Over the weekend, the 2015 SXSW Film Festival hosted the world premiere of Ted Geoghegan’s directorial debut, We Are Still Here. Daily Dead was thrilled to sit down with several members of the cast the next day to chat about the film and their experiences collaborating on the project together last year.
Let’s start at the beginning and talk about how you all came to be involved with We Are Still Here. I know the horror community tends to run in similar circles so was this something Ted approached you about or were you brought in through other channels?
Barbara Crampton: Well, I had met Ted when he was a publicist on You’re Next and he’s such a great guy- so likeable and warm. We just really liked one another and became friends. We’d talk about other projects and as you know, I was sort of lost in motherhood for many years before they cast me in You’re Next so coming back for me was a lot of fun. And I would talk to Ted about potential movies and things like that and during that time, he was continuing to work on scripts that he had written while he was a publicist. So he sent me this script just to get my take on it and asked me to give him my notes. I thought it was really wonderful but it did change a little bit from that first draft.
But I told him it was a really nice script and that I hoped he would get to make it someday and maybe six to eight months later, he called me up and said, “You know, I’ve taken this to Travis Stevens” and I have become such a fan of his because he has this Midas Touch. So then I began to get a bit more excited about it but then nothing happened except that he mentioned to me that he had me in mind for one of these roles and I didn’t know that when I first read it. But he told me that he had wanted me to play Anne, which I loved because I am a mother so there is a lot about this character that I could relate to and I thought that was great.
Then, around another six months passes and Ted calls me up again and tells me that we’re going to get to make the movie, Dark Sky Films is going to be involved and that I was definitely going to be playing Anne. I thought it was amazing but I wasn’t sure who was going to direct it and that’s when he told me that he was going to be directing which was a great surprise because we had been talking about this project for two years and he never mentioned directing. So it was really great on how it all came together.
And over the next week, I knew he had Larry in mind for a role because they had been friends for some time and so then he became involved with the project. And really, it all just happened really fast from there- after they got the greenlight, I think we were shooting something like 10 weeks later. Ted put together this really great team of people who he trusted and had always wanted to work with so it felt like this little family was coming together to make this a reality for him.
Larry Fessenden: For me, it’s always nice to see that someone can see in you that you’re capable of doing something different as an actor. I just liked the character that Ted had me in mind for as he was a little bit more flamboyant; on the one hand, if you know me, this role makes sense but if you only know me from the type of roles that I get, you wouldn’t expect me to be playing a character like this.
And you always want to believe that your friends can make films if they’re smart and there’s a genuine love of filmmaking there and so, for me, it was about how cool it was that Ted had a project and of course I want to help and be a part of it. Plus, I’m really pleased that he sees me in this light and trusted me with this character. That’s always something exciting for any actor- to play something completely different than they’re known for.
Lisa, character has such a warmth and seems akin to your own personality- was it written that way in the script or was that something you fostered through your performance and own take on who May was as a person?
Lisa Marie: I think they called me in December and it was like getting an early Christmas present. And the way he described the character I thought was interesting and we had a lot of discussions about the role over several days and it was so wonderful to me to be approached to play a role that was so different. And for me, I only met everyone the night before we began shooting but because of Ted, Karim (Hussain, Cinematographer) and Travis (Stevens), the world that they all created gave us all an instant feeling of trust. And that’s unusual, we all felt really supported and the entire experience felt like a waking dream.
Larry Fessenden: Also, one thing that I think you can do if you’re a smart filmmaker is to cast people that you can make them feel appreciated and that they’re truly part of the process. And I think Ted, in a way, made us all feel like we were helping him make his movie but in return, we were getting so much more out of it.
Barbara Crampton: Ted laid out this incredible foundation for all of us to be creative, telling the story that he wanted us to tell and it was a great environment for us to be able to springboard off each other while we were working.
Andrew Sensenig: What you see onscreen is a genuine relationship because we all became instant friends and even though we hadn’t known each other long, it was so easy for us to come together and build that chemistry because of that environment. Plus, when you’re working alongside talent like this, chemistry comes a little bit easier.
What I think is really cool is that we seem to be getting more grown-up horror stories these days, rather than a movie that just focuses on a group of teenagers being stalked in the woods and We Are Still Here certainly fits that bill. Was that something you were conscientious of coming into the project?
Larry Fessenden: You know, I think it’s great because people need to understand that life goes on after 30; there’s so much more to experience once you’re older that I think it’s a huge misstep to always be focusing on younger characters. There are a lot of horror fans- who are older now- who are looking for stories that they can relate to and it’s nice that there are stories out there that aren’t just interested in fetishizing the idea of youth. The stakes go up as you get older, in a lot of different ways.
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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