Sofia Carson Altered the Action Scene in ‘Carry On’ to Ensure Her Own Safety: The Initial Script Was Different

Sofia Carson felt it was important to get in on the action in “Carry-On,” the new Netflix movie starring Taron Egerton as a TSA agent. In the movie, which started streaming today, Carson made sure that her character was the one to take down the bad guy in a key action scene, instead of relying on Egerton to come to her rescue.

In a recent Zoom interview with Decider, Carson revealed that the scene wasn’t originally written that way. However, director Jaume Collet-Serra supported Carson’s idea of having her character, Nora, save herself in the intense moment.

Carson, known for her role as Evie in the Disney musical franchise “Descendants,” plays Nora in the film. Nora is the pregnant girlfriend of Egerton’s character, Ethan Kopek. Both characters work at LAX, with Ethan as a TSA agent and Nora as the airport’s director of operations. When a suspicious traveler, played by Jason Bateman, threatens Nora, Ethan gets involved in a risky plan to help him sneak a dangerous package onto a flight.

“She was never a damsel in distress, even though her life was at risk the entire film,” Carson said of her character. “She saves herself. It was crucial that this action sequence reflected that.”

Carson spoke to Decider about filming in a real airport, working with Egerton, chasing down bad guys, and why she doesn’t want to make another Descendants film.

DECIDER: What was it like filming in an old wing of the New Orleans airport, which was redesigned to look like LAX?

SOFIA CARSON: It is such a gift whenever you get to create a movie in practical sets, and not green screen. We were physically inside of an airport, which is so exciting. The whole airport was transformed to really look and feel like LAX. It was amazing to literally bring to life this film, inside of an entire airport in New Orleans. 

Did working on this film change how you saw TSA agents or other airport workers? I imagine someone with your career is at airports a lot. 

Absolutely, and I hope that anyone that watches this film will go into their holiday travels with so much empathy for anyone that works in an airport. It’s interesting, because our film takes place in something that so many people are familiar with—an airport—and yet we don’t really ever peel behind the curtain of the inner workings of what makes an airport run, and what it’s like to be a TSA agent, or to be a director of operations. It’s big, heavy jobs—and oftentimes, scary jobs. It was really cool to be able to use that as our foundation, our home base of this film. 

Your character has this sweet, established relationship with Taron Egerton’s character. Tell me about working with him— that first meeting, and how you guys built that dynamic.

Our first meeting was really effortless. We had a chemistry read here in LA, right before we started filming. We were rehearsing our lines, and we quickly sunk into Ethan and Nora. It felt like we had always been those characters, which is such a cool feeling when that happens. Taron is an extraordinary actor, and a preparer, like myself. We both worked for about two weeks together, bringing our scenes to life—working on our individual backstories and our joint backstories, because all of that is so formative. It informs the relationship so profoundly on screen. It was amazing to work with him. 

Is there any backstory that you came up with for your character that we didn’t get to see in the film? 

I had a really extensive backstory! I went really far back. [Laughs.] I go as far back as to where her grandparents are from. They were Italian immigrants who lived in New Jersey. She was the first in her family to go to school. She studies at Rutgers University, and she studied aerospace engineering, and business, and was always fascinated with flying. That’s how she began interning for a director of operations. I had a whole backstory. But the backstory of how Ethan and Nora meet is actually really lovely—they meet at a post office, right before college. 

You get a cool action scene at the end of the movie—a chase scene that ends with you clocking a bad guy. Tell me about filming that sequence. Was it all you?

It was! It was all me. One of the reasons why I loved this film, and I loved Nora in this film, was because she was never a damsel in distress, even though her life was at risk the entire film, in so many ways. She saves herself. It was crucial that this action sequence reflected that. It wasn’t originally written like that, but Jaume [Collet-Serra, the director] was completely on board with making sure that Nora saves herself. So we choreographed that moment where I physically defend myself against the Watcher [played by Theo Rossi], and bolt. That’s when she runs into Ethan.

I’d never done it before. It’s such a different muscle to shoot an action movie than to shoot another kind of film. But it was really fun, exciting, and thrilling. It was more running than I’ve ever done in my life!

Do you see yourself doing more action movies in the future? 

I would, I’d love to. But I think it’s important—one of the beauties of this movie is that the script is so smart. It’s a profound, deep, well-developed script, plus an action movie. So I’d love to do something like that, but as a female action star, like Angelina [Jolie] in Salt, or something like that. 

I have to say, I’m a big Descendants fan. Those movies got me through lockdown in 2020. I’m curious, are you still in touch with Dove Cameron or any of the Descendants cast or crew?

We’re forever connected after those films, and after the loss that we experienced with our Cam. [Descendants star Cameron Boyce died at the age of 20, due to a sudden, unexpected death in epilepsy.] We get to see each other every year, once a year, at Cam’s gala for the Cameron Boyce Foundation, which we all support. It’s always really special, because it always brings back really beautiful memories of that time together. 

Would you ever reprise your role in another Descendants movie? I know you weren’t in the most recent film, but would you want that? 

You know, for me, this was a difficult thing to do. Because I can’t imagine ever stepping into the Descendants world without Cam, because it was the core four. So, no. I couldn’t. But I’m so happy that the franchise is still alive and well, and so beloved by so many people. Being Evie is truly one of the greatest gifts of my life, and I adore her so dearly.