A screening for the new and unreleased episode of Hulu’s “Into the Dark” series was held in DUMBO, Brooklyn on Wednesday night.
Independent Filmmaker Project members, fans of horror movies, and film reviewers packed into the Made in NY Media Center at 30 John Street in Brooklyn for an exclusive screening of New Year, New You, directed by Sophia Takal. IFP member April Bethea led a Q+A session with the director immediately following the screening.
The latest episode of Hulu’s horror anthology series, Into the Dark, will premiere next week, and stars Suki Waterhouse, Carly Chaikin, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Melissa Bergland.
“Each episode in the series is a horror movie set on a holiday for the month it is released in,” said Sophia Takal, who directed the New Year-themed episode produced by Blumhouse Productions.
Often associated with the mumblecore subgenre of independent film, Takal’s latest work is the episode about four women and past friends confronting resentment. The characters uncover secrets and address the constant pressure of social media at an eerie New Years Eve party. “The script has a really great concept,” said director Takal, “There is this group of women who were all friends in high school, a character who is a social media celebrity, and they play a game of “Never Have I Ever,” that goes terribly wrong.”
When Blumhouse Productions hired Takal to direct its first all-female episode, she agreed to do so, while incorporating her own ideas for the storyline and character development as well.
“I think horror can often be misogynistic, so it’s exciting for me to tell an all-female story from my point of view in a genre that I think is lacking that,” Takal said, “New Year, New You,” in particular is a very female-centric episode and movie.”
Sophia Takal identifies as a female filmmaker. Her gender, she says, correlates with her directorial choices and ventures in film. “I feel like my gender has a lot to do with the work I do and things I’m interested in exploring,” Takal said, “The way I have received the idea of my gender has influenced me a lot. Everything I am exploring is through this lens, my own lens.”
Takal was also involved with the film’s casting, which she said was vital. Takal not only envisioned skilled actresses but those who could bring the theme of hazardous effects of social media to light.
“Blumhouse was really open to me putting my own thoughts into the episode, so in regards to the social media star character, I focused her celebrity on this self-care, narcissistic persona I’ve come to know from living in Los Angeles,” Takal said, “I wanted to sharpen the critique of a particular type of celebrity and influencer. I wanted to give each of the women in the movie a specific point of view and be real and distinct from one another.”
Takal said she related most to the character played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste, the peacemaker among the group who did not care as much about social media. “All of the actresses in this are so good. Regarding femininity, they all bring a different experience they’ve received as women, the societal ideas of who they’re supposed to be, and what they’ve pushed back against. In addition to looking for talented actors, something that’s really important to me is looking for people who can be honest about their relationship with themselves, social media, their ideas of celebrity, and what our culture is about.”
When asked what challenges she had in directing the film, Takal discussed the external obstacles she overcame. “The biggest challenge was time. We had a ninety-six-page script and fifteen days. I didn’t realize how time-consuming stunts were.”
Takal also discussed the internal challenges she overcame in her role as the director. “For me as a woman I’m always a little nervous about working with men or that they’ll take over,” she said, “The other challenge I’ve worked through and felt I’ve grown from in this project is being confident in asserting what I want; knowing what I’m saying doesn’t sound stupid, and that when I know what I want that I shouldn’t be embarrassed by it.”
The director shared a story of her overcoming this struggle with the audience. She explained how she had used to feel nervous to ask for slower zooms in the beginning of filming, but that confidently asserting herself was key in the end to display her true artistic vision.
Takal is widely known for her 2016 critically-acclaimed thriller, Always Shine. She spoke about the similarities between New Year, New You, and her most famous work. “Both movies are about women feeling that they have to fit themselves into an idea of femininity that is stifling, and both are about an obsession with celebrity, external validation and success. Always Shine was a very personal aspiration of my own jealousy and feeling like I didn’t fit into the idea of what a traditional woman is supposed to be.”
Her usage of mirrors in the film generated questions from the audience about their significance. “Some of the movies I really love like Don’t Look Now, the Nicholas Roeg movie, or Images, the Robert Altman movie use mirrors really well,” Takal said, “Mirrors in this film represent how one character takes the place of another, how we are being reflected in our social media, and that there is a self-reflection that happens. Conceptually, that was an idea I was excited about.”
New Year, New You, premieres Friday, December 28 on Hulu.
