The reason Doug Liman was ultimately able to get away with this creative decision was likely because he made The Wall on a relatively leaner budget than the average Hollywood movie.
In fact, elsewhere in our conversation, Liman told me that he had wanted to try this technique when he made 2005’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but that film’s substantially larger budget prevented him from being able to do so.
Once he was able to get his hands on a smaller scale $3 million movie like The Wall, he was able to give it a shot.
Now that we have seen the film, we can definitely say that it paid off.