Leaving small, declining towns for the promises that the big cities have to offer is a seemingly encouraging life goal for many members of upcoming generations. But once they achieve that dream, the young adults can also start accruing guilt for leaving their aging parents and relatives behind, and neglecting to maintain their bond. Up-and-coming Japanese-Australian writer-director, Natalie Erika James, powerfully and emotionally reflected on her own personal experience with her family in her new horror movie, ‘Relic.’
As an adult, James long contemplated returning to the rural Japanese town where her grandmother lives, which is where the filmmaker went to primary school, and spent many of her summer vacations. When she ultimately decided take the trip back to Japan to see her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, she heartbreakingly realized she was too late, as her grandmother didn’t recognize who she was. The helmer admitted that the guilt was difficult to accept, as she had to watch her beloved relative progressively lose parts of herself.
The drama marks the feature film directorial debut of James, who also co-wrote the script with Christian White. The movie was produced in part by Jake Gyllenhaal and MCU filmmakers, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo. ‘Relic‘ opens today On Demand, VOD and Digital and in Drive-In Theaters, courtesy of IFC Midnight, after it had its World Premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim
‘Relic’ follows an elderly woman, Edna (Robyn Nevin), as she inexplicably vanishes, which leaves her daughter, Kay (Emily Mortimer), and granddaughter, Sam (Bella Heathcote), to try to find her. The duo rush to their family’s decaying country home, where they find clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house.
After Edna then returns just as mysteriously as she disappeared, Kay’s concern that her mother seems unwilling or unable to say where she’s been clashes with Sam’s unabashed enthusiasm to have her grandma back. As Edna’s behavior turns increasingly volatile, both Kay and Sam begin to sense that an insidious presence in the house might be taking control of her. All three generations of women are brought together through trauma and a powerful sense of loyalty to face their ultimate fear together.
James generously took the time to talk about co-writing and directing ‘Relic’ during an exclusive interview over the phone. Among other things, the filmmaker discussed how the original idea for the story came to her after her trip to see her grandmother, and how White helped her craft the final version of the script. She also mentioned how Nevin, Mortimer and Heathcote genuinely responded to the screenplay, and truly understood the intentions of the film.
The conversation began with James delving into how she made her feature film screenwriting debut on ‘Relic,’ and explaining what inspired her to pen the script. “I began writing the script back in 2014, and we shot in 2018. So we had about three or four years of development, including the screenwriting and financing,” she shared.
“The original idea came to me after I went on a trip to see my grandmother. Unfortunately, at the time, she couldn’t remember who I was, so that obviously had a big impact on me,” the scribe revealed. “At the time, she lived in a town in Japan in an older house that I was always scared of when I was a kid. It used to give me nightmares, and I had scary experiences there. So that was really the start of the idea.
“I co-wrote the feature film with Christian White. He and I had a first draft of the film down when we decided to make a (short) proof of concept, which was called ‘Creswick.’ We were lucky that we were able to bring it on the festival circuit at mainly genre festivals,” the writer also mentioned. “It got a bit of attention, and from there, I was able to get U.S. representation. We then started pushing ‘Relic,’ and doing development rounds…We were then able to get our American producing partners.”
James then delved into how besides co-writing the script, she also made her feature directorial debut on the drama, and what her overall helming style on the set was like. “Stepping out to direct a feature, there are all sorts of challenges that you face,” she admitted. “Everything I had done before had been short films, commercials and music videos. I think one of the biggest things was the marathon nature of making a feature; the longest shoot I had done before ‘Relic’ lasted about 10 days. So to jump from that to six weeks of shooting was quite a change,” she also reveald.
“But it did feel very normal, in a sense. Sometimes, you have to put the pressures of a bigger production to one side, in a way,” James continued. “But I was lucky to be able to work with a crew that I had worked with already. My cinematographer, Charlie Sarroff, and I had gone to China to shoot a short film, and we spent six weeks in an apartment together there. So we had a long-standing creative partnership that we were able to draw on, and had a shorthand that made things so much easier.”
The director also mentioned that “Usually, I’m a big planner. On my short films, I was quite meticulous about having a plan A and plan B, and storyboard the film. But due to the scale of ‘Relic,’ there was a little bit more improvising along the way. Due to that experience, I now trust my instincts a lot more, and feel like I learned so much from it.”
The movie was filmed on location in Melbourne, and is primarily set in Edna’s home. James enjoyed the the experience of filming the drama in the Australian city, and working with production designer Steven Jones-Evans to create the look of the home.
“We basically shot in three locations that made up the main house. One of them was the exterior, so we did a lot of scouting to find the right house. I think double story houses of that era are really hard to come by in Australia, so it took awhile to fin it,” the filmmaker divulged. “We also had an interior that matched the outside, which took quite a bit of searching to find. We also built parts of the set on a sound stage.
“We had to stitch all of the locations together, so sometimes we had to rebuild hallways from the main house, so that we could shoot them seamlessly, like for the bedrooms and bathroom. We had an architecturally crazy labyrinth. That was something that we knew we had to do from the beginning,” James also shared.
“We really wanted the sense of the outside, as well. It would have probably been easier to build the whole interior on the sound stage, but we wanted to tie the spaces together, because the setting is such part of the film. Since the story’s driven by a sense of isolation, we wanted that feeling to come through in the spaces that the characters are inhabiting,” the helmer added.
With ‘Relic’ starring Nevin, Mortimer and Heathcote as the family’s three generations, James then delved into what the casting process was like for the drama. “The casting was so great; all three of them really responded to the script. I met them all individually, and I had previously been a fan of all three of them, and knew what they were capable of,” she explained. “When you have a sense of who they are, you can envision them in the role.
“All three of them seemed to understand the intentions of the film, and they weren’t put off by the horror element. They never really spoke about it as a horror film; it was all about the characters, and the experiences they were going through,” the filmmaker shared. “So I felt like I connected with all of them on that level, almost immediately.”
Once the actresses were cast, James had the opportunity to rehearse with them to build their characters’ arcs and relationships. “I feel like a lot of the work comes in during pre-production. I like to have a lot of discussions…I think a lot of (the rehearsal time) is about sharing life experiences. So that’s not too dissimilar to co-writing, in a way, because you’re sharing your life story and trying to find common ground,” she revealed. “I find that that’s a great way to develop a shorthand, so that way when you’re on set, you can communicate better.
“We did a bit of rehearsal, and it was mainly for the choreographed stunt sequences,” the director noted. “It was more minimal for the straight drama. I think there was a danger in overrehearsing, in terms of trying to recapture something they did in rehearsal. I generally like things to come naturally on the day, but the overall prep work is essential.”
Following up on the process of working with the actresses and the ‘Relic’s stunt coordinator, Chris Anderson, to create the stuntwork for the movie, the helmer admitted with a laugh that “It was so fun! I had not done that amount of stunts before, but I quickly fell in love with the process…I feel like all three of them were game for anything. I think Robyn was in her mid-70s when we shot the movie, and she was up for anything.
“I really loved how much they got into the story and stunts. When you’re making a film that’s emotionally heavy, it can be a breath of fresh air for the actors to do something purely physical,” James noted. “I feel like we all enjoyed it.
“But I think Emily had a bit of trouble with having to hit the stunt woman with a prop pipe, because she’s such a gracious, considerate person,” the filmmaker added with a hint of a laugh. “But the stunt woman was like, ‘Just hit me, don’t worry about it.’ But Emily was so concerned about hitting this stunt woman in the face. But that was just her being wonderful.
James then delved into how the movie had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. She discussed what the experience of screening ‘Relic’ in Utah was like for her and the cast and crew, and how the audiences responded to the drama. “We had one festival screening, but at least we had that!,” she noted with a hint of a laugh, as this year’s Sundance was one of the last major film festivals to take place in person before the current Covid-19 pandemic started preventing public screenings from being held. “We were lucky to even had had that screening, the way that this year turned out, it was a close call.” The movie was also scheduled to play at this year’s SXSW, which was ultimately cancelled just a week before it was scheduled to begin in March, due to the start of the nationwide quarantine in the U.S.
“As you can imagine, I was nervous going into the screening, *prior to which) only about 15 people had seen the film. So going from that to having 500 people in the audience, I was nervous,” the director admitted. “But I was really blown away by the response, and the amount of people who came up to us afterwards to share their own experiences. I think that was the most meaningful part of the whole experience. Also, being there with the actors to celebrate was really special.”
Now that IFC Midnight has released ‘Relic’ On Demand, VOD and Digital, James expressed that she feels the digital distribution model is beneficial for a movie like this one. “In an ideal world, a horror film is seen in theaters. But at the same time, I feel like you can reach more audiences with the digital release than you can with just the theatrical release,” she divulged. “So I’m really excited about the prospective of a larger audience seeing the film…The fact that we’re also screening in Drive-In Theaters is also really exciting. I think IFC Midnight has done an incredible job of making the most out of the situation as it currently is, and really pushing the film during this difficult time.”