During the 2015 SXSW Film Festival last week, writer/director J. Davis celebrated the premiere of his debut directorial effort, Manson Family Vacation, and to mark the occasion, Daily Dead had the chance to chat briefly with the up-and-coming filmmaker about the inspiration behind the story, collaborating with co-stars Jay Duplass and Linas Phillips as well as working with Saw alum (and proverbial genre favorite) Tobin Bell.

Fantastic job on the film, J; it was really enjoyable and I thought the ending was perfect. This was such an unusual approach to one of the most infamous people ever- had Charles Manson been someone you had been interested in for a while then?

J. Davis: Oh, yeah. I first got interested in true crimes back when I was a little kid. You know the scene where the kid discovers Conrad’s book and he then tries to explain Charles Manson to him? That is something that actually happened to me. I was attracted to the crime scene photos and all these attractive young people who followed Charlie and how he looked so different in practically every single photo. I was just really taken by all of it and I remember my grandfather took the book away from me, which only made me more interested in it.

And I had been talking with Jay; we have a lot in common actually but he was horrified when he first learned about my fascination with Manson so I used that explore these differences between the two brothers in the film and wrote it into the script.

Did you know Jay would be co-starring in the film at the time you were writing it?

J. Davis: The idea had popped in my mind but I wasn’t really sure if he was going to want to do it. I gave Jay the first draft just to look at and that’s when he agreed to come on as a producer. Then I asked him about starring in it but he hadn’t really acted in too many things so I think he hesitated a little at first. But then we found Linas and it all just clicked between them so well. I don’t think he had a choice after that (laughs).

But Linas was really cool too; he came down from Seattle and he worked a lot with Jay to get those character beats just right and to help build up a dynamic between their characters too.

Can you talk about using the real-life Manson locations and did anyone give you guys grief while shooting?

J. Davis: We did use all the real locations while we were shooting and surprisingly, we didn’t really experience much backlash or even weird looks. I think people are almost used to it by now. But it was important to me that we didn’t fake any of those just because it added a nice sense of realism to the story. And in fact, I actually used to live down the street from one of the Manson houses before so I knew exactly all the important locations to work into the script.

I just wanted to say thank you for putting Tobin in the film. He’s such a fantastic actor that I don’t think a lot of the roles he gets offered these days really utilizes his abilities to the fullest- he was so great in the film.

J. Davis: Ah, thanks so much. I loved working with Tobin. At first, we just sent over the script to him to see what he thought and what was cool was that he sent me back notes after he read it. And it wasn’t just notes on his character or anything, there were even notes on the brothers and their relationship. That showed me that he really cared about this project and was really invested in it even before we began working on it. That was so rare and he was such a giving person to work with. His character has this darkness to him but you also can’t help but like him either. Tobin gives such an enigmatic performance in the film and does an amazing job of bringing a sense of humanity to the role.

Something else I wanted to commend you for was your treatment of the characters who were followers of Manson- so often in film, it would be easy to vilify these kinds of characters so it was cool to see you treat them like real human beings.

J. Davis: You know, I never really wanted to do that- this story isn’t about whose beliefs are right or wrong. It’s about family bonds and dealing with the past and ultimately, what these two brothers mean to each other. Making these family members seem like lunatics wasn’t going to serve the story at all.

  • Heather Wixson
    About the Author - Heather Wixson

    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.