Writer/Director Lindsey Anderson Beer Talks ‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’
Lindsey Anderson Beer attends Pet Sematary: Bloodlines Special Advance Screening at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Photo: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Paramount+
All images courtesy of Paramount+
After a decade of writing and producing, Lindsey Anderson Beer steps into the world of Stephen King for her directorial debut.
In 2019, directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer brought their disturbing version of King’s seminal tale Pet Sematary to the screen, re-introducing audiences to the ancient evil in Ludlow. Returning to King’s original novel for inspiration, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines draws on the grim flashback recounted by Jud Crandall, which tells the story of resurrected veteran Timmy Baterman.
Anderson Beer says she first read King’s novel at the tender age of nine or ten and she hopes fans of the book and film series will enjoy returning to the haunted town of Ludlow as much as she did. Though the novel places Timmy in WWII, the film transposes the untold chapter to the 1960s, setting the story against the backdrop of Vietnam and 50 years before the events of the 2019 film.
Anderson Beer’s origin story delves into the mythology of the mysterious cemetery, while staying true to King’s central themes of loss and grief. After the film’s premiere at Fantastic Fest, Film Review chatted with Anderson Beer about her Pet Sematary prequel. The Paramount+ Original Movie arrives on the platform 6 October.
In conversation with writer/director Lindsey Anderson Beer
Film Review (FR): How was your Fantastic Fest experience?
Lindsey Anderson Beer (LAB): Oh man, between the premiere and the press junkets, it was a whirlwind! I want to go back next year and just go as a fan and see a bunch of stuff, because I feel like I was in an alternate universe of Pet Sematary promotion, as opposed to actually being at the festival, but I had such a wonderful time. The audience was so great and I really, really enjoyed my time there.
(FR): You’ve previously handed off the baton, but in your directorial debut, you raise the words from the page and bring your work to life for the first time. What was that experience like?
(LAB): That was amazing. I came to LA to be a writer/director, and found that I had to work some years to pay my dues and earn people's trust to be able to direct. It was always really hard for me to hand off what I had written. To be able to finally see it through to completion was really, honestly, the most rewarding experience of my life.
(FR): Stepping into the universe of Stephen King, how did you stay true to that while also telling your own story?
(LAB): I had a little freedom because it's a prequel, but to me, it was incredibly important to honour the spirit, the tone, and the themes of the book. So I kept re-reading the book. I thought it was incredibly important to honour the theme, ‘What would you do to save somebody that you love?’, and then expand that. We've seen it within the confines of Louis and his child—whether that's a boy or a girl in the different incarnations—but I wanted to expand that to the other characters in Ludlow. Whether that's Dan Crandall lying to his son and trying to get him out of town, or Manny and Jud banding together to try to protect the ones they love. I wanted to take that theme and expand it to see how the weight of Ludlow–its sins, curses, and history–affects all the people in town. The other thing that was important to me was honouring the tone and the spirit of the book. I love it so much because it is kind of a mish-mash of things. It is a human drama, but there's some dark comedy in there and it is scary as hell. I wanted to honour that and make sure that the movie felt very human–as much a character drama as it is a horror movie.
(FR): Speaking of horror, sound is also a vital element in the genre. How did the sound design almost become the score in this case?
(LAB): That was something that I wanted to do from the beginning. I brought my composer (Brandon Roberts) and my sound designer (P.K. Hooker) into a meeting and I said, “Okay, I am sorry to report that you guys are going to have to work very collaboratively, because I'd really like sound design to essentially be score.” It was a fun challenge from the beginning. Our sound designer, P.K., and our composer, Brandon, were both completely up for the challenge. Pet Sematary is about confronting death, human nature, and the nature of life. It only ends in one way: death. So life is very dangerous. I really wanted to lean into silence and also the sounds of nature and life as something that feels violent or hyperreal.
(FR): How did you work with your production designer in creating 1960s America?
(LAB): It was a lot in terms of finding those locations that could pass for the 1960s and felt a little bit unspoiled. We found so many gems, I think. For me, the important part in both the costumes and the production design was; I always see movies set in the 60s, and they feel so stylized. To me that doesn't feel real. I think our idea of what the 60s are in film and television is very different. I wasn't alive, but you look at pictures and it's just not that heightened. I wanted something that felt real and lived in and not ‘in-your-face’ 60s. The other thing that was important to me was incorporating the iconography of spirals and circles into anything. If you watch the film more than once, you’ll say, “Oh yeah, circle there, circle there, circle here.”
(FR): Your previous work, as well as Bloodlines and much of your upcoming work, leans into genre. What attracts you to genres such as horror?
(LAB): I love genre, because it allows you to tell stories that say something about the human experience and the human condition in a way that I don't feel I can explore in other genres. There's also an intensity to those genres of films that are just more my speed. I think they allow you to talk about what could be and also what has been, in a really unique way. I think that we're in this moment where we're reconciling the past and trying to look towards the future. So I feel like these are also the most timely genres.
(FR): Do you have a favourite horror moviegoing memory?
(LAB): People won't agree that this is a horror movie, but the first movie that I can ever remember seeing is Jurassic Park. I just remember the sound of the footsteps, of the dinosaurs, and the shaking water. The tension that I felt as a little kid watching that; it ignited a love of film for me.
(FR): Any big Halloween plans this year?
(LAB): This movie is my Halloween plan. [Laughs.] All the various screenings and promotions, but in my downtime, I'm so excited to watch other spooky movies too. It's my favourite time of year; spooky movie season.
LINDSEY ANDERSON BEER is a writer, director, and producer. Over the years Anderson Beer has been a member of the writing brain trust that has cracked franchises such as Transformers, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Pacific Rim. She was also one of the writers of Doug Liman’s dystopian sci-fi film Chaos Walking, starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley. In 2018 Anderson Beer wrote and executive produced Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, for which she also co-wrote the chart-topping theme song “Sunflower.” Anderson Beer is the writer, director, and producer of Paramount’s Sleepy Hollow reboot, and she has penned the next Star Trek movie. Other upcoming films include Disney’s live-action remake of Bambi, Warner Bros.’ Lord of the Flies directed by Luca Guadagnino, New Line’s Hello Kitty, and at Universal a Fast and Furious spin-off Anderson Beer co-wrote with Geneva Robertson-Dworet. Anderson Beer is the founder of Lab Brew, a production company with a first-look deal at Paramount. Covering film, television, and digital, Lab Brew is aimed at telling genre stories with fresh and diverse perspectives as well as empowering talent such as writers, directors, and actors to be the centre of the storytelling process.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is streaming on Paramount+ from 6 October.
CHAD KENNERK
