At the 82nd Venice Film Festival, Shailene Woodley and Ben Foster arrived not just to celebrate their new film Motor City, but to discuss a bold cinematic experiment—telling a story with virtually no dialogue.
Directed by Potsy Ponciroli and written by Chad St. John, Motor City is a visceral crime thriller centered on themes of revenge, love, and betrayal. The film follows John Miller (Alan Ritchson), a former Army Ranger who becomes entangled with the girlfriend of a powerful gangster, Sophia (Woodley). When Miller is framed by gangster Reynolds (Foster) and sent to prison, he plots a brutal, silent revenge upon release.
The twist? The entire film unfolds over 103 minutes with almost no spoken words. It’s a stylistic risk that both Woodley and Foster found creatively irresistible.
“It forces you to strip everything down,” Foster told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview following the film’s Venice premiere. “You can’t hide behind dialogue—everything has to come through the body, the eyes, the rhythm of a scene.”
Woodley echoed the sentiment, noting that the absence of dialogue made room for a deeper physical and emotional connection to the character. “There’s a purity to the silence. You feel every moment with more intensity because you’re not being told how to feel.”
Both actors embraced the challenge fully, even extending their character immersion beyond the screen. They talked about their strategy of “method dressing” for the press tour—selecting outfits inspired by the characters’ emotional states and aesthetics. “It’s another layer of expression,” said Woodley. “It helps keep the spirit of the film alive even while promoting it.”
Music also played a big part in their preparation. Each actor created custom playlists to help find the tone of their characters in the absence of words. “Music becomes the script in a way,” Foster explained. “It helps you tap into something internal and specific, especially when
