‘A Dark Place’ Star Luke Baines Talks Stepping Into a ‘Very Different’ Role in Suspense Drama

Luke Baines may have stepped out of the shoes of Jonathan Morgenstern on Shadowhunters, but he is stepping into an entirely new role in the Christopher Piñero-produced-and-directed film A Dark Place. Now available on iTunes, Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand, the film, Baines told PopCulture.com in a recent interview, is unlike anything he's ever done before.

Named Best Thriller at the Manhattan Film Festival (2018), A Dark Place tells the story of a man, who, in the midst of attempting to put his life back together following a past filled with reckless behavior, is sent into a spiral that threatens to take down not only him, but his two best friends.

Baines portrays Alex, "a twenty-something who is struggling to find his way in the world" who, due to his poor relationships with those closest to him, "has found himself in a place in his life where he's kind of lost everything."

The role, according to Baines, marked a stark contrast from the roles he has held in the past.

"I think that it's something very different from anything I've done before because it's so based in reality, in the way that really the focus of this film is the relationships and the dynamic between friends and romantic relationships," he said. "I don't think I've really ever had a chance to explore some of the themes that I got to explore in this film. And it's a chance for me to play someone who is a little bit closer in age to myself. And that was something that was really nice."

"It was nice to actually be able to use some of my own stuff, some of my own human experience to be able to create this character. And I think that people watching it, who've seen some of my stuff in the past, will see a difference in that and be able to resonate with it," Baines added.

Among those themes that Baines is speaking of is a dark downward spiral that his character finds himself plummeting through, something that forced Baines to dig into his own life experiences to portray.

"This was probably one of the more challenging roles that I've had in terms of digging deep emotionally because it was so based in reality. I wanted to try and make it as real as humanly possible," Baines said, explaining that he turned to music to help him get into character.

"I used a lot of music to get into character. I find music really, really helpful in jumping into somebody else's head space," he said. "But I also used a lot of music that reminded me of my exes, and listened to that to try and bring up some stuff. I even went through and watched some old videos of an ex that kind of really got me into a head space of being able to understand where this guy was."

While the film joins a crowded genre, Baines says that A Dark Place sets itself apart from the others thanks to its "momentum" and its basis in reality.

"I think that the pacing of the film moves very nicely. I don't think it's a film that lags very much. There's a lot of different scenes in the film and that helps create momentum," Baines said. "I think that what's really good about this is that it does move very, very quickly."

"It's so grounded in reality that I think people will be able to resonate with it and be able to understand it from a human point of view, as opposed to it being something that's so supernatural that it's hard to connect with," he added. "I think for that reason people will enjoy it."

A Dark Place is now available on iTunes, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand.