was not polished. In that role, Williams had to shed the emotional neatness she had become accustomed to. In that film, she had the chance to show “what fear looks like when there’s no audience to control it. In that role, Williams had the chance to show “what fear looks like when there’s no audience to control it. This was the first time that Williams had to contend with the disarray and emotional havoc of a role. While filming the movie, she was dealing with personal exhaustion and, privately, the collapse of her marriage to entrepreneur Ricky Van Veen, which ended in divorce shortly after the film’s release.
The theme of survival — of trying to keep your hands on the wheel when everything is crashing — captured her. After Horizon Line, Williams took a calculated break from prominent studio productions and focused on more psychologically challenging characters, as in M3GAN (2022), in which she also served as producer. That film would eventually position her as a contemporary genre pivot, attracting considerable acclaim, a transformation that, in many ways, started on that small plane, high above the ocean.
Alexander Dreymon: From Warrior to Everyman
For Alexander Dreymon, Horizon Line was a departure from the script of destiny. As Uhtred of Bebbanburg in Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, Dreymon epitomized medieval northern European stoicism — a warrior of sorts, sword in hand, hair blowing in the wind as he cut down enemies in battle, and a fan base that rivaled fantasy mythology. But he had a yearning to display a gentler, more human persona.
Depicting Jackson — a character consumed by fear, love, and uncertainty — allowed him to momentarily escape the heroic archetype. Jackson donned a warrior’s armor and stepped out to embrace vulnerability. In the film, there are instances where the character’s voice cracks, confidence wavers, and hands tremble — qualities that Dreymon said were “as real as they could be.”
In Horizon Line, he had to confront his insecurities, and as he said, “unlearning control was harder than any sword fight.” During a shoot, he said, “You can’t fight gravity. You just hope you don’t fall out of the frame.”
Dreymon’s career shifted subtly after the film. He returned for the final seasons of The Last Kingdom with greater sensitivity, blending Uhtred’s strength with visible weariness. He also stepped into the role of producer and director, suggesting that Horizon Line may have had a grounding effect on him, not just as an actor, but as a storyteller.
Between Sea and Sky: The Making of a Two-Person Epic
Although the narrative takes place in the sky, the production experience on the ground was no less intense. Filmed mostly in South Africa and Mauritius, the cast and crew had to deal with sorely testing heat, erratic winds, and the unique challenges of shooting for weeks on a cramped, cockpit-sized set.
Both Williams and Dreymon executed their own stunts for most of the aerial sequences, and the plane used in the production was mounted on a hydraulic gimbal that could tilt 360 degrees — simulating turbulence, which meant that the actors rolled cameras while hanging upside down, bruised, and dizzy and filming, “a rollercoaster with dialogue,” was how one crew member described it.
Circumstances without a crowd, adjacent characters, and almost no directorial interference allowed the two leads to attune to their bond. Dreymon and Williams learned to read each other’s silences, a dynamic which gave the film its emotional realism. They credit each other with keeping spirits alive during the grueling shifts, and Dreymon’s call on Williams that he was “a co-pilot in every sense” is illustrative of their dynamic.
Life After Landing
The film did not create a stir in the box office since it was released on streaming services instead of theatres. However, due to the film’s stripped-down intensity, it did find a cult following among survival-thriller fans. Critics were divided, calling it either “tense and gripping” or “implausible but watchable,” but for its stars, Horizon Line had done its job: it marked transformation.
As for Allison Williams, this represented her first instance of complete control, in this case meaning self-producing her own projects, and the first case of her willingness to adopt more complex and darker roles. For Alexander Dreymon, this represented a symbolic respite between his battles, a reminder that his abilities extend far beyond the world of period dramas.
Both actors are now more confident in their identity as risk-taking creators in Williams’ case, and versatile performers in Dreymon’s. Although Horizon Line may not be their most commercially successful movie, it is the film that forced them to confront their own metaphorical horizons.
A Story That Stayed With Them.
Beneath the stripped-down survival narrative, Horizon Line became a mirror for two individuals in the battle with their own personal life fears, transformation, and the unpredictability of their lives. The endless horizon, beautiful yet terrifying, was a metaphor for the stark reality of their lives.
Their experience was not the same after the plane landed and the cameras stopped rolling. They had undergone an experience that was more than just the cinematic depiction. In the years that have passed, neither Williams nor Dreymon have had much to say regarding Horizon Line, yet when they do, it feels as though there is a sense of fondness, as if that little airplane, suspended between the ocean and the sky, had taught them more than just the necessary lessons of survival. It was how to navigate the skies without knowledge of the destination.
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