“I fought a lot of thingspeople and thingsbut it was intense.”
COLLIDER: I really want to start with congrats on the movie.
I thought you guys did such a great job with it.
Image via SXSW
ZAK HILDITCH: It’s been an interesting one.
When she gets there, it turns out some of the dead bodies arent staying down.
It’s a little bit of everything, which is the kind of eclectic film that I like.
It’s like I sort of throw a bit of the kitchen sink into this script.
Can we call this a zombie movie or you’re not calling it a zombie movie?
I, of course, disagree.
Image via Neon
Your film has different types of zombies, and there are different rules.
Did you feel any concern?
Because like I said, a lot of zombie fans want it a certain way.
Image by Photagonist
I really dug the choices that you made.
For the two of you, I’m sure you’ve read a lot of scripts.
What was it about this one that said, Yes, I’m doing this?
Image by Photagonist
It’s also interesting the themes of fear and who is representing fear in a very real way.
So,the stuff we have together felt tangibly so terrifying in a very guttural way.
MARK COLES SMITH: I’ve just always wanted to be in a zombie movie.
Image viaUmbrella Entertainment
Films that’ll get in your head, in your head… Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie.
I think a lot of us feel the same way.
Then I started reading it and was very disappointed… No!
I’d never had an opportunity to play someone like that.
HILDITCH: Oh, 100%.
RIDLEY: Yes, 100%.
Image by Photagonist
That adds more of a thing of her needing answers for me.
SMITH: I take it on a case-by-case basis.
[Laughs]
Ive got to tell you, you’re probably right.
Image via Nic Duncan
How muchdoyou love that person and need to know what exactly happened?
SMITH: I don’t need to see mum as a zombie.
So, here’s the big question.
Image by Photagonist
I think this is your first time fighting a zombie, so what the hell was that like?
RIDLEY: It was really intense.
I fought a lot of thingspeople and thingsbut it was intense.
Image by Photagonist
It was super intense.
Because also, the makeup was practical.
He looked unbelievable, but also unbelievable in a way your mind is playing tricks on you.
We Bury the Dead follows Ava as she joins a body retrieval unit searching for her missing husband after a military experiment goes awry. Her mission takes a haunting twist when the corpses she buries begin to exhibit signs of life, complicating her quest.
The whole thing was terrifying.
If I were in zombie makeup, I would absolutely be going to Starbucks and going out and about.
Did you let anyone go out in zombie makeup?
HILDITCH: Who knows what happened on that crazy set?
I have no idea.
Hopefully, down in the town of Albany…
But talk about Albany.
Oh, without a doubt.
I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’m going to address one thing.
It’s a disturbing sound, the sound of the teeth.
Was that something you wrote?
How did you come up with that?
How are we going to cut through?
Why are they going to be interesting?
I just can’t wait to see it with the biggest audience so far.
Do you sleep well?
Are you in your head a little bit?
HILDITCH: You don’t sleep at all, and you are in your head all the time.
you’re free to’t believe it’s finally here.
The fact that it’s exactly a year ago that you were here is just mental.
We were halfway through our shoot, but it’s all gone so quickly.
HILDITCH: We just had to be smart with when to pull the trigger on certain shots.
When we did go big, we had to puteverythinginto that shot and just make it.
It was such a huge, important part.
We begged, borrowed, and stole to get all of them on screen.
But I think it looks $1 million to $100 million, hopefully.
Some of those shots are really important to add to the believability of what’s going on.
The ‘Star Wars’ favorite leads the genre flick coming to the Adelaide Film Festival next month.
RIDLEY: I think our stuff, actually.
But also, I do remember when Ava first comes into the massive hangar full of all the people.
She has to be on this journey.
So, the hangar and Riley.
SMITH: For me, like you said, I’m not in it for that longquality over quantity.
You have a very key role in this film.
So, every day was so hard and so crazy, and there was so much to do.
It just felt like this whole other world, and it was this intimate two-hander.
Every day had its own challenges.
But it was kind of nice to not have to be somewhere else every day.
We could actually just focus on it.
So it was interesting just to be in that mode.
It was just an awesome experience.
I dont need to say anything.
They say directing is casting, and, my god, these two.
I just cannot wait for people to see these two on screen, especially in that house stuff.
It’s just amazing.
HILDITCH: Oh, 100%.
When the characters know everything, it’s boring.
That’s why I made the movienot to explain the science of the zombies.
Touch on not overwriting dialogue and having it so it’s real conversations.
So, I spent a few years refining, refining.
Youve just got to keep the thing as organic and free-flowing as possible.
you might only do so much as the writer.
When it comes to that dialogue sounding real, it’s like, Well, make it sound real.
You just take any idea that works.
you’re able to’t be locked into what’s on the page.
That only gets you so far.
You’re killing cinema!
Fast zombies, skinny zombies, zombies who climb on trains!
I’m fascinated by the edit because it’s where it all comes together.
What did you learn after you started showing it to friends and family that impacted the finished film?
I don’t want to write things down.
I want to get their immediacy after me watching it in a room with them in the edit suite.
Do that as many times as you possibly can with different faces and different voices.
It’s not just for Christmas, it’s forever.
So, you’ve only got one shot at this.
My advice would be for anyone making a movie toget as many points of view on it as possible.
You don’t have to take them all on board, but it’s the consensus.
HILDITCH: There was a complete cold open that didn’t even have Ava in it.
In the edit, it just didn’t work without starting the movie with Ava.
It’s Ava’s film, so it had to go, and that was pretty heartbreaking.
Since it’s not going to be in the movie, can you tell people what it was?
It’s Ava’s film.
But I was trying to, from a script and conceptual level, combine the two.
Take me through that process leading up to being on set.
RIDLEY: This shoot was the closest to a previous shoot I’ve ever done.
There were six weeks between finishingCleanerand starting this, and I wastired.
Then, we actually had a pre-shoot day that, in and of itself, was helpful.
We got to film that, so that felt really scary.
I remember thinking, Oh my god, I’m not ready!
But that was quite revealing and lovely.
But yeah, a few weeks.
So, it’s quite a good way for me to compartmentalize what I’m doing.
RIDLEY: Not me.
So you’re free to turn it on and off.
So I went into Australian, and he was doing American, and it was so bad.
RIDLEY: But we had such a good time filming it.
It was so joyful in between all of that stuff.
So yes, very much switching out to happy me-ness in between.
I actually bumped into Daisy at unit.
I was like, Daisy, hi!
And she was like, Hey, lovely to meet you, too.
Okay, Ive got to go.
RIDLEY: Absolutely not what happened!
She’s probably thinking, How is that guy Riley?
The music side of things is very big for Riley.
It was the first time I really made use of Trent Reznor and his albumDownward Spiral.
That was a big soundtrack for descending me into Riley’s psychology and the emotional terrain for him.
Then it was just like, Just focus on Riley, not Mark.
HILDITCH: Fuck me, titles are so hard.
I reckon titles are maybe harder than writing the script.
It just popped in, like,We Bury the Dead.
It was just there, and it never went away.
It was like, That’s pretty badass.
It’s pretty bold.
It’s a little bit here.
It’s a little bit there.
Its like, Why are you telling me this?
What’s this about?
But with this one, it was like a gift because it’s sort of just stuck forever.
Four words is good.
Four words and under.
RIDLEY: For sure.
What’s Up Next for the Cast of ‘We Bury the Dead’?
Stephen King, sharks, and surprises!
For all three of you, are you working on anything else?
Do you have other scripts that you’re working on?
Is it for a studio?
HILDITCH: It’s for no one yet, but we’ll see.
I won’t pressure you, but I hope you get to make that.
HILDITCH: So do I.
I heard Stephen King is popular.
Have you have you signed the contract?
RIDLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah!
This is a thing.
There’s so much that’s not real.
Like, my flights booked and everything.
Is it because they want to make some sort of announcement?
RIDLEY: I don’t know.
RIDLEY: Yeah, I’m literally going in two weeks.
It’s a director I’mreallythrilled to work with.
Did it happen for you last minute?
RIDLEY: It happened fairly recently, yeah.
Since the last time I saw you.
Which is like less than a month ago.
This can’t possibly be real, and then it’s real.
I know so many people who are just trying to get stuff off the ground.
Then, I got a shark movie I did last year coming out.
HILDITCH: Say no more!
SMITH: Watch this space.
Its a period shark film, World War II.
What is the title?
SMITH: The title isdrum rollBeast of War.
RIDLEY: Oh, that’s a good title!
I’m assuming the shark is a beast.
SMITH: The shark is a 20-foot great white femaleonly the females get that big.
