Writer-director Mickey Keating is back with his second feature film, Pod. It stars Dean Cates and Lauren Ashley Carter as Ed and Lyla, two siblings who get a disturbingly cryptic message from their brother Martin (Brian Morvant). Concerned about Martin’s well-being, they’ve got no choice but to drive out to their secluded family lake house to find out what’s going on. When they arrive, they’re shocked to find the home an unrecognizable mess. However, a disgusting kitchen and bizarre drawings all over the walls are nothing compared to what Martin insists is in their basement.While in Austin for the Pod world premiere at SXSW, I got to sit down with Keating, Cates, Morvant and composer Giona Ostinelli to talk about locking a location first and then building a story around it, Cates and Morvant’s first impression of the script and their especially intense characters, incorporating flash frames in post-production and more. You can catch it all in the video interview below.[EMBED_COMPLEX][complextv contentid="41eXQ2dDo0b0j-GX-iSofWIPVDlt8HET" sitename="collider" playerid="26aa5f02d93f4c05a4546f6d5ecb59b7" adsetid="67a3ff9d3a842ae818bb9de1badc5b0" width="600" height="360" keywords=""][/EMBED_COMPLEX][caption id="attachment_431635" align="alignright" width="360"]pod-image-lauren-ashley-carter Image via SXSW[/caption]Giona Ostinelli, Mickey Keating, Dean Cates & Brian Morvant:

  • 00:00 - Finding the location first and then writing the script around it.
  • 00:39 - Putting the film together and going into production fast.
  • 01:08 - Driving up to set in a blizzard.
  • 01:33 - Working with Illium Pictures.
  • 02:02 - Keating on the casting process; reuniting with Cates, and finding Morvant and Lauren Ashley Carter.
  • 02:49 - Cates and Morvant’s first impression of the script.
  • 04:14 - Cates’ very impressive mustache.
  • 04:38 - Cates on identifying with his character.
  • 05:36 - Working on character backstory and the relationship between the siblings.
  • 07:07 - The mythology behind the pod and choosing not to give the audience all the answers.
  • 08:01 - Keating on editing and incorporating flash frames.
  • 09:45 - Working with editor Valerie Krulfeifer; after watching the film over and over, can Keating step back and assess whether or not the film is scary anymore?
  • 10:30 - Did the house survive the shoot?
  • 11:37 - Living in the creepy shooting location.
pod-poster
Image via Pod Facebook Page