With all ofHereticspromotional material referencingblueberry pie andHugh Grant being creepy, we bet you didnt think about Jodie Foster.
Theres a lot of religious horror.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Hugh Grant in Heretic, written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan WoodsImage: A24
Not to go too deep into it.
Theres a degree at which religion intersected intoContactin such a bombastic way, personally.
io9: What about it directly related to this movie?
Beck and Woods with co-star Chloe East. Image: A24
Did you specifically think Oh lets make our ownContact?
or were you writing and it became Oh, this reminds us ofContact?
Bryan Woods:It was a conscious decision.
Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East inHeretic. Image: A24
Theres a lot of religious horror.
Can we do that?
And, to be honest, it seemed like an impossible thing.
Let the games begin inHeretic.Image: A24.
It seemed like well never [do it for a number of reasons.]
What is our stance on religion?
Well never know enough about the history of religion.
It was just this dream bucket list thing that seemed impossible to do.
Then, over the years, you get to a place in life.
We were just at a low point in our personal lives, feeling very vulnerable and dark.
And we were just like, Now is the fucking time to write this exploration of religion.
io9: Im really sorry about your dad, Bryan.
I lost my dad a few months ago too, so I get it.
Both:Oh no, Im sorry.
io9: Thank you.
But to that point, its one thing to say that, right?
Were gonna write this movie about religion.
Actually doing it seems like a whole other thing.
Just a massive, overwhelming, and impossible amount of research.
So how did you approach gathering information and different points of view for the film?
Looking back at the holy books and diving intoThe Book of Mormon.
Where they are firmly rooted in what they think and believe and theyre unwavering.
To us, thats not really the way that we personally live our lives.
We are constantly evolving, reacting to new experiences or relationships and whatnot.
These are all characters that are representing this triangle of different points of their relationship with the great unknown.
And I think firmly in the middle is where we come down in the discourse of the film.
io9: I agree with that.
But Im curious how that impacts the process.
Do you guys have debates amongst yourselves when youre writing something like this as you conjure up each side?
Because, yes, you are in the middle but you still have to write both sides.
So the debates we have are not necessarily debates because were of differing opinions.
I think were sponges.
I think we attempt to look at the outside world and attempt to understand why people come to conclusion.
Which sometimes can mean like… Donald Trump.
How does Donald Trump become Donald Trump?
Because youre not born into spewing absurdities on television.
Theres something that makes you that.
So we just love to investigate the world at large, I think, together.
The debates we have are more creative debates.
Woods:Thats whats nice about having a partner, right?
So we do spar about certain things.
And its like, I feel this way.
Scott feels that way.
We talk it out.
Or maybe he changes my mind, maybe I changed his mind.
Maybe now were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
You have to listen to the world.
You have to hear how people talk.
You have to have empathy for everybody and put yourself in everybodys shoes.
These are just the kind of the toolkits in our art form.
So it felt natural for a piece like this.
io9: Switching topics slightly, you guys wroteA Quiet Place.
We thought, Nobodys gonna want to make this weird silent horror movie.
Were just gonna shoot it ourselves in our home state of Iowa.
Our focus is not in theQuiet Placeuniverse right now.
Thats the exciting lifeblood of filmmaking that we go after: the unknown.
But we loved what Michael Sarnoski did withDay One.
We thought that was a really exciting entry into it.
Woods: We would really love to see an international movie inA Quiet Placeuniverse.
One thats not necessarily English language-based.
That would be really cool.
Check back next week for more from Beck and Woods.
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