A Conversation with Director Travis Stevens on Horror and His New Film, "Jakob's Wife"

Q: This movie is pretty wild! It's pretty bonkers. While I was watching it, I had to wonder to myself how exactly did you go about pitching this movie because, to me, it seems like this bizarre mixture of something like Nosferatu and The Stepford Wives. When you're pitching this movie, how exactly do you do that? How do you sell a movie like this?

A: “Well, I was in the fortunate position to not have to do the pitching. But I was being pitched because the star Barbara Crampton had found this script years ago and recognized in it this great character. She had always wanted to play a vampire character before and she saw that this script sort of mirrored her own sort of professional and personal life where she had stepped from acting many years and just got back into it. And so when it came to me, you know, it was all there. It's very very clear. Who these great characters were and what their central dilemma was. And so we just did a lot of work making sure that that would be present and grounded and naturalistic and fun and then just started amping up the chaos once her world started getting more fantastic. That didn’t answer the question, but the basic thing for me was, as this totally fantastic event comes in and changes her life, the movie is going to reflect that exaggerated vibrant change. So it does get wild and crazy.”

Q: Well, watching this film, it was really a pleasure to see Barbara in this movie because Re-Animator is legitimately one of my favorite movies of all time. So what was that like working with her because I assume you're a pretty big horror nut yourself.

A: “Yeah, I mean, Barbara is not just a horror fan or someone who's worked in the genre for a long time. She's a real ambassador of it and is so kind and generous and supportive of everyone she comes across. So, working with her, it's very gentle and really really nice for somebody who's got such a statue. There's so little you g- it just is pure like, ‘Okay, let's do it! What do you want?’ And so it's just a lot of fun and this was a true true collaboration. She was a producer on it. She had found the materials. She developed it. She worked with me on it. So it really was a much richer working relationship.”

Q: Well, this movie has this really nice blend of something new, but also something quite familiar and quite retro. Did you have any influences that you were keeping in mind or that you were inspired by when you're approaching this film?

A: “Yeah, I'm so happy you asked that question because that was the whole approach both in what the movie was doing, but also, as you had mentioned, but Re-Animator. I wanted the movie to be its own thing, do some new stuff, but also call back some of these movies that she's known for. So, on purely this particular sub-genre, the ones that really had an influence on me would be The Addiction, Near Dark, Daughters of Darkness, Ganja and Hess."

Q: Ganja and Hess, really?

A: "Yeah, there's this great history of all the vampire movies that just are reflective of whatever social or cultural time that the filmmakers, using the vampire element to speak about. So I drew on a bunch of movies that had done that. Not just visually, but thematically, or emotionally. What we're trying to do with this is the same thing, but something new. We're trying to talk about how you reclaim your voice later in life when you realize it's gotten very very small, and maybe you've forgotten how to use it."

Q: I didn't even think about Ganja and Hess. That’s a really great pull. You don't see a lot of people talking about that movie these days.

A: “If you look at the chart title card, you'll go, ‘Oh, there you go!’ There are Easter eggs in there. The dentist’s name is Dr. Meda. The sheriff's name is Mike Hess. There are little tributes throughout."

Q: So I'm a really big horror fan, but also I love horror-comedy and it's probably one of my favorite sub-genres out there. What do you think is the key or maybe the main reason that these genres are so harmonious when you put them together as opposed to maybe mashing up some other genres. As a filmmaker, what are some things or some elements that you want to keep in mind when you're making a movie like this to really maintain that sense of fun, but also this macabre sense as well?

A: "Both comedy and horror come down to the timing, the setup, and the sort of payoff of ideas of gags. And I think when you're doing it, the hardest thing to keep track of is your tonal consistency because balancing where you are in reality. Is something that can get a bit challenging. Because it's always fun to just go, ‘More more more more more more,’ but then it's hard to come back from there. So that's one thing that I think I've certainly been learning more about with each movie and something that I'm sure other filmmakers would be good to keep an eye on."

Q: You mentioned that this isn't your first movie. You actually had your debut back in 2019 with The Girl on the Third Floor, which was the first time I actually attended SXSW. So what were some of the lessons that you took from directing that movie that you felt that you were able to implement when you approached Jakob’s Wife?

A: "Well, The Girl on the Third Floor had this sort of formalism to it because the whole movie is about not trusting the information you're being given, which is very good, intellectually. But on Jakob’s Wife, we knew early that I wanted it to be a performance vehicle for Barbara and Larry. I wanted a more naturalistic approach to sort of making a movie. I think the big thing that I came up with or the distinction between the two was creating a script, creating a shooting schedule, and casting the movie in such a way that would allow us to be very very loose on set, improv more, two cameras, really try to find the unexpected moments in-between the lines of dialogue. That could bring it more fully to light. Not to get pretentious, but looking at Cassavette’s A Woman Under the Influence, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Those sort of movies where you're sort of like, ‘Hey, we want that level of truth to this character and we're only going to get that if we have the time to sort of play around. Those were the I'd say, creatively, that's the biggest distinction."

Q: I’d say it’s admirable to try to, maybe not emulate, but be inspired by movies like those. You know what they say; you shoot for the moon, and if you miss, you'll hit the stars kind of thing.

A: "Yeah and that all just inform your approach. Even if the movie. Isn’t as good or the same or whatever, It’s useful to know how to approach the craft and draw something from it."

Q Watching this movie, I really can’t stress enough how much blood there is in this film. I imagine being a horror fan, being on set with days like that, that are very special effects-heavy, I imagine those are probably just you and a candy shop.

A: "Yeah, it’s great. The special effects team, Marcus Koch and Jessie Seitz. I’ve worked with them on a few movies. I’ll say, ‘Okay, a lot of blood,’ and then they'll come in with what they think is a lot of blood, and then I’ll say, ‘No, no, no. A lot of blood.’ Then they’ll come back with more. We’re starting to calibrate what the word ‘a lot’ means or what the amount ‘a lot’ actually is. Yeah, it's fun to watch the engineering required to sustain that amount of blood or whatever the gag is. Like, how do you actually make that happen? It sounds very great when you write it on the page or when you see it in your head. I'm also fascinated by the so the Lo-Fi engineering and mechanical effects that are required to pull it off. There's stuff we did in this movie that are gags from like The Wizard of Oz that we just sort of ripped off again in the approach."

Q: I think I know the moment you're talking about. Is it towards the end of the film?

A: "Yeah, everybody's like, ‘How are we gonna do this? How are we going to do this?’ I’m like, ‘Okay, get the cocktail napkin so I can draw out how this gag is going to work.’"

Q: Well, that's got to be exciting though, because being kind of a lower budget filmmaker, you don't have the ability to necessarily do these very expensive, very computer-driven effects. I imagine it's got to be kind of liberating or at least a fun challenge to think of a creative way to solve some of these problems.

A: "It really is. I can understand that maybe it looks a little antiquated or a little rough sometimes, but you're making something, and it's not just about the end result, but also about the experience of making it. It is so much fun to put on a show. The process of figuring this stuff out, shooting and seeing what works, making tweaks. All of that is the creative aspect of it. And yeah, it's a hell of a lot of fun. You’re standing there. It's whatever, 4 a.m. in the morning. There's 10. people throwing a piece of thing in an actor's trying to fit through a little hole, like smoke and all this stuff and you're just ‘Bring in this and bring in this and bring in this!’ You stand there, and you're like, ‘We're doing. We're making something.’ That's really invigorating and that’s a lot of the pleasure of making movies."

Q: I would have to imagine that horror fans are going to appreciate things like that and when they watch a movie like this, especially if it is harkening back to things like Re-Animator or those kinds of fun, pulpy-movies from the 80s or the late 70s. I have to imagine that horror fans were really going to eat that kind of stuff up.

A: "We hope so, and if they don't Barbara Crampton will be arriving at everybody’s house, one after another, and having a talk with them."

Q: Oh, I'm sure that she'll be looking forward to that. I wanted to ask you though, with a movie like this, it's fun. It's pretty silly, but it also has some of those social-political kinds of messages. As a filmmaker, when you are starting to get some of those reviews back and maybe critics didn't like it, but maybe fans really did. As a filmmaker, what is something like that for you? What's that kind of relationship that you have with criticism of these types of movies in general?

A: "Well, with anything you can you look for something of value in feedback. Something that you can use to better your craft or learn from. I do think in the internet age, both on the filmmaking, and on the critical side, the pathway towards getting into the business is a lot easier. So, not all of the criticism, and not all of the films have the level of experience yet or articulation yet to really warrant these deep conversations. So when I read a review, all I'm looking for is that person's point of view and that point of view to be well-articulated even if it doesn't like to work. I want to get something of value from it, whether it's my film or anybody else’s. That's something that has been interesting over the last 10 years, as more and more people sort of getting into talking about films and evaluating terms on the critical aspects, to sort of seeing how– Basically longer, more in-depth, more informed, more educated pieces are really great to read. The short of sort of ‘here's a paragraph about the synopsis. Yes, I like or no, I don't like,” doesn't quite have the same."

Q: So attending a festival like SXSW, or maybe even Fantastic Fest, or the Overlook Film Festival, or what have you, what's it like for you as a filmmaker to be able to see your peers debuting something new and exciting? Do you get inspired by that and just kind of want to go and make something new and fun too?

A: "Yeah, it's informing your perspective on the world. I watched three documentaries yesterday for day one. Each one was about a subject that I knew nothing about. But the way the stories were told were so vastly different that it sort of expanded how I think about how a documentary can work. All of that, if you’re a movie lover, it's just a feast after feast after feast. I think that's something that SXSW does really well. It's not just one type of film. You can get this type of meal right here and then two hours later get this type. There's such a wide variety of voices, perspectives, and experiences. Each year, I come away from the festival thinking about the world differently, basically, and learn something about the world."

Q: As you're working on doing festival circuits with this film, press, and all those different types of things, do you really just try to focus on this film and celebrating this movie and selling this movie, or are you already looking on to the next thing that you want to work on?

A: "We’re fortunate on this one that comes out next month in the US Through the fantastic distributor RLJ. It’ll be in theaters when it’s safe and VOD on April 16th. So on this one, I can actually, with anxiety that comes from ‘How's it going to be received?’ and ‘What happens next?’ None of that. I can literally just sit here and watch other people’s movies and sort of think about that, so it’s a unique position to be in."

Q: Are there any other filmmakers or streaming services or something like Shutter or something like that that you're wanting to work on next or collaborate with next?

A: "I love Shutter. I love RLJ. There's a project that's out right now to cast that's aiming to shoot this summer. I mean, horror movies are so malleable in the types of themes, characters, and ideas. You can talk about that genre. So I'm excited to continue working to watch more movies and make horror movies."

Q: Well, the last question for you here. I don't know about you, but I found this past year, I found it almost oddly comforting to watch horror movies. What do you think it is about horror movies that maybe have this sense of escapism or I guess offer a more pleasant reality than sometimes our current one. What do you think? It is about horror movies that are able to have that unique attribute.

A: "They’re a great tool to process our own tension. It's a way to externalize it. To just sit there and that stuff that's building inside of us due to the world or we're living in or maybe a circumstance closer to home. You're experiencing that internally, and to be able to just see it expressed on the screen. It’s like a valve. I hope that as we sort of get through the other end of what COVID has meant for all of us, there’s going to be a big appetite for fun, and we're going to want to party. So I think we'll see that in horror movies to return to not an 80s style, but big fun or movies."

Jakob's Wife will be available to stream on April 16, 2021. Check out the full trailer here: