To Your Last Death (2019)
Director: Jason Axinn
Writers: Jim Cirile, Tanya C. Klein
Stars: Morena Baccarin, William Shatner, Ray Wise, Bill Moseley, Damien C. Haas
In order to save her siblings, a young woman takes on her father and the powerful entity known as Gamemaster, who ensnares humans into diabolical plots while her species gambles on the outcome.
With the groundbreaking 2-D, American animated horror feature To Your Last Death premiering at Arrow FrightFest on Friday 23rd August, I got a chance to ask writers Jim Cirile and Tanya C. Klein a few questions about what we can expect from the film.
Q. What inspired you to get into writing originally?
Tanya: Well, I started writing short stories when I was still in the single digits. When I was 18, I moved to New York to study theater and, afterwards, spent many years working as a playwright/director/performer in New York including a stint as Artistic Director of a theater company. Eventually, I felt the need to tell bigger and different stories and switched my attention to film and screenwriting.
Jim: I grew up on a steady diet of Fangoria, Monty Python and Star Trek. And my mom was a hard-charging NYPD detective, and my first car chase was in utero. So I guess you could say getting into genre films made some sort of sense.
After moving to LA, I got a steady stream of indie rewrite jobs and worked on a series of action movies for Lionsgate before founding Coverageink.com, a screenplay development and analysis service. We launched Coverage Ink Films to create out-of-the-box “elevated nerd” movies with something to say.
Q. With the world premiere of To Your Last Death being held at FrightFest on August 23rd, can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect from the film?
A. We hope a mind-bending, surprising, and unexpected journey. We tried hard to subvert expectations and play with the usual horror tropes, only to upend them.
Q. How did the original concept and collaboration for the film come about?
Tanya: Jim and I were looking to create something we can do DIY. Originally, we envisioned the concept as a live action film. Our amazing producers, Cindi Rice and Paige Barnett, came up with the idea of doing animation. We loved that idea because it’s fresh – at least in the US where animation is still primarily viewed as entertainment directed at kids.
Q. When you were creating the characters did you have any actors in mind who you wanted to play the role
A. Actually, no, we didn’t. Of course there are always people one would love to work with but counting on that when preparing a movie can lead to disappointment. Hence, it’s usually a better idea to just write the script and then think about the casting.
Q. The film brings together an amazing cast including Morena Baccarin, William Shatner, Ray Wise and Bill Moseley. Were you surprised at the collective cast involved in the film?
A. Absolutely. We put together a wish list of people and then we cold-called their agents. We were fortunate to get them. Having them in the studio recording our lines was an amazing experience.
Q. Are there any elements of the finished film which are different to how you envisioned them in the original script?
A. Mainly we are just amazed at how easy it is to forget that this is an animated movie. Initially, we were a bit concerned that the scares, tension and gore might not read as well in animation, but we were happily proven totally wrong.
Q. Who was your favourite character to write?
A. I’d say Cyrus. He’s got deliciously evil lines… and those are always fun to come up with. Another favorite is also henchman Jurek… for the same reason. (And he’s got a great catchphrase, “Scream for Jurek.”) Jurek is a real piece of work. We actually write a whole diary for him as part of our crowdfund perks, and his psychology is fascinating. Sadly, there are probably many Jureks right now employed as mercenaries as part of the US/UK military/industrial complex.
Q. What is your favourite scene in the film?
Tanya: There are quite a few. Personally, the Miriam in the elevator shaft (because of the tension) as well as the Kelsey and Ethan death trap scenes, since both have a unique mix of heart-pounding and humor.
Jim: I really like the moments that just showcase our characters as fully developed, dimensional people. There is a great scene between the DeKalb sisters (played by Dani Lennon and Florence Hartigan) that is pretty touching, and another at the beginning of the movie where we see all the pressure Miriam is under, trying to make a go of it with her little, underfunded non-profit, while her billionaire father delights in sabotaging her. It’s really messed up, and it really makes us love Miriam. I like to say the most dimensional, kick-ass, empowered female character in movies right now just happens to be animated.
Q. What makes To Your Last Death stand out as something different in the horror genre?
Well, firstly, it’s a 2D, hand-drawn animated horror film (the first of its kind in the US). The story starts where some other horror films end: with our protagonist working her way out of the wreckage. The lone survivor after a night of terror. Except, in our case, that happens at the beginning of the movie and then we send her right back to do it all over again. We were keenly aware of all the horror tropes and we built the entire structure around feinting that we were going with a trope, only to pull the rug out from under people and go in the opposite direction. We deliberately set up things structurally and then did not pay them off, or paid them off in an ass-backwards way, just to mess with people.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are working on?
A. Yes, we have several projects currently in the pipeline and will begin pre-production on one of them hopefully this coming spring. Our focus right now, however, is on bringing TO YOUR LAST DEATH to the world.
Q. If someone was looking to write their own script what advice would you give them?
A. That it takes work. Seriously, if there’s one thing that everyone who considers screenwriting needs to know is that it is indeed a craft. Nobody would think to simply jump out of bed one morning and decide that they are now a doctor and head straight for the next hospital and demand to be handed a scalpel so they can perform heart surgery. Unfortunately, when it comes to the arts, sometimes people seem to be under the impression that just because it’s something they would like to do that that’s enough. It takes training. Also, every single script will go through double-digit rewrites. That’s completely normal. In short: if you’re not willing to put in the work then this isn’t the right profession for you. This is why we founded CoverageInk.com. That’s what we do –analyze and develop screenplays for clients.
To Your Last Death will premier at Arrow FrightFest on 26th August 2019. You can purchase tickets for the film here
You can find out more about To Your Last Death on the Website – IMDB and the following social media pages Facebook – Twitter
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
