Summary
#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead, which just premiered at this year’sTribeca Film Festival, is a titillating and intelligent horror movie that plays on the familiar premise of friends heading to a remote location on a road trip. On the way to a popular music festival, the oblivious victims-to-be rent an Airbnb only to fall prey to a killer who has decided each one of them must pay for their perceived deadly sins.
Jade Pettyjohn (Little Fires Everywhere)leads#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead’s talented cast of up-and-coming stars. Other members of the friend group include Jennifer Ens, Justin Derickson, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Julian Haig, Cardi Wong, Jack Doupe-Smith, and popstar JoJo Siwa. Marcus Dunstan, best known for his work on theSawfranchise, directed the movie from a screenplay by Josh Sims and Jessica Sarah Flaum.
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While at Tribeca Film Festival,Screen Rantinterviewed Dunstan and Pettyjohn about the journey to creating#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead, how it stands out from other contemporary horror movies, and what to expect from theirupcoming projects such asSaw XIandMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Seven Deadly Sins is a popular horror concept. How did you want to make it unique and make#AMFADstand out?
Marcus Dunstan: I had to update it because I think the sins have evolved, and it ties into the idea of voyeurism. Whereas voyeurism would be someone determining what my sin is, in the age of phones, the voyeur has been invited in. And sometimes we’re lying, saying, “I’m living my best,” when we’re not. We’re on a plane, we’re not doing all those things, even if we would like to be that person.
What if someone dared to look back and say, “I’m going to reveal who you are, and maybe you deserve a little something more than fame?”
Jade, how did you come into contact with this story and what really drew you to it?
Jade Pettyjohn: Yeah, so I came in almost a year before we started filming. Very early on, they sent me the script. The first script that I read was a very different script; there were a lot of changes, but the bones of it were the same. I’ve read a lot of scripts, and I feel like I do a very good job of being able to predict what happens, but I was so wrong about this film, and that was so wonderful. I was reading this script, and I was completely shocked by one particularly major plot twist in the third act. That was so exciting for me as just someone who loves film and reading a script. I was like, “Okay, if I’m excited at this stage, I can only imagine what it’d be like to film something like this.”
I’ve also never played a character like Sarah before. She’s incredibly nuanced, and there’s a lot required to play a person like that. Those two things really drew me in. Then, when I found out that Marcus was attached to direct, it only heightened everything because he is brilliant at what he does. That only expanded when we started working together, and I think we made a really great collaboration.
Marcus Dunstan: Absolutely. From my side of the line, we can try to orchestrate with glass and artifice and whatnot, but if the real heart isn’t there, we ultimately have nothing. That’s the biggest difference between AI and what we do. We’re real. If it doesn’t convey, it just doesn’t obey.
“She has to earn it with her behavior.”
In the year after Jade came in, how did the script evolve and what were some reasons behind the changes?
Marcus Dunstan: In some cases, it was almost like finding an alchemy that could keep up with the very minute we’re in. That was one reflection. Another was that we didn’t want to fake anything we couldn’t actually have. If it’s this location, then we’re rewriting to this location. Say it was supposed to be in Las Vegas, it’d have to be a Las Vegas story. We didn’t want to fake that in Vancouver. This is Vancouver; this is on the road. We’re going to use the woods for the woods and whatnot.
And then when it came to characters, we were shooting in order. If someone came upon something, or someone was really feeling something and we found a different laugh or a different scare — even in some cases, a different twist — we were in such a nice zone that we had the time and the ability to really be nimble. That’s once again credit to our North Star.
Jade shows up and sets the tone, and the tone is everybody’s doing their best. Everybody does their best, and then it’s almost like a crowd referee. If this feels like they can play and they’re comfy with each other? Then we’re going to find the best way to play.
You mentioned that Sarah’s a very complicated character. She obviously brings her own baggage into this friend group, but they also have their own. What kind of conversations did you have with Marcus about who she was before, why she’s here, and what mindset she joins the friends with?
Jade Pettyjohn: Yeah, what’s really nice is that we were able to have conversations going into it, which was really lovely. I think part of my prep is really understanding who someone is before you see them on screen. Because every past experience that character has had defines who they are. So, Marcus and I did talk about what Sarah’s background and history was.
Marcus Dunstan: Every character has got a secret, and we have to make the traditional Final Girl aesthetic something new, fresh, and unexpected. Like, “Go ahead. We embrace the trope, but we don’t end with the trope.”
Jade Pettyjohn: I think there’s something really interesting about having the lead role, as in your insight into the story, be someone who is an outsider with the audience. She grew up a bit isolated and didn’t have her people. There was this desire to find a group and be a part of something bigger than her. Then she goes into this group that’s lived in; they know each other, there’s history there, and she’s an outsider.
I thought that was a really interesting thing; how the audience is an outsider going through things with the protagonist until everything turns on its head. And then they’re all experiencing this major chaos that is involved in making a slasher film.
Marcus Dunstan: Maybe someone who was raised in isolation is the only one in this tight-knit friend group that starts to fall apart, who actually knows how to be solo. She actually knows how to be an independent thinker. She’s not a Final Girl because of a position on the cast sheet; she has to earn it with her behavior.
Screen Rant:Sawis an amazing franchise that continues to grow. What has it been like evolving it intoSaw XI?
Marcus Dunstan: We’re writing XI right now, and Kevin Greutert is returning to direct. That’s been since December, and that’s one where it’s got something new to say, and it’s angry.
Screen Rant: Jade, you are going to be inRyan Murphy’sMonsters, about the Menendez Brothers. What can you tell me about that and playing Jamie Pisarcik?
Jade Pettyjohn: I can’t say a lot, to be totally honest with you. But I will say the experience has been really remarkable. I’m fascinated by this case; I think it’s very nuanced, and it’s very interesting. The creatives involved in the story are remarkable, and being able to work with everyone has been so beautiful.
Everyone’s on top of their game, and it’s just it’s been wonderful to get lost in the story. Also, the whole element of being able to represent someone who’s still alive and who still exists to tell their story is a very interesting thing to me.
#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Deadpremiered June 8 at the Tribeca Film Festival and is scheduled to be released by Cineverse on August 2.
Check out our slightly morespoilery interview with Dustan and Pettyjohnhere.
