Though the whole of his latest endeavour Life may be set in outer space, it’s not a place that Swedish filmmaker Daniel Espinosa has any ambitions of going to himself one day, as we sit down with the director ahead of the movie’s UK release.

“I would never go to space, it’s an atrocious place,” he said. “Those astronauts are slowly dying, they go up there and their bodies start to decay. Space and the jungle are two things you should just avoid. The mosquitos are like the size of fists, why would you ever want to be there? This notion of space being glorious… I admire astronauts, they are truly heroes, but for me I would rather go down the street and have a coffee and a cigarette”.

life jake gyllenhaalWe also discussed with Espinosa how vital the realism is the narrative at hand, and how they went about designing the alien antagonist of the piece. He goes on to speak about the mystery attached to the film’s primary villain, and just how much fun he had on set shooting with the likes of Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Life is released on March 24th