00:26This is Tim Wasprick for Fast Trek on CERC TV.
00:29I'm here in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest Film Festival.
00:33So my kind of personal philosophy around tone and around a lot of this film was more about,
00:40okay, this is going to sound a little metaphysical, maybe more like Lorna,
00:42who's also the metaphysical character in the movie,
00:46but was really more about like listening to what the story wanted to be.
00:50Okay, there's some spooky elements, there's some funny elements.
00:53And if I can listen, and I was doing this with the writing and with the directing,
00:57and Nick Kanellakis, who was my co-director on set,
01:01so he was my eyes when I was acting, and he also composed the score.
01:05It was all kind of funneled through listening to the story.
01:08What does the story want to be?
01:10It's this unique thing, this unique being that is like being born as a,
01:16you know, on set and as a collective.
01:18And listening to like its unique fingerprint as a creative thing.
01:25So yeah, it was organic.
01:27It was very much like listening to what it wanted to be and being inspired by,
01:31you know, we had like a playlist, the Mallory's Ghost playlist.
01:33It kind of touched on that unique tone.
01:36Was it the same music on set?
01:39Some of it.
01:40Some of it, yeah.
01:41Yeah, like the dance scene.
01:43And then Nick's composing was inspired by some of those old Hollywood scores.
01:47And then our cinematographer, Jeff Gritchie, like it's all like getting everyone aligned
01:52to that same listening of the frequency of the story so that we can kind of serve it.
01:57And then the ultimate, the end goal is different, but it's its own unique living thing.
02:02So yeah, it is a tricky thing.
02:06And Tone was something that we talked about constantly because as you said,
02:09it's not just like, oh, check a box.
02:10This is horror.
02:12It's definitely its own unique being.
02:16Okay.
02:28Of course.
02:43Genre allows you to talk about different things that maybe if you hit them too head on,
02:48they're not as representative or they sometimes people get thrown off by it.
02:54And this has been true of a lot of films of recently.
02:57Could you talk about using genre to address these things?
03:01Because obviously, you know, these are heavy issues that she's dealing with in many different
03:06ways.
03:07You know, it's also, you know, enlightening issues.
03:10It's also freeing issues.
03:11And that's obviously why psychotherapy is so important and therapy in general.
03:16Could you talk about using genre and as you were building the story, because it probably
03:22started off with a kernel, but then it developed into what it became.
03:26Yes.
03:27Am I correct?
03:27Yeah, absolutely.
03:29Yeah.
03:29And genre to me, genre are, you know, genres are shorthand formulas that carry heightened
03:38emotions.
03:39So like the genre of a romantic or a rom-com is a distilled formula for experiencing romance
03:47in a way that we've come to understand as like an audience.
03:50Similar with horror.
03:51It's like we've figured out these formulas for feeling fear that we understand and we
03:56can compute.
03:57So for me, it was like, okay, so there is something really scary and horrific about feeling like
04:02your partner's in love with someone else.
04:04How can I use those elements of the genre, horror genre to emulate that experience?
04:11And then the feeling, okay, well, if you're jealous of some of your partner loving someone
04:15else, you must love them.
04:16So how can we use the genre of the rom-com or the romance film to bring the audience to
04:22that experience?
04:23So for me, it was like taking the elements of, of these different genres to serve the
04:29overarching story that was all about, about jealousy as a way towards self actualization.
04:37And then that brings us to kind of more of the magical realism of the second half of the
04:41film that, like I said before, kind of is, I guess, its own genre, magical realism, trying
04:47to emulate the experience of, of transformation, healing, change.
04:53Um, yeah.
04:55So kind of the patchwork of genre in that way.
04:57What?
04:58What's going on?
05:00Welcome.
05:02What up?
05:02You're here.
05:04How lovely to see you, Sam.
05:05We didn't know you were here.
05:07The terrified creature over here is Mallory.
05:12Mallory.
05:15Well, how about that?
05:18But it uses different details, like the tree, you know, all these things and how we integrate
05:23with that.
05:24Obviously that's a metaphysical concept as well.
05:27But what I think also really comes forth, and this is true, is the voice, the voice specifically
05:33of you and Louise at a certain point, because obviously Sam's almost an extraneous and external
05:40part of that.
05:41Uh, and that's why I thought the voice between the two of them really was great because it
05:45showed the difference in perspective and perception.
05:48Could you talk about finding the voice on paper, how it sounded right to you?
05:53Because it sounds right in your head in certain ways.
05:55But then the second part of the question, when you get on set and you're directing these
06:00other actors to act a certain way, and then you have to reflect them.
06:04How does that work?
06:05The voice was found.
06:08We were able to rehearse with Angelica, who played Louise.
06:11Louise, and finding, because Louise and Mallory have a very unique dynamic, and really finding
06:17it in a way that felt natural and, um, and kind of human and grounded.
06:23I, that ended up kind of being one of my favorite parts of the film, actually, was, was that
06:27segment.
06:28So, um, yeah, the, the voice found us, I guess.
06:32Well, yeah, when you're, there's one scene when you two are walking.
06:35And it's walking, and it's a long shot, but there's so much said, and it doesn't feel
06:40like exposition.
06:41It just feels like it, a conversation, which is sometimes the best writing.
06:47Yeah.
06:47And we got, I mean, we got lucky at Angelica and Delphi, who were the two other main actors,
06:52are, are such skilled actors, too.
06:55So they would bring things to set that I hadn't, me and Nick hadn't even thought about.
07:00Um, and if something felt off, or it didn't make sense, we, we were very open to kind
07:05of working on it on the day, which is, you know, tricky when you're strapped for time.
07:09Um, but it, because it is a unique kind of story, it was something that we were really
07:17in an active state of discovery around, through shooting and through editing, was like really
07:23finding, I think, what you're speaking to, which is the unique, uh, voice and dynamic of,
07:29of, of these characters.
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