How would you describe Follow the Dead?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
It\u2019s a dark comedy about a man in his thirties, Robbie, who can\u2019t manage to find the love he\u2019s looking for in a Tinder-centric society, and only begins to realize what he\u2019s missing when his estranged wife comes back into his life. Unluckily for him, this reunion just so happens to take place right as the town is in a frenzy, divided over the mysterious news that Dublin is experiencing a blackout, and the prevailing theory is that zombies are the cause. To add insult to injury, Robbie has to take care of his wannabe-celebrity sister Liv, who\u2019s trying to use the events to boost her social media presence, and their stoner cousins Jay and Chi, who can\u2019t agree on a single thing. The result: comedy and mayhem.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Can you tell us about the cast of Follow the Dead<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
I had the great privilege of working with some incredible actors for this film, who were honoured with a Best Ensemble Cast nomination from the Seattle Film Festival last year. The dramatic performances from Luke Corcoran, Marybeth Herron, and Cristina Ryan are so moving, and they really carry the weight of the themes surrounding sacrifice and responsibility within the film so incredibly well. I\u2019m so proud of what they brought to the story through their rawness and vulnerability. And then there\u2019s Luke Collins and Tadhg Devery as the stoner cousins who are just so insanely hilarious, in very distinct ways; Luke with his unique physicality, and Tadhg with his incredible turn-of-phrase. We\u2019ve been honoured with numerous Comedy Feature awards internationally, with Tadhg receiving a Best Supporting Actor award from the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival too. I\u2019m really indebted to them for being so impressive in that way, and I really love that the Irish sense of humour (not to mention the accents) has really translated to foreign audiences. Truth be told, we actually filmed Follow the Dead twice. The first time, without a budget, we shot about 60% of the script, but then came back to do it all again with a bigger crew and a pittance of funding later in the year. I did that because I was blown away by the performances from the cast, which really made me believe in them and in what we were creating. So yeah\u2026 That\u2019s how much faith and love I have for these incredible artists.<\/span><\/p>\n
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You are the writer, producer and director on Follow the Dead<\/em>. That sounds like a huge amount of work on your shoulders; how did you manage all of these hats?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
Well the whole process took so much longer than it should have because of the fact that I was juggling everything. We shot Follow the Dead in August 2017, and it wasn\u2019t ready for festivals until 2020. So it was a case of taking things step by step. This was also my first feature, so I was totally unaware of how mammoth the undertaking was going to be. But that helped in a way, because I wasn\u2019t concerned with how high the mountain was; I had no idea. So I just took each step as it came, learned on the fly, and thankfully it all worked out in the end.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Can you tell us about the writing process; what was it like for you?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
Writing is one of the most arduous stages of development for me. I\u2019m a perfectionist, and I\u2019m a plotter; I need to know exactly where the story is going and all of the checkpoints along the way before I can get started. So before the script stage I have pages and pages and pages of notes, outlines, charts, and all sorts, and only when I can play the whole movie out visually in my head can I then sit down and write it. The only really improvisational aspect of the scripts I write is the dialogue, which I come up with as I\u2019m typing. Except for the jokes; 90% of them are planned ahead of time too. But I have to say that Follow the Dead<\/em> was the easiest script I\u2019ve written so far, purely because I had done so much meditating about it while we were planning the short film. So I have to thank Luke Corcoran for the inspiration for this one.<\/span><\/p>\n
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How did you go about finding the cast?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
It was really organic. Luke was always going to play Robbie because I never diverged from that plan since the short film stage. I had worked with Marybeth Herron and Tadhg Devery on my final year student film Inertia<\/em>, and I knew they\u2019d be ideal for Liv and Chi respectively. From there, Tadhg introduced me to Cristina Ryan and Aidan O\u2019Sullivan when we were considering who would play the Garda\u00ed in the film, with the character of Kate also being Robbie\u2019s love interest, and they fit those characters like a glove. And then Luke recommended Luke Collins to play Jay, and Ian Anthony Lawless to play Zippy. They were both primarily theater actors at the time, but did an amazing job bringing that developed stage presence to the big screen. So as you can tell, it was very much a casting process based on relationships, which I think gave us that tight-knit familial connection on set that allowed us to work so well as a team to do what almost none of us had done before.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Was it a difficult task to find the technical crew that you needed to shoot the movie?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t difficult on the production side of things. I had seen the cinematography showreel of Stephen C. Walsh on social media somewhere, and I was incredibly impressed with his work. So I reached out to him with the pitch for the feature and he got on board very quickly after that. And we\u2019re tremendously blessed that he did. He was a one man film crew; doing all the camera work, the lighting, the rigging\u2026 He was a beast, and I really felt like I had a lieutenant with me going into battle in what was unfamiliar territory for me, but not at all for him. That was comforting to say the least. Post production was a lot more difficult a stage. I edited the film myself, so that was no problem. But getting a good sound designer and music composer was an ordeal. I was pulling my hair out looking for a sound designer who could take on the challenge; There were a lot of outdoor scenes where the recorded sound was inaudible, and we also needed a lot of effects sounds for the zombies and for the action scenes. After months of searching, I met a fellow filmmaker one evening who recommended Robin Sherry Wood to me, and after that it was smooth sailing. He did an incredible job, even down to creating bottom up sound design for entire scenes, such as the very first scene of the film where Robbie is on a date in the car. None of the audio in that scene was recorded on the day. The car engine, the dialogue, the sounds of motion, absolutely everything was put in in post by Robin, and no one seems to notice a thing when watching it. That\u2019s how good he is. And then with the music\u2026 All I\u2019ll say is\u2026 Just because you can create beautiful music doesn\u2019t mean you know how to score a movie. I went through ten music composers before I found someone who understood how to craft the music around the emotional beats within the scene. That someone is Steven McKenna of DRVN Pictures, and his work speaks for itself. I said I wanted three distinct motifs, and he nailed every one of them. Every now and then I\u2019ll listen to the love theme just for the pleasure of it.<\/span><\/p>\n
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What was the biggest challenge you overcame when creating Follow the Dead<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
Aside from the post production issues I mentioned, I think it was just the fear of going into the unknown. Especially for the massive cast sequences. Anyone can shoot a scene of two people talking. But shooting an action sequence in the middle of a forest where a horde of zombies are chasing your protagonists and a battle erupts\u2026 That\u2019s not an ordinary day on set. I had absolutely no idea if we\u2019d pull it off. But I knew that if we did, we\u2019d have done something amazing, we\u2019ll have grown as artists from the experience, and I trusted the people I had around me to be able to help me to get the job done. The rest is history. And because of this experience, I\u2019ll never make a movie where I don\u2019t attempt to do something that feels slightly beyond my ability.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Are you happy with how the movie turned out?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
I\u2019m blown away by it. Watching the film and seeing what we accomplished, (which I believe is a cinema-quality, funny, emotional, Irish genre film,) never fails to make me feel emotional. And add to that the successful and ongoing festival run, in which we\u2019ve currently amassed 14 wins and 4 nominations, it\u2019s actually insane to think of where we started from and where we\u2019re at with it today. It\u2019s unbelievable.<\/span><\/p>\n
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What has the feedback been like for Follow the Dead<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
The frustration for us at the moment is that, because of Covid, all of the festivals have been virtual so far, having to move to a digital format until things get back to normal. So although we\u2019ve won awards at practically every festival we\u2019ve screened at, we\u2019ve never seen an audience's reaction in the theater. So that\u2019s been tough, and we\u2019ve no idea how to gauge each individual aspect of the film as a result. We just know it\u2019s been extremely positive feedback on the whole. But we\u2019re looking forward to some live festivals coming up in the next few months, so\u2026 That\u2019s going to be a whole new experience for us. Excited isn\u2019t the word.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Could we see more Follow the Dead<\/em> movies in the future?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
The sequel is already written. And I sat down with the cast members in November for a script reading and we were falling around laughing. So yeah, we\u2019re hoping to get that one off the ground as soon as we can. And in my head the story is a trilogy. So let\u2019s see how far we get with it. But I love these characters so much; as much as I love working with the actors, so\u2026 I\u2019m totally committed to that journey if we can make it happen.<\/span><\/p>\n
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If any of our readers wanted to get their eyes on Follow the Dead<\/em>, how can they do that?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
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