Maggie Grace – The Hurricane Heist

In the genre mashup “The Hurricane Heist,” actress Maggie Grace (the “Taken” franchise) stars as Casey, a U.S. Treasury agent who teams up with a meteorologist (Toby Kebbell) and his former Marine brother (Ryan Kwanten) to stop a group of criminals trying to steal $600 million from a U.S. Mint facility during a Category 5 hurricane.

So, did your socks get wet making this movie? I hate that feeling.

(Laughs) I was really committed to having some waterproof shoes! All the soldiers are right. If you keep your feet dry – dry socks – you’ll be fine. We were pretty much beat up and soaking wet and hanging upside down in harnesses in midair for like three months. But everybody was really game on.

When you heard about the idea for this movie and how they were going to mash up genres, what was your initial reaction?

It’s definitely self-aware. It’s a really fun, unrelenting action [movie]. Certainly, with a title like [“The Hurricane Heist”] you pretty much know what you’re in for and know what a genre mashup will bring as well. I think knowing where the director (Rob Cohen) was coming from with “xXx” and “The Fast and the Furious” and all these crazy action movies, you know there’s going to be some wild car chases thrown in and lots of vehicles flipping and things exploding unpredictably. You’re going to slightly bend the laws of physics. It’s all in good fun. Once they get going, it doesn’t stop. It’s really a wild, wild ride.

Have you ever experienced a bad storm before in real life? How did you handle it?

Nothing close to 160 mph winds. It’s crazy because we shot this in the fall of 2015. Then [hurricanes] Matthew, Harvey and Irma happened nonstop. I think climate change is really the threat and villain of our time. We’re getting more and more intense storms in real life. I like to think of that as the villain that we’re all fighting.

When you small talk, do you bring up the weather?

I do bring up the weather a lot because I’m shooting “Fear the Walking Dead” in Texas and it’s just the most manic weather ever. (Laughs) Maybe it’s me because I’m getting older, but I bring up the weather a lot.

Are you a fan of rain or storms in general? Do you like the smell of rain or the sound of thunder?

Yeah, if it’s by a fire with a good book. Nothing like [the storm in “The Hurricane Heist”]. (Laughs) Getting submerged in flood tanks makes you appreciate nice weather.