With all of them He’s a traitor promotional material that references blueberry pie and that Hugh Grant is amazing, we bet you didn’t think of Jodie Foster. But for Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the film’s writers and directors, that’s exactly what they had in mind.
“Scott and I have talked a lot [Robert] Zemeckis’ Contact person and Stanley Kramer’s The Legacy of the Spirit as templates for a conversation about religion,” Woods told io9. “There is a lot of ‘religious horror.’ I put it in quotes because there is a lot of Catholic horror that uses Catholicism as justification for some kind of supernatural threat in a movie. There are many of those movies, but very rare is a movie like it Contact person or The Legacy of the Spirit which are grown-up conversations about religion in the form of a popcorn movie.”
That was the motivation behind it A rebelfeaturing Grant as a creepy man who captures two Mormon missionaries (played by Yellowjackets‘ Sophie Thatcher and Fabelmans’ Chloe East} at her house and asks them to play a game. He wants to use two women who have chosen religion as their life’s work to explore what that means, and, things get worse.
A rebel is out this week and before it’s release, io9 spoke to Beck and Woods about it Contact person (Zemeckis’ film based on Carl Sagan’s book) motivations, what it takes to make a film about religion, and how they feel about the future o.f Quiet Placethey helped create. Then, after the release, check back where we’ll reveal the second part of our interview discussing the film’s ending, spoilery revelations, and some pop culture references.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Germain Lussier, io9: When I saw your movie at Fantastic Fest, I was so happy afterwards when you guys said Contact person as an inspiration. The idea of religion versus science in that movie really struck a chord with me as a kid and it came to mind watching this so I’d love to hear more about what that movie meant to you and the inspiration behind it. A rebel.
Scott Beck: Yes, first and foremost, Zemeckis is a master at making movies that he brings to movie theaters, but they are also rich in terms of their characters. And I think the back and forth between Jodie Foster’s character and Matthew McConaughey’s character was really mind-blowing at the time. Not too deep into it. But at that time, yes, I was young, I went to church every single Sunday. And I feel that that movie was one of the few movies that opened me up in some ways to go outside of what I was raised to be able to think about the relationship with faith or atheism in a three-dimensional way.
And then we see the other side of the spectrum in that film of Jake Busey’s character, kind of this basic point of view. Then all of a sudden, like finding out “Oh, I have a friend who has a family member that was in the Jonestown Massacre.” And how crazy is it that someone who may seem balanced at first, following the belief system of this loving leader, suddenly kills himself? To some extent religion came into play Contact person in a spectacular way, personally.
io9: What about it is directly related to this movie? Did you directly think “Well let’s do it ourselves Contact person?” or you were writing and then “Oh, this reminds us Contact person?”
Bryan Woods: It was a logical decision. Over the years, Scott and I have talked a lot about Zemeckis’. Contact person and Stanley Kramer’s The Legacy of the Spirit as templates for discussion about religion. There are many “religious horrors”. I put it in quotes because there is a lot of Catholic horror that uses Catholicism as justification for some kind of supernatural threat in a movie. There are many of those movies, but very rare is a movie like it Contact person or The Legacy of the Spirit which are adult conversations about religion in a popcorn movie genre.
So for years, since Scott and I first saw those movies, we’ve been asking ourselves, “Can we? Wow, one day it would be a dream come true if we could make a film about religion, all our feelings, all our fears, all the things we think are good and terrible about religion all in one film. Can we do that?” And, to be honest, it seemed impossible. It seemed unlikely [do it for a number of reasons.] What is our position on religion? We cannot know enough about the history of religion. It was just a bucket list item of a dream that seemed impossible. Then, over the years, you find a place in life.
I recently lost my father unexpectedly to esophageal cancer, ie [also] like Scott losing his father because basically we are all family now. We were at a low point in our personal lives, feeling very vulnerable and dark. And we were just like, “Now is a tough time to write this religious experiment.” Now is the time to talk about the fear of not knowing what happens when you die, and explore that in the context of a horror film.
io9: I’m so sorry about your dad, Bryan. I also lost my father a few months ago, so I get it.
Both: No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
io9: thank you. Thank you. But at that point, it’s one thing to say that, right? “We will write this movie about religion.” Actually pretending to be something else. Just a huge, amazing, and impossible amount of research. So how did you go about gathering information and different ideas for the film?
Beck: Yes, I mean, the interest of all things: religion or religion or something else, feeds on it. Lawrence Wright writing this amazing piece on Scientology, Clarity. Reading Christopher Hitchens or the work of Richard Dawkins from an atheist perspective. I look back at the scriptures and dive in The Book of Mormon. Trying to understand everything, honestly, from a sympathetic point of view to make sure that a complex discussion about religion can be seen from many different sides.
Our whole fear of the movie—and it adds to this but, I think, to talk about it subtly—is this fear of people with certainty. Where they are focused on what they think and believe and they don’t waver. For us, that’s not really how we live our lives. We are constantly changing, responding to new experiences or relationships and so on. And I think a lot of the movie injects those personal journeys that we’ve had, and a lot of friendships that we’ve made that represent a lot of different beliefs. The film invited these three actors with Hugh Grant’s character, Mr. Reed, and Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes. These are all characters that represent 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 I’m curious how that affects the process. Do you guys have debates among yourselves when you write something like this as you put each side together? Because, yes, you are in the middle but you still have to write both sides.
Beck: Yeah, I can’t say we’ve ever thought about that because I feel like Bryan and I have known each other since we were 11 years old. And so, as a result, most of our views on life are compatible with each other. So the debates we have are not debates because we have different opinions. I think we are sponges. I think we try to look at the outside world and try to understand why people come to this conclusion. Which can sometimes mean something like… Donald Trump. How does Donald Trump become Donald Trump? Because you are not born saying negative things on TV. There is something that makes you that. So we just like to explore the whole world, I guess, together. The debates we have are creative debates. I feel like if Bryan comes in hot for a movie that he absolutely loves but I don’t, we’re happy to go into it.
Woods: That’s the good thing about having a partner, right? We have an open mind. So, we talk about some things. And it’s like, “I feel this way. Scott feels that way.” We discuss it. Or maybe he changes my mind, maybe I change his mind. Perhaps we are now at opposite ends of the spectrum. And that listening skill is the most important thing you can have as a writer. You have to listen to the world. You have to hear how people talk. You have to have empathy for everyone and put yourself in everyone’s shoes. These are just some of the tools of our art. So a piece like this was natural.
io9: Changing topics a bit, you guys wrote A Quiet Place. How does it feel to see it still going strong, and how involved, if any, are you guys in where it’s going in the future?
Beck: First and foremost, we never in a million years thought it would have a long life and that’s because we designed and built it. A Quiet Place in very low ways. We thought, “No one is going to want to make this weird silent horror movie. We will shoot ourselves in our hometown of Iowa. ” But last week, we went to the Universal Studios maze that they had A Quiet Place and we go by and see these Universal characters portraying characters directly on the page, and it’s unexpected and we’re still alive in that surreal reality that it was alive.
But as far as where it goes from here, I mean, it’s like sending your kid to college. Our focus is not on A quiet place universe right now. Ours. It’s like the movies A rebel where we love the original idea and when we approach the text page we don’t know what we are going to create. That’s the exciting life of filmmaking we follow: the unknown. And whether the movie we create fails or succeeds, it’s striving to do something different that makes us happy. But we loved what Michael Sarnoski did with it Day One. We thought that was a really fun entry into it. So if they continue to release them, our hope is that it continues to establish the concept of that A Quiet Place the movie i.
Woods: We would really like to see an international movie A Quiet Place the whole place. One that is not based on the English language. That would be really cool.
A rebel opens on Friday. Check back next week for more from Beck and Woods.
Looking for more io9 news? Check out when you can expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe in film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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