Affection director BT Meza spoke to News about his new horror movie starring Jessica Rothe and Joseph Cross. The director discussed the film’s big twist happening early on, his future ambition, and more. The film is out now in select theaters.
“Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again,” says the official synopsis.
BT, what was the sort of genesis behind this idea? It feels timely to me. It feels like it’s coming out at a time where everybody feels a bit misled and gaslit to a degree, and is wondering who they can trust. So what was your initial spark?
BT Meza: Yeah, that’s a great question. I thought back to my childhood when I was writing this, and my father had passed away when I was pretty young. My mother had gotten into an abusive relationship. I remember thinking about, from the outside, what that would be like if someone were just dropped into this situation. And that was kind of the spark of it. And then it kind of evolved into thinking about if you could change the past and relive this moment in your life when you were most happiest, and what you would do to get that moment back. And that kind of was the initial inspiration for the film.
And I was really interested in just the format of the film plot-wise, because there’s a big twist in this film, but it happens about 40 minutes into it rather than in the last act. I liked that because you get to live with the twist, and you get to see the fallout of the twist really explored. What led to that choice?
Tyler, you made a good point, and that’s exactly what it was. It was that I did wanna live with these characters after that twist, and I wanted to kind of see what they go through and let the audience kind of understand them a little bit as these characters, because I don’t want to give too much away. But you know, there’s a lot there to explore at that point. I wanted to live in that as long as I could with those characters.
I wanted to ask you about casting Jessica and Joseph. Obviously, they’re known actors and are talented, but how was it knowing that they would have the required chemistry for this role? Because of their characters, we see them run the gamut of emotions. They have tender scenes, they have intense scenes, and there’s action. They’re down to show their entire range throughout this film. So what was the inkling you had that these two were right for it?
I had been a fan of Jess for a long time, and I knew I wanted to work with her. I had met Joe in a coffee shop, and after meeting him and speaking with Jess, I just knew they were both perfect for this. Both had so many great ideas about their characters, and I’d seen Joe in a lot of films working with a lot of great directors. In speaking with him, he had so many great, nuanced ideas for Bruce’s character. When we had our initial meeting, the three of us, it was apparent that they were a great fit.
There’s a big twist in this film, and you get into a little bit of the science of the twist throughout, like if you freeze frame the film, you can see notes and different elements, but you don’t get bogged down. It never restricts the story. So how was it kinda layering in some of that additional thought process you had into how this would work without it overwhelming the story and being like, “let’s spend 20 minutes just explaining all the process.”
Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up, Tyler. One of the things that was really important to us was to have a film that can have multiple viewings, and each time you kind of discover something new that you might not have seen the first time. And there is a lot of layering in the film. As you said, on the screens, in books and different places, there’s a lot of elements that I think each time you watch the film, you might learn something new.
Your background is in commercials, right?
BT Meza: You know, I’ve done a little bit of commercials. I’ve done some music videos. I’ve done a little bit of everything. This is my first feature film.
What surprised you about transitioning to doing a full feature? From the shooting or maybe something from post-production, but did any elements surprise you?
I think the surprising thing for me was that what I realized at the end, after we had shot it all, is I felt like even though it was a much longer shoot, it still felt like it went too fast. We shot for about 22 days, and it seemed to go so fast. I thought that was kind of a surprise for me.
This film is really character-focused. You have the two leads and the young actress who plays the daughter. This is kind of a character piece in a lot of ways. How was it kind of blending the human focus that this has of processing grief and dealing with what they’re going through with this heightened genre element of the twist with it? How is it finding the right balance between those two?
Having incredible actors to work with makes all the difference. They all understood their characters. We talked about where we were going with it, and each scene we’d kind of have a little bit of back and forth, keep ourselves on track. Working with Jess, Joe, and Juliana really kept everything moving in the right direction, having all of us moving towards the same goal.
This is a really strong debut. I was curious what your plans are for next. Do you want to stay within the horror realm, or where do your interests lie as a filmmaker?
I love horror and sci-fi, and I love stories that have heart. Yeah, I’d love to stay in the horror or the sci-fi world.
Was there a particular film or a director that really inspired you to pick up the camera?
I grew up watching sci-fi horror films from a young age watching Alien, The Thing, The Fly, The Terminator. All of these films I think are ingrained in me and definitely inspired me to wanna reach to the same places that these great filmmakers did.
Thanks to BT Meza for taking the time to talk about Affection.
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