Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott on their twisted but playful S&M rom-com Sanctuary

Christopher Abbott is stripped down to his underwear, on his hands and knees scrubbing a bathroom floor. It's not even dirty — but you could say the scene is.

The scene in the new movie Sanctuary (in theaters now and expanding this weekend) is one of several where Abbott and costar Margaret Qualley's Hal and Rebecca engage in role-play and S&M. But the movie isn't all 50 Shades of Grey — it's actually a twisted rom-com, in which wealthy hotel heir Hal tries to end his relationship with dominatrix Rebecca, who doesn't take the news well. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game of sorts in which they jockey for control of the relationship… from threats against him with video of their encounters to Hal tying Rebecca to the bed.

Below, Qualley and Abbott tell EW about (finally) working together, their very fast shoot, the singer who inspired Rebecca's blonde wig, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I have to start with a chicken/egg question: Did you get the script first so you knew the full story and where it was going, or did this start more as a conversation with your director, Zachary Wigon, or the writer, Michael Bloomberg?

MARGARET QUALLEY: I got the script, read it, loved it immediately, was like, "It's gotta be Chris." Zach was on the exact same page. And it all came together within, like, three weeks.

Whoa. That's kind of unheard of.

QUALLEY: Yeah, it was like post-pandemic. I think everyone was just kind of eager to do something. And it was all very much on the page — my only job to prepare was to learn it by rote, front to back. We ended up shooting it in 18 days, with one-day weekends. I think the only way to make it a fun experience was to be super, super prepared, and then just play around on the day.

So why Chris? Why was he your only thought for who to play Hal?

QUALLEY: I think he's just the best actor.

CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT: I was available.

QUALLEY: [Laughs] I've been wanting to do something with him for a long time, and he's the best.

ABBOTT: There were a couple projects over the years that I think we almost did together. I'm happy that this is the one that we got to work together on because there was a lot to do and you have to be sort of driving with one person — it was a marathon, but one that we both wanted to run.

Was there like one specific question that each of you had about the characters, something you needed to know to help understand anything specific about Rebecca and Hal?

QUALLEY: Honestly, it was the most simple prep I've ever done. Really all I did was just learn every word, and I mean to a T. Even "Aha" — "Aha" was "Aha." [Laughs] My job was really easy because basically all Rebecca is doing is very intently listening to Hal, so I just had to watch Chris, listen to Chris, and have everything that I said be a reaction to the last thing that he said. It was pretty simple.

ABBOTT: Micah, who wrote the script, he's really good at giving exposition without the audience or us knowing that it's exposition. For these characters, whatever was written on the page was sort of all that was necessary to know. When I was reading it, I felt pretty clear about it and who these people were, and their dynamic. It was less about character work than it was focusing — kind of what Margaret was saying — on the other person and letting the words drive it, and then letting Margaret make a choice, do a thing, and then we would change accordingly, and I would react.

What's so interesting about those choices is that there starts to become a blurred line: Are their actions part of the role play, or them being real? Were those things you also wondered or was that explained in script direction?

QUALLEY: I guess it's all kind of as real as you make it, you know? The stakes felt really high. Like in any given relationship, you have a floor there — there's a landing pad. The exciting thing about this dynamic is, there isn't a landing pad. [Laughs] They have an immense amount of trust because they're being very vulnerable and honest with each other, but there isn't a grounded place where this relationship exists, because it's compartmentalized.

ABBOTT: The tone and the world of the movie is sort of heightened itself — the colors and the way the set is built, even the exterior, outside the windows. It's almost meant to feel purposefully fabricated, so it's sort of traditional; chamber drama rules go out the window with this one. We're sort of allowed to expand it a little bit and maybe make some wilder choices, bigger choices.

Margaret, after having starred in Maid, did you get some enjoyment out of making someone else clean the bathroom floors?

QUALLEY: Yeah! I did. Honestly, it was actually very much a reaction to Maid. Maid was such a quiet performance, where everything was kind of happening internally. It didn't really matter what I was saying, and I could improvise and forego dialogue because it really wasn't about the words. It was very much a character piece. That's part of the reason why this was so attractive to me, to literally be about what I'm saying and to have the opportunity to just talk a lot. Because I really do love talking. [Laughs]

Christopher, I think if I had filmed that bathroom-cleaning scene I would think about it every time I clean my own bathroom.

ABBOTT: That's how I clean my bathroom ever since.

Given how quickly you shot this, was the filming approached like a play and you did long takes, and then went back for coverage? How did that work out?

QUALLEY: It was very much edited upon arrival. We didn't do traditional coverage. Whatever you see in the movie is all we shot. We had three, five, maybe six takes for every setup, and we'd just come in there swinging and move on.

That must have kept you on your toes.

QUALLEY: Definitely. I think it's exciting because sometimes if a director doesn't really know what they want, they end up shooting until they figure it out or giving themselves lots of options in the edit. And inherently, it does give the actor less control. Also, it's hard to feel good about it sometimes when you're that exhausted and doing so much. There's a beauty to both, and I do enjoy both — this was a very gratifying experience.

ABBOTT: You're always prepared to do coverage and having to do a lot sometimes, as part of the job. But this one was nice because I think, energetically, it gave us more… We could just go for it knowing that we're just doing it in this setup for however many takes until we all felt good about it, and then we were done.

Was there a particular day or a scene that each of you were perhaps maybe more nervous about anything else?

QUALLEY: There were things that were important to me — for Rebecca and Hal to have real love. I wanted to make sure that got across. And there's different moments where I hope that you feel that, but it was all just kind of like silly and fun. I think there's a world in which you imagine this movie as being some kind of dark, twisted, S&M thing — and even with the raunchiest things that I'm saying, it's playful and not too serious.

ABBOTT: Because we filmed mostly in order, any scenes that I think felt more challenging, we were easily prepared for it because we knew it was coming the next day. There was nothing I was nervous about because I knew we were going in into it with a healthy approach.

Margaret, did you play around and test out a bunch of different wigs to figure out what Rebecca's look would be?

QUALLEY: No, we did not have the money for that. I went to a wig shop and tried on one wig and we were like, "I guess this will work." [Laughs] But I did very much base my look off of St. Vincent, the musician. She did this like amazing tour for her last album cycle called Daddy's Home, and a lot of Rebecca was inspired by her Daddy's Home art.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• On the Count of Three review: Jerrod Carmichael and Christopher Abbott in bleak buddy comedy
• Margaret Qualley and Jack Antonoff are reportedly engaged
• Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott on the surreal making of Black Bear