Michael Felker has previously worked as an editor on mind-bending hits from Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, such as The Endless (2017) and Synchronic (2019). The Indiependent spoke to Felker about his directorial feature debut, Things Will Be Different, his relationship with the aforementioned duo, and much more.
The Indiependent: How would you describe Things Will Be Different to someone deciding whether to watch it?
Michael: I would say if they’re in for a fun, sci-fi thriller with some noir elements, then they’d enjoy it. Things Will Be Different is about a brother and sister who commit a robbery and are trying to escape the cops, so they lay low in a farmhouse that is actually a time-travelling safehouse. They hide out there for a couple of weeks so the heat can die down in their timeline, but when they try to go back to their original time, they realise they’re being locked in by mysterious forces. From there, things get weird.
In the past you’ve worked in editor roles. What was the shift to the directorial space like?
I think the biggest thing you can take with you into directing is the job that you had before, using that as a crutch when things get hard. My editing background helped me make informed decisions on set when things got really tough; when we got behind or hiccups would happen in production, I was able to edit my way through coverage as in real-time. It allowed me to know what was going on in post before leaving set.
You’ve regularly collaborated with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead; how does that familiarity affect your work?
They are indie-film pioneers when it comes to doing cosmic horror believably on a low budget. Working with them since their first movie, Resolution (2012), has been incredibly informative. I learned a lot from them, from the workings of filmmaking to understanding cosmic horror. We have very similar tastes in how to question the unknown, wrestle with some of the bigger things that happen in cosmic horror and then learn to embrace the characters and humanity around us. It really is great to work with them.
For this specific project, were there any inspirations you had going into the process?
There are time travel movies that we used as reference for our movie. We love Rian Johnson’s Looper (2012), we think that’s a really good rustic, Americana take on time travel and a great example of how to tell stories within the time travel genre. We also loved Primer (2004), a movie that really throws you deep into time-travel lore and expects the audience to either sink or swim, which I loved as someone who wants to be engaged and wrestle with thought-provoking science fiction. Finally, we loved the 2007 film Timecrimes, another great low-budget time-travel movie that tells a big story from one location.
One thing that stood out to me was definitely the location, particularly the stark background of the snowy landscape. Where did you film, and how did you choose the location?
We’d always had this idea of dealing with time travel in plain sight, and ended up with an isolated farmhouse where no one would suspect time travel could happen. We ended up filming at this rustic wedding venue in North Indiana and the look was ten times better than what we’d originally planned, which allowed us to adapt and shape our movie based off of the location.
There is a personal question I have to ask—when I was growing up, The Spiderwick Chronicles was one of my favourite films of all time and I try to rewatch it every year, so I loved seeing Sarah Bolger pop up on my screen. Can you talk about working with her and how great she is?
She’s incredible. I only got to work with her for one day on set, but we did a lot of rehearsal and you couldn’t ask for a better, more professional working actor to give weight to a movie. Funnily enough, she is the significant other to one of the producers on our film, Justin Benson, so that’s why we casted her to play this specific role in the movie and she added so much depth and nuance to this shady character who you only get a glimpse of. I think this adds a lot of weight to the scene and just the lore of our movie.
How did you find your leads for the film?
Our casting director Chrissy Fiorilli has a great eye at finding the right person for the right role. When she found Adam and Riley, she put them right to the top of the pile for Joseph and Sydney. They are incredibly talented, down-to-earth actors who were a blast to work with, and they made it incredibly easy to trust them with the characters and make them their own.
And just lastly, a fun one to end on, I was looking through your Letterboxd account and I saw that you recently logged Sean Baker’s Anora and rated it very highly. What have been your favourite films of the year so far?
I loved Anora, I think it was an incredible film with a very powerful ending. I believe the movie that has stuck with me the most all year is I Saw The TV Glow. It’s a very tragic, very transgressive film and very moving—unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I think that movie has been a landmark this year, and it will stick around with me for quite a bit.
Interview conducted by Jamie Rooke
Things Will Be Different will be available on Blu-ray and digital download on November 18th.
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