The Interview

Are you a good person?

Using the standardised moral scales of our legal and social systems, the answer to this can be quite straight forward. Do you help others? Have you broken the law? But remove this social accountability, and the grey area widens. Do the moral truths of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ exist outside of human beliefs? Does belief in an afterlife motivate moral behaviour? Who deserves redemption, and how do we quantify remorse?

Through our protagonist Theo, who is confronted by an increasingly horrific play-by-play of his worst deeds, we face these existential questions in real time. Inspired by the themes of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2005), we hope to leave audiences contemplating their beliefs about morality, guilt, and redemption. Above all, we hope to leave viewers reflecting on the impact of their actions on others – perhaps wondering what their own Interview would look like.

The film’s psychological-thriller genre was determined by the desire to keep the audience guessing. Alongside Theo, who begins the short without his memories, the audience are kept one step behind as each new piece of information is revealed. Immersing viewers in a 70’s-style purgatory, the aesthetic of which was inspired by the Murray Franklin Show in The Joker (2019), we aim to create a disconnect from reality without entirely entering the realm of science fiction. The use of negative space, Dutch angles, and smash cuts, contribute to this disorientating and unnerving liminal space between reality and fantasy.

The constraint of a four-day window to bring the film from inception to completion was a great challenge which shaped many artistic choices, notably designing the narrative to unfold in predominantly one location. This project is particularly special as it was developed, crewed, and performed by my colleagues from the Collective Acting Studio whom I have trained alongside. Having an existing creative rapport greatly facilitated the production process, and I am indebted to the cast and crew for their creative collaboration and dedication to the project.