Radio Underground has one character. In preparation for making it, I have been watching as many films focused around one character as possible.
In The Martian, while much of the film is focused on Matt Damon's character, it consistently cuts away to ground control and he is in contact with other people for much of the film. It's a good film, but as a consequence of this, we never truly grasp the true extent of his loneliness. Even when Matt Damon isn't directly communicating with someone else, he talks to himself. He just blurts out what he's thinking. Matt Damon gets away with it for the most part, but I find it cringey when a character only speaks to himself so that the audience understands what is going on.
In Locke, Tom Hardy's character is the only character on screen and he spends the vast majority of the film inside a car. However, he is alone only in terms of physicality. He spends basically the entire film on the phone. The entire film is essentially a series of dialogues.
In 127 Hours, James Franco's character is literally alone for most of the film, however the film is very subjective. Much of it takes place through flashbacks. We know the character is alone, however the overpowering feeling is of helplessness, not isolation. However, interestingly, he spends much of the film recording a diary on his video camera. This is a very clever way of telling the audience exactly how he is feeling.
Finally, in Cast Away, Tom Hanks talks to a volleyball, because of course he does. This was a stroke of genius. He just tells the volleyball exactly what he is trying to do and how he is feeling. I'll not go into this much because Tom Hanks is a brilliant actor, and unless he's looking to make a British student short film, we don't have an actor that talented.
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