Justin Benson is best known on the genre circuit as being one half of the directing team behind the stunning films Resolution, Spring and The Endless. Working with Aaron Moorhead the pair tend to not only direct their movies, but also write, produce and star in them when the opportunity arises. Their latest movie Synchronic, starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, is already in the can and has screened at several film festivals, but never a pair to idle, they have put on their producer hats for the wonderful After Midnight.
Directed by the team of Jeremy Gardner and Christian Stella the film tells the story of Hank (Gardner), a man who finds himself battling monsters, both physical and emotional after his long-suffering girlfriend disappears. In addition to helping produce the project, Justin Benson also continues to demonstrate his acting abilities starring as Hank’s friend, the local Sheriff Shane.
After Midnight arrives on Blu-ray via Arrow Video from 8th June 2020. Ahead of the release, we caught up with Benson to find out a little more about the film.
How did you guys come to produce After Midnight?
I met Jeremy [Gardner] on a film festival circuit when he had a movie called The Battery and we had a movie called Resolution. We ran into him at film festivals all the time. I think we both said, ‘I kinda have this creature feature that I’m writing with a romance aspect to it.’ I think we both had those so we traded scripts and I read that script and he read Spring I think. I remember reading that script and just thinking how much raw emotion there was in it. It’s just not something that’s very common and portrayed on screen. I just think it was really special. I’ve maybe read two or three scripts my whole life that I’ve felt strong emotions reading, and that was definitely one of them.
Why did you want to play Shane?
When you read those monologues that are about belief in the supernatural and such, I remember reading this thing and thinking, ‘whoever gets to do this is incredibly lucky’. These are very beautiful, interesting thoughts, so it’s a huge privilege to get to do that. I didn’t even know the cast until a couple of weeks before shooting. I remember I saw my name show up on a list of potential people who could play it, I didn’t think I’d actually get the role, but that was cool. I’ve not really done that many bigger roles in things and I’m really lucky every time I’ve done it, it’s been exactly what I would want to perform in.
You’ve acted in your own films, what’s the experience like being directed by someone else?
I’ve done it a few times now and honestly I just feel like it’s a privilege to go see how other people work in that capacity. Being nearby and see it and observe it is also nice just to have… it’s nice sometimes just having a leader to look to, or direction for your role instead of thinking about five jobs at the same time. Even when you don’t work like Aaron and I work; we write, direct, produce, act, and Aaron does VFX, and there’s all these things, that’s unique for us. But I feel that every director kind of feels that way – like you’re doing ten jobs at once – so it’s always amazing to get to go on set and sometimes to just perform in something as much as I love directing. It’s good to see how another director works and just do your one job.
Lisa Loeb’s ‘Stay’ features towards the end of the film, and I’m not sure people will hear the song the same way again. Were you part of the discussions with that song?
No, I wish I could say I was. I would have probably gone for the same song. I think that the fact that the producer David Lawson and Jeremy [Gardner] and Christian [Stella], the fact that they even figured out how to get a song like that into an indie film is super impressive. It’s a whole other level of legal stuff that I have no knowledge of.
The song also features in Reality Bites which is another relationship drama and the song’s inclusion feels tonally right…
I never realised the connection between…there’s total similarities between this movie and Reality Bites. That’s interesting. It’s funny, I watched the music video to that song last week because I was showing my girlfriend the song because she didn’t recall. I was looking at it and it’s directed by Ethan Hawke in the nineties. He’s obviously a great director and a great performer, but I was just surprised at how well directed that music video was. I didn’t remember it that well, all I remember was her singing to the camera. But it’s got a neat single take choreography to it.
Richard Bates Jr mentioned that you and Aaron tried to help get Tone Deaf made. I’ve spoken to a few filmmakers recently and there’s been a lot of talk about how collaborative the indie film circuit is. I guess most people see the industry as quite cutthroat, why do you think you guys work differently?
I think what everyone does is so different that maybe that’s why people are more collaborative than competitive. I love Ricky’s movies, his sensibilities, his dark comedy and all that. I think Ricky has also given us notes on the last three movies at script phase, edits and stuff like that. It would be funny though if we were super competitive. I always think that the movies that Aaron and I make are so weird that the chances of there being someone else to even want to do that is just so tiny.
Your films really are a workout for the brain. I’m pretty happy I’m married to a physicist who can translate things sometimes. He really loves The Endless…
That’s cool. For a while as a filmmaker I was pre-med. For medical school I had to take several semesters of calculus based physics. When I think back to the professors of those classes watching – if they watch my movies – but if they did just seeing my movies and just rolling their eyes and being, ‘that guy was a terrible student and now he’s making movies that use fake physics,’ (laughs) It makes me happy to hear that your husband isn’t just rolling his eyes.
Your and Aaron’s latest film Synchronic has been playing at a few festivals – I was gutted to miss the FrightFest Glasgow screening – what’s the reception been so far and are we any closer to a release date?
The reception’s been great, but in terms of the release I know it’s getting released everywhere, I just don’t think anyone knows exact dates right now because of everything that is going on. In the UK it’s Signature that are releasing it, but it’s got distribution all over the world. The FrightFest Glasgow screening was awesome. It was really fun. It was some of my favourite screenings of the movie actually. It’s such a special film festival.
What’s next on the cards?
I’m writing two screenplays at the same time right now, and then there’s another movie that is getting the business side that I’ve been writing for the past year.
After Midnight is available on Blu-ray from 8th June 2020.
